The CDS Ultimate Guide for Buying Office Printers  

Office printers play a pivotal role in the smooth functioning of any business. They are essential for generating important documents, producing marketing materials, and facilitating effective communication. With a wide range of options available in the market, choosing the right office printer can be a daunting task. This comprehensive guide created by the experts at CDS aims to provide you with a detailed overview of factors to consider, types of printers, key features, and budget considerations to help you make an informed decision when purchasing office printers.  

1. Who will be using the printer?  

2. What would you be printing?  

3. What is your budget?  

Who will be using the printer?

The first thing to consider when buying a printer is what kind of user you are. Simply put, what is your user persona? Below are the major user personas for office printing equipment. Knowing the type of user you are, your printing needs, and how you will use the printer will help you determine the type of printer to purchase.  

‍1. Personal/Home Office User:

As a personal/home office user, you typically require a basic printer without all the bells and whistles of an office printer. Your at-home printing needs consist of personal documents and web pages. Additionally, you can print photos from your family's digital camera. Sometimes, you work from home and need to print essential business documents.  

For your needs, a simple color inkjet printer will suffice. However, if you plan to use it for business purposes, you may find the snappier look and better graphics of a laser printer more suitable. If photos are necessary, you'll want a printer that can print clearly on different photo paper sizes. It's also worth considering connectivity options like USB, wireless, and SD cards for your convenience.  ‍

2. Small- and Medium-sized Business Users:

The perfect printer for your office as a small- or medium-sized business user depends on the nature of your business. For example, if you work in a law office that prints thousands of black-and-white legal briefs, a monochrome printer with a very high-speed delivery would be perfect for your business.  

On the other hand, if you are in a real estate office and need to print promotional posters with crisp, clear photos to showcase properties, a higher-quality inkjet or photo machine capable of reproducing high-quality images and color graphics may be the better choice.  For example, If you are an architect aiming to wow your clients with lifelike models of projects, a 3D printer could add that extra flair. Keep in mind that 3D printers tend to be on the pricier side. You are also likely going to be printing architectural designs using wide-format printers.  ‍

3. Enterprise User:

As an enterprise user, you are usually an IT professional responsible for finding a versatile, long-lasting, and multifunctional printer. Often, the printer will be used by more than one person, usually serving an entire office floor or a department in a broader company. Your printer must handle a lot of abuse as multiple people will use it simultaneously. It should encompass a printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine, all in one unit. It must also connect to your company network through an Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection.  

Since many people will access the printer, security is paramount. It's crucial to restrict unauthorized access to the machine and prevent hackers from remotely accessing the network. Consider password protection or encryption technology to enhance security measures.  ‍

4. Production Users:

If you own a commercial printing business, no matter the size, you fall into this category of users. Your print needs will differ from everyone else's. This is because you will need high-volume prints to maximize profits as a production user, in addition to profit and margin expectations. Production print equipment users are interested in the latest technologies and configurations. Every detail matters, from speed to the ability to print duplex, print colors, and add effects and finishes.  

Now that we have been able to establish what time of user you are. Let's look at the other critical things to consider when buying a printer for your office or business.  

Connectivity

The connectivity aspect of a printer is a crucial component to consider. You need more than just your printer to connect directly to your staff's computers via USB ports. Instead, modern printers must be able to be wirelessly networked to multiple workstations. This necessity isn't just about convenience. It also ensures your entire team can access all the applications required to run your business while considering your office's budget.  

Functionality

Today's fast technological advancements allow business printers to perform many functions. Modern multifunction printers (MFPs) can be used for printing, scanning, photocopying, and faxing, which offers versatility and convenience to users (consider your team learning one device rather than four separate devices) while reducing costs (fewer consumables, repairs, and more). These capabilities and an affordable price make a business printer with multifunction printing capacity a must-buy for many businesses.  

Additionally, consider the plethora of modern applications available to modern printers. From integrations with the tools you already use, such as Google and Microsoft 365, to mobile printing, document management, and more, your office printer can maximize your office workflows and productivity. As you evaluate your printer options, these are a few questions you should ask. What are my primary printing needs? Do I need a printer that can do multiple functions or easily handle printing alone?  

Paper handling

Whether a small business or a large organization, you likely have to print hundreds of business-related documents daily. This makes paper handling, or the capacity of outputs your printer can handle, an essential factor that must be prioritized. Your next office printer should be able to handle your typical daily outputs easily.  

If you can determine the paper capacity of the printer you want to purchase or lease, then you're on the right track. From knowing how many pages per minute your device can handle to how long the printer will work straight before it gets overheated, there are questions you need to ask before making a final purchase. Other things to conder include sizes (A4, letters or larger sizes like A3), thickness, and paper types.

The Mobile-Friendliness

As mentioned earlier, having access to a mobile-friendly printer to complete modern work deserves its category when considering your next office printer purchase or lease. In the past, wireless printing could have been more evident and needed when purchasing a new business printer. But now, for most businesses, it's a necessity. According to Techjury, over 70% of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. There's a correlation between the devices used to browse and devices sending documents to printers for printing. The ability to easily print documents using any mobile device provides efficiency and productivity booms to most offices. As the internet and business optimize for mobile access, printers are not left behind.

Some printers now have a built-in ability to connect to Wi-Fi, which coincides with the rise in demand for mobile devices, i.e., smartphones, iPads, and tablets. Plus, some tech-savvy individuals prefer to use a mobile device app. These mobile apps can increase the efficiency and convenience of the operation in every office.  

Innovations in Ink and Toner Technology

Modern improvements in ink and toner are also evident and should be considered. If a brand manufacturer has continuously paid attention to updating their ink and toner capabilities, then that brand of office printing machines might be a good option for your business. This is due to them valuing modernizing their devices and the consumables that keep them working. Such innovations have helped ease the multi-step and intricate processes of changing out ink and toner, providing ease of use to your in-house staff. In the past, loading a new toner or ink could be complicated and messy, but these updates have been made to make this process more accessible and convenient.  

Support

While every other consideration is essential when deciding to buy your office printer. At CDS, we believe support is the most important factor to consider when buying a printer. This is because getting the right dealer and partner to handle your office printer and equipment with the proper support would help you navigate every other factor, make the best recommendations, and enjoy impeccable support when needed. Having a trustworthy partner in charge of your office document solutions needs gives you peace of mind so that you can focus on the most critical parts of your business rather than struggling with office equipment and printing needs.  

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