Tag: inkjet printers

Product Review–HP OfficeJet 6700 business colour inkjet multifunction printer

Introduction

I am reviewing the Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet 6700 Premium business colour inkjet multifunction printer. This is the successor to the OfficeJet 6500 series of network multifunction colour inkjets pitched as a SOHO or small-business printer and has a similar capability to these printers. They have money-saving functions like a four-cartridge ink system and automatic duplex printing as well as a Super Group 3 colour fax and automatic document feeder.

But this one, like the OfficeJet 6500a, also supports the HP ePrint ecosystem and Apple AirPrint abilities which allows email-to-print as well as app-driven walk-up printing. They also use a different cartridge to their predecessors but which cost similarly and have a similar page yield to these ones.

HP OfficeJet 6700 Premium business inkjet multifunction printer

Print Scan Copy Fax /
E-mail
Paper Trays Connections
Colour Colour Colour Colour 1xA4 USB 2.0
Ink-jet Resolution ID copy Super G3 Ethernet, 802.11g/n WPA2 WPS Wi-Fi
Auto-duplex Automatic document feeder HP ePrint receive

Prices

Printer

Recommended Retail Price: AUD$279

Inks and Toners

High-Capacity
Price Pages
Black AUD$49.12 1000
Cyan AUD$24.26 825
Magenta AUD$24.26 825
Yellow AUD$24.26 825

 

The printer itself

The HP OfficeJet 6700 is the typical size of a SOHO / small-business inkjet multifunction and, like most HP printers offered nowadays, has the paper concealed in a tray that is fully closed. It is not as well-built as the OfficeJet 8600 Series but is still well built as expected for an office printer.

Walk-up functions

HP OfficeJet 6700 Premium control panel detail

The touchscreen control panel

The OfficeJet can become a high-quality colour copier which can also support ID copy abilities. It also can become a colour fax machine which works to Super G3 fax standards.

The USB port on the front of the machine is for walk-up printing of photos held on memory keys or memory-card adaptors. It can support walk-up scanning of documents to the memory key but doesn’t support walk-up printing of PDF or similar documents. As well, it could benefit from working as a print device with PictBridge-enabled cameras.

The ePrint apps allows the printer to work as a “walk-up” stationery or newspaper printer and even has access to the various document repositories like DropBox so you can have documents available to “print on demand”.

Computer functions

The driver software setup was very quick and it didn’t need the printer to be fully awake for the computer to discover it. Even as the installer was loading the software on to my hard disk, the printer was being discovered as a destination device while it was in the dormant mode with just the standby light glowing.

The print driver doesn’t draw too much on the computer’s resources and is able to give a rough preview of how the print job would appear with the current settings. It even provides just the basic setup options with the ability to go to the advanced options by clicking the “Advanced” button. This tactic avoids the need to think of “hope I have set it up correctly” and can benefit those of us who may find the computer difficult to use. Similarly, the scanning function that is part of this driver responds properly to control-panel-initiated scanning and doesn’t take up too much resources.

Like nearly all HP network-capable printers, this printer supports the HP ePrint system which I have covered a lot on HomeNetworking01.info. This has the printer having its own email address so you can send documents to the printer at that address. It also has the ePrint Apps facility so you can turn out newspapers, forms and similar documents.

Print quality and useability

HP OfficeJet 6700 Premium front-load ink cartridges

Front-loading ink cartridges rather than lifting a heavy lid

Like its bigger brother the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus, the HP OfficeJet 6700 has a front-loading arrangement for the ink cartridges. This avoids the need to mess with a heavy lid when you need to change the inks. But the print area isn’t illuminated which may be of concern if you had to identify the location of a paper jam in the print path.

The speed in which a document is printed was very quick where it took only a few seconds to turn out one side of a document. The dwell time that has to occur between printing each side of a double-sided document was around a few seconds and could be capitalised on by slowly retracting the paper in to the duplexer while this occurs rather than pausing then retracting the paper.

