Printers - A Practical Buyers Guide

Buying a printer can be a complicated business, there are more shapes, sizes and types of printers available to the home and small business user than ever before. Printers have also become specialized for their intended purpose.

It is no longer a case of "a printer is a printer".  Printers are now designed to be good in a particular area rather than a "Jack-of-all trades", which will do everything.

An often overlooked issue, is the very serious consideration of cost of ownership, which is all about of how much it will cost to keep your printer running (see below).  So making that decision on which printer to go for, can be a seriously arduous task, especially if you are keen to buy a printer that is not only affordable to buy, but also cheap to run.

So here is the information that you need to know and consider, that no one tells you about!  We have not expanded on which printer is the best at any given time, because models constantly change and you can find that information in any current glossary PC magazine off the shelf.  Instead, here you will find the good, bad and ugly bits from the different types of printers available so you can make an informed decision yourself.

Laser Printers

Laser printers work in a similar way to photocopiers, except they use a laser instead of a bright light to scan with.  They work by creating an electrostatic image of the page onto a charged photo-receptor, which in turn attracts toner in the shape of an electrostatic charge.  Toner is the material used to make the image (as ink is in an inkjet printer) and is a very fine powder, so laser printers use toner cartridges instead of ink cartridges.

Laser Printers have traditionally been the best printing solution for heavy office users as they produce a very high quality black text finish and offer relatively low running costs.  However, laser printers have advanced a great deal recently and their prices have steadily dropped, as a result there are now compact laser printers, multi-function and color laser printers all at very affordable prices.  Laser printers make sense if you need to do a lot of high quality black or color prints, not photos.  The great thing about a color laser printer is that they can print a very good quality color image on standard copier paper, so you do not need to use expensive photo paper for large jobs.  Do check the prices of the consumables before you buy the printer as these can be very expensive for color laser printers.

Laser printers are the best solution for people who are printing in large volumes, that is, in 100's of pages at a time or 1000's of pages per month.  Color lasers also take quite a while to warm up, so are not ideal for printing single pages.

Solid Ink Printers

Solid ink printers use solid wax ink sticks in a "phase-change" process, they work by liquefying wax ink sticks into reservoirs and then squirting the ink onto a transfer drum from where it is cold-fused onto the paper in a single pass.  Solid ink printers are marketed almost exclusively by Tektronix / Xerox and are aimed at larger businesses and high volume color printing.

Solid ink printers used to be cheaper to purchase than similarly specified color lasers and fairly economical to run owing to a low component usage, today it is not necessarily any cheaper than a color laser printer.  Output quality is good but generally not as good as the best color lasers for text and graphics or the best inkjets for photographs.  Print speeds are not as fast as most color lasers.

Dye-Sublimation Printers

Dye-Sublimation printers use heat and solid color dyes to produce lab-quality photographic images. Dye-Sub printers contain a roll of transparent film made up of page-sized panels of color, with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dye embedded in the film. Print head heating elements vaporize the inks, which adhere to a specially coated paper, as the ink cools it re-solidifies on the paper. Color intensity is controlled by precise variations in temperature.

Dye-sublimation printers lay down color in continuous tones one color at a time instead of dots of ink like an inkjet, because the color is absorbed into the paper rather than sitting on the surface, the output is more photo-realistic, more durable and less vulnerable to fading than other ink technologies.

The downside of Dye-Sub printers is that they are generally more expensive to buy and run, usually limited to photo sized prints only and can only print onto one type of specialized paper as well as being quite slow to print.

Dye-Sublimation printers are best for those who want to link up their digital camera to a purpose built printer and print out the finest quality photos at home without fuss.

Dot Matrix Printers

Dot matrix printers are relatively old fashioned technology today with poor quality print, slow and very noisy output.  This type of printer is no longer used unless you wish to create invoices using the continuous paper with holes on both sides.  The good thing is that they are very cheap to run!

Cost of Ownership

Many printers today are very cheap to buy, but people are sometimes shocked to discover the cost of replacing the consumables (ink or laser cartridges, imaging drums, fuser, oils, specialized papers etc). The cost of replacing the ink can sometimes cost more than the printer itself!  This is one of the most commonly overlooked factors when printers are reviewed and yet one of the most important things to consider before handing over your hard earned cash.  Tests run in 2003 by Which? magazine famously compared the cost of HP's ink with vintage 1985 Dom Perignon.

A Sheffield City Council report aimed at helping schools decide on the best-value printers to buy, calculated total cost of ownership over the lifetime of a printer (not sure how long that is!).  Adding up all the running costs, ink or toner, paper, maintenance and even electricity, SCC worked out that a color inkjet costs approx 38 cents per page to run compared to a color laser which costs approx 7 cents per page. Sheffield City Council advised its schools that if they printed more than three color pages a day (assuming a 40-week academic year) they should buy a laser.

These figures cannot be taken hard and fast due to the many variables involved, but it is generally accepted that the cost per print of a laser printer is cheaper than that of an inkjet, which is in turn cheaper than that of a sub-dye printer.  However, you would have to do a fair amount of color printing to take advantage of the economy cost offered by a laser printer.

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Computer Printers

Printers are machines that attach to computers as peripheral and help in producing a hard copy of any data that is stored in the computer.  On being given a command any document will get printed by a printer attached to that computer.  The printer uses a special ink, filled in cartridges and prints the data on different sizes on desired size of paper.

While many printers are individually connected to a specific computer, many others are connected to a network and are shared by a number of computer users simultaneously.  Such arrangements are very common in workplaces.  Many modern day computer printers also include non-printing features like fax and scan.  They are called multifunction or all-in-one depending on the feature availability in them.

