Advice on new printer

Blimey - do people still print multiple file copies and letterheads - havent used file copies for years. Scrap the intended purchase and go for paper-free instead.

Brother do a good range of no nonsense b/w lasers and you can add additional paper trays.  For the odd bit of coloured printing or occasional photos I've added Kodak ESP7's. Print quality is excellent, you get a reasonable scanner built in, and the same ink cartridges fit all their range.  £7 for black, £12 for colour.  

question of the year award

Clearly this is quite an event (needing something to do all those things would be in any office) and so seeing as you might be in for a lot of money here, are there any aspects of this you don't need?

When we started to move to less paper the first thing to go was the bought in letterhead, ie with a good printer and reasonable quality paper you can create your own, meaning you print out a full letter onto plain paper.  The added benefit is that you then have a word doc that appears as the full letter and so can act as the file copy (no need to print it again and you merely save it to a folder system under windows that mimics your paper files & dividers.

With regard to envelopes, I remember a member of staff winning a prize in the 1980s by mentioning window envelopes, a modern miracle.

Anyway a start, good luck.

It's just that most people have little use for printers nowadays. Printers and paper are so inefficient compared to email and paperless.

It's just that most people have little use for printers nowadays. Printers and paper are so inefficient compared to email and paperless.

Posted by petersaxton on Thu, 15/07/2010 - 23:15

Don't you find that the majority of clients still want a prnted copy of their accounts / returns ?  Or have we simply got old fashioned clients ?

I dare say if we still sent out printed accounts & tax returns clients would still take them in and file or recycle them (never sure).  In our case, about 5 years ago, when we passed the point at which probably 75% of clients were OK with PDFs we wrote to the others and said, from next year all submissions go out electronically unless you want us to print & post and, to my surprise, we had no complaints and requests from perhaps 10 clients to retain paper.

Now we have just two clients who are not online but, ironically, I'm glad because without them and the odd other printed page, the ink would dry up making the printer useless.

Sorry to OP I forgot that, for 5 years we had the best printer/scanners we'd ever owned, one of the Xerox solid ink models.  Expensive capital cost but really cheap to run, no cartridges or toner, (just some biodegradeable bits of waste wax) excellent quality, duplex printing & scanning with two heads, ie one pass of the paper and really quick.  It also allowed up to 4 paper sources.  A series of power cuts destroyed the electronics and now we are OK with a £140 Canon all-in-1 with the speed & duplex scanning lid being the most important aspect.

I should send a few of our remote sheep farmers round to see you - I'd love to hear you explain to them what a PDF file is :)  

"Don't you find that the majority of clients still want a prnted copy of their accounts / returns ?  Or have we simply got old fashioned clients ?"

I have one or two clients don't have email. One or two who earn so little money that I expect the money in advance before working on their accounts and they seem to prefer to come to me and sign the tax return and watch me submit it online.

All the rest are happy with pdf's and email.

My printer is an HP colour and HP toner costs more than the printer! Usually I buy branded supplies for everything but at about £100 per toner cartridge for HP and £30 per compatible I bought compatible - you need four toner cartridges to fill the printer - but sadly they are not great quality. I may go back to HP toner cartridges but I don't see how they can justify the price even for the extra quality.

you want a 3 tray printer and you want it cheap - simple answer depending on your idea of cheap is that there is no cheap printer if you factor in the colour toner cartridges- looks like a minimum of £500 and another 500 pa in running costs - and why do you need to print certs of incorporation on card

I thought I'd get card to print out certs so I bought some but now I use a company formation agent that charges £6.95 for printed certs so I order them instead. A little more expensive than doing it myself but the first time I used the card the print smudged!

it doesnt need to be on card - a triumph of substance as it were over style :-)

The certificate paper used to have very specific requirements but I can't see any requirements now.

Are you saying a pdf is sufficient now? Will banks get excited?

Can you find the Companies House guidelines? I can't find them now although I have read them before. Maybe Companies Act 2006 changed the rules but as you say it's doubtful that the banks can understand that.

banks seem to be getting their stupid little heads around the the fact that CH online is a primary source of evidence and as such electronic COI in whatever form are acceptable to them - i always challenge the baks when they ask for  a hard copy COI - i tell them that they are not complying with MLR if they do not go to the original source

Let me guess. Their reply is: "It's on my checklist."?

CD - are they farmers who manage their sheep online or those who fit their sheep with receivers & electrodes to work them as they would a remote controlled car? Whichever, they should leave the animals alone.

There's a lot on the news today about "legal highs" - now I don't know what you're smoking, but you really should give it up :)

Are you getting me mixed up with Paul?

.

At least you can use our names.  Now that we are on such good terms how about being able to use yours?  First name will do, no need for 2nd names or even titles.

That wouldn't be wise. The stalkers would know his country of residence and first name. They'd be forming a queue outside his offices!

Two elderly gentlemen meet at a reunion. They exchange smalltalk until one finally says 'This is very embarrassing, but I'm afraid I've forgotten your name; would you mind telling me what it is?'

'Not at all.' says the other, 'when do you need to know by?'

Some amusing tangents there, but I'm a little concerned the original poster may not have got the fullest and complete answer they were seeking!

We'll be revving up to survey this year's models soon, but I still recommend having a look at last year's Business Buyer's Guide to Printers, compiled from feedback provided by members of AccountingWEB.co.uk and our sister communities. I'd recommend looking first at the Workgroup printers guide. If they're too expensive, then see the desktop guide.

From what I learned, Brother and OKI were quite good for expandability. Our top workgroup mono laser printer was the Brother HL5350DN at £194, but you'll need to check on its paper tray capabilities. The runner up, the OKI BN430DN had a base cost of £99, but the extra option of a 50-sheet multi-paper tray. Its bigger brother the A440DN could take two 530-sheet paper trays.

At £173, the Kyocera FS-1350DN might be worth a look too. Having been an HP man since birth (my Dad worked for them), it pains me to say that I've switched to a Samsung and haven't looked back. Still worth comparing the latest models from those manufacters to see how they compare on price/performance and paper-handling. Dell has also been spitting out a fleet of new laser printers over the past few months. Suggest you also check out models such as the Dell 2230D

If you're still up for the hunt, Printerbase.co.uk is a great place to research printers.

If you should be tempted by colour (important if you're doing letterheads, accounts with figures in red or reports with graphics), The £352 Brother HL-4050CDN colour laser has an optional 500-sheet tray.

NB: The prices and availability of these models may well have changed, but might help as a guide for your research. Good luck and do let us know which one you go for - you can start our research for the 2010 guide!

Sorry, I couldn't resist - I had to pay a visit to check my recommendations and was pleasantly surprised to find that several of the machines we'd highlighted were in their top 5 category. Was it our influence - or is it simply that informed buyers will ultimately focus on the better products?

Anyway, from a quick review of the machines mentioned, it looks like the Kyocera FS-1350DN most closely matches your needs. It appears to be able to take up to three extra 250-sheet paper trays, each of which will set you back £95+VAT. Toner costs weren't too bad either at £60 for a 7,000-sheet replacement cartridge.

YOu have stated low useage so

Letterhead would be chaeper if you printed it with output others have mentioned this but have a look at fineprint www.fineprint.com.

Envelope printing - can I suggest window envelopes and a Dymo Label Printer

Thats three trays gone so now you look at printers with 2-3 trays.  Personally we dont incorporate enough companies to have to dedicate a printer tray.  Others have commented onthis

So now down to two trays.  Do go for a  laser and  a colour one, if you cant afford this a b&W laser and a cheap inkjet.  You can manage these thru fineprint as well