How to choose a printer and MFP for the office?

The entire life of the office is reflected in the document flow, and almost every contract, the order or report must be available not only in electronic form, and also in print. It is more convenient and reliable from a legal point of view. exept this, I have to print a lot of ads for my employees, so it is clearer. All this makes it impossible for any office to function without printing devices, therefore, it is a mandatory expense item for any company. But which printer or MFP is better to buy for the office? Many factors affect this.

Which is better: MFP or printer?

When everything can be forwarded by email, there is little to scan in the office, if at all necessary. That's why many offices can do just fine with one printer. But if there is a need to scan and copy a lot, then it is better to think about purchasing an MFP for the office - a device, which connects the printer, scanner and copier. The good news is that, that choosing a MFP for the office does not have to be a lot of brainstorming. Since the printer is still the most used part, then you can choose, focusing mainly on the same characteristics. And it is also worth paying attention to the principle of operation of the scanner in the device. It is long and flat. The first can only work with individual letters. The second will already successfully cope with scanning a book or magazine.

A logical question immediately arises, how much does an MFP cost?? he, Of course, costs more than a printer, but it will be more profitable, than three separate devices. BFP for a large office, where all its functions are needed, pays off very quickly. exept this, it will take up very little space and save employees' time. You won't need to scan the image separately first, save to the computer and only then send to print. BFP allows you to do without intermediate stages.

Color or black and white printing?

The color printing function will significantly affect the cost of the device. Therefore, if there is no need for it, don't waste money “just in case”, buy a black and white printer or MFP. It is more profitable.

But if a printer is needed in the office just for a large volume of printing color images: postcards, diagrams, sample posters and more, be prepared for that, that will have to be spent. But there are nuances here. important to know, some inkjet and laser devices can use as primary colors, and different shades. The more colors in the "base", the higher the cost accordingly. 4 or 5 of the most popular colors will be enough for a printer or BFP for the office. More is needed only if you are connected with design and you care, so that shades are transmitted more accurately.

Select the format

Everything is simple here. All standard official papers are in A4 format. As in the case of color, it makes no sense to buy a large-format printing device just in case. However, if you still have to print drawings or cry from time to time, then choose devices depending on the largest format you need, all of them also support A4.

 

Which printing technology is better?

This issue should be addressed only after that, How did you decide on the print jobs?. After all, each technology has its advantages and disadvantages, which will be important for some purposes and insignificant for others. There are several types of printers, but for offices, laser and inkjet printers are the most common and in demand.

Laser devices

Laser technology is a process of laser heating of sections of paper and applying powder to them, which is baked and creates an image.

Advantages of a laser printer:

high print speed;
great performance;
low cost of consumables and one printout.
Therefore, a laser printer is perfect for the office, in which large volumes of document circulation or any black and white printing.

The disadvantages of a laser printer are:

cost and quality of color images;
the harmfulness of a laser printer - it emits ozone during operation, and part of the powder falls into the air, therefore, the room with it should be ventilated more often.
If color print quality doesn't matter, and you use a printer to print black and white documentation, postcards, catalogs or brochures in large quantities, then a laser machine will help you save a lot on such prints. The high cost of the device for large volumes of printing pays off very quickly.

Jet devices

In an inkjet printer, the image is applied by dot spraying of ink onto the paper.

Advantages of inkjet printers:

good color image quality;
low cost of color printing.
It is inkjet devices that are used to print photos and various colorful advertising products. If the printer is needed for this purpose, jet machine is the only solution.

Disadvantages of inkjet printers:

low print speed;
high price of black and white printing;
the need to use the printer regularly – during prolonged downtime, the ink may dry inside the print head and will require repair;
higher cost of maintenance and repair of the printer.
As a result, we have, that an inkjet printer is the best and only rational choice for high-quality color printing, and absolutely not suitable for black and white.

The image below schematically shows the working principles of laser and inkjet printers:

 

Other printing technologies

There are three more: LED, sublimation and matrix. Devices, that work on their basis, have more specific tasks, therefore, they are usually not bought for the office just like that. However, a few words should be said about them as well.

LED. Essentially, LED printer also works like a laser printer, but only uses another light source. The shaft is not illuminated by a laser, and an LED line with ten thousand diodes. The peculiarity of the LED device is that, that it makes "white noise" when working, which cannot be deciphered. So, if you have reasons to worry about data retention, the LED printer will be their good protector.
Small dimensions and the absence of moving parts in the LED unit are also advantages. The latter significantly extends its service life in general. But if at least one diode fails, then the entire LED strip will need to be replaced. This is a very expensive repair, which can absorb the cost of a new low-power inkjet or laser printer. At the same time, the laser device is still the first in terms of printing speed.

