1. Colour or Black and White?
Choosing a colour and/or a black and white large format printer mostly depends on what you expect your output to be, what print speed and print robustness you need. For example a colour large format printer can print in black and white for approximately the same cost as a monochrome printer especially at lower print volumes.
The choice between black and white or colour has consequences for how your users will actually use the printer. Analysing what you need based on the type of print jobs that you do will help determine which in the end is the most cost effective.
2. Costs
When you ask about the costs of a printer, you can get a variety of answers. The first and most likely answer will be related to the purchase price. Secondly, the running cost of the system will be addressed.
Although tempting, it is not wise to base your purchase decision on the purchase price alone. A cheap printer with costly toner cartridges is actually an expensive printer in disguise. And even when you have evaluated the running cost, you’re not safe. You may think you’re getting a bargain on the printer itself but if your machine breaks down frequently or simply can’t keep up with your copy demand, then you will be paying too much in the long run. So, hidden costs can completely change the picture.
To determine the return on this investment, all related costs must be 感熱紙 taken into account, as a printer is an investment in your work processes.
Initial investment: make sure that you compare similar configurations and delivery conditions. When investing in a new printer, it is worthwhile to consider costs related to switching to a new printer. Companies have hundreds of pounds of consumables in stock, which often cannot be used on the new system. Also installations of new drivers take time and therefore money.
Running cost: printer running costs are the cost of consumables, media and eventually the service contract. These costs can be determined upfront by straightforward calculations. However, to make these calculations, you need to have access to relevant information. Vendors tend to provide indicative figures that are not representative for your actual day-to-day usage of the printer, i.e. the ink consumption calculations based on a ‘fast mode’ is meaningless if you always use the ‘normal mode’. Most people use ‘normal mode’ for either quality standards or out of convenience.
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