Whether you are responsible for a small home-based business, or a large company with many departments and workgroups, there are continuous choices to be made on the procurement of office equipment. Not least amongst these, is the option of the proper printer technology for your company needs? Here in outline are the discrete technologies and their proper environment.
Personal Ink-Jets
Useful for one personel or a workgroup with a minimal colour printing needs, a low-cost personal ink-jet will be the best choice. Personal inkjet printers offer a low initial cost, plus the flexibility to print on a collection of media, such as promotional materials.
Business Ink-Jets
In a bigger company environment, or one where colour yield is a major requirement, the workload is likely to be too great for a personal inkjet printer. Thus a unit designed specifically for company will fit the bill, gift a lower cost per page. Many company inkjets hire ink-saving technology and modular cartridges, which avoid the need to convert the colour when you convert the black and white cartridges, for example.
Laser Printers
Large associates ask more yield of all kinds. Perhaps also the ask for colour yield on standard-size paper may be addressed with a laser printer
Laser printers have invariably offered monochrome yield in the past, but more and more colour-capable lasers are advent onto the market. For organisations with a heavy black-only yield though, they still offer the bottom cost of monochrome printing, as opposed to ink-jets which offer a lower cost for colour output. Even so, the photograph is changing, and there are some surprisingly low-cost colour lasers available.
Large or Wide Format Printers
Design work or over-size documents for displays wish a extra kind of printer - a large format printer capable of printing on very large paper (or other media) sheets. Factors to consider here are ability of output, colour capability, speed, networking ability and added functions such as scanning and copying.
Photo Printers
A photo printer is essentially a personal colour ink-jet with a higher ability for printing on extra photo paper. Simply useful in the home, such printers have their use in the company environment - for example when there is a need to comprise ability photos in presentation packs for marketing purposes, or for use in training materials.
Business Colour or Full Colour?
For businesses requiring mission-critical exact colour fertilization (such as in the making ready of colour proofs, for example), then it is important to differentiate between machine which offer Black and company Colour as opposed to the higher ability Full Colour specification.
Multifunction Printers or Mfps
The Multifunctional, All-in-One device combines print, copier, scanner and fax ability in a singular machine. These systems are surprisingly compact and affordable. indubitably some Mfps start at prices below £200. However, in this class of printers, some hefty and noteworthy machines are ready for Print for Pay and major corporate use, with a vast array of bolt-on systems for folding, stapling and collating documents.
Impact Printers
Rarer these days, but it is still inherent to buy dot-matrix and even daisywheel devices for devotee impact applications, for example for such as multiple-copy form printing. Such printers tend to be more expensive, robust and bulky than the ink-jets and laser printers in more base use. Impact printers by definition are also much noisier in use.
Other factors - Stand-alone or Networked?
If you plan to share the printer in a workgroup on your office network, then network-ready functionality must be specified.
Speed of Operation
Businesses with a heavy output, or with a plan to share the printer among some users, a faster printer is important - and one that will avoid forcing staff to wait for printouts to get through the queue. Any shared printer is also likely to be networked so the network speed in the office is also a factor
Cost Considerations
In added to the initial purchase cost, there is of procedure the cost of consumables such as ink cartridges and toner which also wish budgeting. The twin costs of initial purchase (or lease) plus consumables and maintenance are defined as the Total Cost of Ownership, and requires a true angle of costs over the life-cycle of the equipment.
Support and victualer Backup
All printers come with a basic warranty or certify that entitles the purchaser up to one year return to base servicing and repairs. It is wise and useful to arrange added cover and a aid plan to suit the capacity and work-expectations of the printer.
Green Credentials
Protecting the environment is a crucial issue these days, and taking advice whilst seeing for the most energy-efficient options makes sound company sense. Doing this should also save money in terms of running costs at least. Questions to ask are - What sort of power consumption and stand-by power-down features does the printer have? Is it easy to print in double-sided (duplex) mode? Can consumables such as laser drums and ink cartridges be recycled? Is the printer RoHs-compliant (The RoHs Directive and the Uk RoHs regulations came into force on 1 July 2006.)? And what steps does the victualer make to lead towards the costs of disposal under the Waste Electrical and Electronic tool (Weee) directive?
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