Finding the perfect business printer isn’t really that much of a challenge. But you do have plenty of choices at your disposal and that’s where things can begin to get arduous. Price points will vary based on all of these facets as the more bells and whistles you have on your unit will affect the cost. So while it may seem that the decision can get a bit overwhelming, your options are going to boil down to just two categories.
Those categories refer to the method by which your pages are physically printed by the unit. Choosing one of these categories will depend largely on the type of printing you plan to do. But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here. Let’s get to the basics first and then you can start to do your comparison shopping.
To start with, buying an office printer means deciding on whether you want to go with laser printing or inkjet printing to produce your printed pages. But how does one decide between these two choices? You begin by considering what each option brings to the table and weighing the assorted pros and cons associated with each method.
You should also start thinking about one other very critical factor before you make your decision. That is, what type of printing are you planning on doing with the machine? Are you purchasing a business printer as a means for printing out documents or producing photographs? Many printers will do both in the laser and inkjet variety, however, choosing one over the other should be done keeping this facet in mind.
That’s because certain methods are better for the production of each. Therefore, if you want a printer that produces beautiful, colorful, high-resolution photographs more often than you’re printing text, an inkjet printer is probably going to be the one you want. However, if you mainly plan to print text documents as the bulk of your unit’s output, then a laser printer is most likely going to be your best option.
Sounds simple, right? Well it is, for the most part. But there are other pros and cons that you need to introduce into the equation as inkjet and laser both offer distinct advantages over one another based on the type of printing you expect to do most often during the course of your business day. With that said, here are the important things you should look for (and some things you need to be aware of) before buying a printer for your office from canon copiers Virginia Beach VA.
Laser Printers
The two categories of printer are delineated by the method by which they print and the materials used for doing so. In the case of laser printing, toner is used to produce your printed output. You’ve probably seen or even handled toner before, particularly if you have ever worked in an office environment.
Toner is an ink that comes in powdered form. When you hit print on your laser printer, the toner is heated and then applied to the page throughout the printing process. One of the advantages to laser printing is that the toner which is applied to the page as ink is fully dried before the page emerges from the printer. So you don’t need to worry about smudging the work that has been created once it hits your fingers.
That is a problem with some inkjet printers and it’s one of the reasons why consumers who are seeking out business printers will choose laser. However, there are some limitations that also come with laser printing that might make you think twice for making your purchase.
The most prevalent of these is that laser printers are only capable of reproducing a limited number of colors so your printing palette may not be the best choice for producing images. Your photographs may not be reproduced exactly on the page compared to how they look on your device. It’s possible you can find high-quality printers that can do text and images but the latter may still be slightly off mainly due to the restrictions that come with just about all laser printers with respect to color reproduction.
So now that you know which type of printing is best for a laser printer, you should also consider how much use the printer is going to receive on average. If your office is going to depend on a printer with regularity, then laser is the right way to go. These machines are ideal for those office environments that expect high print volumes with multiple employees sending their output to the same unit for many pages of printing per day.
Inkjet Printers
So you be thinking that inkjet is basically the opposite of everything we just discussed above with respect to laser. You would be mostly correct but there are some things you need to consider if you are planning on purchasing an inkjet unit.
Of course, the method by which inkjet prints uses standard ink. It doesn’t come in powder form nor is it heated into a liquid to be applied to the page. An inkjet printer works by marking your blank page with tiny microdots of ink in a controlled spray in order to produce the output you need. Those microdots are designed to create images and text with sharpness and accuracy to give you a printed page that looks great.
Inkjet printers contain a much wider palette of colors that can be reproduced with clarity and precision on the page so this type of unit will be much better at reproducing images. They do a good job with text documents as well, but you will be using a lot of ink to print out that paperwork so it may not be as economical an option if you expect to print more text over time.
There’s also the concern of ink drying thoroughly. You need to be patient with an inkjet printer’s output as the ink may not be fully dry before the page is expelled from the unit. That can result in smudges and smears being made from eager little fingers that grab the page too quickly.