The evolution of printers has seen various types of printers and printing technologies.  These became famous peripherals of the computers with the advent of dot matrix printers.  In such printers the machine relies on pixels or dots to print the document.  These were used quite excessively until the next generation of printers came.

The modern age laser printers can print at a much faster pace and can give output in hundreds.  These are generally toner based printers and are available in both colour and monochrome varieties.  Though some recent research has indicated that laser printers emit some harmful ultra fine particles, yet they still remain the most widely used and most popular printers in the corporate sectors.

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MDF Copiers and MFD Equipment - Which One is Right For You?

Copier printer scanner MFD office equipment is getting more complicated and the choices are increasing.  The merging of the traditional printer and copier machines has presented companies with hard decisions.  What is the best manufacturer for the money?  Lowest cost?  Best options and functionality?  Most durable?  Canon, Toshiba, Minolta, Ricoh, Gestetner, Xerox, HP, Sharp, Lanier, Copystar, Lexmark, Brother?

Now compound the many brands with companies that only specialize in one or two brands and it's clear to see why companies have problems with selecting the right equipment or getting in the wrong lease.  If you get your equipment from a company which specializes in one brand take care.  Why?  Because you will receive a bias view.

If a vendor only represents Canon or Sharp how will you know if you should get a Gestetner, HP or Ricoh may be better.  So what should you do?

Do some basic research online using the buyer's lab reports.  Look for awards and low failure rates.  If the model is brand new; wait a few months so the manufacturer has time to get the bugs out.  Do not assume that a BIG NAME means the best choice.  Did you know the Lanier / Gestetner/ Ricoh / Savin are the same company? Mita / CopyStar / Kyocera too!  Did you know HP laser printers are actually Canon based?

It's a challenge to make an educated selection.  Be careful.  Ask questions.  Get referrals.  Check the service record of the company you choose.

When is your equipment lease up?  Does it offer a lump sum or $1.00 buy-out clause at the end of the lease?  What is the current value of the equipment?  What is the estimated life of the copier/printer? Most of these questions are simple to determine with a few keystrokes on the internet.

Get all the answers before you commit.  Ask questions.  Look at the terms.  Know you page counts and be very careful not to fall for low ball tactics of some copier printer leasing companies.

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Tips for Choosing the Right Copiers For Sale

COPIERS FOR SALE

Copiers are machines which make paper duplicates of documents.  They are very useful and have been around for many years.  

Most of the copiers make use of heat fusion, while some models use inkjet technology to make copies.

Types of copiers

• Analog copiers: These are outdated
• Digital copiers: These may be able to print, scan and fax in addition to making copies.
• Types of digital copiers include: Monochrome copiers: these make copies in black only.
• Color copiers: these can make copies of documents in a range of colors.
• All in one copier: these can print, scan and fax.
• Multi functional copiers: these come with a very wide range of functions. Factors to consider in making a choice of copier

In making a purchase of a copier, the following factors will need to be put into consideration:

The amount of paper that can be loaded into the machine at a given time should be considered.  Smaller copiers will be able to able to receive about 100 sheets of paper, while the most advanced models can be loaded with up to 2500 sheets.

The size of the paper used: some models can only accommodate a particular size of paper, while others will accept a large variety of paper sizes.

The speed at which copies are made: the speed could be as low as 10 copies per minute, or as high as 100 copies per minute.

Toner: this is for digital copiers. The monochrome copiers use only one toner cartridge, while color copiers will require several toner cartridges for the different basic colors.

Memory: the latest models have some memory features, which makes them work more efficiently.

Extra capabilities: some of these features include scanning, faxing, networking capabilities, emailing, security features, image editing.

What are some companies that manufacture copiers for sale?

• Konica Minolta: this company offers a wide range of digital copiers
• Sharp: they manufacture multi functional copiers with a wide range of capabilities.
• Toshiba: manufactures a wide range of copiers for office use.
• Xerox: machines made by this manufacturer are noted for their durability.
• Ricoh: produces a wide range of digital copiers.

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The Creation Of The Copier

It hasn't always been so easy to make copies.  We now can just walk up to a photocopier machine and press the print button and we instantly receive perfectly replicated copies of our original.  Just forty seven years ago the copy machine was a pen and some sheets of carbon paper.  Instead of pushing a button you had to write and write and then write some more!  Just before the 60's this was a reality and carbon paper was a big seller.  Chester Carlson, a patent attorney knew how much of a pain it was to continue rewriting everything by hand because Carlson had arthritis.  Carlson had an idea of designing a machine that would automatically make copies, so he didn't have to do all of that copying by hand.

Think about doing your job without a copier.  You probably will have a hard time imagining it.  Did you know that most manufacturers didn't think that a copier would be of much use?  Chester tried for years to get people to catch his vision but nobody was interested.  Between 1939 and 1944, Carlson got the thumbs down by many corporations, including IBM, Kodak, General Electric, and RCA.

In 1937 Chester invented a process called electro-photography.  They renamed it Xerography in 1938. He figured out that if the image of an original document was projected onto a photoconductive surface, current would flow only in the areas where the light shined on it. The first copy was made with a sulfur coating on a zinc plate.  He took a glass microscope slide and wrote on it 10-22-38 ASTORIA with ink.  He then pulled down the shade to darken the room.  He built up an electrostatic charge buy rubbing the sulfur surface with a handkerchief.  Then the slide was placed on the surface and a light was shined on it for few seconds.  He then sprinkled lycopodium powder on the sulfur coating.  Gently blowing on the surface, the loose powder blew off and all that was left was the inscription, 10-22-38 ASTORIA. 10-22-38 is the date that the first photocopy was made.  Astoria was the location.

