Posts Tagged Print

Deciding When and What type of a printer/combo device can be a confusing time and believe me whne i say that. I’m, at present, hunting for one and am not pleased with the reviews from most Tech Mags. They just blow you out with those intriguing ideas of configuration and usability.

There’s always a better piece around the corner when you plan on buying a device and also a better one was standing inside the previous store’s window.

Here’s a quick guide to help you know what’s the stuff you need to know, and the jargons and crap involved.

READ THIS, GET OUT, PICK THE ONE YOU SEE TO BE GOOD FOR YO. PAY FOR IT AND GET OUT, END OF STORY.

Do I need an MFD?
MFDs provide an ideal way of cutting down on your desktop clutter by combining a printer and scanner-copier, and fax in one box, while requiring just the footprint of the former as the scanner is usually built into the top of the printer.

Advantages
With only one power supply and case between them, there are also some money-saving opportunities to be had.

Is the print and scan quality as good as separate units?
MFD printers get pretty close to offering you the best of both worlds. The underlying printer is almost always based on the same mechanics and consumables as regular printer models in the manufacturer’s range.

The associated flatbed scanner is also generally of high quality although, in a straight shoot-out, it wouldn’t match the very best of the latest dedicated photo scanners.

Even so, the bit-depth and resolution, as well as the colour and contrast accuracy, tend to be more than capable for most scanning tasks.

Can I use an MFD without a PC?
Of course. A particularly awesome feature of MFDs is that you can use them for standalone mono or colour photocopying, even when the PC is not connected. With this in mind, most models come with on-board controls that range from simple mono or colour copy buttons to fully-fledged interfaces with colour screen menus.

These enable versatile control of magnification, cropping and a range of tasks from straightforward plain paper photocopying to making copies of photos on specialist glossy paper, at popular sizes from 6×4-inch to A4.

Both PictBridge ports and media card readers are also usually built in, for direct photo printing, from digital cameras or memory cards.

Inkjet or laser?
With the multi-tasking photocopier facilities in mind, it’s worth bearing in mind how much you (and everybody else in the home or office) will want to make use of the copying facilities.

For higher volumes of both mono and colour copying, ink costs can be quite high, so it’s worth considering that the cheaper ongoing toner costs of a colour laser MFD can soon offset the initially higher purchase price of this kind of printer.

If photo printing is high on your priority list, go for a Canon or Epson inkjet MFD.

Do I need a built-in fax?
Sending faxes is far less popular than it used to be, thanks to practically everybody being on email nowadays.

If you do need to send faxes, you can do this through your internet-connected PC in Windows, using the MFD’s scanner.

For more than occasional use, however, it’s best to get an MFD with built-in fax capability, so it’s always ready to send or receive faxes, even when the PC is switched off. Get the built-in fax one, as it’ll just matter a $8-$20 extra and will be worth in the longer-run.

If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to mail me or better, use the comments option.