Since their development, desktop printers have been a part of consumer and business environments, providing quality prints and improving business operations. Multi-functional printers have recently enabled organisations to be able to do additional functions such as copy, scan and fax. These additional functions have made the purchasing of devices more complex. This article addresses the advantages and disadvantages of both desktop and multi-functional printers abilities.
A desktop printer is a device used to print standard documents. They are often smaller in size, to fit on a desk or table, as their name suggests. In contrast, a multi-functional printer is often a larger device which combines the functionality of printing, fax, scanning, and copying.
It can be confusing for business’ to understand whether switching to a bigger and more complex machine is worthwhile and selecting the equipment can be a difficult process to get right. Therefore, it is important to take in the positives and negatives of both to make a well informed, suitable and a good investment decision.
Desktop Printer
The time spent on developing desktop printers have made them into well-used, common devices, which is good as they appear reliable to organisations. Along with this, the devices can handle high volume prints while maintaining a high quality.
Another benefit which makes desktop printers popular throughout businesses is the smaller size. As they are small, multiple devices can fit into an office. Therefore, if certain printers in an office cannot operate, the other various desktop printers can be used to ensure the business remains fully operational. If other printers in the office cannot operate, the business operations can remain fully functional.
On the other hand, having multiple devices takes up a lot of space within a business which in turn will use more energy and require more consumables for the organisation to purchase and manage. The consequence of this is higher costs and and a large IT burden, with multiple devices to look after.
Multi-functional Printer
Multi-functional printers are reliable devices which can provide organisations with high quality print. The multiple desktop printers, fax, and copying machines in an office can be substituted for one device that manages all of these operations. Consolidating multiple devices improves usability and is suitable for small offices which can become overcrowded because it saves considerable space.
The downside to multi-functional printers is the threat of business operations being negatively affected if the single device fails and no contingencies are in place. Also, as the machine is bigger and more complex, the original investment along with products for the printer will be greater and require user training.
If your organisation regularly sends and receives fax or copies and scans documents, the versatility and functions on a multi-functional printer will be ideal. Document workflow systems can be integrated to support the efforts in reducing waste and to boost the organisations eco-friendly position.
Overall, desktop and multi-functional printers have many benefits but it is all dependent on how the business prints. If the processes are more complex, having a multi functional device can make functions quick and simple. Whereas, if they are not used to their full potential, money could be wasted.
Expert Advice
Apogee provide print and document technology from leading manufacturers to satisfy the needs of any size and type of organisation. The wide range of colour and mono printers can be selected as part of a Managed Print Service to provide high performance and quality prints to improve the overall efficiency.
If you want to know more about which device can benefit you, experts at Apogee will discuss all options which will provide the best solution for your organisation.
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