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Home > Choosing a Printer
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Criteria for selecting an appropriate laser printer:
Do you need a monochrome or a colour laser printer?
If you intend to print mostly black and white pages but you need colour occasionally, you should choose a monochrome laser printer and an inkjet colour printer. Monochrome laser printers are more reliable and much cheaper to operate and maintain than colour laser printers. Colour laser printers are more reliable and cheaper to operate than inkjet printers. Their output is not easily damaged by wet fingers. Inkjet printers are cheap to buy but very expensive to operate. Do not choose a colour laser printer if you plan to print mainly in black and white: it is too expensive to operate. A colour laser printer costs around 15 to 25 cents per page @ 5% coverage for toner whereas a monochrome laser printer costs around 1 to 2 cents per page. A colour printer also has much higher running costs as you will need to replace relatively expensive photo-conductor drums, transfer belts and fusers.
Do you want to print A3 as well as A4 pages?
Select a printer with A3 as well as A4 capabilities. The A3 printers are usually very heavy-duty models that are fast and reliable as well as very cheap to operate and maintain. They have very efficient duplexers. Consider whether you want high volume printing or high quality output or both. Review the maximum monthly output of the printer (duty cycle) and its recommended maintenance interval. Review the maximum print resolution that the printer can produce. Print some samples of what material you would normally need to produce.
Do you want to print double-sided pages automatically?
Select a duplexer as an option. Some printers have in-built duplexers that are more efficient, faster and trouble free in their operation eg A3 models such as the HP 8000DN, 8100DN, 8150DN, 9000DN or the Lexmark W810DN or W820DN (monochrome applications). Consider the HP 8500, 8550DN or the Lexmark C910 (colour applications). You can save a lot of paper by double-sided printing.
Will the printer be compatible with your existing models or do they also need replacing?
Choose a printer that uses the same toner cartridge as your existing printers - unless they will soon be phased out. There will always come a time where you will need to upgrade all of your printers to a newer model range. The principal differences will be in age, processor speed in MHz, memory capacity and pages output per minute. Choose a printer that has a similar user interface and network software to those that you already own.
How many pages per month do you expect to print?
Select a printer with a duty cycle and a major service interval in excess of your expectations. Do not choose small desktop models unless space or portability is really at a premium. Avoid models with vertical paper feeders. Bigger is better in terms of speed, reliability, operating costs and ease of maintenance.
Do you expect to print many copies of large or complex documents?
Choose a printer with a low running cost and a high page per minute rating. Choose a printer with 500 page input and output bins. Add additional memory. If you expect to print large volumes of output, review the maximum paper input and output capacity of the printer. If you purchase additional input and output bins, you can save yourself or your staff a lot of time: you can leave the printer operating unattended for large production runs. Connect the printer via a print server, not just a parallel port or a USB port. Consider A3/A4 heavy-duty models as they are fast, reliable and economical to operate. Consider buying a duplexer to suit the printer.
Do you expect to print large PDF's, spreadsheets, or photographs?
Select a model with 1200 dpi resolution and a fast processor. We recommend that you add additional RAM. Some older printer models (eg Lexmark Optra S models) have difficulty in printing large PDF files.
Do you intend to use different sizes and types of paper?
Consider extra trays for letterhead, cheques, coloured paper, A5, or plain A4. This will save you a lot of time in readjusting and reloading paper trays. Do you need to use A5 in the main paper tray rather than just the manual feed tray? Do you need to print on glossy paper, labels, transparencies, envelopes or cardstock? Can you purchase an automatic envelope feeder as an option? Check the paper handling specifications of the printer carefully to see if it can handle the sizes, weights and types of paper and other media you want to use. Many printers have trouble with paper that has a highly textured surface, pre-printed stationery, linen faced paper and some coated papers.
Do you need a personal printer or a workgroup printer?
If you need a workgroup printer, choose a rugged and reliable model that is not easily damaged and can be easily and economically repaired. Heavy duty printers need more desk space but their size is one key to their reliability, longevity and ease of maintenance. Add extra paper trays. Avoid printers with vertical input paper feeders. Connect the printer to your network directly through an internal print server rather than using a parallel or a USB port. A network connection is almost 300 times faster than a parallel port.
Do you intend to connect the printer to a network?
Select a printer with provision for at least one internal print server. Order the print server as an option if it is not included as standard. Choose a print server to match the speed of your network eg 10BaseT/2 Ethernet, 10/100 Ethernet or fast Ethernet. Check the type of network cabling you require eg cat5 or coax cabling. Later model print servers have faster processors, more memory on board and more functionality in their embedded web servers. Check that you have a suitable network outlet close-by. Consider additional RAM. Consider what network software you might use eg Novell or Lexmark MarkVision.
Do you intend to connect the printer to two or more networks?
Some workgroup laser printers can switch automatically between two or more networks if they have an appropriate number of internal print servers installed. For example, the earlier model Lexmark S and T series printers can switch automatically between two different networks whereas the T63x and the current T64x models cannot do so.
What operating system / networking software do you use? What application programs do you use?
Select a printer that is supported by your software environment. For example, the Lexmark Optra E, S and T families of printers work well with MAZE, OASIS and ALICE whereas many other printers do not.
What is the maximum acceptable noise level in your environment?
All laser printers make some noise when they are operating. If this is a problem in your environment, check the noise level ratings of the various models you are considering. Compare the noise levels with any standards that may be applicable in your environment.
Can you accommodate the size and weight of the printer in your office / workshop?
The minimum size of an A4 printer is determined by the size of an A4 sheet of paper laid flat on your desk. Most home/office printers are approximately 400mm wide by 400 mm deep. Most commercial duty A4 printers are approximately 420mm wide and 500 mm deep. The principal difference between a home/office printer and a commercial model is in the height but this does not affect its footprint.
What is the cost per page of toner?
Look at the price of new and remanufactured toner cartridges in this catalogue and the number of pages that a cartridge is rated to print. Remember that cartridge capacity is usually rated at 5 % coverage of toner on the page: if plan to print full page colour photographs, you will use a lot more toner and get much lower page yields. Divide the price of the cartridge by its rated capacity in pages. For monochrome printers, the best price is around 1 cent per page and the worst about 5 cents per page. For colour laser printers, you need to add the cost of all four cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow and black): the best price is about 12 cents per page and the price ranges upwards to over 30 cents per page for small, home/office models. If you want to print high quality graphics or if you want accurate colour matching, you should base your calculations on the cost of genuine toner cartridges.
What is the total cost of ownership?
The purchase price is only a small component of the total cost of ownership. Consider the cost of paper, toner, maintenance and repairs. How many pages can the printer produce before it will need a major service? Does it have a durable paper feed system? Are spare parts and service readily available? Is the printer cheap to service?
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