Printer for small practice

Printer for small practice

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By Richard Willis
21st Aug 2010 20:52

It depends what your network setup is

but if suitable I would look at an all-in-one networkable copier/scanner/printer.  They are so versatile and can be leased to spread the cost.  I have had experience with Sharp machines and they are very good.  You can scan documents straight to an Outlook a/c and it turns up as a message with a pdf attachment.  You can then add your own preamble and forward it on.

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John Stokdyk, AccountingWEB head of insight
By John Stokdyk
01st Sep 2010 14:54

Can you provide us with a little more detail?

As with requests for software recommendations, it helps the community to know what kind of small office you're planning to operate and what your needs are from the system.

For example, will you be outputting letterheads, material with lots of charts (such as accounting/management reports), or large volumes of text? Or do you plan to operate a "less-paper" office and need a scanner/copier as well as a printer?

The nature of your requirements (colour/mono output, small footprint, wireless networking, perhaps?) will influence what kind of printer you ultimately go for.

You can find some recommendations in our Business Buyer's Guide to Printers. Currently, we're still hosting the 2009 edition on the site, but will update it this month based on responses to our printer survey.

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By Jimess
02nd Sep 2010 12:49

Printer for small practice

We also network all our workstations to a multifunction photocopier.  The quarterly leasing cost is far less than buying multitudes of printer cartridges and drum units and the copy usage costs can be controlled by educating staff in good printing & copying policies.  The quality of the printing is far better than the smaller laser and inkjet printers and connecting to the one machine enables documents to be printed to the same standard across the whole firm.  I have a small, rather elderly laser printer attached as a standalone to my own PC for printing sensitive documents.  The savings on printing costs have been enormous.  

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By ianlawrance1
02nd Sep 2010 13:03

Copier anyway?

As per the first post, if you're going to invest in a photocopier, it makes sense to network this & use it for production printing as well. You can have B&W or Colour, although colour is obviously more expensive in terms of fixed & running costs.

Main advice: I would look VERY CLOSELY at fixed & running costs. My experience is that

a) copier/printers look expensive upfront, but they can be much more versatile than standalone printers, particularly relating to "finishing"...eg, handling different types of paper, duplexing, collating, stapling, etc. "Base" prices of standalone printers are often very low but when you add "finishing" options, eg paper trays, the cost rockets.

b) the cost per page (toners, service spares, maintenance, etc) on the Service Contract on a copier/printer is often much lower than on a standalone printer.  Printer manufacturers tend to sell printers cheap, then recover their profit level on supplies...

 

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