Speaking of this, I did a registration test on the auto-duplex function to see whether there was any drifting when a double-sided document was printed. The duplex print of the “Stop The Traffik” download-to-print door-hanger was exact in such a way that you could print then cut out the document exactly. This is a bonus for those of us who do desktop publishing and want to print booklets, door hangers, luggage tags and other documents where an exact lineup between front and back are critical.

As I have observed from this, the printer has been very reliable with the basic print job which uses regular office paper. It didn’t matter whether the job was turned out on one side or both sides.

The HP OfficeJet 6700 has a problem with the scanner when it comes to handling bound documents like books. Here, the unit shows up paper-jam error messages relating to the automatic document feeder if the lid is partially open and allowed to rest on the document, usually to allow optimum copying of these documents.

The  HP has shown a problem with loading and handling photo-grade glossy paper and doesn’t even support this paper as far as the driver is concerned. I even noticed that it shown up “out-of-paper” error conditions when it tried to feed the glossy paper where I had set the driver for “other brochure papers”. However, it loses definition in some areas and is weak with some blue colours but is OK with other colours including flesh tones.

Limitations and Points Of Improvement

Being a cheaper printer, the HP OfficeJet 6700 has a smaller display which may affect useability with some older people.

The automatic document feeder could be worked on so as to allow the user to partially close the scanner lid when they scan or copy bound documents. As well, like many multifunction printers equipped with this feature, it could be able to handle till rolls and thermal receipts in varying conditions when users scan these as part of receipt reconcilement for tax or expense reimbursement.

Similarly, the HP OfficeJet 6700 could be set up to work reliably with glossy photo paper so as to handle photo printing tasks, which may be asked of in a SOHO environment.

The walk-up printing abilities could be improved with an SD card slot for camera SD cards, PictBridge support and / or the ability to print PDF and XPS files off the memory keys.

As far as connectivity goes, this printer should support IPv6 as this next Internet standard is becoming a “given” amongst business computing hardware and will be a standard for all network and Internet setups. Similarly, the fax could work as a T.37 / T.38 Internet fax endpoint as we move away from the traditional circuit-based telephony setup towards IP-based telephony.

Conclusion and Placement Notes

HP OfficeJet 6700 Premium multifunction printerI would recommend that people purchase the HP OfficeJet 6700 printer as an entry-level printer for small-office / home-office use where photo printing is not important but fax use is important. This is more so if you want to use a business-grade printer in your home because of its high-capacity ink cartridges.

It could also work well as a colour inkjet multifunction printer that you may use in your workplace as a secondary or “particular-user” printer. This may include applications like a reception-desk printer where you want one machine as a fax and ePrint endpoint.

Product Review–HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus multifunction inkjet printer

Introduction

I am reviewing Hewlett-Packard’s latest business inkjet multifunction printer which is the OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus. This unit is to supersede the previously-reviewed HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus and, as you will see later through the review, will have some improvements over that model, especially the ability to print on both sides of the paper “to the edge”.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus all-in-one printer

Print Scan Copy Fax /
E-mail
Paper Trays Connections
Colour Colour Colour Colour 1 x A4 USB 2.0
Ink-jet Resolution ID copy
Optimised book copy, other special copy features
Super G3 Optional A4 paper tray Ethernet,
802.11g/n wireless
Auto-duplex Duplex automatic document feeder   HP ePrint email-to-print receive   IPv6 ready

Prices

Printer

Recommended retail price: AUD$499

Inks and Toners

  Standard   High-Capacity  
  Price Pages Price Pages
Black AUD$32 1000 AUD$45 2300
Cyan   700 AUD$34 1500
Magenta   700 AUD$34 1500
Yellow   700 AUD$34 1500

The printer itself

HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus all-in-one printer

Distinctly-shaped automatic document feeder

Of course, the feature that makes the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus identifiable is the single-piece automatic document feeder design. Unlike most multifunction printers which use a removable or fold-over document input tray, this printer implements an integrated input tray, which creates a stylish design and reduces the need to do any further setup.

