In most cases, you may not need it-but when you need it, you want it to be of quality.

For many people, home printers are not needed most of the time. But with many people reopening school, distance education is no longer just an outdated trend, and having a printer at home is less than ever. It's much easier to plug in a living room printer than to run around the city looking for it before your delayed task is due.

But the home printer market is flooded with cheap hardware, and these hardware will cost you a lot of ink replacement. Unless your working budget is not limited, buying a new printer that doesn't suck can be frustrating. Don't even bother to randomly pick cheap options from Staples. Before the end of the month, you will eventually empty your wallet for the $50 ink cartridge.

So let's dive into the chaotic world of home printers. You will thank us later.

If you have taken the above route of choosing a random staple printer before, then you are probably most familiar with inkjet printers. Inkjet printers are probably the most common household printers. They work by mixing the ink in the ink cartridge and spraying them onto the moving paper.

Inkjet printing technology is very good. It has been around for a long time and has completed its work. most of the time. Purchasing inkjet printers (especially low-end options) is at risk in terms of the overall quality of your final print.

The industry built around inkjet printers is also very toxic. Many home-use inkjet printers attract customers with cheap hardware-only to make them later discover that ink replacement cartridges are as expensive as the printer itself. A normal ink cartridge can print about 200 pages before it runs out; it costs about $50 to print 200 pages each time. It adds up and basically negates cheap hardware.

Then there is the laser printer, which uses a more complex electrostatic process to create prints. The basic premise is that the laser beam travels back and forth through the drum; then the drum collects toner (powder ink) and heats the image onto the page. This is the technology used by Xerox and other large copiers.

The starting price of laser printer hardware is higher than that of inkjet printers, and replacement toner is usually more expensive than ink cartridges. For the unfamiliar, the price can be daunting. Why buy more expensive printers, and expensive purchases in the future? The math is not that simple-a toner cartridge can print thousands of pages. When you buy a toner cartridge, your purchase will eventually go further. The cost per page is usually much lower.

The print quality of laser printers (even cheaper laser printers) is sometimes much better than that of low-end inkjet printers. They are also faster and more efficient than inkjet printers. So yes, you may pay more upfront, but the value of the investment is well worth it. By choosing the black and white only option, you can always save some cash on toner.

There is one exception to this general wisdom, and that is the Canon Megatank printer we list below. Canon actually has a series of Megatank printers, all of which have refillable ink chambers that you can refill with bottles instead of ink cartridges. Not only can you use it to print a large number of regular documents, but these printers can also print hundreds of photos per bottle.

I know what you are thinking. It cannot be as simple as choosing between laser and inkjet. Well, you are right. It is not! There are about a thousand models in each category. So how can you decide which will actually bring you the most value?

The best way is to take some time to decide which additional features are most important to you. Home printers are important for the bells and whistles. Most of the time, you buy more than just printers; you also buy scanners and copiers. You can also buy printers with Wi-Fi connection, duplex function, and various applications that add functions such as e-mail and smartphone connection. (Editor's note: double-sided scanning is a life-saving straw, must be considered.)

Which of these features is important to you depends on personal preferences and needs. What I want to say is that when choosing a printer, it’s best to put print quality above these additional features—it’s always better to use a laser printer that doesn’t include Wi-Fi. An all-in-one inkjet printer allows you to Room to print.

Oh, do you want practical advice?

A powerful and relatively compact laser printer with scanner, WiFi and built-in double-sided printing.

It's not cheap, but this is the color you want. But hey, it also has apps, WiFi, and scanners.

A simple laser printer that can print up to 30 pages per minute.

This printer is not suitable for professional photographers, but its huge ink tank is perfect for printing endless snapshots.

Check your local library or Staples. Seriously, any new printer that you can buy for $50 is not worth the trouble it inevitably prints to your home.