The Birth of Xerox The company that decided to take a chance on Carlson's dream was the Haloid Company.  Haloid was a photo-paper manufacturer in New York.  Guess what they came to be known as? Yes, the Xerox Corporation.  In 1960 the first office copier was produced.  It was the Xerox model 914.  It was the first office copier that could make copies on plain paper.

Being a copier repairman for over thirty-five years, I have seen the good copiers with the bad copiers.  I began working on copiers in 1975.  The copiers that I began working with were messy and they would not last long in between servicing.  The prices for the machines were very high especially for higher volume copiers.  There were some interesting ways of transporting the paper through the machine like the Sharp SF-740.  It grabbed the paper with two gripper devices that were driven with chains.  This machine fused the toner to the paper with a toaster oven type device.

Some people may even remember having to pour toner into the copier from a bottle.  Today's copiers have a cartridge system that works well.  They keep most of the toner inside the copier, not on you best pair of slacks or your dress.  They have rollers for fusing the toner to the paper and have very sophisticated paper feed and transport systems that help reduce jamming problems.  Digital copiers are now on the market.  Now you can not only copy, but print, scan and even fax with them.  Perhaps the most revolutionary change in the industry is the full color copier.  The sales of full color copiers have really started to explode.  There are a lot of new and exciting products being introduced and the quality is really quite good. We have come a long way from Carlson's '10-22-38 ASTORIA.  I just can't help to think what the future will bring us.  What will the copier of the year 2020 look like?

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Choosing a Copier for Your Business

Whether you need to make copies for inter-office meetings or create high-quality marketing materials, you can find a supplier in the market that manufactures an office copier that fits your needs.  Modern business copiers combine all functionalities such as; Fax, Copier, Printing, Scanning and/or Document Imaging solutions in one copier machine.  Correct-Tek Copier Service can provide that. 

Copier industry is growing rapidly and the competition among manufacturers drives them to improve the functionality and to provide competitive offers among suppliers/vendors who install and service copier machines.  They can be broadly classified into Analog and Digital.  Analog is dead and today's businesses choose "Digital" for various good reasons.  Most manufacturers have stopped introducing new models in Analog copiers, but they do support/service the existing models.

Why Digital?

Some people are understandably wary of the new digital paradigm; this is usually due to a lack of understanding about the technology.  In analog copiers, copies are produced by transferring the image optically from the original to the copy by means of mirrors.  With today's digital copiers, the information is scanned optically from a piece of paper electronically thru what they call a CCD and a laser unit. Information is then converted into a digitized format and then processed for printing.

In the midst of changing office environment technologies, some things remain the same:

1.        Need to improve efficiency
2.             Need to increase productivity
3.            Need to control cost
4.           Need to maximize investment in technology

Simply stated, Digital copiers make it possible to have a wide range of features at an affordable price.  In fact, some things cannot be accomplished with Analog copiers that can be with Digital copiers.

Following are the various types of copier machines that you can get in the market:

Black-and-white copiers: Black-and-white copiers are a popular choice for schools and for office printouts.  Black toner costs less than color toner, resulting in a lower cost per copy.

Color copiers: Color copiers can help you make a splash with high-impact presentations, brochures, flyers, and more.  For print-quality color reproduction, consider Graphic Color copiers.  Some color copiers also include a designated black-and-white mode.

All-In-One copiers: All-In-One or Multifunction can make copies, fax, scan, and print in black-and-white and color, making them a good choice for offices with limited space.  Many support internal memory upgrades as well as add-on modules for image editing (for example, add watermarks or resize) and stackless duplexing.  If you want to give you staff the ability to print, copy, or fax over the office network, look for network multifunction copiers.

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Digital Copier Security - There's More to Overcome Than Just the Hard Drive

The CBS Evening News recently broadcast a story called "Copy Machines a Security Risk?"  The information presented in the story was alarming, to say the least, but CBS only scratched the surface of the topic.  For companies who rely on securing confidential and proprietary information from competitors or hackers, there's much more you need to know about the inconspicuous digital copier.  In this article, we'll look at five areas where confidential information may be compromised.

If you haven't seen the CBS story please click on this link at the bottom of this page and view the five-minute broadcast before you continue with this article.

In addition to the risks presented by the CBS story here are 5 additional areas where copiers can compromise your security.

1. Many digital copiers are also network printers that store network information such as IP addresses, subnet masks and gateway IP's.  These settings are not stored on the hard drive and are not cleared by the digital copier "Purge" feature.  Network settings must be manually cleared.  Security experts will tell you to keep your network configuration private.  You don't want competitors or hackers to know your internal network configuration.  The more information about your network infrastructure that's accessible to hackers the less they have to figure out on their own and the sooner they can compromise your network.

2. Many digital copiers store the IP addresses of your DNS servers and/or Domain controllers.  Depending on the type and model of your copier, this information may not be cleared by your copier "purge" function.  You definitely don't want competitors or hackers knowing the IP addresses of your Name Servers or Domain Controllers.

3. Many digital copiers store email addresses and some even download your entire Email Global Address List to the copier.  Again, you don't want this to be accessible to those outside your company.

4. The "purge" function used by older digital copy machines doesn't delete any data from the copier hard drive.  It only renders the data inaccessible to the copier software.  It either deletes a file we techies would call a "file allocation table" or it will use other tactics to render the data unreadable to the copier software.  The "Purge" button merely gives an allusion the disk has been cleaned.  However, the data is still there and can be removed as shown on the CBS story.  Most copier security policies rely on this built-in Purge function and think their data is cleared.  It is not cleared.  It can still be accessed with free scanning tools available on the internet.

5. If your copier has a fax capability, the copier also stores all the phone numbers it dialed and numbers that dialed it along with any information you provided in your Fax phone book.  Again, the "Purge" function will not clear this information.

