How to Buy a New Color Business Printer
By: Deniss Walthers
The choices that are available for color printers and multifunction color printers are astounding. So, what are the key features and specifications to focus on when buying a new color printer for your school?
While it is not always the same for everyone, here are the areas of particular importance:
* Initial cost of the color printer
* Cost of the supplies (toner, drums, etc.)
* Maintenance cost
* Reliability
* Print speed
* Print quality
* Warranty
* Right machine for the job
* Energy consumption
* Waste (environmental impact)
The more of these factors you can take into consideration, the easier it will be to make the best decision for your school.
The initial cost is often misleading. U.S. consumers have always focused on how much it costs now and not how much it is going to cost over the life of the product. This may be partly due to the fact that, often, the person purchasing the equipment is not the same one who will be purchasing supplies for the printer. Focus less on the initial cost and more on the other key areas, if you want a product that will meet your expectations over time.
A key area to focus on is the supplies cost. What supplies have to be replaced, and how often? In the case of color laser printers, you will not only have toner, but imaging drums, fusers, and rollers that will add up to many times the cost of the printer over its life. Do your research upfront and find out what will need to be purchased to keep your printer operational.
Are you buying a disposable color printer? In many cases with lower-cost printers, they are not designed to handle the demands of business, and you will find yourself replacing these units more frequently. An easy method of determining a printer's reliability is to look at what the printer manufacture call the "Duty Cycle." The duty cycle is the maximum capacity that a printer is rated to handle. This information can be found in the specifications of the printer and is stated in the number of pages monthly. A higher number means a more reliable printer. To keep your printer at its peak performance, your monthly usage should be no more than 10% of the Duty Cycle. A sports car may be able to run 180 miles per hour, but you would not consider driving it at that speed all the time. A business printer should have a duty cycle of at least 85,000 pages monthly, even if you will only be printing a small fraction of that.
Do not believe everything you read when it comes to print speed. It does little good to know a printer can print 45 pages per minute if the color print quality is unacceptable at that speed. Try and determine what the useable print speed is. The useable speed is the fastest speed that documents are printed at an acceptable quality. This is typically less than half of the top rated speed of the printer.
You should also look at the "Time to First Page." This is how long it takes the printer before the first page is printed. Since most of the things we print are less than 10 pages, it does little good to have a printer that can print 45 pages per minute if it takes 45 seconds before the first page prints. There are multiple factors involved in providing a fast time to first page. The processor in your computer and the processor in your printer determine how fast the document can be processed and printed. If the printer has to warm up, this will also slow down the time to first page. You will find the manufacturer's estimated time to first page listed in the printer specifications.
What about the warranty? If the printer you are considering does not have at least a one-year on-site service policy, I would question its ability to meet the requirements of your school. If the printer manufacturer does not offer on-site service, then that should be your first clue that this might not be the printer for your educational facility.
If you are concerned about the environment, look for printers that reduce the amount of waste produced over the life of the printer. Did you know that a color laser printer will produce well over 200 pounds of waste over its life, while a Solid Ink color printer will produce less than one-eighth of that?
If you follow these tips and get the right printer for the intended task, you should be pleased with the final choice and should not have any surprises down the road.
Dennis Walthers is the president and chief executive officer of FreePrinters.com, Inc., a Texas-based corporation that provides free, high-performance color printers and copiers to organizations across the nation.
