Archive for the ‘Choosing Your Printer’ Category

Large-format printers are those that can support media at larger widths than standard devices. They can often support a range of widths from 17 to 100 inches, allowing users to create banners, large artwork, blueprints, and other similar projects. While these printers provide a lot more flexibility, they may not be the right choice for a lot of buyers, as they are not only much larger than typical home or office printers, but they can also come with extra costs. Let us look at a few of the ways large-format printers cost more than standard printers.

Continue reading “Costs of Large-Format Printers” »

Certain offices would benefit tremendously from a laser printer that has finishing functions. Many big business printers offer these finishing capabilities as optional upgrades.  The price of a printer with built-in finishing features will be a bit higher than a standard laser unit, but the time and manpower that will be saved is priceless.  Finishing options go beyond printing and stacking documents and provide organizational capabilities that make it an essential investment for the appropriate offices.

Continue reading “Paper Finishing Options for Office Printers” »

Scanners are used to turn paper documents into digital files that can be stored on a computer hard drive.  It is often essential in business and in your personal life to keep an accurate record of important transactions, and the ability to scan receipts, invoices, images, etc. into computer files helps to keep everything organized.

There are two standard types of scanners- flatbed and sheet-fed:

This is a standard flatbed scanner. This does not feature an automatic document feeder.

This is a sheet-fed scanner. Because of the paper path, only individual sheets can be scanned.

Continue reading “Benefits of Flatbed Scanners” »

Solid ink printers are a relatively new technology in the printing world, and they have many advantages. They are more environmentally-friendly, with less packaging waste and no cartridge that must be thrown away, unlike inkjet and laser printers. They also provide excellent color accuracy, and are more versatile when it comes to media types.

This is not to say that solid ink technology doesn’t have its drawbacks and disadvantages, however, and these should be carefully noted by anyone debating whether or not to purchase a solid ink printer. Let us look at a few of the major drawbacks of solid ink technology. Continue reading “The Drawbacks of Solid Ink Printers” »

In most offices, small or large, it is common to find an all-in-one or multifunction machine.  Not only do they take up less space, they also increase productivity by performing a variety of tasks.  Some are limited to printing and copying, while others include a scanning and fax function.  While there are many benefits of flatbed scanners, they can be tedious, as they require the user to load each page individually when scanning, copying, or faxing. Models with an automatic document feeder , however, are much more efficient. Continue reading “Automatic Document Feeders Explained” »

It is safe to say that a large percentage of people in the world have a digital camera, or at least know someone who does.  Digital cameras allow photographers and amateurs alike to take crisp and vivid pictures of important events and scenic views.  With the growing demand for photo printers, there are a number of ways to pull the images from the digital camera and load them onto the computer or printer.

There are two standard ways to transfer photos from the camera to a computer and two ways to load photos directly from the camera to the printer:

USB Connection to Computer

A USB cable will come with a brand new digital camera.  It will have one end that is smaller and fits into the camera and one end that is a standard, rectangular USB jack.

1. Turn the camera off then plug the cable into both devices.
2. Turn the camera on.
3. When the camera is recognized, a window will pop up that allows you to import the images.
4. Once they are uploaded, drag them to a computer file such a My Pictures.
5. From here, you can select what pictures are printed and edit each one. Continue reading “Printing Digital Photos” »

When consumers are looking for a new printer for the home or office, there are often hundreds of facts included in the specification sheet.  While the most important factors such as speed and print resolution are frequently highlighted, there are some that can go unnoticed, such as a printer’s Energy Star certification. This is important, because it can represent a significant cost savings for a home user or an office, which can really add up over time.

In the early 90’s, the United States implemented the Energy Star qualification system.  Through a series of tests, machines are given this certification by offering reduced energy consumption and limited greenhouse gas emissions.  Devices that pass the series of environmental tests are estimated to use 20-30% less energy than the “Federal standard”. For more information about the Energy Star program, read What is Energy Star Rating for Printers? Continue reading “Cost Savings of Energy Star Products” »

An IBM Infoprint 1332 laser printer with no MFP attachment.

There are a few IBM laser printers that can be upgraded into multi-purpose machines by purchasing an attachment device.  This is ideal for office-use, as sometimes the needs start out as simple print jobs but become more versatile as the company grows.  If that sounds like something that would be beneficial to your office, start by investing in an IBM Infoprint 1332, 1352 or 1372. Continue reading “IBM MFP Upgrades” »

If you have been comparing different printer models, you may have seen a reference to picoliters as a measurement of the size of droplets. In inkjet cartridges, a nozzle technology is used to dispense miniscule droplets of liquid ink on the paper that combine to make the images and text.  In general, the smaller the drops are, the more accurate the final print will be.  Much like pixels of a digital camera, the higher the number, the better the color quality will be.  The size of the drops are closely related to printer resolution. For printing with ink, the resolution of prints is measured by DPI, or dots per inch.  The size of inkjet droplets is measured in picoliters, a measurement so small it is unseen to most human beings.  This microscopic dot of printer ink is typically written pL, but pl is also widely accepted. Continue reading “What are Picoliters?” »

When researching a printer, you may have noticed the term “duty cycle” mentioned along with other terms like speed and printer resolution.  The duty cycle refers to the number of pages that can be printed in a certain period of time without potentially causing problems and failures. This number is often given as a maximum monthly duty cycle. Continue reading “Printer Duty Cycle Explained” »