An office printer is an essential item in the interior of any company’s rooms . Indeed, today it is impossible to imagine the performance of any work without computers. With their help, reports and invoices are prepared, reports and many other documents necessary for the implementation of the company. And to help translate the electronic form of all documents available in the computer's memory into paper format, a special peripheral technique, which is an office printer, allows.
The choice of such a device is a very responsible matter. After all, after the purchase it is impossible to update or expand the functionality of the printer. That is why it is worthwhile to clearly set a goal in advance and decide which device and with what characteristics will satisfy all the needs of an employee planning to work with him.
Where to begin?
Currently, manufacturers offer a huge assortment of peripherals for the computer. Moreover, it is impossible to give specific recommendations about what an office printer should be, and which model will be the best option for work. After all, there is no device capable of printing beautiful photos, giving out stacks of color and monochrome text, being easy to maintain, and at the same time having a low price. Each printer model is designed to solve its, as a rule, a wide range of tasks. And for the most efficient performance of work in the office, it will be necessary to approach the selection of a suitable peripheral device rather seriously. The first step for this is to identify the area in which he will work. For example, it can be a printout of a large number of text pages, price lists and booklets.
Or, on the contrary, the main task of the printer will be the output of pictures of excellent photographic quality. In any case, how correctly the operating conditions of the peripheral device are determined, how much the choice turns out to be correct.
Expendable materials
One of the main features that an office printer has is that it needs cartridges or ink to print. Depending on how many pages of text or pictures they will be enough, the choice of this device also depends. The price of an office printer with a large resource can be tens of times more expensive than for models that require frequent refueling. However, in the latter case, a serious column regarding consumables for this equipment will be added to the budget of the company.
Document Format
When choosing an office printer, it is also necessary to clearly understand what texts or pictures on it will have to be printed. The most common today is the A4 format.
It corresponds to the size of a sheet of paper 297x210 mm. Basically, it is these printers that are offered today in the peripheral market. However, sometimes in the process of printing images on paper of A3 format is required. It is 2 times larger than the above A4. In this case, you will need a large office printer. As a rule, the price of such models is much higher than those that print in the volume of standard formats.
There are also printers that allow you to print images larger than A3 size. This is a professional technique called plotters.
Computer research
Before choosing an office printer, you must pay attention to the device to which it will be connected. It is important to determine the interface that computers have. After all, the latest, beautiful and expensive printer can become just a useless thing due to the fact that in the old PC system unit there will not be the right connector.
It should be borne in mind that the parallel interface developed in the first computers, which uses the Centronics protocol, is almost never encountered. Modern printers typically have USB 1.1 as well as 2.0 serial ports. The LPT port can only be installed to ensure that the printing device is compatible with older computer models. Many budget printers can only print documents from the Windows operating system. If for office needs you need to work with DOS or Linux, then you need to carefully read the specification of the selected model. This document will necessarily indicate the operating system that is supported by the printer.
Existing Stereotypes
The popularity of a particular model of printing devices does not come from anywhere. So, in the workplaces of company employees most often you can find an office laser printer of a monochrome type. Such a device perfectly copes with its tasks. Due to their popularity, these types of office equipment are becoming the most affordable, as they are most often produced by manufacturers.
The principle according to which laser printing is carried out was known even before we learned about such printers. It was widely used in copying technology. However, it should be borne in mind: when purchasing an office laser printer, you should make sure that standard paper is always at hand. Indeed, when using glossy coated sheets, embossed or having a different texture, the drum is very quickly contaminated, and the device fails.
Using a laser printer, you can print on envelopes and labels that do not have a glossy finish. Also, when choosing this peripheral device for the computer, you should pay attention to the maximum and recommended load specified in the specification. For office use, do not purchase printers with an entry-level level. After all, they are designed for a small monthly print volume. If the standard established by the manufacturer is exceeded, the likelihood of premature wear of the drum and the failure of the mechanical part of the apparatus is high. What are the benefits of laser printers? Let us dwell on them in more detail.
First Page Out Time
What is attractive about this type of peripheral device? For the most part, these are good office printers with high print speeds, sometimes reaching up to 50 pages of text per minute. Another important parameter of such devices is the exit time of the very first page. Indeed, due to their technological features, laser printers cannot immediately produce the necessary documents. After their inclusion, a certain time should pass, during which the heating of the element that fixes the toner takes place. The manufacturer applies a variety of developments that help reduce this time. Nevertheless, today it is in the range of 9 to 15 seconds.
