Advantages And Disadvantages Of Inkjet Printer In Depth
Inkjet printers are versatile, affordable, and capable to print fine art photography. They are particularly best for printing photos, books, and magazines. Despite having various advantages, they also have some disadvantages which cannot be thrown behind back. A novice must know the advantages and disadvantages of inkjet printer before diving into the world of printing. For instance, here is a quick overview.
- Enriched Photo Printing
- Less Expensive
- Wide Range Of Color Prints
- High Resolution
- Versatile Media Handling
- Ease Of Use
- Energy Efficient
- High-Cost Per Print
- Prone To Clogging
- Slow Printing Speed
- Less Paper Capacity
Now let’s start the in-depth guide.
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Inkjet Printer
Advantages Of Inkjet Printer
1- Enriched Photo Printing
If you tend to print high-quality photos with smooth colors then inkjet will be your best buddy. They can create a dynamic color range because the way they print on the paper is very smooth and fine.
The nozzles in the printhead spray the ink onto the paper thus creating and blending a wide range of colors. Not only that, but some high-end inkjet printers do use more than 4 (CMYK) cartridges. The number of cartridge colors combined by subtractive mixing produces a wide range of colors, spectra, multiple shades, and gradients.
2- Less Expensive
The way inkjet printers are manufactured requires small components to make them affordable to buy. They don’t contain drums and fusers, instead, they use a simple mechanism of spraying the ink droplets on the paper.
Not only that, but their physical appearance is also more compact than other printers suitable for homes and offices. The compact size is also a point that makes them portable too.
3- High Resolution
Inkjet printers print higher-resolution images with more clarity and sharpness. As we mentioned above, inkjet printers use nozzles to spray ink droplets onto the paper. The higher number of nozzles on the printhead sprays smaller droplets that produce a higher-resolution image.
This means that more ink droplets per inch will produce denser images. Therefore, the high DPI resolution makes inkjet printers stand out.
For example, if the printer has the highest resolution of 600 DPI. Then it will be able to print 600 tiny droplets per inch onto the paper. Learn here how does inkjet printer work.
However, some high-end inkjet printers print more than 5000 DPI resolutions too but they are way too expensive. However, there are some moderate-priced Canon and Epson printers that can print 5000 plus resolution.
4- Versatile Media Handling
If you tend to print various types of media including envelopes, cardstock, glossy paper, vinyl printing, and sticker printing then an inkjet printer is best to do the job. But not all inkjet printers are suitable for all types of media. Only certain printers can handle premium media.
Some low-priced range printers like under 100 or under $200 can only print copy paper and some other sorts of paper. But when it comes to high-end fine art inkjet printers, they can handle and print precisely on all types of media including thick paper like cardstock and thin and transparent like vellum paper. You can check the best printers under $300
5- Ease Of Use
The operation of the inkjet printers is straightforward. They don’t require any technical work even a newbie can set up an inkjet printer flawlessly. Also, they provide maximum convenience when the paper jams are troubleshot.
Because inkjet printers have a straightforward design that offers paper trays from the bottom or rear so paper jams can be easily cleared by simply accessing the particular paper tray.
6- Energy Efficient
Inkjet printers don’t require much energy to print the paper. Because an inkjet printer doesn’t need to be warmed up before printing. This makes them energy efficient option. Besides that, the power saver mode can also be used to save energy.
Even though I’ve utilized some of the inkjet printers that reduce energy consumption by up to 90% making them highly affordable to run for a low-cost start-up. Also, they don’t compromise on print quality due to low energy consumption.
Disadvantages Of Inkjet Printer
1- High Cost Per Print
If the inkjet printers print precise images that means they use more ink producing denser and rich color images. The page yield of a cartridge is low and frequent replacement will be needed when they run out of ink. The price of the cartridges is expensive which is why the cost per print for an inkjet printer is higher. Read: How to check printer ink levels.
Although you can get the Ecotank printers which don’t require any replacing of the cartridges instead they utilize refillable reservoir ink tanks. You can check their comparison: ink cartridge vs ink tank. When refilling if you don’t wear gloves then your hands might get ink so learn there how to get printer ink off hands.
2- Prone To Clogging
Ink cartridges will start drying if you don’t use the printer frequently. As a result, the ink will start to clog the printhead nozzles which spray the ink onto the paper leading to low quality and faded results. Check here how to fix dry ink cartridges.
Another reason can be the non-compatible cartridges which result in a mess with the printhead. The clogging then will need to be cleaned with the cleaning cycle and once-a-week printing will mitigate this problem. Here are the reasons why printer ink dries out. Learn here how to keep ink cartridges from drying out.
3- Slow Printing Speed
The way inkjet printers produce vivid prints they are also prone to slow printing because of the high-quality images. If the number of nozzles on the printhead is less then higher the time it will take to print the image. Until and unless the number of nozzles should be higher to produce faster prints.
The printing speed might annoy you when you print large-format images. Small photo-sized images will be printed quickly.
4- Less Paper Capacity
Inkjet printers are not suitable for heavy-duty printing tasks. Because they offer a less number of capacity suitable only for photo printing. If you tend to print larger volume then an inkjet printer is not your best buddy because it is also a slow printer and offer less paper capacity.
But I’ve used some of the printers which offer 500 to 550 paper sheet capacity suitable for moderate business set-up.
Check the advantages and disadvantages of laser printer too.
Conclusion
So I’ve explained all the possible advantages and disadvantages of inkjet printer to clear your questions and doubts. Inkjet printers are fantastic when it comes to printing photos or t-shirt graphics. But they also have drawbacks too because no electronic gadget can be perfect. But we need to use them according to our needs. So before getting an inkjet printer, you should take a look at the above-mentioned benefits and drawbacks.
