Manufacturers highlight some printer specs that promise better quality or speed, but take them with a grain of salt:

Resolution. Expressed in dots per inch, resolution indicates the number of ink dots an inkjet printer puts on the paper. All things being equal, the more ink dots, the more detailed the image. But dot size, shape, and placement also affect quality, so don’t base your choice solely on resolution. An inkjet printer that claims resolution of 4800x1200 may have print quality no better than a dye-sub model with 300x300 dpi resolution.

Photo inks. Theoretically a wider range of colors can improve a printer’s ability to render flesh tones and subtle gradations of color. But that’s not always true in practice. Inkjets that use three colors--cyan, magenta, and yellow--may produce better photos than models that add a fourth color (black) and even eight-color printers that use extra photo inks such as light cyan and green. Still, for black-and-white photos we recommend a printer with a true black rather than one that mixes three colors to create composite black.

Speed. Print speed is one of the biggest variables in printing. Advertised speeds are usually higher than you’re likely to achieve in normal use, so don’t expect to match the speeds touted. Also, because each manufacturer uses its own methods to measure speed, you can’t reliably compare speeds for different brands. We run the same tests on all models, printing text pages and photos that are similar to those you might print. As a result, our print times are realistic and can be compared across brands.

USB 2.0. Printers with USB 2.0 ports are now fairly common, but they don’t allow much faster print speeds than USB 1.1.

Industry experts disagree on how long photos printed at home will last without fading. While there’s no consensus on print life, experts do agree that you can prevent problems and get longer life by treating photos properly.

To maximize the life of your prints:

• Keep photos on display covered in clear glass or plastic, away from direct sunlight.
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• Protect all photos, including those stored in boxes or albums, from extremes of humidity and temperature. Avoid storing them in an attic or garage without air conditioning or in a damp basement without a dehumidifier.
  
  
• If possible, replace prints made on an inkjet more than a year or two ago with fresh photos printed on the latest high-quality paper. Ink technology and photo paper have improved in the recent past, so today’s photographs should last a lot longer than those you printed just a few years ago.