All-in-one
All-in-one printers combine a printer, scanner, photocopier and sometimes a fax machine, for ultimate convenience in a home or small office. These multi-function printers have everything you need in one device, ensuring convenience, low maintenance and a space-saving solution. Most models now have built-in WiFi, allowing you to print hassle-free from many different computer systems and devices.
Inkjet
Ideal for versatile home office use, inkjet printers offer a relatively high quality at an affordable price and are best for printing documents and even photos. However, they can be slow and can have limited customisable options and paper sizes. Inkjet cartridges are easy to come by and can be cost effective depending on your jobs.
Mono laser
Ideal for high-volume printing in administrative environments, a laser printer is fast and won’t produce smeared documents. It’s also comparably cheaper due to its economical ink use, andeven cheaper still, compared to colour laser printers. Mono laser printers are favoured in offices everywhere due to their effective operation and work-horse efficiency without the drama of paper jams, spillages or leaks.
You can refill your toner by how many pages you wish to print (E.g. £40 per 2000 pages).
Colour laser
Comprehensive set up and ease-of-use places laser printers at the top of the bill for many offices and small businesses. Colour laser printers have the added benefit of providing colour when work demands – useful for presentations and creative environments. They can offer a high dpi (dots per inch) ratio, giving you quality prints. You can refill your toner by how many pages you wish to print (E.g. £50 per 2000 pages).
Dot matrix
Ultra-reliable and fast, dot matrix printers are ideal for businesses requiring light duty printing. These compact printers don’t take up much room in the office, are very cost effective and simple-to-use. The standard technology used in dot matrix printers makes them very simple printers, while also eliminating any technological problems – a great addition to any front or back office business.
Offering excellent value for money, ink ribbons are relatively cheap and don’t need replacing very often.
Large format
Large format printers are generally used to print banners, posters, general signage, technical drawings and any other large format plans, images or schematics. Large format printers generally use a paper rolls rather than individual sheets. Depending on the types of large format graphics or media you wish to produce, resolution is an important factor, where lower resolution would suit engineering or computer-based designs (CAD) and higher resolution would suit detailed graphics. Connectivity is also an important feature, so you can ensure you can link up your printer to as many users as you would require.
Scanners
Flatbed
Choose a more versatile flatbed model and you will be able to scan in both photos and documents. However, quality could be an issue here as the resolution on these models differs greatly. Flatbeds use a CFC (Cold Cathode Fluorescent) lamp to scan, which are known to produce relatively stable colour accuracy. LED light sources are also being used in some of the latest scanners – these are quicker to heat up than CFC but achieve the same quality.
Film
With a film scanner you will be able to scan in negatives, slides and camera film. But if you want to scan APS film you may need to buy a separate adaptor. Film scanners can offer excellent resolution and quality depending on how much you are willing to spend. But remember – they can only scan negatives.
The best of both worlds
Some flatbed scanners come with accessories that allow you to turn them into a film scanner. This is done by fitting a photo lid to the top of the scanner. Although these will scan film and negatives, the results will only be as good as with the flatbed.
