There are several factors to be taken into consideration when it's time to choose a new printer. The first and most obvious is: Which Brand??? Well I won't say that some brands are better than others, basically all printers do the job they were designed for, and that is they print. However, when choosing a printer, you need to decide whether you want it for business or personal use, letters and general printing or for pictures. Once you've done this, then you set out into the vast wilderness of printers and their supplies. You find a printer that appears to have a reasonable price, is it new, used or refurbished? Does it come with ink cartridges? Most new and refurbished cartridges these days do not supply ink cartridges, this is to be able to offer lower more competitive pricing in this ever growing market. Okay, so it doesn't come with cartridges, so how many does it take and how much do they cost? Buying a printer for $10 sounds great until you find out the cartridges cost upwards of $50 each, in the long run it would be a little better to spend a little more on the printer if the cartridges are less expensive than average, after all you'll replace cartridges more than the hardware itself.
Also beware of the multifunction printer with a gazillion gadgets that you don't really need. You may have need for all these functions, but if not, save money and stick to what you need.
The biggest key is and always will be personal preference, marketers know this and depend heavily upon it, but take the time to use the following check list, and in the long run, you may be glad you did.

***Printer Checklist***
1. BRAND - This is a personal preference only
2. Cost
3. New? Used? Refurbished?
4. Does it come with ink?
5. How much is replacement ink?
6. How many cartridges does it use?
* Multi-cartridges are always better than single due to the fact that you can replace what you use, without having to throw away a half used cartridge due to the fact that all of the yellow has been used and now some key colors will not print. You ALWAYS want at LEAST 2 cartridges, one for color and one for black alone.
7. Page print speed - In an office you may want or need a printer that prints a little faster.
8. Does it print photos? Letters? General Items?

With this information, you should be able to narrow the vast field of printers down to one or a few and then it's all personal preference as to which brand or model you'd like, but now at least you have the best chance of having picked a great printer to suit your needs.