Sublimation. The printer has a film cartridge, on which are yellow, blue and red dyes. When the film is heated, from her area, which has been affected by heat, the ink evaporates and is sealed to the paper. This is called the process of sublimation. To use every dye, printing one image must be done in three approaches. After the procedure is completed, it is covered with a protective film.
Such sophisticated technology allows you to get high-quality photos without a hint of frustration, at the same time, the image is durable. It does not burn out in the sun and is not afraid of moisture. But because of the high cost for printing photos, it is not used that often.

Its main purpose is to transfer the image to the fabric, t-shirts, mugs, pillows and other souvenir products.

Matrix. You will not often find it on the free market. Due to very low print quality, it is in demand only in narrow niches. Its main purpose is to print standard forms and receipts in the bank, receipts and labels in the store, as well as tickets to airports and railway stations.
The matrix printer has a huge resource of work, it allows you to make several copies of a document at the same time, and can also print from a roll of paper.

The principle of its operation is simple: special needles transfer the ink from the ink ribbon to the paper and create an image under the influence of an electromagnet, which pushes them out in the right sequence.

How much does the service cost??

When choosing any printed device, you need to think in advance about the cost and availability of consumables, their service life and the cost of their replacement. Many people buy a cheap printer and are happy, that had been saved until that moment, until you have to buy new cartridges. The optimal print resource is considered to be up to 2500 black and white pages and 1500 colored. It is not profitable to take a device for the office with lower values.

If we talk about inkjet printers, in which fuss with cartridges turns out more, than any other, and besides, you have to change them quite often, manufacturers offer a refillable cartridge for such devices (PZK) and continuous ink supply system (NSPL). Both PZK and NSPL allow not to buy new cartridges, when the old ones expire, and just add ink to them.

Cartridge, that is refueled, almost no different from the usual, except for a small opening, through which paint is added using syringes (separate for each color).
Cartridges are installed inside, therefore, the actual ink consumption must be constantly checked, if you don't want to, so that they end at the most inopportune moment. A plus, with them, the printer can be easily moved.

The continuous ink supply system is a bit more complicated. It consists of external containers with ink, loop and cartridges, which is constructively a copy of the original ones.
The ink tanks are located next to the printer. They are connected to the cartridges by a loop, which receive ink. The advantage is that, that you will always see, how much ink is left in the tanks. You can also top them up from liter cans, no syringes are needed. And the volume of containers is larger, than cartridges.

Speaking about, which printer is better to buy for the office, if you don't have a printing house, then the device with cartridges will be more profitable, that are refueled. The continuous ink supply system is only necessary if printing images and photos is your professional activity or you really don't like to deal with cartridges. They are approximately the same in terms of their cost-effectiveness - the cost of one sheet decreases at least if it is available 15 time.

 

Productivity

first, what needs to be done - find out how many pages of documents need to be printed per day. You can set it quite simply - look at the paper consumption. For the most part, it all goes to these needs, because even leave applications are filled out and submitted in printed form these days.

This parameter should be rejected. If you underestimate the volumes, then the device will quickly fail, because it will work at the limit of its capabilities. Reevaluate – waste money on a powerful printer for the office, which most of the time will be just his decoration.

Manufacturers always indicate the recommended and maximum monthly load on the device. Preferably, so that the required volume of printing is prescribed in the recommended value. Constant work at maximum power will lead to the fastest possible wear of parts and failure of the printer.

In the technical characteristics of the load, usually, the number of black-and-white letters is written with filling in approx 5% (it means in letters "o"). Monochrome laser printers have the largest resource. A regular model is ready to issue up to six thousand pages per month, professional - twice as much. But the cost of such devices is quite high. In most models, this value varies from 1500 to 2000 pages per month.

If you have the finances at your disposal, then perhaps the best option would be to buy more than one super-powerful device, and spend money on two low-power devices. Due to the possibility of parallel printing, queues of employees for documents will be reduced, which will positively affect the speed of their work.

What else to pay attention to when choosing printers and MFPs?

Important characteristics, which can make work much easier, are the following.

