How to Choose the Right Office Printer for Your Business

Selecting the right office printer is a decision that impacts your business daily. The wrong choice leads to frustration, inefficiency, and unexpected costs. The right choice streamlines operations, reduces expenses, and supports your team's productivity. This guide walks you through every consideration to help you make an informed decision.

Understanding Your Printing Needs

Before exploring printer options, you need a clear picture of your requirements. This foundation prevents costly mismatches between your needs and your equipment.

Calculating Your Print Volume

Monthly print volume is the single most important factor in printer selection. It determines the class of machine you need and significantly impacts your cost per page. Here's how to assess your volume:

Track current usage — If you have existing printers, check their page counters. Most printers display total pages printed in their settings or status pages. Track this number monthly for 3-6 months to understand patterns.

Account for all printing — Include copies, scans that result in prints, and prints from all sources (computers, mobile devices, cloud services).

Consider growth — Will your team expand? Are you taking on projects that might increase printing? Plan for 20-30% growth capacity.

Based on volume, printers fall into distinct categories:

Identifying Required Features

Beyond basic printing, modern offices often need additional capabilities:

Copying — Do staff regularly make copies? A standalone copier or multifunction printer with copying capability eliminates the need for separate machines.

Scanning — Document digitisation is increasingly important. Consider scan-to-email, scan-to-folder, and scan-to-cloud capabilities. For high volumes, look for automatic document feeders (ADF) that process multiple pages without manual intervention.

Faxing — While declining, some industries (legal, healthcare, government) still require fax capability. Most multifunction printers include this feature at no additional cost.

Finishing — Do you need stapling, hole-punching, or booklet-making? These features add cost but can save significant time for businesses producing reports or presentations.

Printer Types Explained

Understanding the fundamental printer technologies helps you make appropriate choices for your specific needs.

Inkjet Printers

Inkjet printers spray tiny droplets of liquid ink onto paper. They excel at photo-quality output and work with a wide range of media types. However, for office use, they have significant limitations:

• Higher cost per page than laser printers
• Slower printing speeds
• Ink can dry out if not used regularly
• Print quality may be affected by humidity

Modern business inkjet models from manufacturers like Epson and HP have improved dramatically, offering lower running costs than older inkjet technology. These can be suitable for small offices with moderate printing needs and colour requirements.

Laser Printers

Laser printers use toner (a fine powder) fused to paper by heat. They're the standard choice for office environments because they offer:

• Fast printing speeds
• Low cost per page
• Sharp text quality
• Toner doesn't dry out
• High duty cycles for volume printing

Colour laser printers cost more than monochrome but provide versatility for marketing materials, presentations, and documents where colour adds value.

Multifunction Printers (MFPs)

Multifunction printers combine printing with copying, scanning, and often faxing in a single device. For most offices, MFPs offer the best value because:

• One device replaces several, saving space and cost
• Single maintenance contract covers all functions
• Unified supplies management
• Integrated document workflows

The vast majority of office printer installations today involve multifunction devices rather than single-function printers.

Matching Printers to Business Size

Different business sizes have distinct printing needs and constraints. Here's guidance based on your organisation's scale:

Freelancers and Home Offices

With low volumes (typically under 500 pages monthly) and limited space, home offices need compact, affordable solutions. Consider:

• Desktop multifunction inkjet or laser printer
• Wireless connectivity for flexible placement
• Basic scanning and copying capability
• Mobile printing support for smartphone/tablet use

Small Businesses (2-10 employees)

Small teams benefit from shared workgroup printers that balance capability with cost. Key requirements include:

• Network connectivity for shared access
• Moderate speed (20-30 pages per minute)
• Paper capacity for reduced refill frequency
• Automatic document feeder for batch scanning
• Duplex (double-sided) printing to reduce paper use

A single well-chosen multifunction printer typically serves small offices well. For businesses with distinct needs (e.g., a design firm needing colour plus a legal practice needing high-volume black and white), two specialised devices may be more cost-effective than one do-everything machine.

Medium Businesses (10-50 employees)

Medium-sized organisations often benefit from multiple devices strategically placed. Consider:

• Central high-volume colour printer for shared use
• Satellite black-and-white printers for convenience printing
• Departmental devices matched to specific needs
• Managed print services to optimise the fleet

At this scale, printer leasing typically makes financial sense, bundling equipment, service, and supplies into predictable monthly costs.

Large Enterprises (50+ employees)

Large organisations require comprehensive print strategies encompassing:

• High-volume production devices for centralised print rooms
• Departmental multifunction devices
• Secure printing with user authentication
• Print management software for cost allocation
• Environmental sustainability considerations
• Integration with document management systems

Enterprise print environments benefit significantly from professional assessment and managed services that optimise device placement, usage, and costs across the organisation.

