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Whether upgrading your office equipment of buying your first MFP, you’re going to be looking for the perfect machine for your office. You’re already on the right track in considering a multifunctional printer; they are the ideal device for any type of office, being a single device that covers all of your bases — printing, scanning, copying and faxing.
But you want to be careful with your purchase. You can’t just walking into a dealer and buy the first MFP you see. There are many options out there and to get the best device for your needs, you’re going to have to do some research. Here are the basics to think about before buying your new MFP.
Speed
If you are a busy office with high printing quantities, you will have a need for speed. ask your dealer to show you comparables for PPM (Pages per minute) to get a better idea of which printer is fast enough for you. Typically, the faster the printer speed, the more expensive the MFP, so if you are looking to cut costs, this might be the place to do it. If you don’t need a printer that shoots out 90 pages per minute, don’t waste your money. Not sure what you really need? Your dealer will be able to guide you to the perfect speed to meet your needs.
Memory
Did you know that MFPs have memory? Again, the more memory you have, the more money you are going to spend. If you are a small office, consider a memory of 8-12 MB, but as your office grows, so do your memory needs, going up to 16MB or more. This can be a tough need to determine, especially if you didn’t even know it was something to think about. This is why you need to have that discussion with your dealer to truly understand how much memory you need — it could save your budget.
DPI
When you buy a television one of the first things you look at is the resolution; the same should go for your printer. DPI stands for dots per inch. The higher the DPI the better quality your printed images. If you are only printing text documents for release among employees, you don’t need the best print quality. But as soon as your clients need to see printed documents, you need to up your game. Nothing is more embarrassing than presenting a customer with poor print quality.
Test it
Never buy it before you try it. It’s easy to be told how great the quality and speed is, but until you see it for yourself, you won’t know for sure. You also need to be sure the user interface works for you and your employees. If you hate the interface from your test run, you probably won’t learn to love it later. And your employees will probably resent you for giving them a difficult-to-use device. That said, don’t rule out a device with complex functions that you aren’t used to. If they can make your business life better, it is worth spending the time learning to use them well. Would you buy a car without a test drive? Neither would we.
At Brock Office Automation, we want to make sure you walk away with the best machine for your business. We would hate to sell or lease you an MFP that you aren’t satisified with or can’t use easily. We know the research can be overwhelming and we want to help. We’ll continue to help guide you through the process of finding the right MFP for your office, so check back often as we continue the conversation.
Also, consider our free office automation assessment for a one-on-one consultation to find out how you can take your business to the next level with the right MFP.