Print speed. It is measured by the number of pages, that are printed per minute: that it is higher, then less employees will have to wait for documents. The first in this parameter, Of course, laser printers. They are able to remove to 60 prints per minute, that is, one per second. Strumenev is already slower, if we talk about black and white printing, then this is the maximum 40 pages per minute and everything 8-9 color images.
Printer location. According to this parameter, they are divided into desktop and floor. The latter are more powerful and productive. They are well suited for offices, where many people. If there are only two or three people in the room and there is not much space, then it is better not to clutter up the space and get by with a desktop modification. she, Besides, will cost less.
Availability of a sorter. This is a function to sort print copies. Thanks to it, each new batch of copies is slightly shifted relative to the previous one, which allows you not to spend time sorting through all the sheets - you can immediately take and staple the pages of the document.
Double-sided scanning and printing. No need to manually flip a document for double-sided scanning or a sheet of paper while printing, which also significantly saves workers' time. And it also prevents confusion. Very often, the document is turned over the wrong side and as a result the image is printed upside down.
Tray size. Preferably, to the amount of paper, placed there, was enough for at least one working day. Printers and BFP with a tray are suitable for a small office, in which you can put 100-150 sheet, for the average - 330-500, for the big from 1000.
Built-in print server. Allows you to connect any local network computer to the printer via a USB port for instant printing. There is no need to additionally install drivers and perform other device settings.
AirPrint. If your office is mostly equipped with Apple equipment, then this function must be in printers, that are purchased or MFP. It allows you to print documents and images (including photos) from devices of the "apple" company through a wired connection without installing additional drivers or via a Wi-Fi network.

What is the required interface?

And so we smoothly approached that, how high-tech your printer needs to be in terms of connectivity and data transfer.

USB – the simplest and most popular interface for connecting printing devices to a computer or laptop;
NFC is a technology, which allows you to transfer data at a distance of ten centimeters and print from various gadgets, by simply holding them up to the NFC sticker;
Ethernet - allows you to connect the printer to a local office network;
RJ-11 connector - available in MFPs with a fax machine function for connecting it to the telephone network;
Wi-Fi - allows you to send documents for printing to all employees, which have Wi-Fi configured, not only from PC, as well as from phones and tablets;
Bluetooth - also allows you to send documents to print from mobile devices.
COM and LPT ports (serial and parallel) are currently considered obsolete and practically not used. The printer can also support memory cards. In this case, they can be inserted into the device and immediately print information from them.

The best printers and MFPs 2023

And to make it even easier for you to decide, we offer you a list of the five best models of printers and MFPs for the office in 2019 year.

Printers
Canon i-SENSYS LBP653Cdw is a budget model with high speed black and white and color printing, can work with mobile applications. A feature is the presence of the function of automatic removal of the toner seal, which facilitates the procedure of their replacement.
KYOCERA ECOSYS P5026cdw is one of the best laser devices for the office in terms of price-quality ratio. A reliable model, which supports as black and white, and color printing, has high print speed and low noise.
Brother HL-3140CW is an LED model. Perfect for small offices thanks to its compact size. It has a wireless connection, supports color and black-and-white printing, can work with mobile devices and Wi-Fi.
Canon PIXMA PRO-100S is a professional model with 8-color inkjet printing. Supports PC connection, tablet, smartphone, Wi-Fi, as well as integration with professional photo editing software.
Canon imagePROGRAF TX-3000 is the best industrial inkjet printer with support for poster printing. It is distinguished by simple management and maintenance, low operating costs, compatible with various operating systems.
BFP
Brother DCP-1602R is an excellent budget model, suitable for intensive daily use, has high speed, good clarity of black and white printing, as well as cartridges with a fairly large resource.
Samsung Xpress SL-C480/XEV is an affordable color laser machine with printing, high quality scanning and copying. The speed of work is optimal for the office, there is a complete set of drivers for OC Windows, Linux, MAC.
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw is a color laser printer, is characterized by high printing speed and capacity of trays, can work with gadgets, connects to local and wireless networks.
Canon MAXIFY MB2140 – inkjet device for an acceptable price with rich functionality, works on 4 economic cartridges. It has a double-sided printing function, scanner, fax and can read memory cards. Works on Wi-Fi.
Epson L1455 is an inkjet printer, which works with A3 format. An excellent option for printing posters, catalogs and any other advertising products. Equipped with CIS, has a large resource of work, supports SD memory cards.
Choosing a print device, be guided by tasks, which he has to fulfill with his budget. Compare how much this or that printer or MFP costs, functional, which is offered for this money, and then you can choose the most suitable device for your office.