Setup

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus was very easy to set up and add to the network and can connect to a Wi-Fi wireless or a wired Ethernet network. Like most business printers, it is future-proof with dual-stack IPv6 support, which would certainly benefit businesses who are heading down this next-generation network setup or are considering next-generation broadband.

When I wanted to enable the OfficeJet’s ePrint functionality, the printer failed to download the whole file completely and properly. Typically this was caused by server timeout problems and the printer would take the necessary “anti-brick” procedures too readily. This could be improved through the use of background downloading for the necessary software, especially if the update was part-finished.

Once loaded, the ePrint functionality had worked as expected with the email-to-print functionality and access to the HP ePrint app library. It also worked properly with my Android copy of the HP ePrint Home & Biz app, which allows for greater control over the print output from mobile devices; as well as being able to scan to the mobile device.

Walk-up functions

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus can work as a copier with the ability to copy both sides of a document very quickly, a speed slightly shorter than its predecessor. There is also an ID copy function which is supported by assistance animations on the unit’s LCD.

Of course, the OfficeJet can print from and scan to memory cards or USB memory keys, thus working as a standalone printing appliance. In addition, the printer can scan documents either to an email address or a network folder, but these require the use of desktop software to configure these services for your network. As far as scan-to-folder is concerned, the printer can work with any network-storage setup that uses the standard protocols like SMB, which means that it can scan to a NAS device as well as a server or regular computer.

The unit has an integrated colour fax machine for use with regular telephony services with the ability to forward faxes to email or store them on a network storage. The main limitation with using this function for remote “scan-via-fax” operations is that you are typically limited to 300dpi black-and-white images due to the limitations of the Group 3 fax technology.

Computer functions

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus’s computer software loaded very smoothly and worked as expected for a printer that is to be part of the Windows 7 ecosystem. This included support for the Device Stage functionality and integration with applications that have distinct control over the printer.

The software is still very useable and works well with the operating system in an unobtrusive way. There is the ability to set the printer to scan to the computer or to storage on the network like a NAS. This latter situation requires the use of utility software that is supplied as part of the printer for setting up the scan destination. The same software can be used for setting up scan-to-email destinations. But if you set up a scan-to-computer arrangement, the software’s scan monitor works very unobtrusively.

Useability

HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus all-in-one printer illuminated mechanism bay

Illuminated print-mechanism bay

This printer has its ink cartridges loaded from the front in a similar manner to its predecessor and the Brother inkjet printers. But the similarity stops here. When you drop down the access door to gain access to the cartridges, the print bay is illuminated so you can easily identify paper jams. This makes the printer much more easily serviceable compared to the typical laser printer.

A feature that makes the printer identifiable is the single-piece automatic document feeder design. Unlike most multifunction printers which use a removable or fold-over document input tray, this printer implements an integrated input tray, which creates a stylish design and reduces the need to do any further setup.

Similarly there is a pull-out paper drawer which is easy to load and has a high capacity. There is the option to buy an extra paper drawer for use if you want to keep different media on hand.

Print speed and quality

The OfficeJet Pro 8600a’s automatic duplex printing was a major improvement over the previous HP inkjet printers with this feature in that it could effectively print on both sides of the sheet without requiring a large top and bottom margin. This previous requirement has been a personal annoyance of mine with other auto-duplex HP inkjet printers especially when turning out double-sided “tear-off” flyers to promote this site, and this model was effectively a sigh of relief for this function.

This would be especially of benefit for those of us who place importance on auto-duplex printing for desktop-publishing needs like turning out short-order flyers or previews of documents intended for long-run printing. It can even benefit print runs of custom-shaped documents like door hangers, luggage labels, bookmarks and the like.

There has been an improvement in the duplex print speed with a reduced waiting period while the ink dries, but this could be worked on further. One way this could be looked at is to identify whether the page can be retracted slowly during the estimated ink-drying time.

This HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a was able to complete a large duplex print run without failing and the reduced dwell-time for ink drying had become a bonus in reducing the time it took to turn out the pages.

