Multi-purpose Printers: A Yay or Nay breakdown

When one decides to save a moment and capture it, the next concern is to somehow preserve the moment in time for ages to come, when you need physical copies of an extensive document, you strive for the most convenient way to achieve that mammoth task, gone are the days of hand-written novels and odysseys, now all these tasks are contracted to the pore of your finger and the mechanics which are triggered by the push of a button. 

We at memoryclearance.com bearing in mind the growing demands of the consumer for the best available product in the lowest price possible have given up our time, energy and sleep to make your life easier and the choice making, a little less arduous. 

Printers were big, clunky boxes that would sit on a desk and do one thing all day long: print. Today the devices come with the ability to print, of course, but also toss in scanning capabilities and the option to copy your documents for safe keeping. And depending on what you buy, there is often also an option to send e-mails directly from the printer to a recipient’s inbox.

Buying a new printer for your small or mid-sized businesses seem like a relatively straight-forward task until you realize the vast number of options associated with the decision which can make this an unnecessary hassle, opting for the wrong option may land you into major trouble, the nitty gritty maybe neglected but it is this attention to detail which separates the great from the good: A plethora of questions and minimal answers, should you opt for a standalone printer or one of those all-in-one machines? Inkjet or laser? Color or monochrome? Do you need collating, two-sided printing, or large input trays? What about wireless?

You get the point.

Many small and mid-sized businesses today are opting for laser printers for large volume jobs, as opposed to an inkjet they might have at home for the occasional photo printing. At the same time, the multifunction printers can also handle scanning, copying, and faxing. 

Hence, we bring to you a yay or nay review of a multi-purpose printer.

The Good

Buying a multifunction laser printer can save your company space, money, and aggravation.

Many small businesses simply don’t have the room for three or four dedicated machines for printing, scanning, copying, and faxing — nor do they likely have the funds to purchase three or four separate devices, also factor in the clutter and coils of wires if cost effective wired options are considered. An all-in-one printer “consolidates all these important office features into one box, so you can better manage all your document management activity in one place in a monetarily viable option which will prove to be compact and take up less effort with regards to manageability. 

Space-saving issues come up a lot in small business and home-based offices and any measures to cut costs are important considerations for small businesses, especially in an ailing economy. “You could spend many thousands of dollars for a dedicated printer, flatbed scanner, copier, and fax machine compared to only a couple hundred dollars for a reliable multifunction machine.

Having one machine that does it all also makes it easier for maintenance, saves cost, energy and resources, such as downloading just one driver update as opposed to four of them if all the peripheries are bought separately. Purchasing “consumables” such as ink or toner, paper, and other supplies will become an exercise and will also eat up time and effect workflow if people tend to four machines rather than one in case of a malfunction. One machine also consumes less power than three or four printers making it a preferred choice. It gives the machine value addition making it an all-encompassing module.

“Any time you can integrate multiple functions in one device you’re taking advantage of less space, lower costs, and fewer hassles when it comes to drivers and support. 

The Bad

As with any multipurpose multi-dimensional and multi-functional computing device, a clear downside is if something goes wrong with your product, you’ll be without everything while it’s being repaired or replaced, the entire module will be out of commission. In other words, if the scanner portion of your all-in-one device fails to work and you send it out to be fixed, you’re now without all other options as well. Such is the problem with “putting all your eggs in one proverbial basket”.

If you have a well sized enterprise with some extra cash and common technical sense, you will invest in more than one multi-function options so that you are not left blank and reaching out at thin air when one machine goes haywire, you can dodge such catastrophe with simple and efficient planning. On that note, it’s recommended to have a networked multifunction unit (wired or wireless) for offices with many PCs.

When it comes to quality, there isn’t a clear difference between standalone products and multifunction ones anymore. Multifunction printers used to be a generation or two behind its single device counterpart when it came to quality but this is not the case anymore, technology has caught up and caught up fast, it’s the age of multi-tasking and time has always been money for a result oriented individual.

The quality has caught up to the convenience for the most part now, it depends on the choice you make with the pros and cons in mind to help you make a smarter choice.

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