Choosing the right printer for your business can be a daunting thing because there are many things to consider. You just know one thing – you do not want to spend more money on office supplies.
If you do not want to spend more money on office supplies, you have to look for long-term solutions that can eventually lead to bigger savings. You should start with Print and Workflow Solutions and this simplified guide to purchasing an office printer:
Determine the type of business printers you need
The first thing that you need to do is to determine the type of business printers you need. The types of business printers include the following:
- Laser/LED printers: these printers are the most popular because they are fast and
reliable. Aside from that, laser/LED printers also produce high-quality texts. The printer has memory and hard-drive capabilities, which are best for networking. Although these printers are expensive, its operational costs are reasonable because the toner is relatively inexpensive.
- Inkjet: inkjet printers are common for personal use. In general, inkjet printers are less expensive but it costs high when it comes to replacing ink. The photo quality is also high that is why they are used for brochures and fliers.
Decide if you need wired or wireless printers
After learning the different Print and Workflow Solutions, it is time to decide if you need wired or wireless printers. Many offices consider wireless printers because it gives them the freedom to print anywhere in the room.
However, wireless connections tend to be slower compared to wired connections. If you are after the speed, reliability, and security, you need to consider wired printers. Aside from these, you can also determine if the printer is compatible with emerging technology like mobile printing.
Establish your needs
If you are printing simple office documents in plain text like memos, letters, and spreadsheets, you can consider monochrome. Monochrome printers can cut ongoing costs. If you need to constantly print graphics, custom logos or documents having charts and other visuals, you need to consider color printer.
Check the printer features
Your needs will usually dictate the printer features but it is good to have more features for future use. You can consider the following printer features:
- Function: there are single-function printers as well as multi-function printers. As the
name suggests, a single-function printer does one thing – print documents. A multi-function printer will do more than just printing that is why they are considered cost-effective. These printers are capable of doing other tasks like scanning, copying, converting documents and even emailing.
- Speed: for an office environment, print speeds of less than 20 PPM (Pages Per Minute) are too slow. Speeds of 20-40PPM will suffice. For high-volume use, 40PPM or higher is ideal.
- Volume: the print volume will depend on the printer. It can hold just 100-250 sheets in the tray or more.
- Memory: another important consideration is a memory. You need to determine your memory needs but most office printers range from 64-256 MB of RAM.
- Other features: include automatic two-sided printing, DPI (Dots Per Inch), Energy Star compliance, USB, card readers and many more.