The document output is very sharp for an inkjet printer, very close to what is achieved for a laser or LED printer. But this printer shone with the photo reproduction, something that a lot of business colour printers that are pitched at regular office use may find hard to do. Here, the photo reproduction has been an improvement over the previous model, the OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus.

Here, the printer turned out a more saturated and brighter image and when it reproduced the group photo, it yielded proper skin tones for the people. I checked the sample pictures turned out by this machine against the same sample pictures turned out by the Photosmart 7510 which I previously reviewed and the photos were on a par with that printer.

Improvement over previous model

I have noticed that the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus is a real and distinct improvement on the OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus predecessor in quite a few ways. It was able to reproduce photographs in an improved manner, which would make it please real estate agents, marketing agencies and similar businesses that depend on proper colour photo output for proofs, short-run colour flyers and similar documents. The auto-duplex printing function was an improvement on the previous model in that the pages were reproduced “to the edge” without a large enforced margin, similar to competing printers.

It also has a slightly-increased theoretical ink yield compared to the previous model, thus effectively making it cheaper to run and less time between restocking the ink cartridges.

Limitations and Points of Improvement

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a printer could benefit from increased paper handling options like an extra low-capacity tray for use with ad-hoc media like letterhead, labels or plastic film when used for short runs. Similarly, it could benefit from being integrated with single-pass duplex scanning as an advanced feature, thus allowing for quick-throughput reliable double-sided scanning.

The ePrint functionality could be delivered out-of-the-box rather than having the user run a firmware upgrade. While on the same topic, firmware updates could then be implemented in a “block-by-block” fashion so that the OfficeJet doesn’t need to download good firmware when completing an aborted firmware update.

It could also implement T.37 and T.38 IP-based fax endpoint functionality and UPnP printing as extra functions to make for a highly-capable small-business printer. These are functions that could be enabled and managed on the printer’s Web dashboard.

Conclusion and Placement Notes

HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus all-in-one printerI would recommend the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600a Plus multifunction inkjet printer as a colour inkjet workhorse for the office. This is more so if you do intend to print photo-based documents like photo proofs and short-order brochures.

Similarly. I would also recommend it for people who also value printer capacity and media flexibility, thus placing it as a more credible small-office-based alternative to an entry-level colour laser multifunction printer.

Product Review–Canon PiXMA iP100 Mobile Printer

Introduction

I am reviewing the Canon PiXMA iP100 Mobile Inkjet Printer which is the current-generation successor to the popular Canon BJC-80 portable printer. This particular model has appealed to those of us who need to use a printer to obtain hard copy “on the road” from our portable computer devices.

I have been lent this unit for review by a close friend of mine who had bought it to go with their netbook computer that they were using for an overseas trip they had previously done. This was intended to be used for occasionally obtaining hard copy of emails and similar documents through that journey.

Canon PIXMA IP-100 mobile printer

Print Paper Trays Connections
Colour 1 x A4 USB 2.0
Inkjet PictBridge host port
IrDA infrared; Bluetooth with optional module

Prices

Printer

The machine’s standard price AUD$449

Optional Extras:

BU-30 Bluetooth Connectivity Module: AUD$69

LK-62 Rechargeable Battery (with reviewed unit): AUD$129

PU-200U Car power adaptor: AUD$129

Inks and Toners

Standard
Price Pages
Black AUD$17.50 191
Colour AUD$34.50 249

Canon PiXMA IP-100 mobile printer closed up

The printer - ready for travelling

The printer itself

The Canon PiXMA iP-100 is a very small lightweight printer that occupies the table space that a typical netbook computer would occupy. This makes for reduced storage space that this class of device would require as you travel.

Like its former grandparent model, the BJC-80, this printer is able to work from AC power using a supplied power adaptor which connects to the AC power through the typical “portable-radio” power cord; or from an optional rechargeable battery. You can also buy another power adaptor that plugs in to your car’s or boat’s cigar-lighter socket so you can run it from the vehicle’s battery. From my searches on the Internet about this battery pack, it is rated to allow the printer to turn out 292 pages on one charge.

