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Network
Printing
Considerations
There is much to
consider with the broad selection of printing and multifunction devices
available today: What functions are necessary?, Is color needed?, Will
fax and or internet fax capability be needed?, How many plain black
prints will be produced each month?, How many full color prints will be
produced each month, Will copy functions be needed?, Will scanning
functions be needed?, Will scan to email be required? How many users
will be using which functions? With all of these
features available it can be a difficult decision to make. We can help
you with weighing the options and pointing out features that will best
meet the needs of your applications.
Why use
a network for printing?
Printing over a
network allows all workstations on the network to print from one
printer. This was achieved in the past through printer sharing on a
given workstation or using a print server. Network ready printers
cost a little more but are becoming more common as a standard feature
every day. Network ready is even more beneficial with multifunction
machines because it allows all users to use all functions provided by
the device.
Color
Printing
In the past making full color
documents was a cumbersome task that required several different machines
and the number of personnel increased with the complexity of the job at
hand. For instance, consider that 25 years ago if a document were to be
produced in full color it was a complicated process and involved many
expensive processes, machines, and people including: an author, an
editor, an artist, a typesetter, a color separator, plate makers, and
printers to name a few. This process also cost several hundred dollars
for the setup and took several days to complete. Now with computer
applications and color printers, the process has been simplified to the
point where one person can virtually perform all of these tasks and have
a color print in minutes and depending on the type of printer, the cost
is usually less than 50 cents.
Some
Printing Trade-offs
Generally as the
cost of a machine goes up the cost per print goes down (this isn't
always the case). Inkjet machines are very inexpensive to purchase but a
high coverage full color print can easily exceed a dollar in ink costs
so consider if more than 150 full coverage prints per month are made, by
the end of one year the ink cost can easily exceed the price for a color
laser printer with enough supplies to have produced nearly as many
prints. The advantages an inkjet printer has over a color
laser/LED printer is that the machine is much less expensive to
purchase, inkjet ink can produce much brighter colors that reach closer to
the florescent range, inkjet printers can also cleaner prints with less
graininess and some have special media options that the fusing
process of a toner type machine will inhibit such as printing directly
to a printable CD surface. While a color laser printer can cost much less than an
inkjet it still may cost as much as 50 cents a page depending on the
make and model with the added benefit of more permanent water resistant
prints. The print quality of the lower priced color laser printers is
often very grainy, and limited in brightness compared to inkjet which is
often considered POS (Point of sale) quality output. If a higher volume of color prints are needed moving up to a
higher volume color laser printer (often considered a color copier). High volume color laser copiers with a 40,000 to 100,000 prints
per month rating can get the price down to less than 10 cents a page.
Some added bonuses are: a machine of this magnitude is likely to be
equipped with a PostScript ® (Adobe) color print server/controller i.e.
Fiery® (Electronics For Imaging) Z4, Z5, S300 etc. These devices can be
calibrated to match colors traceable to the national bureau of standards
and can produce many prints with very little variance from one print to
the next. These print servers are network capable enabling many
workstations to print to the printer without the need for a workstation
or server to share it over the network. There are also many other
features that come with these servers. On the other hand if demand
requires more than 5000 of the same page, flyer, or booklet especially
using coated or heavier stock it is time to consider having the job
produced on a printing press as the cost of the setup would be covered
in the number of prints and everything beyond the trade-off point would
be based mostly on the cost of the media it is to be printed on. Another
advantage to this method is that registration and print quality are
superior as well as the fact that printing inks can attain far brighter
colors. A huge factor that is often ignored when buying any
consumer/business machines is the environmental impact!
Manufacturers have been replacing more parts of machines with plastic
and purposely produce machines that are too difficult to service. This
planned obsolescence is generating far more impact than most people are
aware of. The term I use is the disposability factor. Anyone may just go
buy a cheap home or office machine (any consumer product not just
printers) and get the job done and after maybe a year it stops
functioning reliably or the quality diminishes so they take it to be
repaired only to find it costs more to fix it than to buy a new one. So
the consumer just buys a new device and tosses the old useless one in
the trash. While environmentally conscious people will pay to have the
unit properly disposed of, the problem is still growing exponentially.
Just Google
Brominated Fire Retardants to find out just a little taste of the
impact of the devices we are buying over and over just to allow the
creation of more environmental hazards. What we can do to help this
issue the most is to insist on buying serviceable items that last. Sure
they are more expensive but everyone benefits in many ways. We can help you make a solid decision on the best product for
your needs.
Inkjet Pros
-
Inexpensive initial purchase
-
Brilliant colors
-
Smooth background and
halftones
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Can be configured to print
directly onto surfaces like printable CDs
Inkjet Cons
- Almost never repairable
- Extremely high ink cost per print
- Water contact destroys most inkjet prints
- Short lifespan (Volume)
Laser Pros
- Much lower toner (ink) cost per print
- Longer machine lifespan
- Not effected by water
- More often repairable
Laser Cons
- More expensive initial cost
- Poor halftones (not as much an issue in
higher end equipment)
- Less vibrant color prints
- Media limitations
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