The Ultimate Business Printer Breakdown: Which Type Fits Your Needs?

Whether you are a mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar shop or a thriving multinational online business, printers play a critical role in day-to-day operations. Business printers serve a wide array of needs and come loaded with a variety of functions and features.

Choosing the right printer for your company can be tricky, so it's essential to do some research. For many years, experts have predicted that organizations will eventually go paperless and eliminate their printers and copiers, but it just hasn't happened (not yet anyway).

While companies evolve with hybrid work strategies, printers continue to play a critical role in modern business. In fact, the printers and copiers market revenue is expected to reach $9.8 billion this year. Furthermore, the printers and copiers market is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of 0.83% from 2024 to 2029.

Business-oriented printers span a vast array of models. However, it's not as simple as choosing between laser or inkjet printers. For example, you must evaluate your monthly output volumes, running costs, integration, usability, efficiency, and more. Then, you also have to explore brands like Brother, Canon, Epson, Xerox, and more to decide.

This is a practical guide to navigating the world of business printers. We'll simplify the different types, highlight their strengths and weaknesses, and focus on crucial factors like print volume, quality, and media compatibility. By the end, this information will give you the practical knowledge you need to make an informed decision and commit to the best printer for your organization.

What Are the Different Types of Printers Available to Businesses Today?

Businesses have a more comprehensive range of printer options than they have ever had before. Each printer caters to different business requirements, volumes, budgets, and so on. 

The most common types of printers are as follows:

Workhorse Warriors: Laser Printers

Laser printers are the Usain Bolts in the document printing world. These standard printers are also known to be highly efficient and built to handle large volumes. Unlike dot-matrix printers, laser printers use laser beams to produce high-quality images and text documents at a rapid pace. This approach ensures professional results in fast-paced office environments with heavy loads demanding fast printing speeds.

The extended lifespan of toner cartridges further enhances the quality of the output, as it maintains consistent print quality over time, assuring businesses of industry-standard results. They also accommodate various paper sizes (including photo paper) to complete any print job successfully.

Although laser printers are known for speed and efficiency, they certainly don't come cheap. When compared to inkjets, they will cost a few dollars more. Laser printers are bulkier, so you must have enough room for them. Laser printers also fall short when it comes to printing certain types of media like envelopes and card stock.

Affordable All-Rounders: Inkjet Printers

For small businesses on a lower budget, inkjet printers are a perfect option for their lower-volume printing needs. They are more compact than laser printers and can fit into crowded cubicles and most small workspaces.

Inkjet printers are great for photo printing projects. Their ability to print vibrant colors can be a great asset for marketing collateral or internal documentation. However, inkjet printers can be slower than their laser counterparts, especially if you're printing images. So, solid ink printers might be more suitable for home offices.

It’s important to use inkjet printers regularly, or the ink cartridges can dry out. This can potentially lead to higher operational costs. So, it's essential to know your print volumes before making a purchase. Furthermore, inkjet quality for text-heavy documents will not be on par or as sharp as laser-printed documents. So, that's something else to take into consideration.

Companies can also benefit from using ink tank printers, which save money and contribute to a greener environment. An ink tank printer is a type of inkjet printer that uses refillable ink tanks instead of disposable cartridges. 

As these ink tanks are generally larger and hold significantly more ink than cartridges, they can help considerably lower printing costs per page while also reducing the environmental impact of printing.

Multitasking Masters: Multifunction Printers (MFPs)

Multifunction Printers, or MFPs, are robust machines that help businesses save space by combining printing, scanning, and copying. For those still requiring old-school printing technology, some MFPs also boast faxing capabilities. This can be useful for organizations that still rely on fax for certain communications without buying a separate fax machine.

Multifunction printers are highly versatile, making them a perfect fit for companies that have different printer uses and printing tasks. They are also highly suitable for a small office that needs all these functionalities but lacks the space for dedicated devices. But again, you will have to decide between laser and inkjet. As MFPs come in both varieties, companies have the flexibility to choose what suits their business best.

MFPs typically demand a higher initial investment compared to single-function printers. However, they offer diverse features, and the cost-effectiveness of combining multiple functionalities in one device can make them a smart investment, even if the individual functionalities might not be as robust as dedicated devices.

High-Volume/High-Quality Printing: Production Printers

Production printers are versatile machines, known for their high-speed and high-volume printing. These robust machines cater to a wide range of commercial printing applications, from books and magazines to brochures and catalogs. They seamlessly handle large print volumes efficiently and dependably, making them popular for their high-quality output.   