Canon PIXMA IP-100 mobile printer with external battery pack

External battery pack attached to printer

This printer is a direct-connect printer which can connect to the host using a regular USB cable or wirelessly with IRDA infrared connection or Bluetooth radio connection. The latter method can be achieved if you purchase the optional Canon Bluetooth module and plug this module in to the PictBridge USB socket.

It does support driverless printing for devices in certain situations. The first one would be wireless printing from phones and PDAs that support Bluetooth and IRDA “object-push” profiles for small documents and photos. The second situation would be for digital cameras and mobile phones that have a PictBridge connection.

This latter function can come in handy if you need to print out “example images” or “pre-approval” proofs to show to customers after you have just taken a picture. Of course, some of us may find it useful for printing out the quick snaps to pass around after we take some funny pictures.

Canon PIXMA IP100 mobile printer data sockets and IRDA window

USB and PictBridge sockets and IRDA window

Computer functions

The software loaded properly on my Windows 7 computer and it didn’t take a long time for the computer to “re-discover” the printer on subsequent connections. This would suit its intended market where the printer would be brought out and connected as required.

Output Quality

The printer will turn out very sharp text that would yield a very easy-to-read document. When I print photos,there is strong contrast but sometimes there may be a bit of paleness in the picture. For colour reproduction, there is still some strong colour saturation and it can properly reproduce the skin tones.

Limitations and Points of Improvement

The Canon PiXMA iP-100  could benefit from higher-capacity cartridges, especially high-capacity black cartridges. This is especially more so if it is to be used by a tradesman like a repairman who has to turn out multi-page quotes or invoices; or if it is being used frequently to turn out “proofs”. As well, it could improve on the printer’s operational economy.

In the same context, the printer manufacturers who sell “mobile” printers could do some research in operation-economy-improving techniques like four-cartridge printing and higher-capacity cartridges.

As well, there could be some work done on making it feasible for smartphones and tablet computers to print out using the iP-100. At the moment, this may require use of the Bluetooth module as well as iOS and Android apps that link with the email, photo-viewing and document-creation functions of these devices.

Conclusion and Placement Notes

I would consider this Canon PiXMA IP-100 portable printer as being suitable for basic printing needs that occur primarily in the field like printing quotes and invoices to hand directly to the customer for example. It would also work well for business travellers who need to obtain hard copy of documents or photographs without the need to pay higher costs or face embarrassment when using other equipment.

Buyer’s Guide–Buying a printer for your small business

Introduction

You might be at that position where the computer printer at your small business is “on its last legs” or becoming impossible to run economically. On the other hand, you may find you are working your existing printer harder and need to consider a machine that is suited to your current workload.

Similarly, as the end of the financial year approaches, you will face advertising from computer resellers and retailers; and office-supply stores for technology like printers at very enticing prices, usually to allow businesses to buy capital equipment that can be quickly offset against their income for tax purposes. This can become more intense whenever the government announces significant tax breaks for business owners when they purchase capital equipment.

At this point, you could easily make a mistake concerning the purchase of a printer and end up buying the wrong machine for your needs. I have prepared this buyers’ guide so you can be sure you are getting the right printer to suit your business’s needs and be able to use a machine that gives you more “bang for the buck”.

Printer classes

Laser printers

HP LaserJet Pro 1560 printer

HP LaserJet Pro 1560 monochrome laser printer

A laser printer uses a xerographic dry-printing mechanism to print the image to the paper, in a similar way to how the classic photocopier worked. But they use a laser or, in cheaper printers, an LED to illuminate the photostatic drum with the computer-generated image to be printed.

Colour laser printers use four of these mechanisms to imprint the four colours and some cheaper versions may use only one drum and four toners to print the same page; which will take longer to come out.

This class of printer is typically known for printing many copies of “press-quality” documents and has started the “desktop-publishing” revolution.

It is worth knowing that some laser printers will use a cartridge which has an integrated drum as well as the toner supply while others like most of the Brother range will use a separately-replaceable drum unit. With the latter model, you may have to factor in the cost of the drum unit which will occur later on in the machine’s life; usually after 17000-25000 pages.

