Choosing Computer Accessories

2. Laser Printers

Unless you print in very low volumes (a few pages a week), a laser printer is probably best for your business.

2.1 When choosing a laser printer, speed is important, so consider how much printing you will be doing.

• Small laser printers are suitable for businesses with one to three people using them. They print at around 16 pages per minute (ppm) and are designed to produce 1,000 to 5,000 pages per month.
• Heavy-duty lasers are suitable for larger networks. Some laser printers are network-ready; others connect to a print server (see 2.5). These large laser machines will print up to 40ppm.

2.2 Even the cheapest laser printer will produce high quality text.

• Print quality is expressed in 'dots per inch' (dpi).
• In general, a higher dpi is better, although as figures can sometimes be misleading, it is best to compare sample printouts.
• Text should be printed on a minimum of 600dpi. Most laser printers will offer at least 1,200dpi.

2.3 You also need to consider whether you need to print in colour.

• Colour laser printers are more expensive than mono (black and white) ones, but still affordable. A colour laser is the most effective way to do large volumes of colour printing.
• Most colour lasers will produce acceptable quality. For text, look for at least 600dpi resolution. For photos, look for 1200dpi or more and view test prints to check colour accuracy.
• Colour printing also costs more per page.
• For occasional colour pinting, you can supplement a mono laser printer with a colour inkjet. (see 3). This can be more cost-effective because it discourages employees from printing in colour uneccessarily.

2.4 Paper handling is important if you print in reasonable volumes.

• All laser printers can print on A4. You will pay more for an A3 model.
• For a medium-volume printer, look for a model which can hold at least 500 sheets of paper.
• Some printers have multiple trays, so you can load different types of paper, then select which you want to use.
• A manual feed makes one-off printing onto labels or envelopes easier.

2.5 Unless you intend to use the printer with a single computer, you will need to consider networking.

• Some laser printers come with a network connection built in. You can connect them directly to your network, so all your computers can share the printer.
• You do not need additional hardware to use one of these printers, but you need to install printer driver software onto each networked computer.
• If your printer does not have networking built in, you will need a print server.