Digital production printers, with their high speeds, large paper capacity, high-resolution output with vibrant colors, durability, and automated feeding, finishing, and stacking systems, are a powerhouse of versatility. They are equally adept at publishing books and magazines, brochures and catalogs, and transactional documents, empowering you with their wide range of capabilities. 

Big Prints, Bigger Impact: Wide Format Printers

Wide format printers are versatile machines that can produce large-scale prints and handle media much wider than standard paper sizes. Their capabilities extend beyond paper, as they can also print on vinyl and canvas, making them a natural choice for a wide range of projects. Typically, paper size can range from 18 to 100 inches.

Wide-format printers are ideal for creating eye-catching visuals for posters, banners, and more. They can handle oversized prints and also print sharp, detailed images. While popular with marketers, wide-format printers are also used by engineers and architects to produce blueprints and technical drawings.  

Brighter Prints, Faster Speeds: LED Printers

LED printers are a fascinating innovation in the world of printing technology. They share similarities with color laser printers, but the key difference lies in their use of Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) instead of a laser to create the image on the print drum. 

With their fewer moving parts, LED printers offer a longer lifespan and greater reliability than traditional laser printers. This assurance of durability, coupled with the efficient LED array, makes these printers faster and more energy-efficient. 

An LED printer's exact Page Per Minute (PPM) depends on the specific model. But generally, you can expect most LED printers to offer print speeds comparable to or even exceeding those of many laser printers.

While laser printers have long been the frontrunners in image quality, the progress of modern LED printers in recent years has been significant. They have drastically narrowed the gap, promising even better quality in the future.

In addition to these core types, there are also other printers catering to specific needs.

Black and White Only: Monochrome Printers

Although it might surprise some, monochrome printers still exist and are popular. They can only print in black and white using a single-color ink or toner, which is typically black, to produce different shades of gray.   

As they don't print in color, they are ideal for text printing. Monochrome printers are perfect for office use or home use as they are generally much cheaper to purchase and operate. What's more, they are also usually faster than color printers because they use just one ink or toner cartridge. Monochrome printers allow you to print your documents quickly and efficiently.

Reliable and Rugged: Dot-Matrix Printers

Dot-matrix printers are old workhorses that are kind of like typewriters. They use a printhead with pins that strike an inked ribbon and create dots on paper. 

Dot-matrix printers are primarily used for multipart forms and carbon copies. Their unique selling point is the ability to produce multiple copies simultaneously. But in recent years, dot-matrix printers have become an endangered species because of their slow speed, noisy operation, and relatively poor print quality.

Precision in Every Print: Label Printers

Label printers are designed to create labels of various sizes and materials. However, they are not suitable for large-format printing. Often found in retail and shipping environments, label printers are perfect for high-volume label printing where accurate and professional labeling is essential.

Label printers come in various models and handle different label sizes and materials. However, they are not as common as they used to be.

Vivid Colors, Stunning Images: Photo Printers

Although everything might be digital these days, people still enjoy having a hard copy of photographs. Photo printers are professional-grade machines optimized for producing high-quality images. Photo printers typically use inkjet printing technology to offer exceptional color accuracy and detail, advanced color management, and borderless printing.

Building the Future, Layer by Layer: 3D Printers

As the name suggests, 3D printers differ from every other device on this list. This is because it's a printer that can create a three-dimensional object from a digital design.

Computer-aided design (CAD) software makes 3D printing possible. It involves laying down layer upon layer of material, such as plastic, metal, or resin, until the object is complete.  

Unlike traditional document printers, 3D printers are suitable for prototyping and manufacturing organ models.

Understanding these differences will help you be better equipped to choose the perfect printer to power your business.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Printer

Choosing the right printer for your growing business needs can be overwhelming because we have many options. Regardless of your industry or niche, whether it be law, design, retail, or healthcare, common print management challenges include high printing costs, security risks, operational inefficiencies and printing processes, and paper waste.

Enterprises implement solutions such as printer optimization, print quotas, and paper reduction initiatives to address these challenges. Printer optimization can improve efficiencies, print quotas can control costs, and paper reduction initiatives can help reduce waste. This printer and document management approach helps organizations enhance security and achieve significant cost savings.

However, the first step is to ask the following questions:

• What is the primary purpose of the printer? 
• What are you going to print? Is it primarily text? Images? Or a mix of both? 

