At first glance it seems like a daunting challenge to navigate through the labyrinth of different business copier machines and choosing the right model for your office. After all there are dozens of different brands of copiers and each of these dozens of brands offers many different models. Fear not; choosing the right business copier machine isn’t actually as complicated as it initially appears. First of all, there are not as many different brands of business copier machines as there appears to be.
Copier Types and Manufacturers
There are only seven manufacturers of business copier machines in the world. Each of these 7 machines are sold and re-labeled under several dozen multiple brand names but each of these brands are actually one of the following 7 manufacturers; Canon, Konica Minolta, Xerox, Toshiba, Kyocera Mita, Sharp and Ricoh. (Savin doesn’t manufacture copiers; Ricoh makes Savin. Muratec doesn’t manufacture copiers; Konica Minolta does. Copystar doesn’t manufacture business copier machines; Kyocera Mita does. Etc.)
Another way that the field is whittled down is that even though each of these 7 manufacturers produce product lines offering approximately 16 models of business copier machines, their offerings aren’t really as diverse as they seem.
Let’s break this down in bite size pieces;
1)When you look at those 16 models there are really only 8 models. Each of the 8 models is produced as a color business copier machine and the same 8 models are produced as monochrome business copier machines. Right away you can decide whether you need color or not and now your choice has been whittled down to only 8 models.
2) Now that you have your choices narrowed down to 8 machines you can narrow it down further by asking yourself if you are looking for a small desktop model or whether you need a free standing business copier machine. (If you want to print on 11” x 17” paper or print on card stock, or have multiple paper drawer options or if you have higher print volume expectations you will certainly want a free standing business copier machine.)
3)Once you decide whether your business needs a desktop machine or whether you need a free standing business copier machine you can quickly narrow it down further. In most product lines, both of the two desktop models will be the same exact machine with the only difference being, that one will come standard with a fax kit and a slightly faster print speed than the other, but for all intents and purposes they will be the same machine. (For example Konica Minolta offers a Bizhub C3350 and a Bizhub C3850 and these are the exact same machine with the only difference being that the C3850 comes with a fax kit and prints 5 pages a minute faster.) Therefore if you choose to go with a desktop model your decision is narrowed down to whether you need a fax kit and a slightly faster print speed.
4)Should you decide that you need a free standing business copier machine, you have 6 models to choose from. Fear not, because your choices are more streamlined than you think. All of the business copier machine manufacturers have remarkably similar options in their product line. When you look at the 6 different models offered by each manufacturer you really only have 2 different machines to choose from and it just comes down to the multi-page print speed that you choose. Each manufacturer makes 2 series of machines, offering them at 3 different speeds, and each of the 3 different print speeds are assigned a separate product model number. As an example, Konica Minolta offers a Bizhub C224e (22 pages a minute), Bizhub C284e (28 pages a minute) and Bizhub C364e (36 pages a minute) and all three of these models are the same exact machine. All you need to decide is what machine is right for your business. (Even though all three models are the same exact machine you will pay more based on the multipage print speed of each model.) The speed differentiation is based solely on which electronics board is plugged into the machine. Likewise Konica Minolta offers a Bizhub C454e (45 pages a minute), C554e (55 pages a minute) and C654e (65 pages a minute) which are also 3 separate model numbers even though they are all actually the same machine geared to run at different speeds.
Copier Choice Factors
In summary, you start with 16 machines and decide whether you need color or black. This then narrows down your choices to 8. It is then up to you to decide whether you need a desktop model or a free standing business copier machine. Bear in mind that you have now narrowed your choices down to just 2 machines if you choose desktop, but for the sake of this summary, let’s assume you’ve decided you need a free standing business copier machine. This would then mean you have narrowed your choices down to 6. Now you would simply need to decide if you need something in the 22-36 pages a minute machine or whether you need something in the 45-65 pages a minute machine. Regardless of your answer you have narrowed your choices down to 3, and now you simply ask yourself which of three print speeds is most appropriate.
Please make this last decision with the knowledge that all three machines in any segment are the exact same machine and you pay more for the same exact machine based on the speed it is geared at to produce copies. Therefore if you said you needed a free standing machine and speed is not that big of a factor, then by default the best machine for your business would be the 22 pages a minute, free standing business copier machine. For more information and copier choices visit our website at https://commonsensebusinesssolutions.com
