Printers come in all shapes and sizes and with a variety of functions available. Choosing the right printer for your needs can be a complex decision, so make sure you understand the differences between the models. Knowing ahead of time how much repairs and consumables will cost will save you money in the end. Here are some tips so you can determine the right printer for your business.
Determine Business Needs
Do you need a simple printer for one person or a high-duty printer that can handle the demands of an office? How much space do you have available? What are you printing the most of and is it color or black and white? How fast do you need the print speed to be? The demands of each office are different and you want to make sure you’re able to purchase printers Jackson MI with confidence.
Ink Costs
Print manufacturers include a print-per-page cost in the specifications so you need to calculate your monthly printing needs. Generally, if a printer is less expensive to purchase, the ink costs will be more expensive. The upfront cost of the printer itself will seem substantially more, but figuring out the ink costs will tell you the true expense of each printer. Most businesses print documents and only need to worry about black ink, but if you have color ink needs, make sure you choose a model with that capability.
Print Speed and Duty Cycle
Each printer has a monthly amount of pages it can safely produce, this is called the duty cycle. If you go above the duty cycle count regularly, you have a higher chance of your printer breaking down leading to repair costs. Having multiple users on the same printer makes print speed important as well. The pages-per-minute will be listed in the printer specifications. Laser printers tend to print at double the speed of inkjets.
Replacement and Repair
Knowing the cost of replacement parts and repair can also help you determine what printer will be right for you. Check reviews to see how often certain models break down and choose a reliable printer model.
Functionality
In addition to printing, printers can handle faxing, scanning, copying and emailing documents. Do you need your printer to have multiple functions? Do you need wireless printing capabilities? Write down a list of what you need your printer to do to avoid overpaying for things you won’t use.
It can take time to gather the information you need to know your specific business printing needs, but it will save you money when you purchase the right printer.
