Recommendations for purchasing printers...

[enbiggen]

Hi,

 

Our Business Manager is looking into reducing our printing costs.

 

At the moment we have a managed service and our rental costs outweigh the amount printed on a lot of the printers, so our Business Manager has suggested replacing some of those with purchased printers with the users paying for their replacement toner and paper use.

 

 

• Monochrome (as they'd need to start using the central printer-photocopiers for colour).
  
• Duplex printing.
  
• Wired network.
  
• 5000 pages a year?
  
• Ideally holds a ream of paper?
  
• Non-manufacture toners should be available.
  

 

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

Thanks,

Enbiggen.

[Aprice]

I've been pretty happy with the Kyocera Ecosys machines, P2040 for B&W bought from PrinterLand

 

Always put cheap toner in them as well, no problems yet.

[Brax]

For Toners I can recommend Infotone. They also do cartridge recycling which is a big plus.

[psydii]

5000 pages a year is around 1 ream per half term. I would suggest that there is a risk that at that slow rate, you may find paper curl and jamming starts to increase.

 

I would recommend the M401 or a Pagewide (with original cartridges) for absolutely troublefree printing. However the M401 has been replaced by the more expensive to run M404 and the Pagewide line has been discontinued completely.

 

We are currently buying the M404dn when a printer breaks or a new one is needed. Those that had Pagewides previously are not very happy.

[TechMonkey]

May not be what you want but if you are looking to save money, move away from printers, go a managed print with central copiers rather than printers on every desk. Staff will kick up a fuss to start but will get used to it and may even like it.

You cut down on number of devices, save on print costs (desktop printers are around 6-9p a copy, copiers can be 2p or below), have support contract to fix quickly and standardise. You can also get a print solution, like Papercut, and make the system smarter and more secure.

[enbiggen]

Hi,

 

We have a centralized service, and it was originally put in place for this reason, but over time there have been additional printers added (beyond our control). Many of these printers only print out a small quantity over the year, and don't really justify their costs. However, they are also beyond our control over removing them, which is why we've been asked to think about replacing some of them with greyscale printers.

 

:-(

 

Thanks,

Enbiggen.

[TechMonkey]

Hi,

 

We have a centralized service, and it was originally put in place for this reason, but over time there have been additional printers added (beyond our control). Many of these printers only print out a small quantity over the year, and don't really justify their costs. However, they are also beyond our control over removing them, which is why we've been asked to think about replacing some of them with greyscale printers.

 

:-(

 

Thanks,

Enbiggen.

 

Speak to your central provider and see if they have some smaller devices? We had some desktops from ours, very low cost and only slightly higher cost per page. If the use is so low, I would point to this as proof they aren't needed, and the users should use the central copiers. If you have print release on, then they have no claim to security or sensitivity. The only claim they have then is the time or walking and they just need to adjust their workflow and not be lazy!

Sorry very black and white answer but the situation you are in is the very proof why the central solution is good and necessary so the fix is to get rid of them. Changing printer is just a plaster over the problem.

Alternatively, as the devices were bought outside of your contract charge all costs back to their department. Option then is they don't have it and don't get charged, or your budget doesn't take the hit.