One of the biggest obstacles surrounding this whole issue of Copier Security is the apathy and ignorance of the Manufacturers.  Most copier technicians today still believe the built-in Purge function deletes all information on the copier.  To make matters worse, most copier technicians don't know where the different type of information is stored.  Some data is stored on the hard drive, some data in flash memory, and some data is stored in firmware.  Sensitive information is stored in different places depending on the manufacturer and model of copier.  Just when you think it can't get worse.  Let me drop the final shoe.  There are no utilities that will scan a copier and certify that it has been completely purged from older digital copy machines.

As I mentioned earlier, this CBS news story only scratched the surface of the real risks associated with digital Copier Security.  The Copier Security pioneers who were interviewed in the CBS story, Digital Copier Security inc., have done extensive research on these security risks and are working to provide services and resources to help companies thoroughly purge their older copy machines.  I applaud Digital Copier Security for bringing this issue to the attention of Corporate America and for working diligently to address this significant security hole.

I encourage the Copier industry to take responsibility for ensuring new copiers have the capability to purge themselves of all sensitive information and to provide a certification report indicating what has been purged.  This should be a standard feature on all Digital Copiers and not an add-on feature that comes at an additional cost.  Additionally copier technicians should be trained to thoroughly purge all Digital Copiers.

Until such a time, Corporate America must take necessary steps to ensure their own safety.  They must ensure they are not exposing themselves to unnecessary security risks or even breaking Privacy Laws. Digital copiers must have processes defined (and documented) that ensure appropriate actions are taken before copiers are released to third parties.

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Multifunctional Copier For Your Business

Investing in a powerful, multi-functional copier for your business is one of the best investments you can make for the productivity of your office.  That said, there are several factors you'll need to consider when looking for the right copier, the most important being how often will the copier be used.  When working out how many copies are made per day or month, you will be better able to determine whether you will need a color or black and white copier, the size of the copier as well as its tray's capacity.  The second aspect to ensure about your copier is that it has a duplex option.  This will allow for double, and single sided printing and copying, with the option of making one or the other the default.  This will save plenty of paper.  There should be an option to use single sided printing as well, but ensure this feature should only be used when absolutely necessary.

Ensure that the copier chosen uses a tiny amount of standby power, and that it automatically switches between standby and active mode when not in use.  Plenty of the newer copiers automatically enter into standby mode the moment they are not being used and have awfully fast start up times.  A comparison of some new copiers shows that they only consume 3w of energy as opposed to 690w for some older copiers.  Yet another aspect to consider before deciding on a copier, is whether a multi-functional copier will be a worthwhile investment.  These copiers are able to take on the workload of a scanner, printer, and copier and even fax machines, all in one.  It can also save you a lot of space, if you are running a small office, and will save you money in running and servicing costs should you need to utilize each of these machines for your business.

The resolution of the copier establishes the clarity of each page such as the crispness and clarity of an image, which may be very important depending on the copier's purpose.  Resolution is calculated in dots per inch.  There are copiers equipped with very high resolutions, but save you and require a regular amount of prints with exceptionally clear images, this will certainly impact on the running costs of your copier.  Consequently, dramatically high resolution copiers are mostly only worthwhile to designers and printing businesses.  The next aspect to take into consideration is the speed at which you will require your copier to perform.  A copier's speed is measured in pages per minute.  If you and a lot of other people will be using the copier on a regular basis, it is advisable to get a copier that performs at a faster rate in order to aid productivity.  The software available for the copier should be thoroughly researched to see which capabilities it is equipped with, should you need to make use of it in the future.  Some software may be very useful, particularly for larger organizations where you can keep tabs on what is being printed, and instigating departmental quotas on printing.

A copier is a large investment to make, thoroughly research any decision before making it, and only buy from trusted, accredited suppliers.

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Used Copiers - The New Trend

In this day and age, any professional nowadays that have copiers, they have been a staple in almost every white collar job out there. This is for a number of reasons such as documentation, filing or just simply reproduction of data.  Producing copies from copiers are generally cheaper and less time consuming than recreating new versions of them.  The only catch is that, the copiers themselves cost a small fortune, and you would need a few years of using it before you can actually feel the return of investment for these copiers.

A new trend nowadays is buying used copiers rather than brand new ones.  Investing in used copiers can benefit anyone in many ways and that's why many people are shifting to used copiers rather than saving up for brand new ones.

A used copier is very easy on the pocket book.  A quality used copier can cost about one third the price of a brand new one and even one half the price of the latest versions.  This would allow you to spread your investments into other things like another copier or other equipment all as the cost of one brand new copier.

Used copiers although old, can still offer the same quality copies as brand new ones.  Especially if you do not need any high end graphics and details to be copied, used copiers could be more than enough for you.  Any quality used copier can handle and text documents with little or no difference from a brand new one.

Many used copiers in Chicago offer competitive prices for any type of professional.  Whether for work or personal use, you will be sure to find a quality used copier in the Chicagoland area.  Used copiers in Chicago cost much less than used copiers sold elsewhere, so it would be best to take advantage of this offer if you are living in the Chicagoland area and go get your used copier.  You need not worry about having a hard time finding a used copier in Arlington Heights.  You can find a used copier in Chicago at almost any computer hardware store there.  You can also inspect the used copiers if they are up to your caliber In quality.

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Xerox Copier Supplies

From a Xerox Copier Supplies Company, you can buy many different types of copier hardware and software items to make your office work function better.  Before buying a copier, do a little research on what activities are carried out in your office or department.  This way you'll know your office and copier needs.  After this, schedule a visit to your local office supplies store with a list of the needed items.