Critical Features to Evaluate

When comparing printer options, these features deserve careful attention:

Print Speed

Measured in pages per minute (ppm), print speed affects productivity when printing large documents or when multiple users share a device. Consider:

• First-page-out time (important for short documents)
• Sustained speed (important for long print runs)
• Colour versus black-and-white speed (colour is typically slower)

For busy offices, speeds below 25 ppm can create bottlenecks. High-volume environments may need 50+ ppm devices.

Paper Handling

Paper capacity and flexibility impact convenience and capability:

• Input capacity — Higher capacity means less frequent refilling. Consider 250+ sheet trays for office use.
• Output capacity — Important for unattended batch printing.
• Paper sizes — Most offices need A4; some require A3 for spreadsheets, drawings, or posters.
• Media flexibility — Envelopes, labels, card stock, and transparencies require specific handling capabilities.
• Duplex printing — Automatic double-sided printing reduces paper use by up to 50%.

Connectivity Options

Modern offices need flexible connectivity:

• Ethernet — Standard for networked office printers
• Wi-Fi — Enables flexible placement without cabling
• USB — Direct connection and walk-up printing from flash drives
• Mobile printing — AirPrint (Apple), Mopria (Android), manufacturer apps
• Cloud printing — Integration with Google, Microsoft, and other cloud services

Security Features

For businesses handling sensitive information, printer security is increasingly important:

• Secure print release — Documents wait in queue until user authenticates at the device
• User authentication — PIN codes, proximity cards, or biometric access
• Data encryption — Protects documents in transit and stored on the printer's hard drive
• Secure erase — Removes data from internal storage
• Audit trails — Tracks who printed what and when

Understanding Total Cost of Ownership

The purchase price or monthly lease payment represents only part of your printer costs. True cost of ownership includes:

Consumables

Toner or ink represents the largest ongoing expense. Calculate cost per page by dividing cartridge price by its page yield. Compare:

• Standard versus high-capacity cartridges (higher capacity usually means lower cost per page)
• Original versus compatible supplies (compatibles are cheaper but may affect quality or warranty)
• Colour versus black-and-white cost (colour typically costs 5-10x more per page)

Other consumables include drums, fusers, and maintenance kits—factor these into long-term cost calculations.

Energy Consumption

Printers consume energy continuously when on, with usage spiking during printing. Consider:

• Energy Star certification for efficient models
• Sleep mode power consumption
• Wake-up time from sleep (balance energy saving versus convenience)

For large fleets, energy costs can be significant. A managed print assessment can identify opportunities to reduce consumption.

Maintenance and Support

Without a service agreement, repair costs are unpredictable. Budget for:

• Annual maintenance contracts (typically 5-15% of device value)
• Or per-incident repair charges (can be expensive for major issues)
• Extended warranties beyond the standard period

Leased printers typically include maintenance, making costs predictable.

Making the Final Decision

With your requirements defined and options evaluated, follow these steps:

Request Multiple Quotes

Contact several suppliers with your specifications. Compare not just prices but:

• Service response time commitments
• What's included in the price
• Contract terms and flexibility
• References from similar businesses

Arrange Demonstrations

For significant purchases, request hands-on demonstrations. Test:

• Print quality with your actual documents
• User interface ease of use
• Noise levels
• Speed in real-world scenarios

Consider the Relationship

Your printer supplier will be a long-term partner. Evaluate:

• Local presence and support capability
• Financial stability
• Industry reputation
• Communication quality during the sales process

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do office printers typically last?

Quality office printers typically last 5-7 years with proper maintenance. However, technology advances may make replacement attractive sooner. Leasing with regular upgrades keeps equipment current without capital concerns.

Should I choose the same brand for all printers?

There are advantages to standardisation: consistent user experience, simplified training, potentially better pricing on supplies and service. However, different needs may be better served by different brands. A mixed fleet is common and manageable with good organisation.

How important is print resolution?

For text documents, anything above 600 dpi produces sharp results. Photo printing and detailed graphics benefit from higher resolution (1200 dpi or more). Most business printing doesn't require maximum resolution—speed and cost typically matter more.

What's the best way to reduce printing costs?

Effective cost reduction combines several strategies: use duplex printing by default, print in draft mode when quality isn't critical, use black-and-white for documents that don't need colour, implement print policies, and regularly review usage to identify waste.

Conclusion

Choosing the right office printer requires balancing numerous factors: volume needs, feature requirements, budget constraints, and long-term costs. Take time to thoroughly assess your needs, compare options carefully, and select a solution that will serve your business well for years to come.

Whether you're a small startup needing your first professional printer or a growing business ready to optimise your print infrastructure, the right choice exists. Professional guidance from experienced suppliers can help you navigate the options and arrive at the optimal solution for your specific situation.