HP, Epson and other printers The modern printer is an indispensable adjunct to every modern desk- once you have bought your new computer, the next piece of equipment that you consider is the printer. There are many makes, and even more types of printer, and few people consider which is the ideal for them before buying. The major make in the UK (figures taken in March 2010) is HP, which has nearly 50% of the market share. Epson holds the next largest share at 17%, and Lexmark, Samsung and Canon combined only sell 20% of UK printers. Which printer is best? One of the most important factors in the cost and longevity of your printer is the type of cartridge, and ink, that it uses. printing services london can be divided roughly into two main types, laser jet printers and ink jet printers. Laser jet printers are more expensive, as are their cartridges, which use ink toner, but the number of pages that can be printed by each cartridge is a great deal more than with an ink jet cartridge, as high as 2000 sheets per cartridge. Many would assert that the quality of printing is superior. Ink jet printers are cheaper and generally come with both black and colour cartridges- the total cost of the printer can often be less than buying 2 new cartridges, and indeed the manufacturers will sometimes artificially lower the price of a printer in order to make their profits on the ink cartridges bought during the life of the printer. This year sales of ink jet printers have overtaken laser jet, accounting for nearly 60% of the market.