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4 Tips To Choose The Best Printer For Your Business

Feb 5, 2016 | 6 minutes |

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Buying a printer these days is no easy task. The sheer range of hordes of printers is flabbergasting and with so many manufacturers in the foray after your money, making the right decision can indeed be tough. However, the real game lies elsewhere, as the real money is made on the many accessories your business/ organization will be purchasing for the upkeep of that new printer purchase. What might be initially seen as a modest cost can soon shoot up over the passage of time to massive costs. Here is an inside ‘fact’ for you. The standard printer business model used by most printer vendors and manufacturers works like this- The initial printer price is inversely proportional to the price of its components. In other words, the lower the initial price tag of the printer, the higher the cost of its ink or toner. Thenceforth, the only person likely to benefit from a low-cost printer with high-cost components is someone who prints very little, and who is certainly not running a business. So, what about the people who run or own a business? Whether it is a large-scale organization, small scale, or both, it does not matter. What do they do? Even the most modest of offices require to be networked and sharing a resource as useful as a printer with all the workforce is a bare minimum. It is for this reason that you should only be looking at printers that are capable of not only networked use but execute other important functions as well. While wired printers offer great speed and robust function for an office, their wireless counterparts are quite flexible and cheap to deploy but not as fast in their output. There are some good LED printers too, available in the market that can act as good replacements for inkjets and monochrome laser jets. Usually, and rightly so, people seem to be stuck between purchasing an Inkjet and a LaserJet printer even though nowadays you can buy printers online and avail all the information about them at the flicker of a second. If you are somewhat perplexed about choosing the ideal printer for your business needs, look no further. Here are some tips or points to consider for overcoming your doubts and problems to help you buy the best printer suitable for all your business needs. 1. Check the Volume The first point to consider when buying printers is volume. The total volume of printouts you're going to make also needs to be taken into account. Many manufacturers often quote a “duty cycle” on the devices based upon monthly maximum and recommended figures. In case you are wondering, these are the total number of prints your printer is designed to handle per month. If possible, do assess the number of prints churned out per employee on a daily basis for the office and ensure that the device is capable of meeting the current and future demands. 2. Colour Quality When it comes to image quality, inkjets function better than laser jets. Superior image quality is the only reason that inkjet printers are worth considering over laser jets for many businesses. There is a notion that inkjets are suitable for household use, however, these days, many inkjets are modelled for office use as well. Every now and then you can get your hands on various office-ready models that deliver competitive speed and print quality at a reasonable cost. Options are galore beyond inkjets too, though. In the past, color quality especially in the case of laser printers came with a premium, but luckily that's not the case these days. Although these laserjet models are still quite expensive due to the inclusion of additional materials required for the toners and printer hardware. That is still a differential big enough to not avoid. However, you can perhaps opt for using a cheaper inkjet for occasional color requirements apart from keeping a LaserJet for printing plain text, spreadsheets, letters, other documentation, etc. 3. Multifunction Uses Multi-function features can be found across categories and at all cost scales. Basic features include USB sticks and card readers for a PC-free printing, scaling up to scanner and copier functions. Multifunction printers or All-in-ones also allow you to digitize your copies and share files with a number of people. Some modern all-in-ones print over wireless networks and pair up with android and IOS run smartphones for better tethering purposes. 4. Overall Cost Over the years, there has been a visible difference in Cost Per Page (CPP) output between lasers and inkjets. But lately, inkjets have managed to drop their overall prices (including maintenance, etc.) to compete solidly with laserjets for the title of long-term warrior. However way you go about it, it's important to carefully assess the CPP of each device. Manufacturers provide the total toner or cartridge yields with a comprehensive industry standard ISO rating. You can, thus, do the math yourself and safely assess the total price of replacement/maintenance all the cartridges or toners across all the potential models of inkjets and laserjets. 5. Speed Host-based printers that depend on another PC for their output severely lack their own image-processing power. Instead, they depend on the connected PC for the executing commands. If a printer has a dedicated processor with a good MHZ ratio, the higher the number of its megahertz (MHz), the faster it would be able to receive, interpret, and print a task on hand. Read up on engine speed specifications before choosing a printer as they provide totally useful insights into what the preferred printer could accomplish under optimal working conditions. Duly consider all the aforementioned pointers to inform yourself to a good extent about their uses and pitfalls before you go looking for printers.   Authors Bio Mayank is an avid reader, musician, and YouTuber who loves everything about the Internet. In this article, the author throws light on the tips to follow before buying a new printer suitable for your business and industrial output. You can reach him @ Twitter. https://twitter.com/MayanktheKazama