8 Printer-Buying Mistakes People Make in Pakistan

Our family workshop on 6th Road, Rawalpindi has been repairing printers for over 25 years, which means we've seen the same buying mistakes thousands of times — usually when the printer comes in six months later. None of them are about being careless; they're about information shops don't volunteer. Here are the eight, with the fix for each.

1. Choosing by the price on the box

The printer is the cheap part; consumables are the expensive part. A PKR 33,000 printer with a 1,000-page cartridge costs more to own over two years than a PKR 34,000 printer with a 10,000-page cartridge. Always price the cartridge before the printer — our HP toner guide lists them — and think in cost per page.

2. Buying a cartridge inkjet

The cheapest printers in any market are cartridge inkjets, and they're the worst value in Pakistan: tiny cartridges that cost nearly as much as the printer, and heads that clog if you don't print weekly. If you need colour, buy an ink tank (HP Smart Tank 585); if you don't, buy a laser. See laser vs ink tank.

3. Paying for colour you'll never print

Most homes and offices print 90% black text. A colour printer costs more, has four consumables instead of one, and colour toner/ink is pricier per page. Buy mono unless you will genuinely print colour every week — and if you will, decide between colour laser (office) and ink tank (home) in our all-in-one guide.

4. Buying an entry printer for office volume

A 20 ppm USB printer with a 150-sheet tray and no duplex is a home printer. Put it in an office printing 100 pages a day and it jams, runs out of toner weekly and makes everyone queue at one PC. For the same money an imported HP LaserJet Pro M402dne gives 38 ppm, auto duplex and a network port — see new vs imported and best printer for a small business.

5. Buying used without the page count and a test print

A used printer's page count is its mileage. If the seller can't or won't show it, or won't let you print a test page before paying, walk away. The checklist is in how to buy a used printer safely. Every preowned unit we list shows its page count and is delivered Cash on Delivery so you test first.

6. Ignoring warranty and local service

A printer from a marketplace seller with no warranty is cheap right up until the fuser fails. Buy from someone who will replace it in the first week and repair it in the first months — and who has a physical workshop in your city, not just a WhatsApp number. That's the whole reason Printerwaala exists: our story.

7. Forgetting how the printer will connect

Bought a USB-only printer and now three people want to print from phones? Or a Wi-Fi printer for an office with a 5 GHz-only network? Decide connectivity first: USB for one PC, Wi-Fi for a home, Ethernet for an office. Setup help: connect an HP printer to Wi-Fi.

8. Overbuying — or buying the wrong class entirely

A photocopy kiosk doesn't need a PKR 300,000 A3 copier to copy CNICs and forms; a home doesn't need an ADF; a student doesn't need 1200 dpi. Match the machine to the job: our budget guide, photocopier vs laser MFP and specs explained are there for exactly this.