To buy all of the copier supplies on your list, verify from the internet that all of the various supplies on your list are available and the different prices for these many items.  You will also be able to identify the genuine Xerox supplies from those less expensive reproductions that are also available.

You can also buy your Xerox Copier supplies online.  If you choose to select the various supplies in person, look at the many promotional offers that you might find in these stores.  Sometimes you will be able to find coupons on the internet for the supplies with which you will find great bargains that will save you some money.  Some of these supplies could be a little difficult to locate, and as such, just  ask the store personnel who have been trained to find various items that are useful in offices for help.

With a well-written list, you can buy many copier supplies first and know what the total price is for each of these supplies, you can then see about choosing the other office supplies that you may need when you reach the office supply store.   Once there, you should hunt for the supplies that you need very carefully.  This way you can be sure that you will have all the correct supplies needed, that will promote efficient work and make your various documents look great.

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How to Buy the Right Copier

Definitions

Business class copiers-Not sold in office club stores.  Sold by knowledgeable and reputable dealers. Designed for higher volumes and dependability.

Office club copiers & personal copiers -Sold in office club stores i.e. Office Depot, Office Max and Costco... For personal and low volume customers.

Cost of Equipment

The cost of a copier can be quite expensive.  Just shopping for price and buying one on cost alone can be misleading and can end up being more expensive in the long run.  This is especially true if you make thousands of copies per month.  You could be paying three times the amount of the price of the copier in toner and supply costs.  It doesn't matter if you are buying one for a business or for personal use.  The first thing you should do is research the cost per copy.

Volume and Cost per Copy

When purchasing a copier you must first research your monthly copy volume.  This is the first step in choosing which copier is right for you.  One easy way to determine this is to think of how many reams of paper you use per month.  Each ream is 500 sheets of paper.  Just multiply that by the amount of reams that you use and you have a fairly accurate assessment of your "copies per month."  The reason you must know this is because it helps you determine you're "cost per copy."  This is how much it will cost you every time you press the copy button.  Now, you take the price of the toner and divide that into the estimated yield and you have your cost per copy.  Example: The toner cost is $100.00 and the yield is 10,000 copies.  Your cost per copy is.01 cents per copy.  Office club type copier supplies are almost always more expensive than a business class type copier.

Service and Repair, Service contracts

Most copier service companies, (not affiliated with office clubs) will not provide you an onsite service contract on an office club copier.  This is because they don't sell them.  Office club stores will normally offer extended warranties but coverage may not be complete.  For example, they might not cover the toner or they won't cover on-site service.  I have had customers call me and tell me that they had to ship the machine off to have it repaired and that they didn't even get the same machine back afterwards. They received a replacement machine.

Many times a business class copier service contract that covers parts, service, and toner and supplies (everything except paper) is less expensive than the toner costs on a personal copier.

Automatic Document Feeder and Feed Systems

Document Feeders

An automatic document feeder is the feeder that automatically feeds your original documents one at a time, so you don't have to stand there and lift the lid each time you have a stack of originals to be copied.  Not all document feeders are created equally.  There are many different mechanisms that feed, separate and eject the originals on all of the makes and models of copiers.  Business type copiers have much better mechanisms than personal type copiers.  When you are in business and you make lots of copies and sets of copies it is frustrating when you can not count on this feature to work dependably.

The most common problems are multi-feeding and jamming problems.  Multi-feeding is when the feeder pulls in more than one original at a time.  Most of the time the copier will not let you know this happened.  It will not show a jam and you may not realize it did this, until you are in the middle of your very important meeting and you have some missing pages.  Paper jamming is another problem where it doesn't pull the paper through correctly and jams.  This is also very frustrating.

Feed Systems

Feed systems are the rollers and mechanisms that pull in your copy paper to make copies.  Paper jams are the most frustrating thing that a person can have with a copier.  Office club type copiers have inferior systems that feed the paper in and as you make larger copier runs the dependability is much less than a business type copier.  I am speaking of my experience of over thirty years in the industry with copiers on both document feeders and feed systems, but there are exceptions and some personal copiers work just fine.

Quality and Longevity

Quality of the copies being made has really improved over the years especially since the digital evolution.  There really is not much difference in copy quality.  I have seen personal copiers that have just as good resolution and copy quality as a very expensive business copier.  That said, when it comes to the quality of manufacturing, sturdiness and just plain quality of the equipment you can see a big difference.

Business type copiers are built to last.  It really depends on your copy volume as to how long each machine will last.  Business copiers are built to last the monthly duty cycles that the manufacturer has designated.  Though sometimes, I feel that they over estimate these amounts.  There are applications where a personal copier will need to be replaced in only one year next to a business type copier that will last seven to ten years, really!

Conclusion

Buying a copier can be expensive, but buying the wrong copier can be a waste of money.  By doing your research ahead of time you can save money and use your copier for many years with fewer problems. Finding a dependable company to service your machine is just as important as buying the right machine.

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Troubleshooting a Xerox Copier

Xerox can be a great option for a copier that you can have.  This will help you to get the copies of documents that you need; but in a certain amount of time, you might find that this machine does not work properly.  You might get faded images and documents from the machine intermittently, or it can do the copying job perfectly sometimes.

You will find that the Xerox might get dirty or wear down after you use it for hundreds of copying jobs.  If you find some problems that might occur in the copier, there are ways that you can go thru a troubleshooting procedure for the machine.  Follow the following steps if you want to troubleshoot your Xerox copier.  Keep in mind this doesn't apply to all Xerox copiers, but similar procedures do apply to others.

1. Find the red button (Job Cancel) on the control panel of the machine and press it.  Then, you should turn off the machine by pressing the power switch.  You should also unplug any cable that you can find in the machine.

