By Tech Experts Staff
When it comes to the type of printer you use for your everyday printing needs the choice seems pretty simple doesn’t it? That may not be the case at all…
With hundreds of different printers, brands, etc. the task of finding the right kind of printer that will suit your company’s needs can be more difficult than expected.
So what should be taken into consideration when looking to buy a new printer?
Some important points to consider: Size, cost, cost to maintain, type of ink, functionality needed, and finally speed.
While most everyone can agree with the statement “you get what you pay for” that tends to hold true with printers as well.
The problem with using this sentiment as your sole deciding factor when it comes to the type of printer you need is that you can end up with a printer that is WAY too big for your company and your needs.
Many different manufacturers make copy machines that are very large. For most small businesses, a large copier is overkill.
A nice Multi-Function printer will work just fine, and save you quite a bit.
So the second thing to consider is cost. Buying a printer that doesn’t cost much generally means it’s made of inferior parts and will wear out sooner than one that would have cost a bit more money.
Cost largely determines the feature set available on a printer. Take for instance Ink Jet printers versus Laser Jet printers. Ink Jet printers are much cheaper but tend to wear out long before a Laser printer would.
While considering the cost of the printer itself it would be good to consider the cost of the cartridge as well as other maintenance items.
Some higher end printers have the ability to have maintenance kits installed; the benefit to this is that these printers tend to be able to outperform cheaper printers.
Being able to replace easily worn parts keeps a printer running well for a number of years.
What type of cartridge is best or most cost effective?
This really comes down to what the printer will be used for.
For general home users using an Ink Jet printer may be fine, and cartridges for these types of printers are much cheaper as well.
If the printer is for a business or someone that does a lot of printing, then a printer that takes toner cartridges would be a better choice.Printer functionality is a huge point to consider.
What is needed by the device? Does it just need to be able to print black and white images or are color images necessary as well? Does the printer need to be able to receive faxes? Make copies?
All are valid, important questions when considering the type of printer needed.
The final point to consider is speed. If a company needs a large amount of documents printed at one time by many different users it would be a good idea to consider a printer with a high PPM (pages per minute) rate.
Still confused what would suit your needs? Give us a call and we can get you a quote on a printer that works well for your business.