The Multifunction Printer
The "multifunction printer" is perhaps the most positively received printer on the market for small business or home office needs. Retailing for around $350, multifunction printers are modestly priced office work horses. With a straightforward wireless setup and a tray that can usually hold 150 sheets of regular printing paper, multifunction, or all-in-one printers, are adequate for a small, busy office or department, as long as large print jobs aren't needed frequently.
A Well-Received Printer
Multifunction printers are traditionally critically panned, but some received positive reviews on both PCWorld.com and CNET.com. These publications both reported a solid print speed, even when printing color text and images, as well as a professional quality images. Its capacity and quality are more than able to meet the needs of a small office.
Some printers appear to be low-cost quality machines only to end up costing the user much more in replacement toner. Small ink cartridges or simply expensive toner may help the manufacturer make up for the low cost of the machine itself over its lifetime. CNET.com, however, found some all-in-one printers to average 7.1 cents per black text page and 7.8 cents per color page, which is well within the acceptable averages maintained by the experts at PC World.
The Cons
According to CNET.com's testers, many multifunction printers performed slower than comparable products in printing speed. All-in-one printers share software engines with sister models including smaller home models, and the result is slighter longer waits on printing jobs.
The 8.5 by 11 inch paper capacity tends to be around 150 sheets, which might end up being a low number for some offices. While it is certainly plenty for a small office or home office, larger offices with hundreds of print jobs a day would have to find themselves replacing the paper frequently.
Auto duplexing is when a printer prints on both sides of the paper with a simple user command. On many multifunction printers, this must be done manually.
Technically Speaking
Most multifunction printers have duty cycles of 30,000 pages per month. Paper feeds into a tray on the bottom with ease, and prints out face down on top of the machine. A bypass tray usually accepts a wide variety of alternatives to 8.5 by 11 inch sheets such as labels, envelopes, cards and transparencies.
Modern printers are becoming square instead of rectangle, making it easier to fit in a small office or home office. They usually weigh in at over 30 pounds, but two handles on either side make for easy moving.
Users interface with the machine on a small single color four-line LCD screen with a keypad that controls the printing, copying and scanning functions.
Overall, multifunction printers tend to represent a significant value for a professional offices' day-to-day printing needs.
A Well-Received Printer
Multifunction printers are traditionally critically panned, but some received positive reviews on both PCWorld.com and CNET.com. These publications both reported a solid print speed, even when printing color text and images, as well as a professional quality images. Its capacity and quality are more than able to meet the needs of a small office.
Some printers appear to be low-cost quality machines only to end up costing the user much more in replacement toner. Small ink cartridges or simply expensive toner may help the manufacturer make up for the low cost of the machine itself over its lifetime. CNET.com, however, found some all-in-one printers to average 7.1 cents per black text page and 7.8 cents per color page, which is well within the acceptable averages maintained by the experts at PC World.
The Cons
According to CNET.com's testers, many multifunction printers performed slower than comparable products in printing speed. All-in-one printers share software engines with sister models including smaller home models, and the result is slighter longer waits on printing jobs.
The 8.5 by 11 inch paper capacity tends to be around 150 sheets, which might end up being a low number for some offices. While it is certainly plenty for a small office or home office, larger offices with hundreds of print jobs a day would have to find themselves replacing the paper frequently.
Auto duplexing is when a printer prints on both sides of the paper with a simple user command. On many multifunction printers, this must be done manually.
Technically Speaking
Most multifunction printers have duty cycles of 30,000 pages per month. Paper feeds into a tray on the bottom with ease, and prints out face down on top of the machine. A bypass tray usually accepts a wide variety of alternatives to 8.5 by 11 inch sheets such as labels, envelopes, cards and transparencies.
Modern printers are becoming square instead of rectangle, making it easier to fit in a small office or home office. They usually weigh in at over 30 pounds, but two handles on either side make for easy moving.
Users interface with the machine on a small single color four-line LCD screen with a keypad that controls the printing, copying and scanning functions.
Overall, multifunction printers tend to represent a significant value for a professional offices' day-to-day printing needs.