2. Let the machine to go thru a cool down, by leaving it off for several minutes. Then you should try to find and reveal the toner cartridge of the machine. You can do it by pulling open usually the front cover of the machine.

3. Find the plastic locking lever and locate it next to the left hand end of the cartridge.  You should press it toward you.  Then, you should set the cartridge on a stable work surface.

4. Look at the top-right of the cartridge and find the blue tab.  Grip it, and slide the tab to the left end of the cartridge.  Then, you have to slide it back to its previous position.  You should repeat it for several times to clean the corona wire that exists inside the cartridge.

5. Look inside the machine to find whether there is jammed paper or not.  You can do it by the inspecting the toner cartridge inside the machine.

6. Look at the front of the machine and close the plastic panel that you find in it.  The, you should reveal the scanning glass of the machine by pulling the plastic lid.  Wipe off the glass that you have revealed with a soft cloth towel.

7. When you have finished, close the lid of the copier.  When you find any paper jammed inside the feed tray, pull the paper.

Those are some examples of things that you can do to troubleshoot most Xerox copiers that you might have.  By doing these things, you will be able to use the machine properly, so that you can run the copying jobs with this machine.

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Printers - Choosing the Printer That Fits Your Needs

Printers have become a daily essential for anyone who has a computer - after all, we all need to produce hard copies of our electronic data.  Choosing which printer serves your needs best can be tricky.  Here's a 101.

Kinds of printers
Whether you need to print documents, photos, stickers, large banners or any other data that needs to be printed, there is a printer that can suit your needs.

o Card Printer - for printing plastic cards
o CD Printer - for printing labels directly onto the CD
o Check Printer - for printing text on blank checks
o DVD Printer - for printing labels directly on the DVD disc
o Inkjet Printer - usually used for basic printing needs (i.e. documents, photos, etc.) in the home, school or office.
o Laster Printer - has similar functions with the inkjet, only faster.
o Photo Printer - the printer especially designed and made for printing high-quality images.
o Portable Printer - for use with mobile devices like laptops and other mobile computers
o Postcard Printer - for printing images and text on postcards and other novelty papers.
o Poster Printer - for printing bigger media (i.e. posters, banners, etc.)
o Thermal Printer - typically used for printing receipts and labels
o Wireless Printer - utilizes Bluetooth technology to connect to your computer instead of traditional cables, which makes it ideal for small spaces with computers.
Before you buy that printer...

No matter what your printing needs are, make sure you take into consideration the following features when choosing a printer:

o Power source
o Connectivity
o Printing size
o Format (what it can print)
o Speed of printing
o Efficiency
o Paper types and sizes it can accommodate
o Security features
o System requirements (ensure your device is compatible with it)
o Capacity (how much it can print at a time and how much paper it can accommodate)

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Guide to Buying a New printer

One of the more perplexing decisions when faced with choosing a new printer is which print technology is going to suit you the best.  At the moment there are two main printing systems: the laser technology, using toner cartridges and a transfer drum assembly; and ink jets using ink tank cartridges and fine-spray nozzles.  The method that will suit you best will depend largely on what you plan to print on your new printer, and cost factors that affect the costs of running it.  Laser printers are possibly better for high-volume printing, with lower 'per page' costs and they have better black intensity text, than most ink jets. Laser printers tend to have a faster page rate but ink jets still offer the important advantages in affordable color printing.

For home use, you'll probably want to print out digital photos or graphics, which makes color a must. The traditional differentiation between lasers and ink jets has been office versus home use; however, color offers obvious presentation advantages for business use as well.  Fortunately, prices for both categories of printers have come down enough to make it practical to purchase both a laser and an ink jet if you absolutely need both color and high-quality text.

The work you do

There are a number of different printer configurations available today, many of them are quite specialized in the applications.  There are specialized photo printers, direct disc CD printers, Multi-function printers, desktop ink jets and high-speed lasers.

If you want a printer that is specifically designed for printing photographs, you will most likely look for a color ink-jet system that is a photo printer, allowing very high quality color output and capable of printing all the way to the edge of the page.  Recent releases by major brands now include all-in-one Multi-function devices that include scanning and printing capabilities.  Many smaller units that are designed purely as a photo-printer to plug directly into your digital camera are also available.  Much the same can be said for CD or DVD printing, with specialized printers available for printing directly onto discs, saving label application.

On the other hand if you are a small home-office worker, then your requirements may be more general, in which case you need to make a printer decision based on the types of documents you produce and how many.  In general terms, ink-jet printers offer high quality color outputs, at a low hardware cost, but high consumable cost.  Lasers offer significantly higher speeds but at a much higher hardware cost. High volume usage however, reduces the cost per page considerably.

Multi-function printers (MFP) are often ideal for home office or student needs because they combine multiple functions into one unit, usually a scanner, printer, copier fax machine, doing a little bit of everything, and saving considerable desk and office space in the bargain.  Generally ink-jet style printers, some MFP's may trade-off performance for price and convenience (e.g. lower resolution, slower print speed) than if you were to buy a printer and scanner individually.

You can buy Multi-functional printers specially configured for printing photographs, with some machines providing the ability to scan directly from 35mm slides and store digital files and print them, which is ideal for archiving old photo libraries.  However, the scanned images may not exhibit the same clarity and brightness of digitally capture photographs, or as the kind of quality that you can obtain from a dedicated scanner. 

Dealing with Technical Talk

One of the specifications that you will be faced with, is that of resolution.  Up to a point, a printer's resolution determines aspects of its print quality.  Images are made up of tiny dots of ink or toner that is applied to the page, and resolution is the term given to the number of dots per inch-quoted as dpi.  This usually is represented in a two-dimensional matrix (eg: 600 x 300 dpi).  Most printers today support a basic 600 x 600 dpi resolution that produces adequate quality in most instances.  Many ink jets, however, especially photo printers and high-end plotters, offer higher resolutions and more dots in the vertical plane than the horizontal.

