“Back to school” has a little less romantic flair, and perhaps a little more wariness than previous years, but students and parents still need the best tech.  That’s why top retailers are using this time of year to launch their back-to-school sales. We’re seeing great deals on laptops, TVs, smart gadgets and printers. We’ve scoured Best Buy, Amazon, Dell and others to help you discover the very best back-to-school sales. And when it comes to printers, we have a devoted guide to the best back-to-school printer deals, just for you, with some of the best brands on the market, like HP, Brother, and Canon. From this, we’ve selected our very best deals to outfit you for back to school, no matter what your needs.

Functionality is everything with a printer. The first question one needs to ask themselves when investing in such tech (we tend to keep printers for more than just a couple years) is what you’re going to need it for. Is it just printing out papers to hand in? Or will you need it for scanning, for copying and maybe faxing too? A great number of printers come with all these functions built-in, but others are more bare-bones, so it’s an important question to ask yourself. Secondly, you want to think about connectivity. Most printers now come with built-in Wi-Fi or Bluetooth as a feature, but not all of them do. You don’t want to end up in a situation where you were depending on your printer to be able to print from your smartphone, and then find out you’re missing a connection.

Something else to think about is size. This is really key. If you’re a student heading off to college (even if you’re not leaving the house), you may want something on the smaller side, as a dorm room won’t accommodate anything much larger than the smaller sizes. This goes hand in hand with the volume you’ll need to print. If you’re handing in the occasional paper, you might need only the lowest-end, most compact device. But if you expect a heavier print load and will be producing reams of work every week, you might want to consider something more equipped for an office. Important: If you’re on the heavier-duty side, keep an eye on how much toner and ink replacements will cost you. This adds up!

Some more super functional elements: color versus black and white? Inkjet versus laser? Color tends to be more expensive and demanding, but it can also be necessary if your work requires it, or you’re looking to print images. In terms of inkjet versus laser, think of it in terms of history, in that inkjet printers use ink (laser printers use toner), which will not last as long. It fades. That said, ink tends to be better for photos and documents with color.

One last thing to consider is the fun factor. If you just want a printer for photos (say of friends, but perhaps for presentations, too), there are printers dedicated just to that function. Don’t bite off more than you need to unnecessarily. Get the one that’s right for you!