Regardless of the size of your company, a fast and reliable printer is a necessity. Whether you need to print full-color brochures or simple black-and-white documents on plain paper, there are printers available with a variety of features and benefits that will fit those needs.
Examining the needs of your workforce is the best place to start. If you own a smaller company with one to 20 employees, you won't need the same printer features as a bigger company with hundreds of workers. You might put a premium on speed and quality with less of a strict focus on capacity. And larger companies might look for a high-capacity paper tray before they consider page-per-minute speeds. We'll talk about these and other features to consider when shopping for a printer for your business.
CONSIDER THE BASICS
Start by identifying the type of printer your business needs. For instance, if your employees only print basic documents, then you may opt for a print-only model. But if they need to copy, scan, or fax, an all-in-one may be a better solution. The difference in price between print-only and all-in-one models can vary by hundreds of dollars, so it makes sense to only pay for features you will use. And when looking at different models, you can also decide on the onboard control schemes they provide to make sure they are intuitive and easy to use.
Next, you should determine whether you need only black-and-white printing or color as well. And in the same vein, you should compare the ink cartridges that various printers use. Some printers support higher capacity ink cartridges so you won't have to change them as often, resulting in less downtime and more consistent printing.
One example of a solid all-in-one printer for larger small businesses is the Epson Workforce Pro WP-4540. One of its defining features is its fast two-side printing as well as its ability to copy, scan, and fax two-sided documents. As far as ink cartridges are concerned, it supports extralarge capacity cartridges that can print up to 2,400 black-and-white or 1,200 color pages. The WP-4540 is an example of a feature-packed printer that can be an all-in-one hub for your companies' printing needs.
SPEED, CAPACITY, AND VOLUME
A printer's performance quality and overall printing efficiency can be boiled down to three things: speed, capacity, and volume. The reported speed of a printer, or its ppm (pages per minute), should serve as a rough guide to the printer's speed. When looking at ppm figures, remember that it takes longer to print in color or at best quality than it does to print in black-and-white or at lower quality, so take a careful look at the detailed specifications in order to make a fair comparison between printers.
Some printers, such as HP's Officejet Pro 8600, can print color and black-and-white projects at nearly the same speed (up to 32 ppm, decent for small companies or work groups). But when you start to print at a higher quality, the range between the two speeds tends to grow.
A printer's capacity depends on the size of its paper tray. Smaller-capacity trays are fine for infrequent or small printing jobs. For larger small businesses, it may be necessary to find a printer with a larger tray. And your company's printing amount goes hand-in-hand with volume, as well.
Printers are designed to handle a specific amount of printed pages over a certain period of time. For instance, a printer's volume may be 1,000 to 2,000 pages per month, which means printing within that range will make sure neither quality nor performance will suffer.
HP's LaserJet Enterprise 600 M600 printer series offer a monthly print volume of between 5,000 and 20,000 pages plus varying paper tray capacities. The M601 models offer 500-sheet capacity while the M602 and M603 models have paper tray capacities ranging from 500 to 1,500. The M600 series of printers provides enough variety that both small companies and larger small businesses could find one that fits their needs.
NETWORKING CAPABILITIES
The final printer component to consider is networking capabilities, which includes a wide range of possible features. You should look at your company's wired or wireless network to decide what types of printer fits best. If you'd prefer to have the printer in a central location, you may opt for a Wi-Fi-compatible model. Wi-Fi printers also make it much easier to print from devices other than desktop computers, including mobile devices and laptops. Or if you want to take advantage of the reliability of a wired network, there are printers that support Ethernet connections.
Epson WorkForce 845 has both Ethernet and built-in Wi-Fi, so it can fit into almost any office environment. Many of Epson's printers have Epson Connect functionality, which enables you to print documents and photos from your smartphone, tablet, or cloud-based applications and solutions.
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
It may seem difficult at first to find a printer that provides the printing features, speed, and networking capabilities you need. And in all actuality, there may not be a printer out there that is the total package. The goal is to figure out which features are absolutely essential, establish a price range, and research and compare different models to find the best possible printer for your company, hand-in-hand with volume, as well.
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