When setting up an office, whether at home or in an office building, there are certain must-haves, and a printer is one of them. When looking at a printer buying guide, you may be seeing terms like inkjet printer or laser printer, and perhaps wondering what might be best for your office needs.
On the positive, we have a lot of great options for printers these days. Printing technologies have simply gotten better and better, and there are now printers that can meet any number of office needs. For home office workers, printers can also pack a powerful punch while amazingly saving space. They also do not need to break your budget.
When you are considering buying a printer for your office, you need to first define your needs. A few things to look at include desired print speeds, the amount you will print each month, and how much security you need.
For example, for a home office, basic levels of security might be enough. However, a printer or multiple printers used in a busy office will probably need higher levels of security and access control.
You should also decide on a budget. The budget should not only look at the up-front cost of the printer but the ongoing cost of ink. Ink is usually the biggest cost when it comes to office printers, especially when it comes to inkjet printer models. They consume a lot of ink, which tends to be expensive, and this can add up.
One of the key things to look at is whether you want an inkjet or laser printer. In brief, inkjets are better when it comes to color prints, especially photos. However, they can eat up ink very quickly, and that makes them pricier to run.
Laserjets, on the other hand, are far more economical. They are typically available in black and white but some offer color. Their color printing is not that great and not recommended for photos. However, if you have a lot of black and white documents to print, laser printers are the way to go. Laser printers can also be amazingly fast.
The newest member of the printer family is the LED printer, which uses LED lights instead of lasers to print documents quickly at high resolution. LED printers have fewer moving parts and use less energy than laser printers, which makes them the environmental option.
Do note that new technologies and ink options are becoming available. For example, you can get a certain type of inkjet printer that costs more upfront, but is less costly to run in the long-term, because it uses a well or tank for refilling ink instead of cartridges.
You should also decide if your office needs a multifunction printer, also known as an all-in-one printer. These are great for home offices since they save space. Why? Because they work as a combination of a printer, copying machine, scanner, and fax machine. You then have one machine to find a home for instead of three or four.
Do you need to print large documents like posters and banners? Then you can do that right from your home office with a wide-format printer. These can actually be quite affordable on the bottom end. The price increases, of course, as the printers offer more features and larger and larger print sizes. You can also get multifunction printers with wide-format capabilities.
Depending on your printing needs and budget, printer leasing may be an option. With a printer lease, you don’t have to worry about a hefty up-front cost for a printer. You pay a monthly fee for the printer and can upgrade to a newer model as needed.
A step above printer leasing is managed print services. This is where an outside vendor provides you with a printer or printer fleet, leased, with full tech support and maintenance included in the price. Through remote monitoring of machines, your managed print services provider can also track printer usage and ensure that printers at your office are not being overused or abused. This can go along way in reducing costs, especially with expensive ink costs.
If you are looking for a reliable managed print services provider, Edwards Business Systems can help. We offer full-served managed print services as well as printer leasing to help you get the best printing solution for your needs and budget.
Edwards Business Systems helps companies and organizations with printer purchasing and leasing. Contact us today for a quote.