Printers & Multifunction Printers: Buying Guide & Quotes

Choose between laser, inkjet and multifunction printers by volume and use, then get quotes from suppliers for your office.

Types

Mono laser printer — fast, low cost per page for black-and-white documents. The default for most offices.
Colour laser printer — for brochures, reports and presentations in moderate volumes.
Inkjet and ink-tank printer — good for photos and low-volume colour; ink-tank models cut refill cost.
Multifunction printer (MFP) — prints, copies and scans, sometimes faxes. Saves space and suits shared use.
Large-format printer — for drawings, posters and maps up to A1 or A0.
Dot-matrix and thermal printers — for multi-part forms, invoices and receipts.

Monthly duty cycle and print speed in pages per minute, matched to your real volume.
Cost per page, which depends on cartridge yield and price, more than the printer itself.
Duplex (two-sided) printing, automatic document feeder, and paper tray capacity.
Connectivity: USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and driver support for your operating system.
Warranty, on-site service availability and a toner or AMC arrangement.
Whether the printer works with compatible cartridges without losing warranty.

Common brands include HP, Canon, Epson, Brother and Xerox.

Offices, schools, hospitals, banks, shops, accounts departments, courts, print shops and government offices.

Choose laser for steady document printing. Ink-tank is a reasonable choice for small offices that print colour occasionally.

Check the recommended monthly volume, not just the maximum duty cycle. Staying well within it extends the life of the machine.

An MFP is enough for everyday copying and scanning. A separate scanner is better for high-volume document digitisation.