5 Things to Consider Before You Buy a New Color Printer

If you or your company are in the market for a new printer, here are 5 things to consider before you purchase one:

Color or black and white: This one is fairly self explanatory, but you have to start somewhere. If you print mainly company forms, invoices, or otherwise text heavy documents, a black and white only printer is probably good enough. for photos or marketing materials, obviously you are going to want a color printer.

Do you need a multifunction?: Are you replacing just an old printer, or could you replace several office machines at the same time? A multifunction (or all-in-one) printer would also be able to scan, fax and copy documents. Please note, you would most likely have to go with ink jet cartridge technology if you go with a multifunction machine, and there would be some document security concerns to keep in mind when it came time to replace the machine.

Laser or Inkjet: Inkjet printers are really good at printing photos. Laser printers are really good at printing crisp text. Color laser printers are improving all the time but can still be on the expensive side. Ink jet printers offer a lower up front cost, while laser printers, which are more expensive, do typically offer a better value per printed page.

Your ink costs: If you divide an ink or toner cartridge’s price by it’s pages printed you get the cost-per-page . The more you print, the more you are going to want a good cost per page value. You will want to find a printer that uses a cartridge that gives you a good amount of printed output for your money. The price of a given toner cartridge or ink jet cartridge may look cheap or (more likely) very expensive, but on it’s own the cost of the cartridges does not give you the entire picture. Not until you figure out how much each page costs you can you asses whether the print cartridge is truly expensive or not.

Your print volume: You need to invest in a printer that matches up well with your typical output; buying a less expensive printer up front will end up costing you more on ink in the long run, and the life of the printer could be compromised by printing more than the machine is designed to handle.

BONUS TIP: If you are trading in a machine that scans your documents, (scanner, fax, copy machine) and/or you purchase a multifunction machine, please be aware that these machines more than likely keep a digital copy of everything that has or ever will pass through them. Please keep this in mind when it comes time for disposing of the machines. We talked more about this security issue here.

Choosing a new printer can be daunting, if you have any questions about color printers, ink cartridges or toner cartridges, please feel free to contact Exec any time