All-In-One Printers: A Good Solution for a Small Business

Operating a small business requires such a flexible personality. What other thing in life requires you to be everything from accountant to advertiser, customer service rep to technology specialist? As much as the successful small business owner tends to be eager to learn every aspect of their business, the truth is that we just can't learn it all by trial and error. It's too costly. And nowhere else in a small business is this more true than when it comes to technology - including the all-important printer.

It's easy to pick a printer based on the cost alone. Even comparing the cost of inks and identifying them with which printer uses them, it's possible to go the cheap route with a printer. Is this the best solution? Not usually. Look at it this way: you can go the truly inexpensive route on your printer. Then, as time goes on, you find that you absolutely need a fax machine. Someone suggests that the ability to make copies of important documents would be great, too. Buying each of these technological necessities separately will cost you much, much more down the line.

Every small business should at least seriously consider an all-in-one printer. Why? Simple - let me show you the reasons, and help you look for the features in an all-in-one printer that will serve your business best.

All-In-One Printers & The Small Business

No one debates the need for a printer. As a small business owner, you know the myriad number of reasons why having one is important to you. What many entrepreneurs aren't sold on is the necessity of that extra cash spent on an all-in-one printer. How will it really pay off?

Let's start with what an all-in-one (or AIO, for short) printer is. In its most basic form, an AIO combines a printer (either inkjet or laser) with a scanner. It's the addition of the scanner that increases productivity for small businesses, allowing a simple printer to become a copier as well as a scanner and printer. Three pieces of technology miraculously combined into one unit.

Even without the fourth addition of fax capabilities, which most AIO printers have, you've created a whole new source of possibilities for your business. Depening on your own business needs, some things you can do with the most basic all-in-one printer include:

- Scan important documents and store them on your PC or on disc.
- Scan important documents and print them out immediately, creating high-quality copies.
- Scan documents, artwork, photos, etc. and send them via email.
- Import artwork in high-resolution format (for example, from an existing business card) to be used in your advertising.
- Import and store copies of legal contracts in a paperless format.

The list goes on, varied by the type of work your business performs. Because you've got the convenience of at least a printer, scanner and copier (plus a fax machine if you spring for the feature) in one place, you save space and money. You also don't have to deal with multiple connections, and most AIO printers are network-ready meaning that any number of computers within your business network can print, scan and copy from a single unit.

All-In-One Features to Look For

As all-in-one printers become more popular, they're starting to be called "multi-function printers" or MFPs because manufacturers are taking the basic unit and bundling them with more and more features. Which specific features you need depend entirely on your business, but any number of them combined in one convenient place is guaranteed to boost productivity.

Let's take a look at some of the features available, and I'll share some tips on what to look for.

Print: After all, what is a printer if it can't ... well, print? When you start out looking for an AIO, you'll need to first decide whether you need an inkjet or a laser printer.

Inkjet printers are the most common, and their ink cartridges are readily available. Most of the time, this is all a small business will need. Look specifically for an inkjet that has the ability to handle letter, legal, executive, envelopes and borderless photo papers. The wider the variety of media you can use in your printer, the more use you'll get out of it. Then, look for a print speed of at least 30 ppm (pages per minute) in both color and black inks at normal quality. Otherwise, you'll be stuck with a printer that takes so long to finish a page you'll hate using it. Businesses need to run fast, so should your printer.

Laser printers are less common, and because of that it can be more of a challenge to find the toner cartridges a laser printer uses. However, the quality of prints that are achieved by a laser printer far exceed what is possible by an inkjet. Also, while the toner tends to cost more outright, it also tends to last much longer and can save you money in the end. Look for a laser printer with a print quality of 1000 x 1000 dpi (dots per inch) or higher, because this will give you the best looking materials possible. Also seriously think about whether you need a laser printer can handle color. They will cost a lot more, but allow you to do things like print business cards and even professional labels in a quality that rivals many professional print shops.

Scan: That little scanning bed on an AIO is the most important thing about its multi-function abilities. Without a good scanner, you'll never get the great copies and faxes that you're hoping for, no matter how good the printer is.

Make sure that any AIO you're interested has the ability to scan in color. Many still don't, and seriously limit the benefits of having one. You also need to be sure that the scanner has a resolution of 1000 x 1000 dpi at its normal setting. Some scanners have an enhanced resolution that will take it much higher, but these can wind up looking fuzzy. The scanning bed should be at least as large as a size of legal paper, but you might need a larger bed if your business uses multi-page size documents.

Copy: In general, the "copier" aspect of any all-in-one printer will be the same as the printer features. The most common thing that you'll see different is how fast the copier will work. Look for a copier that can do at least 25 cpm (copies per minute) to get the most out of this feature.

Fax: Like the copier, the fax feature will relate directly to the quality of the printer in your AIO, as well as the scanner. You'll want to be sure that the fax resolution is about 300 x 300 dpi (this is the standard resolution that printers will print in at their highest quality, making it a good fit for whoever you're sending your faxes to), and that when you receive a fax it will print at about seven seconds per page.

Before you actually purchase the all-in-one printer that fits your needs and meets all the above criteria, look at specifics. Make sure that it will work with your operating system, and that your computer has enough RAM to run it. If you will need to use storage media (flash drives, memory sticks, etc.), make sure that the printer can handle them - usually, you'll need to purchase a separate adaptor. Finally, find out what necessities are included in the box, and which ones you'll need to buy - ink or toner cartridges, cables, power and/or phone cords, paper, and accessories.

By taking the time to understand what an AIO can do for your business and choosing one that helps you expand your possibilities, you'll see the benefits affect your bottom line in no time.