Printers, Copiers, Consumables & Computing
There are three main types of printing technologies that are widely used in the market when it comes to fax machines and multifunctional printers and at eurostationers.com we cover all these types. Printing and faxing are probably one of the largest costs in some of office environments. Costs are not just related to buying the faxes or multifunction printers, but also in running them. The related costs can include, ink cartridges, toner, other printer consumables and time.
With a myriad of Inkjet and Laser printers on the market at eurostationers.com we try to simplify the choice. But first we must explain the differences between inkjet printers, mono laser printers and colour laser printers and their uses before getting down to choice of brand.
First let's look at Resolution:
Resolution is measured according to the number of microscopic drops of ink or toner the printer can fit in to a square inch of paper (dpi), with higher dpi ratings generally equating to better print quality. Whilst a printer with a high dpi rating is essential for somebody who wants to print out high quality pictures, photographs or other images, monochrome text looks fine in resolutions of just 300dpi, which all inkjet and laser printers on the market today support.
Compatible Inkjet Cartridges
Compatible Laser Toners
Copier Cartridges & Supplies
Fax Rolls and Telex Rolls
Fax Toners, Ink & Thermal Ribbons
Inkjet Cartridges & Printheads
Large Format Output Media (Paper)
Laser Toner & Consumables
Typewriter and Printer Ribbons
Wireless Networking Products

Inkjet Printers:
Generally cost much less than laser printers, although their maintenance in the form of ink cartridges and print heads can be high. They are by far the cheapest option for users wishing to print in colour. As inkjet printers designed for personal use they are more compact in design, and consequently the majority will only hold up to 100 sheets. Inkjet printers are compact and designed to fit on a desk for personal use and therefore are ideal for use by small groups of people or an individual user

Laser Printers:
Although more expensive in terms of purchase price, they are much cheaper to maintain because their toner cartridges last longer. Laser printers are ideal for high volume document print jobs and are designed with much larger and more stable input trays able to hold at least 200 sheets of A4 paper. Laser printers also have dedicated output trays to keep printed pages clean and manageable. Some laser printers have integrated network interface cards built in to enable them to be attached to a network allowing any user on the network to print to the printer at any time.

Inkjet Printer Vs Laser Printer:
Whilst inkjet printers remain the cheapest option for those wishing to print small quantities in colour, colour laser printing is becoming increasingly popular. Whilst the initial cost of the hardware is more expensive than inkjet, the cost per copy is far lower and therefore colour laser is the ideal option for large print runs.

Print speeds are usually achieved at the expense of resolution, i.e if you require high resolution the speed at which the printer prints will be slower. If you want a fast printer, able to print large volumes of pages cheaply and quickly, a laser printer is still the best choice. Print speed can be affected by the amount of memory installed in the printer, with larger complements of RAM able to store and process bigger print jobs much quicker.

Some inkjet printers include a facility to print either direct from a digital camera or using a digital camera media card, therefore eliminating the need for a PC. Such printers allow the user to view the image before printing and are ideal for photo enthusiasts or those without access to a PC who wish to take advantage of digital photography.



Connectivity:
There are two main methods of connecting a printer to your PC, USB (Universal Serial Bus) and Parallel. USB is the new standard for connecting most peripherals to a PC and Mac, and many new printers come with USB connectivity only. USB will function on any PC running Windows 98 or later. Older PCs with USB ports will be running with USB V1.1, which allows transfer speeds of 12MB per second. Many new printers are now compatible with the latest version of USB (V2.0) which allows transfer speeds of 480MB per second for even faster data transfer. All USB V2.0 compatible printers are also suitable for V1.1 USB ports. Anyone running Windows 95 or earlier should select a printer that can be connected via the Parallel port, as these operating systems are not suitable for USB.

So having covered the tech stuff what about brands?

