Look One Step Up and One Step Down
Before making your final decision, it’s worth it to take a last look at the copiers, printers and MFPs that are 5-10 ppm faster (and also those that are 5-10 ppm slower) than the device you’re leaning toward.
Not only will these products offer a number of capabilities that are similar to the one you’re considering, but by examining products one segment up the food chain might also show you useful, increased capabilities (such as better finishing options that let users create booklets in-house instead of sending them out to copy shops). Similarly, you might find it worthwhile to look at a slightly slower machine that still offers the feature set you want, but at a lower price. Take a look at productivity data for any OEM’s product you buy to make sure not only that it prints the speed you need, but it does so for the kinds of jobs you produce (e.g. duplex). At times for some products, you might find the difference in productivity for your set of work to be so slight that you can buy a less expensive model with a slower rated engine without much loss in productivity. Ask your sales rep to provide you with BLI or other independent productivity studies. You can also see a comparison of capabilities by segment.
In every market segment, color devices are priced higher than monochrome ones, but even if you currently use only black and white printers and copiers, color is still a capability that you might find useful over the course of your new MFP’s lifetime. More and more businesses are using color to create livelier presentations, sales materials that “pop,” and more professional-looking output. Some even create their own letterhead and business cards, saving those printing costs over the life of the machine.
With the ability to control who uses color, and how much color they use, more and more offices are installing at least one color-capable device. Even printers, copiers and MFPs that print only in monochrome may offer color scanning capabilities, so this capability is creeping into even the “monochrome-only” end of the marketplace.