RAM
The laser printer produces pagination. But for the text to appear on a piece of paper, the user needs to get complete information about it. To this end, laser printers are equipped with RAM. To print texts of its size of 8 MB is enough. In the case of graphics, the memory should be slightly larger.
Some models of laser printers are equipped with slots for additional modules. In inexpensive printers, work with large files can be carried out using patented algorithms that compress the supplied information even at the stage of its sending to print.
For small volumes
Very popular are Xerox office printers. For example, for small volumes, Phaser 6100 can be purchased for workgroups. This is a color MFP model with which the step of similar type laser printers starts at Xerox.
On such a device, you can print black and white documents at a speed of 20 pages per minute. Color printing is 4 times slower.
These are office printers that have the option of duplex printing. Their processor has a clock frequency of 120 MHz, and is also equipped with 64 MB of RAM. All this allows the printer to quickly process almost all available jobs. In addition to the common USB 2.0 port, this peripheral device has a parallel port.
For small companies
A small model of the Xerox Phaser 3500 monochrome printer may be recommended to small firms. The device has a fairly high level of technical characteristics that are commensurate with its price category. The print speed of such devices is 33 pages in one minute. At the same time, the maximum monthly load calculated by the manufacturer is 100 thousand pages.
If you need high speed printing, you should pay attention to the Brother HL-8050N model. The output in this monochrome laser printer is up to 35 sheets in one minute.
Well, if you need a device that can print in AZ format, then you should pay attention to the HP Laser Jet 5100DTN office printer. It can be found not only in the offices of companies, but also among users of computer-aided design systems, as well as among desktop publishing staff. The print speed of such a printer is 22 pages in one minute. At the same time, high quality of received documents is noted. Such a printer is able to work as a network.
Almost laser
A less common option for print devices is LED printers. They do not have a laser beam. It is replaced by a line of fixed LED elements, the width of which is equal to the width of the line. The advantage of such printers is the lack of complex mechanics in their design, as well as a whole system of mirrors, which serves to control the laser beam. In addition, such printers are almost silent due to the reduction in the number of moving elements.
Among the negative aspects can be identified the quality of monochrome printing. It is still worse in LED devices than in laser ones. As for color MFPs of this type, they are leaders in their field. These devices have a high printing speed, which in all respects exceeds laser models of a similar class.
Most popular model
The most successful representative of the family of LED devices can be considered OKI C3200. This is a wonderful office printer, the price of which is relatively low and is about $ 480. The device allows you to get color prints three times faster than laser counterparts do.
Multifunction Printers
This is a separate class of devices. Office multifunction printers are able to scan documents and print them. In addition, such devices function as fax machines. With their help, the necessary documents are copied without using a computer.
This is a large office printer, the main advantage of which is lower cost compared to buying a fax, printer and scanner. At the same time, he will need less space than when placing these three devices on the table.
For medium-sized workgroups who need color printing, the HP Color Laser Jet 4730 is available. This is a color printer that has a monthly load of 10 thousand pages and a sheet feed speed of up to 30 pcs. in a minute. He has the functions of copying and scanning.
Inkjet Printers
They are also used as office equipment. In such printers, the image obtained on paper is formed by ink jets that are ejected from the print head. Inkjet printers allow you to get color printing when using refills in different colors.
For smaller offices, HP offers the new Office Jet 5610. This device is a high-quality printer and scanner that can also act as a fax.
Dot matrix printers
This type of printer is still in steady demand. Printing in such printers is carried out using heads having a set of needles. According to computer commands, the needles knock out dots on a piece of paper, passing through a special ink ribbon.
Typically, these printers produce monochrome printing. The color of the text depends on the color of the ink ribbon. As a rule, they buy it black. However, some printer models have a module for color printing. Their control system takes into account not only the operation of the needles, but also the color of the tape.
The main characteristics of such printers are low speed and low print quality. But at the same time, such devices are great for working with a continuous sheet of paper. They are also used for printing carbon copy documents. Among the advantages of dot-matrix printers, their simplicity of design and reliability are noted. In addition, the cost of a sheet of text issued by them is ten times lower than that of laser counterparts. Unfortunately, during their work they create a high level of noise that can distract employees from work.
The most popular line of dot matrix printers are models from Epson. At the same time, the LX-300 device is allocated. This is the most popular and affordable model of this type, which is distinguished by high printing speed, reaching 337 characters per minute, reliability and the ability to install a unit designed to output colored text.