Resolution ratings are not the whole story however.  Many printer manufacturers now incorporate smoothing and enhancing features through software algorithms.  This means that some output from printers with a lower dpi looks just as good as that from a higher dpi unit.  And, although some printers have very high resolutions, you're not likely to notice any difference in quality with common print jobs once you go above 600 x 600 dpi resolution.  What you will notice however, is much higher consumption of inks or toner.  It is noteworthy, and perhaps obvious to some, that the higher resolution you are printing at, the higher will be your consumable consumption, and this is the most expensive part of your printer.

Speed is another important consideration.  Vary rarely will you find that your printer performs at the 'pages-per-minute' rate (ppm) that is advertised or cited in the specification.  There are a number of reasons for this including the size of the file being printed, the amount of ink coverage on the page, the proportion of black to other colors, the weight of the paper stock and possibly even the constancy of the power supply of electricity to your premises.  This is not today, that the manufacturers, under laboratory conditions are not able to make the machine perform at spec, just not to rely on the claim as a gospel figure.  However, you can use the speed ratings to make some judgment of performance differences, between brands and models.  If speed is an important consideration, then you can short-list printers that claim to perform above a certain rate and then compare other factors. 

Laser printers use powder toner that is electromagnetically attracted to the page by an image temporarily made on a transfer drum through a laser scanning process, and then fused to the page with a heat-setting system.  This toner is supplied in cartridges, usually one for each of a four-color printing system (cyan, magenta, yellow and black).  Manufactures give some estimate of how many pages of a given size each toner cartridge will print, based on a predetermined proportion of coverage (say 10%). As with the speed claims, these estimates are rarely accurate, but can be used to make some judgment between makes and models.  The higher resolution of image you are printing, the more toner will be used in the process.  Ink jet printers use a liquid ink stored in tanks that are sprayed by very fine nozzles onto the page as they are required.  Just as you replace the toner cartridges in the laser system, you replace ink tanks when they're depleted in an ink jet printer.

It is important to understand that even though the printer might be cheap, consumables is where the manufacturers actually make enormous profits, so be sure to consider replacement consumables when doing your cost comparisons.  With ink jet printers, some have color cartridges in one unit, others have separate color units.  In the long run, separate tanks will most likely work out cheaper, because as one color runs out, you replace only that color.  When all colors are housed in the one cartridge unit, you may have a nearly full tank of cyan when the yellow is completely gone, and you have to throw away unused ink.  Not only does this waste your money, it can also be environmentally expensive.

Cost

There are two parts to your cost assessment of a printer.  The first is the purchase price of the printer itself.  This can vary considerably between brands and models, and is usually differentiated through different features being offered.  However, possibly more important is the ongoing cost, often measured in cost per page.  A typical ink jet printer may cost you 40-50 cents per printed page, depending on how much ink you are using on the page, it may even cost more.  By comparison, a color laser may work out to 15-20 cents per page.  These costs don't usually include the paper stock, and are based on consumables and maintenance costs.  Companies like Xerox often supply large color Laser printers for a cost per page fee.

One cost assessment technique is to estimate how much printing you will do in a given period, load your calculations with a percentage of ink coverage (if you are printing all full gloss and high resolution photographs, for example, you might load the cost per page by a factor of 8-10), factor in the machine cost and make a comparison of what you will spend in a year, including the cost of the printer.

Other things you might consider

How paper travels through a printer can affect your whole printer experience.  The closest you can get to a 'straight through' paper path, the more trouble-free your printer will be.  If all your printing is only on plain white bond paper, then paper path will possibly not be a major consideration; but if you're printing on photographic stock, thick paper, envelopes, transparent film or other materials, then be sure the print path is compatible with your requirements.  How you connect to your computer might also be a consideration, especially if you work with large files where connection speed is a consideration.   Most printers today offer relatively high-speed USB interfaces. You might also want to consider wireless connections or networking capabilities.

When choosing a Laser printer, on-board RAM (read only memory) might be a consideration.  A printer with a standard 64 Megabytes of RAM will be slow to print a quantity of documents that are larger in size than the printer's memory.  If large documents are a consideration, make sure you can upgrade the printer's memory.  The printer driver provides the software interface to your printer, offering you on-screen control over copies, page size, orientation, resolution, text smoothing and paper thickness and type.  Many drivers now include advanced features and enable you to create your own custom-setting profiles for quick selection.  Moreover a good driver provides complete printer management from on-screen, including paper jams and job queue management.  Ink-jet drivers often provide graphical indications of remaining ink levels for each color.

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Use Laser Copier Printer for Quick and Clear Printing

Bubble jet, laser and inkjet are some of the common technology used in printers for commercial or personal purposes.  Every printer model varies in aspects such as technology, features, functions, appearance and quality.  Hence, plan your budget and determine your requirements before simply rushing out to buy any printer.

A laser copier printer is one of the best investments.  Generally, it can last for a long time due to its high quality and technology.  Selling one as a second-hand is not a problem.  There is always some demand for such a printer for commercial or personal purposes.  This is very much understandable considering its high speed, quality and clarity of printing documents.

Generally, laser copier printers are divided into two categories, mono and color.  A mono laser printer only prints in black and white.  However, a color printer can print in color and is very suitable for printing digital photos and images.  It is much more costly than a mono printer is.  A large printer using color laser technology is usually used in a digital photo shop for printing photos and images.

