The more typical minimum capacity is 250 pages. Some entry-level business printers have a standard input capacity of as little as 150 pages, which may suffice for a small, low-volume workgroup unfortunately, most such models aren’t expandable. The printer you choose should offer the paper-handling capabilities appropriate for what you do now–and it should be expandable to accommodate subsequent growth. Higher-end models have room for expansion. A typical amount for a business printer can be anywhere from 64MB to 256MB. The number and size of expected jobs will dictate how much memory your printer should have. USB is the typical connection type, but wireless is a forward-looking feature worth considering. The machine will be slow it will lack useful features such as automatic duplexing (two-sided printing) and it will likely have pricier consumables. How much output do you need your printer to print–a few sheets a day, dozens, or hundreds? Are you the only person who’ll be printing, or will your coworkers use the machine, too? To avoid getting stuck with too much printer or too little, you have to figure out which features are relevant to your needs.Ĭhoose a personal inkjet or laser printer only if you’ll be its only user and you plan not to print more than a few dozen pages a day. Because solid-ink printers compete most closely with lasers and LEDs, you’ll find our top picks in this color laser chart.įit the Printer to Your Office Size and Volume This technology is worth considering for a small office or department that wants something faster than an inkjet, but less complicated than a color laser or LED printer. Photo quality is about the same for a solid-ink printer as for a laser or LED printer: adequate, but not quite as good as for a typical inkjet. Unlike toner and ink cartridges, the ink blocks use no plastic packaging, and therefore impose less of a shipping, storage, and environmental burden. Solid-ink printers, available only through Xerox, use a unique technology that melts waxlike blocks and then squirts the semiliquid fluid through tiny holes in a printhead onto paper. Check out our top-ranked models among single-function inkjet printers and multifunction inkjet printers. Media flexibility is another selling point, as some models can print on specially designed canvas, iron-on transfers, or even CD/DVD media. Various office-ready models can deliver competitive speed and print quality, too. Superior photo quality is only one reason that inkjet printers are worth considering for many businesses. Check out our current favorites on our Top 10 Color Laser Printers chart. Another significant factor is photo quality: Most laser and LED printers struggle to print smooth-looking images. One major reason is that color printers cost more to buy and resupply as a result, businesses must manage access to color printing to avoid overuse or misuse. See our Top 10 Monochrome Laser Printers chart for a ranked list of our top-rated models.Ĭolor laser or LED printers may seem like the natural evolutionary step forward from monochrome models, but the transition is happening slowly. The consumables for these printers tend to be the cheapest around, too. If you normally print plain text–letters, spreadsheets, documentation–with nothing more graphic than a simple logo or a few straight lines, a monochrome laser or LED printer should suit you just fine. Inkjet, Laser, LED, Solid Ink…They’re All Good (or Better)Ĭhoosing a machine for its underlying technology is less problematic than it used to be, as differences in speed and output quality have narrowed. For a how-to, consult this guide to doing the math to determine ink and toner costs. Unless you are among the sparsely printing few, you would do well to check a printer’s ink or toner costs before you buy, to avoid budget-busting surprises later. As a result, the only person likely to benefit from a low-cost printer with high-cost consumables is someone who prints very little, and thus stretches out the time between replacements as long as possible. The business model used by most printer vendors works like this: The lower the initial price tag of the printer, the higher the cost of replacement ink or toner.
But before you commit to buying the cheapest printer you can find, let’s examine what “cheap” really means, and why the cheapest printer may not be the most affordable printer. Of course, you don’t want to spend more than you can afford.
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