There was once a time that equipping an office with all the essentials meant purchasing a lot of different hardware and then trying to find a suitable space for it all. With the advances in technology it's now possible to combine your essential day-to-day business functions with just one piece of equipment.

The main advantages of this are to be found in the cost and space savings. It makes sense that buying one multifunction machine will be cheaper both in terms of the initial outlay and also ongoing running costs. Equally, finding a suitable and convenient location to put all the equipment is something that won't cause you a headache when there's only one item to find a home for. A multifunction printer can streamline a number of your day-to-day office functions, such as printing, faxing, photocopying and scanning by providing one port of call for them all.

When it comes to choosing a multifunction printer, the main decision to be made is whether to choose an inkjet printer or laser printer. Each of these has their own advantages, so it basically comes down to what you intend to use your printer for.

Inkjet printers are suitable for small businesses such as those run from home. They are typically low-cost to buy compared to their laser counterparts and also have an advantage when it comes to printing photographs, usually giving a much higher overall quality. Inkjet printers are also commonly used where large format printing is needed such as in plotters. The main drawbacks to using an inkjet printer for every day office use are that over a long period of time they are more expensive to run, also because the ink dries on the paper, you can suffer a loss of quality and smudging on things like letterheads, invoices etc which gives your business a less professional image.

Laser printers are well suited to busy office environments who print medium to large quantities of documents on a daily basis. They tend to be cheaper in the long-term than inkjets due to their lower overall cost per page, speed and memory capacity. Unlike many inkjets, laser printers are able to be networked which allows everyone in the office to use them. The printing method used in laser printers results in a better final quality and clearer output as toner is used rather than ink directly on the paper. However, laser printers are some way behind inkjets when it comes to printing photographs.

Whichever type of printer is most suitable for you, the fact that they are now available with the additional functions built-in makes them a must-have piece of office equipment. There's no doubt that multifunction business printers have brought about a positive change to office life and with technology moving on all the time, this is an area that looks set for future improvement too.

Disclaimer: Andrew Regan writes on behalf of a digital marketing agency. He hopes you enjoyed his article, but urges you to seek further understanding of its topics before making any decisions based on its content.

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