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 Home-printed photos can be great. But even Einstein would be confused by all the specs and features that manufacturers use to sell their printers. What do those specs have to do with image quality and performance? Let’s sort some of them out.
Inkjet vs. dye-sub Most desktop printers that can output 8x10 or larger prints use inkjet technology, while most 4x6 printers use dye-sublimation. (There are, of course, exceptions.) Inkjets spray ink onto paper to make images, and can accept a wide variety of paper surfaces and sizes, including letter and postcard. Dye-subs heat colored ribbons to transfer ink onto specially coated paper. They create dry, water-resistant prints, but don’t have as wide a color gamut, or as many paper choices.
Ink type Inkjet printers come in two flavors: pigment-based or dye-based. Pigment-based inks create prints that can safely be handled after printing and may give you the longest display life. But color gamut may be narrower, and blacks slightly ruddy. Dye-based inks yield deeper blacks and usually have a wider color gamut than pigment-based inks, but may require dry time and may not last as long on display.
Number of inks When comparing printers that use the same type of inks, more inks usually mean a wider color gamut. For the best photo-quality prints, get a 6- to 8-color inkjet printer—not a 4-color. Dye-subs offer little choice. Most are limited to cyan, magenta, and yellow.
Resolution Dye-sub and inkjet dots-per-inch (dpi) specs differ greatly. A dye-sub with 300x300-dpi resolution can create detailed prints with smooth gradations. Inkjet specs list the number of horizontal and vertical dots the printer can create. They should be set to 750 dpi or higher, to make photo-quality prints.
 Connectivity A fast connection will help you print faster, especially with 13x19-inch (or larger) printers. But you’ll need that same fast connection on both your printer and computer to take advantage of the speed. FireWire and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 are the fastest, USB 1.1 is next, and then comes pokey old parallel. To print directly from your camera or from a memory card, look for a PictBridge-compatible printer or one with a built-in memory card reader.
Print speed Take this spec with a grain of salt. Most manufacturers list color print speed based on partial coverage of a page—as little as 5 percent in color. Photos take longer. Borderless printing also adds more time. To speed up print times, don’t use the highest-res setting.
Prints per cartridge Also often quoted based on partial page coverage, this varies widely according to your print settings. Borderless and highest-res prints typically consume more ink, and trial and error is never taken into account. A working knowledge of color profiles will help you get more from your ink cartridges.
Print size How big is big enough? Only you can say. But when was the last time you made a traditional print larger than 8x10 or 13x19? The larger the maximum print size, the more you’ll pay for a printer and media. If you like to shoot panoramas or stitch photos together, consider a printer with a roll feeder, or one that accepts longer sheets of paper.
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