Beyond the basics, you also have to ask yourself the following questions:

• How often will you be using the printer (daily, weekly, occasionally)?
• What are the different types of documents you will print (text, graphics, photos)?
• What is your budget for the printer and ink/toner?
• What is your budget for printer maintenance?
• Do you need color or black-and-white printing?
• What paper sizes do you need to accommodate (letter, legal, A4, custom)?
• Do you require special paper-handling features (duplex printing, cardstock, envelopes)?
• Is wireless connectivity important?
• Do you need additional features like scanning or copying?

Rest assured, the answers to these questions will help you narrow your options and confidently make the right choice for your business needs and budget, relieving you from the overwhelming task of choosing a printer.

Making an informed decision is also influenced by the following key factors listed below. This empowerment from informed decision-making will make you feel more confident in your printer selection.

Print Volume 

Understanding your business's print volume is crucial, as it directly impacts the printer's capability to meet your needs. For instance, a law firm dealing with high volumes of documents during a trial period would require a printer that can handle such demands without compromising on quality.

Printer Workflows and Document Management 

Printer workflow management plays a key role in optimizing the entire print process, from document creation to final output. By managing print jobs, controlling costs, and ensuring security, it can significantly enhance productivity and reduce printing expenses. 

For instance, hospitals and clinics dealing with vast amounts of paperwork, often with sensitive, personally identifiable information, can benefit from such a system. By streamlining document flows, securely managing document outflows, improving 

efficiency, and reducing waste, businesses can significantly enhance productivity and printing expenses.

Print Quality Demands

It's also important to consider the detail and clarity required for your documents. 

Text: Consider the level of sharpness and clarity you need.

Graphics: How important is it to print graphics with crisp lines and vibrant colors? Do you plan to use your office printer to produce marketing collateral?

Photos: Some printers produce better pictures with rich colors and smooth gradients. Is photo quality an important need?

Media Type and Specific Needs

Different printers can handle various paper and media types (such as plain paper, cardstock, envelopes, and labels). Consider this before making a decision.

Duplex Printing Needs

For companies frequently printing double-sided documents, an automatic duplex printer is an excellent option as it can quickly print on both sides of paper without human intervention.

Connectivity Options

It's also important to consider how staff will connect to the printer. Depending on a business's unique needs, a wired option (connecting to a single computer) can provide a stable and reliable connection for a small number of employees.

Wi-Fi connectivity through an enterprise network offers flexibility for many staff members. Multiple departments can print from various devices, enhancing productivity. Ethernet connections can also support this approach.

Document Scanning

Business printers with document scanning help organizations quickly convert physical paper documents into digital formats like PDFs or images. This approach helps the healthcare, legal, and retail industries achieve efficient and secure storage, retrieval, and sharing. 

This process often involves printers with high-speed scanning capabilities complemented by intelligent software. This software is designed for image enhancement, making scanned documents clearer and more readable, and optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text for searchability. 

Document scanning also helps companies streamline workflows, save physical space, and accelerate collaboration by providing seamless access to information from any location. It can also lead to significant cost savings by reducing the need for paper, ink, and physical storage space.

Budget

There are significant price differences in the marketplace, so it's important to find a balance between the features you need and your budget. However, it's not just your initial investment that matters; you also have to consider consumables such as refilling toner, liquid ink, paper, and toner cartridges and running costs (including regular maintenance). 

Additional Considerations

Once you choose the right printer and model for your company, considering the environmental impact, maintenance, and, of course, warranty and support will provide you with a sense of security and reassurance.

Environmental Impact

For businesses looking to lower their carbon footprint, there are more energy-efficient options. After you figure out how much energy will be used to operate the machine, it's also a good idea to calculate the overall cost per page.

Warranty and Support

Warranty and support options can vary quite significantly, so it's critical to carefully research and read the fine print before making a purchase.

Printer Maintenance

Maintenance is an important factor one must consider. Some printers can require regular maintenance, while others can be complex. Either way, it's important to consider maintenance as it will dictate your long-term printing expenses.

Printer maintenance protocols include cleaning based on the manufacturer's recommendations, replacing ink or toner cartridges promptly, and performing routine checks and cleaning to extend the printer's lifespan. Printer maintenance can also include clearing paper jams carefully to prevent damage to the printer.

For some businesses, managing all these different variables can quickly become challenging. To make life easier while benefiting from high-quality print operations, they often choose a Managed Print and Copier Services Provider.

Managed Service Providers who manage print fleets offer several advantages, including reduced printing costs through optimized device fleets that ensure efficient resource utilization. 

They also offer enhanced security measures to protect sensitive information while boosting productivity by minimizing print-related interruptions. Additionally, managed print services often come with expert support that helps ensure minimal downtime and efficient problem resolution.