A laser printer uses a toner cartridge, similar to a fax machine.  This cartridge can last for many months, immaterial of whether it is a color or mono one.  Some laser models can print documents on one side. Other models can print on both sides and they are called as duplex printers.

A duplex printer usually has function buttons for you to choose one-sided or duplex printing.  With duplex printing, there is no necessity to waste time and energy to take out the printed-paper and turn it over for the other side for double-sided printing.  You may save money as time goes on.  There is less electricity used for printing.

All-in-one printer, which uses laser technology, can perform many functions.  Some models can scan and print documents while others can scan, fax and print documents or photos.  Hence, you do not have to spend money to buy a separate scanner or fax machine.  It also saves some space at your home or office.

Since a laser copier printer usually uses digital technology with memory functions, using one is indeed easy.  You save some of your favorite features for printing without having to choose the required features all the time.  Therefore, if you want to enjoy high speed, quality and clarity of printing, consider getting a laser copier printer.  It might be worth the price in the long run.

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What To Look For When Selecting A High Quality, Fast, And Reliable Copier

If you are looking for a high quality, fast, and reliable copier for your office, the first thing you want to do is set a budget.  If your budget is on the low side, as most of our budgets are these days, you will want to consider a refurbished copy machine over new copiers.  Read on to learn why, and how else to find a high quality, fast, and reliable copier for your office.

Just like cars that lose value as soon as they leave the lot, a copier significantly decreases in resale value as soon as it is sold for the first time.  Although most refurbished copy machines are less than three months old and come from short term rentals, off lease contracts, sales demos and corporate downsizing, they can cost up to 75% less than a brand new copier - even though it performs exactly the same.  If you want the most value for your dollar, you should definitely choose a used copier.

Now, let's get to the main topic of the article: how to choose a high quality, fast, and reliable copier.  The first thing to do is to look for high quality brand names, such as Xerox, Ricoh, Toshiba, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, or Canon copy machines.  These are the top brands in their industry, and most come with some kind of limited or extended warranty when you buy one.  If you are interested in purchasing a refurbished copier, you can still find a top brand, and most will come with a warranty as well.

As far as speed and reliability in a copier: most copy machines are pretty much on par with one another when it comes to the speed that they make copies at.  Just make sure you choose a current model of a name brand copier with a warranty, and you should be able to guarantee that your copies are always fast, reliable, and high quality.  If you choose to go with a refurbished copier, make sure you find out what the company does as part of the refurbishing process.  Also make sure that your copier comes with a "same as new" 90 day complete parts and labor warranty.

Once again, if you are looking for a high quality, fast, and reliable copier for your office, we cannot stress enough that you should look for a refurbished copier before buying a brand new copier.  It will provide your office with the productivity it requires for many years but won't come with the elevated costs of a brand new copy machine.

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Printer Repair Becomes The Essential Commodity For The Optimum Performance Output

Printer has been considered as the most versatile instrument in today's times to execute the varied computational mundane requirements in an organization.

The most important component and the prerequisite parameter is the quality of the print which gets dispensed out in the form of hand-outs.  However, if the print quality gets hampered or distorted it calls in for the printer repair mechanisms.

The printer repair has rose to prominence with reference to handling the varied printer repairs to resolve the printer malfunctioning.  In general, the printer malfunctioning happens for two distinct reasons:

Software: The printer driver problems:

· The printer driver is the software program which brings about the effective printing functions in a printer when connected to the laptop or the desktop computers. It has remained as connectivity between the printer device (hardware) and the computer systems.

· The problem associated with printer drivers can be resolved, if the user attempts to re-install them in the computer systems, so as to take the printer into control for the effective functioning.

· In some cases, when the printer is connected to the updated operating system or the (OS), the printer drivers also need to be updated regularly, so as to make the best use of the printers.

· The updated printer drivers are readily available over the internet with respect to the printer brand.

Network Problems:

· The printer often fails to detect in the premise network for most of the time during the print scheduling.

· The problems could be multi-fold here; one should always see the computer's systems network connectivity in the local area network (LAN).

· Sometimes, the printer drivers for network should be updated to get back the printer connectivity onto the network domain.

Hardware: Some of the Printer Hardware Problems:

Paper jams:

· Paper jams in a printer have been a common symptomatic problems related to the printer hardware.

· As an analogy, one needs to understand as to the real cause of paper jams rather than just attempting to the removal of the jammed paper.

· One should really attempt to open all the flaps of the printer and look inside for any paper which has been stuck and one should ensure to remove them to ensure that there are no paper jams in the long run.

Ink quality getting hampered:

The print ink quality eventually gets hampered if the toner in the cartridge gets depleted and one should attempt to refill the printer cartridge at the earliest or to replace with the new print cartridge. This way you can improve the print quality.

Paper quality has a predominant impact on printers and the cartridge ink

· The usage of low grade paper as a means to get the print outs; turns up as an impact for the printer cartridge ink.

· The low grade paper while on their way to get printed gets blurred which results in the low quality print and further excess of toner is consumed in the course of time, especially when attempting to take the print of images and pictures.

The cartridge groove problem:

· The printer cartridge gets fixed onto the printer groove and once the printer cartridge gets firmly fixed, it would be eventually ready to take more print requests.

· In the event that a printer cartridge does not get into the groove properly well, it leads to the problems such as the paper jams, crumbled paper when attempting to dispense out.

Network connectivity problem

· The printing network connectivity problems can be attributed to one big reason is that the patch cable connecting the printer to the network console is loosely attached or damaged.

· One should ensure that the printer cables are properly plugged in, so that the printer is visible among the peers in the network for the print spooling.

· One should ensure that the network bandwidth is optimally good; this is to ensure that the printers are working at their optimum with reference to taking the print-outs.

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