Choosing Thoughtful Gifts

If you've been using the same color printer at home for several years, but it has recently failed, it's time to get shopping for a new one. Printing technology changes so quickly that you'll want to know exactly what features you can get on your new printer. Don't be daunted by how different modern printers are compared to what you might have bought a decade or so ago. Today's color printers are very user friendly, offering a broad spectrum of features that can meet your at-home printing needs. Here are some features that you'll likely want.

Wireless Connection

A handy feature that might not have been present when you bought your last printer is wireless connection. This means that you can connect your new printer to your home's WiFi network, which will allow you to print without the printer being physically connected to your home computer. This feature can especially be desirable if you have multiple family members with computers. Instead of each person having to buy his or her own printer, you can set up your new printer in a central area, find it in the device manager on each computer, and have everyone print to it wirelessly.

Multiple Inputs

Many modern color printers are equipped with multiple inputs, which means that you can connect a USB drive directly to the printer or even slide a memory card from your digital camera into a specific slot on the device. These features can be especially desirable if you plan to print photos at home. Instead of having to load the images onto your computer, you can load them directly from a USB or memory card, adjust them as needed using the printer's controls, and then print them correctly. Given that many color printers offer crystal-clear resolution and can accommodate photo paper, you'll have professional prints in minutes.

Enhanced Copy Features

When you buy a new color printer, gone are the days of ever having to visit an office supply store to do some photocopying. Today's printers are often equipped with built-in copiers, which may have excited at the time you bought your last printer. What is newer, however, is a series of desirable copier-related features. For example, instead of just making copies, you can often change the size of what you're copying before you print it. This means that if you want to blow something up, you can do so without having to scan it onto your computer and adjust it in an imaging program. Additionally, modern printers will churn on copied pages quickly, which is handy if you plan to use this feature frequently.