What does buying a Multifunction Printer have to do with Orange County Real Estate? Actually nothing except that my ten year old inkjet printer died a few days ago and I had to go out and buy a new one. After my initial trip to Best Buy and Fry’s I found the choices to be overwhelming. I decided to do a little research on the web and found this very useful guide to buying a Multifunction Printer. Realizing that I was probably not alone when it came to this type of decision I thought I’d pass along the info. Here’s what I found:
What Exactly Is a Multifunction Printer?
Multifunction printers also known as all-in-one printers, combine printing, scanning, copying and faxing capability, and often other functions, in one integrated unit. Multifunction machines are much less expensive than the cost of purchasing separate devices to perform these common tasks, and take up much less work space as well.
Select Your Multifunction Printer Based On These Criteria:
Big Busy Office?
Choose Color Laser Technology. Multifunction machines using color laser technology deliver both high-resolution business color and monochrome output. They are ideal for busy offices with higher print and copy volumes where the majority of the printing and copying jobs will be black and white, with an occasional need for high-quality (but not photo-quality) business color for presentations, proposals and color copies.
Medium to High Volume Office?
Choose Monochrome Laser Technology. Multifunction machines that use monochrome laser technology produce high-quality, high-resolution black and white text and graphics and are a good fit for offices with mid- to high- volume printing and copying needs. They are typically faster than inkjet models, less expensive than color laser multifunction machines, and generally have the lowest cost per page, especially those models that offer optional high-yield toner cartridges.
High Quality Low Volume Office?
Choose Color Inkjet Technology. Multifunction machines based on color inkjet technology offer the highest quality color reproduction – “photo-quality” in many cases. Typically less expensive to purchase, but with a generally higher cost per page, these machines are best suited for offices with lower copying and printing volumes that need true photo- quality color output from time to time.
Flatbed or Sheetfed?
Choose a flatbed model if you need to copy, fax or scan images from bound documents or three- dimensional items.
Modem Speed
Modem Speed is an important consideration if your fax volume is high and it is important to free up the phone line as quickly as possible.
Auto Document Feeder (adf) Capacity
The higher the capacity, the more pages you can load for unattended scanning, faxing and copying.
Paper Size
Many multifunction machines offer adjustable paper trays that accommodate both letter and legal and other sizes, and some also provide multipurpose trays or slots to handle envelopes, card stock and letterhead.
Paper Capacity
The higher the paper capacity, the less often you have to reload paper; this is especially important if you receive a high volume of faxes after hours and want to avoid out-of-paper situations. Higher performance models may come with dual paper trays or have the option of adding a second tray, enabling them to handle higher volume applications or to have letter paper loaded in one tray and legal or photo paper in the other.
Automatic Duplexing
This can save on paper and mailing costs—and provide more professional-looking documents—by printing on both sides of a page automatically.
Network Ready
Some multifunction machines come ready to install directly to your wired or wireless network.
Auto Dialing & Broadcasting
Auto dialing enables you to dial more quickly, and helps eliminate misdialed numbers. Broadcasting enables you to scan a fax into memory just once, and then send it to multiple locations.
Fax & Print Security
Some multifunction machines provide a way to password-protect the printing of confidential faxes and documents so that only the person who is supposed to see them actually does.
Compatibility
Will the machine be used in a PC or Mac® workplace – or a combination of both? Also, some multifunction machines offer additional emulations – such as PostScript® and PCL® 6 (for DOS printing) – which may be required for certain applications.
Print & Copy Speed
Higher output speeds are useful when printing or copying large quantities of documents.
Admittedly this post is not nearly as interesting as say the California Shabu Shabu post but it might help when the time comes for you to buy a new printer.
For more information please contact Robert Prophet and the Robert Prophet Group. Send us an email or visit our web site: RobertProphet.com