Well this is a very individual choice; some people buy specific brands because that’s what they are used to and will not look at anything else. In our opinion one is as good as the other dependent on what you are trying to achieve, cost per copy, print quality or build. It’s very hard to recommend anything unless someone is aware of your requirements. Eurostationers.com has access to many brands such as; Canon™, Samsung™, Epson™, Kyocera™, Hewlett Packard™ (HP), Oki™, Kodak™, Konica Minolta™, Sony™ & Ricoh™.

Multifunctional Printers and Fax Machines.
The choice of multifunctional printers for users looking for a small SoHo machine, or a powerful departmental machine is rapidly increasing. Multifunction machines today not only usually offer simple fax facilities but also printing, scanning, photocopying and video/photo capture. To help you decide which machine will best suit your needs you need to consider two important factors; namely the speed you require from your machine, and your level of usage. You should not only consider your requirements from a machine at the current time, but also take into account any possible future expansion.

Fax Machines & Multifunctional Printers

There are three main types of print technology which are outlined below:

Inkjet - Inkjet machines are a good choice for people who may send or receive documents containing graphics, but are likely to be infrequent users. The print quality is higher than thermal, but consumable costs can be expensive if the machine is used for high volume transmissions. Inkjet machines can be either mono or colour.

Laser - Laser Faxes and Multifunctional Printers are the perfect choice for a heavy usage departmental fax where only mono print is required. Laser offers the fastest print speeds and highest quality, and has a low cost per page based upon the cost of consumables.

Thermal - The original print technology for fax machines, thermal, uses heat to transfer the message to the paper. This is done by either heat transfer onto special fax rolls (this is not often used in new machines), or by thermal ribbons (TTR) which can transfer the message onto ordinary plain A4 paper. Thermal Multifunctional Printers or Fax Machines are generally cheaper than other print types, but the cost per fax is higher due to more expensive consumable costs. Thermal Multifunctional Printers or Fax Machines would be a good choice for infrequent low volume use, where the documents sent are mainly text. Thermal Multifunctional Printers or Fax Machines are monochrome only.

The following points will be useful to analyse before making your fax machine purchase:

Print Quality -Look at the resolution of the print quality carefully. This can help decide whether a thermal, inkjet or laser machine would be best suited to your needs (see Print Technologies).

Fax Content - Are your faxes mainly text, graphics or both? Faxing graphics takes much longer than plain text so you will need to invest in a machine with a higher modem speed. If you receive faxes with text and graphics will you need to print these in mono or colour?

Who Do You Fax? - Do you fax the same locations frequently? If so consider the number of speed dials each machine has.

Amount of Use - Do you fax infrequently, or do you receive many high volume faxes during the day? This can be vital in determining your choice of machine, as the cost of consumables varies tremendously in terms of cost per fax depending on the print technology you use.

Fax machines using laser technology may be the most expensive in terms of hardware, but can mean great savings in the future on your consumable costs.
Average Length of Faxes Sent - The longer the average document you send or receive, the higher the memory your fax machine will need, in order to speed up the faxing process. This can also affect the size of paper tray you require.

Document Types - Do you ever need to fax bound documents? If so, a flatbed option may be preferable to a plain paper feed fax.

Telephone Use - Will your fax machine also function as a primary business phone? If so consider a machine with a built in answering machine to ensure you don't miss that vital call.

Electronic Faxing - Will you be sending and receiving faxes directly from your PC electronically without the need for a physical copy? If so ensure your fax machine has PC fax compatibility.

Another important consideration is the need for multifunctional use. If you already have a scanner, photocopier and printer and merely require a machine to fax, then choose a standalone fax machine. However many users find a multifunctional machine can not only save space within the office, but also can be the perfect choice for home offices due to the variety of functions that they can perform. Another vital consideration if opting for a multifunctional machine is the primary use of the unit. There are two types of multifunction machine; fax led and printer led. This denotes what the primary function of the machine is, so consider whether you will be using the machine more frequently as a printer or as a fax.

Most companies now make multifunctional machines that include a fax facility and they include Brother™, Samsung™, Panasonic™, Hewlett Packard™, Oki™, Philips™, Canon™ and Lexmark™ being amongst the most popular.

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