<p>It's worth finding out the cost of replacement ink cartridges of a printer before you buy,' says Tom Andrews from Staples. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian</p><p>Printers have come a long way since 1984 when Hewlett Packard introduced the ThinkJet, the firm's first personal inkjet printer grinding at a snail's pace of two pages a minute and priced at a whopping $495. Nowadays you can have full colour prints, with a scanner and copier option throw in and with pages flying out at a rate of 30 a minute, and still have change out of 50. Even 3D printing is possible, although here we are leaving those aside and focusing on conventional home printers.The choices</p><p>Broadly there are four options if you are looking for a home printer:</p><p>Single function inkjet The inkjet process involves thousands of ink dots being squirted on to the page. Inkjet tends to be cheaper than laser, but the ink can smudge. The single function version is a budget machine as it only prints. These "are a handy option for the occasional printer," says Tom Andrews from Staples, typically for someone who prints fewer than 150 sheets a month.</p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/29/buying-a-printer-guide-best-deals">Keep reading...</a></p>