This company wants to install MFDs on each floor to centralise monochrome printing and copying, colour scanning, and faxing.
Approximate budget: Upfront cost isn't a big issue, but the company wants to minimise long-term running costs.
Requires: Eight MFDs capable of at least 20ppm mono printing, and colour scanning.
Concerns: The ease of using functions such as scanning and faxing will also be carefully considered. Double-sided printing is a must.
Best solution: The Kyocera was definitely the better of the two monochrome MFDs we looked at. It was faster than the HP in all tests, could house more paper, and would be cheaper to run.
Sample Scenario 2
Company: Respect for Laws Institute
This company wants to install MFDs for mid-to-large-sized workgroups that can do colour printing and copying, colour scanning, and faxing.
Requires: Two MFDs, capable of at least 20ppm mono printing, colour printing, and colour scanning.
Concerns: Again, running costs will be the biggest issue.
Best solution: The Ricoh was speedy at double-sided and colour printing; scanning and faxing were very easy. Ricoh won't let us print a single cost per page, because they say it varies with your circumstances, but the figures the company quoted us were extremely competitive.
Look out for...
- Colour or monochrome. Do you want a monochrome only or colour MFD? If you want colour, can you prevent some users from printing in colour?
- Print speed. Should be based upon the number of users that will be using the MFD as well as the average number of pages printed per month.
- Print quality. Most printers print at 600 x 600dpi but some offer printing resolutions equivalent to printing at 2400dpi. You are unlikely to notice the difference in most applications, but where very fine detail is required, this may be an issue.
- Scan. Look at the ways the MFD can scan (scan to e-mail, scan to desktop PC, etc). What formats can the scans be captured at (PDF, TIF, JPG)? Can it scan in colour? Look at the size of the scan bed as well as the scanning resolution.
- Copy. Do you need to copy in colour?
- Finishers. What finishers are available: staplers, sorters, hole punchers, etc.
- Total cost of ownership. Look at the initial cost as well as the cost of replacing toners and other consumables. Some vendors now offer a flat price per page printed, rather than charging for consumables.
- Paper capacity. Check to see the number of pages it can hold and the paper sizes it supports.
- Expansion potential. What's the maximum amount of memory the MFD can hold? What is the size of the hard disk?
- Software management. Can you restrict users from printing in colour? Can you monitor and configure the printer over the network using a Web browser?
hi there
good info sofar, mfd's could also have answering phone/machine etc or will ansa machine work seperately to mfds? sometimes ansa machines answer on faxes, how to avoid this?