All business copiers are not created equal. And while many copiers have a variety of impressive features, this does not necessarily mean they are “top of the line.” But there are, in fact, several key features that are found in quality business copiers. These features are commonly found in the typical high-end copiers. However, with an average of $32,500, most companies don’t generally buy such machines outright, but rather lease them under a three- to five-year contract.
What To Look For In High-Quality Business Copiers
In most any office today, a color copier is a required tool. Even smaller businesses often have need for printing photos, scanning multiple documents, or creating originals, color is often considered a standard feature to have. In addition, image quality, speed, and user-friendly design and function controls are important considerations.
While there are many other features you may need in a business copiers, these five are hallmark features for a high-quality copier:
1. Production Capacity
This can be categorized into a couple of functions: warm up time, paper capacity, and printing speed. One of the frustrations of many an office is waiting for the copier to “warm up.” Quality machines are designed to minimize this necessary operation.
In addition, the best copiers will hold over 1,000 sheets of paper with some boasting 3,000 or more sheet paper capacity. This allows for less “down time” adding copier paper in the middle of a project. High capacity also means that these machines can manage over 100,000 copies per month in normal service.
As for printing speed, look for copiers that can produce at least between 35 to 45 or more copies per minute. This rate should be the same, or very close, for both black and white and color copies. Many high-end machines can produce copies at speeds of over 85 pages per minute.
2. Image Quality
This varies for either black and white or color, and for copies versus printing. However, the best machines will deliver copies at 1200 x 1200 dpi (dots per inch) for both. Some copiers can achieve more, but at a certain point the image quality difference is rarely noticeable.
The toner yield of the color cartridge is a key factor here, as well. The greater the yield, the more copies you can make before having to stop and change out the cartridge.
3. Copier Design
How the machine is built in relation to the needs of the operator is a function of design. A quality business copier will possess certain design characteristics that set it apart from lower end machines. Overall weight and size are considerations. While the machine is limited to how small it can be built, a lean and narrow footprint is preferable.
Security features such as secured printing and user authentication are typical. Ethernet, wireless support, and USB support are considered standard items, as well. In addition, user-friendly operations are key. Touch screen functions as well as intuitive operator commands will be found in any quality copier.
4. Tools and Functions
Functions that were once considered “cool” features will be standard items on these machines. These include duplex printing, hole punching, and stapling. Other “standard” functions include the ability to scan, print and fax documents. In addition, you will often find booklet and cover creation functions, negative and positive inversion, image repeat, image mirror, and the ability to apply secure watermarks.
5. Support and Real-Time Help
Some of the support you may receive can come from the company you lease a machine from. In addition, the manufacturers of high-end, quality business copiers will provide email, phone, and online support to provide a seamless user experience.
The Benefits of Quality Business Copiers
Not every office needs a $50,000 copier to print out their monthly financials. But every office needs a reliable, good quality machine no matter how much it may or may not get used. The fact is, however, that most businesses find that the better and more robust the copier, the greater their productivity and the faster they can get work done.
In offices that use a shared machine for their computer printer, as well as for copies and scans, a quality copier becomes much more of a strategic and cost-effective buying or leasing decision.
