Contrary to many predictions in recent decades, we haven’t become a paperless society. In fact, paper consumption has grown 400% in the last 40 years. Granted, not all that paper is being used in typical offices, but some reports suggest that many offices use more paper than ever.

It’s safe to say that business printers aren’t going the way of the dinosaur anytime soon. For decades people debated that a paperless office would exist. In today’s modern workplace, there is an abundance of collaboration tools and services to fit your document management needs, and yet the need to print documents on paper still exists.

This means that choosing the printer device that is right for your business continues to be important. When making your next printer acquisition, here are a few things to consider.

Multifunction Printers Vs. Single Function

If you can purchase a single device that solves many problems, you may wonder why you’d ever want to buy multiple devices to perform those same tasks. Manufacturers sell a variety of multifunction printers, also called all-in-ones, that can scan, copy, and even fax documents. Having all those functions in one device is economical and efficient when compared to acquiring several separate devices.

How Is The Printer Duty Cycle Calculated?

If a printer indicates that the duty cycle is 100,000 pages per month, the manufacturer is essentially saying that this is the very maximum volume the printer is capable of in a month. This does not mean that you can produce this volume month in and month out during its life – unless of course, you are happy to see your technician on a very regular basis.

You probably have a rough idea of the total number of pages your business prints, copies, and faxes each month. If you do not, then before buying a new printer start a tracking process of how many reams of 500 sheets you are using per month. What is the average print job for your business, three pages or hundreds of pages?

Understanding Your Scanning Needs

Scanning is done to get soft copies; hence ink/toner will not be consumed.

How much scanning are you doing?

Having this information will help determine whether a small compact device for less than 100 pages a day is suitable or whether a larger device is required. A larger device can handle thousands of scans per day.

What Is The Speed Of A Printer?

Understanding your volume is a factor in deciding the speed of the device you will need as well.

Many inkjet printers are rated at about 15 pages per minute for black ink. Laser printers usually print twice that fast. Some high-volume monochrome laser printers print as fast as 100 pages per minute.

Any printer advertised as high-volume is likely to be lightning fast. An organization that prints its own manuals, financial reports, and other multipage documents needs a faster printer than a company that produces only an occasional invoice.

Laser printers take top honors for speed; dot-matrix models have similar speeds but are lower quality, and inkjet models are significantly slower. If you are a small company and find your average print job is between one to three pages; a less expensive, lower-speed printer will be the best answer. Each organization’s print speed needs are unique.

Does Printer Paper Size Matter?

Yes, size does matter when buying your printer. No matter what type of job needs to be printed out – ranging from a business card to a large-format printout of an architectural plan – there’s a paper size to accommodate it.

Most printers and copiers accommodate letter size (8.5×11) and legal (8.5×14″) size paper. If your organization needs different sizes of paper, there is a large selection of efficient office print devices. If you need a ledger size (11″x17″) or statement size ( 5.5×8.5) you will need multiple paper drawers, or cassettes, to accommodate the paper.

There Are Many Features And Accessories That Can Be Added To Your Printer

Features such as automatic duplexing, automatic document feeders for multi-page packets that print both sides of a page in a single pass, and finishing accessories that staple, fold, bind, and hole punch can be used to create finished packets, booklets, magazines, or pages for notebooks. Before you purchase a printer decide which features would benefit your personal business needs.

Waltz Can Help You With Printers, MFPs, and Scanners

Whether your firm is ready to replace or just looking to add a new printer, the tips above should set you on the right track. If you need more help you can always contact us for a free print assessment.