Print With a Purpose: Which Type of Printer Is Right for Your Company?

The USA printer market is worth US$78 billion. That shows how crucial printers are to all types of business. Big, small, home businesses all need to print for records and promotion.

The type of printer you choose can affect your efficiency. So how do you choose the right type of printer for your company?

We have a guide to the different types of printers on the market. Each suits certain business functions, and the choice depends on your needs.

Read on for all you need to know.

How To Choose the Best Type of Printer

You need to think about the size of your business. What type of media do you print most often? Text documents or high-resolution photos and graphics?

The type of printer needs to match the output quantity. Some types of printers suit high volume, low-cost prints. Others are better for lower-quantity, max-quality prints, like HD photos.

Consider initial costs, ink or toner costs, maintenance, print speed, and quality.

Inkjet and Solid Ink Printers

Most color printers we use in our homes are inkjet. These use solid ink held in cartridges and forced through as a jet onto our paper. They are ideal for businesses that print images or graphics.

Inkjet works well for printing color labels. The higher resolution ensures readability. Check out the Afinia printer for an example of a color label printer.

Inkjet cartridges cost less than laser toners. You can refill many inkjet cartridges too, saving on long-term costs.

You will need special paper for graphics and photos. Inkjets can be slow to print, and you need to clean their printheads. Fresh prints can blur or smudge if you touch them.

Laser Printers

Laser printers are your typical office printer. They print fast, crisp documents, and they work well with larger teams. The speed of laser printers keeps queues, and stress levels, down.

Once you have your laser printer, its toner lasts for much longer than an inkjet cartridge. You can print stacks without needing to replace your toner. For images and graphics, inkjet still wins though.

Lasers cost more than inkjet printers. They also need laser or copy paper. But if you need to print lots of copies, fast, laser printers are the most efficient printer.

All-In-One Printers

These save costs for small teams. You get a printer, scanner, fax machine, and photocopier, all-in-one.

You can set them up fast and get to work. If you are a start-up, all-in-ones offer the best price to function ratio.

Though cheap to buy, having one device for all tasks can limit your productivity. Your team may need to queue to use your all-in-one.

If you send multiple jobs to an all-in-one, it may miss some. The newest printer models prevent this. Check yours can multitask.

For quick setups, all-in-ones are hard to beat.

Ready to Print?

We hope our guide helped you choose the right type of printer for your company. Think about printer and cartridge costs, media type, quantity, and quality.

There are also specialist printers: 3D printers, thermal, and dot matrix. For most tasks though, our three main types are what you need.

For more business, tech, and product tips, feel free to browse the rest of our site. Happy printing!