Business Inkjet printers

HP OfficeJet 6500

HP OfficeJet 6500 business inkjet multifunction printer

This class of inkjet printer is pitched primarily at business users and uses high-capacity cartridges and is optimised for a high duty cycle. They will also have business-target functionality like advanced fax functionality and the ability to work with advanced networks.

Consumer Inkjet printers

Canon PIXMA MX-350 multifunction printer

Canon PIXMA MX-350 multifunction printer with fax

Typically this class of network printer will be optimised for photographic printing and have inks that reproduce photos well. But on the other hand, they will be optimised for a low duty cycle with low-capacity ink cartridges. If they have fax functionality, this functionality will be very basic and as far as network connectivity is concerned, these printers will be suited to a basic small network.

Buying dilemmas that a business owner can face

As a business owner, you may face some buying dilemmas when you choose certain printers. This is especially as manufacturers design printers, especially multifunction printers, that effectively have similar capabilities to others of a different class. Here, the prices for the machines are similar and they may have similar print speeds or functionalities. But there may be certain key differences like the cost to run the machine or the machine’s prowess at particular print jobs.

The two main examples of this are: a high-end fax-equipped consumer inkjet multifunction like the HP Photosmart Premium Fax C410a ( an ePrint-enabled successor to the HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309a full-duplex inkjet printer) and a network-capable business inkjet multifunction like the HP OfficeJet 6500A Series; or a high-end business inkjet multifunction like the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 Series and en entry-level colour laser multifunction like the HP Colour LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw.

High-end consumer inkjet vs a business inkjet

HP Photosmart Premium Fax C410 consumer inkjet printer

HP Photosmart Premium Fax C410 - a high-end consumer inkjet multifunction printer

A high-end consumer inkjet printer will be optimised for photo printing whereas a low-end networkable business inkjet will be primarily targeted at printing large runs of documents. This will affect ink-cartridge capacity, machine durability, functionality and printer throughput in many ways.

The former printer will typically have five or more inks and these inks will typically be in lower-capacity cartridges which need replacing more often than the four inks used in a low-end business inkjet printer. I would still suggest that businesses prefer the models with separately-replaceable ink cartridges because each ink can be replaced as needed.

As well, these consumer-level printers will typically have functions that make it easier to print pictures directly from a digital camera whether it’ is “tethered” by a USB cable or one takes the “film” (memory card) out of the camera. Some of these printers may offer the ability to print from a mobile phone via Bluetooth whether through integrated circuitry or an optional Bluetooth module.

HP OfficeJet 6500a business inkjet printer

HP OfficeJet 6500a - a modest-priced business inkjet printer

It may be worth knowing that some business-level inkjets are acquiring this kind of functionality but most of these printers won’t turn out the high-quality prints from digital cameras. Here, this functionality may be useful for applications where print quality doesn’t matter like hardcopy proofs that are used for “shortlisting” pictures for a project.

I would consider the premium consumer-level inkjet printer as a business printer if you rely on it for turning out high-quality digital prints whether from your PC or your digital camera and don’t do much printing on it. If you want the best of both worlds, you could get by with a dedicated photo-optimised printer for photographic jobs and a business-grade multifunction printer for regular business printouts.

High-end business inkjet vs an entry-level colour laser

An example of this situation is HP’s OfficeJet Pro 8500a inkjet and the HP Colour LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus multifunction inkjet printer

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500a Plus - a hign-end business inkjet multifunction printer

These printers have a similar throughput to each other when printing pages and also turn out a similar copy quality for the documents that are printed. It doesn’t matter whether the documents are ordinary text documents or documents filled with graphics. There may be some glaring functionality differences like the support for duplex operation or memory type. In this example, the OfficeJet Pro 8500a had “full duplex” functionality where it could print on both sides of a sheet of paper and scan both sides of a printed document whereas the LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw could only print or scan one side of a page. Conversely, the LaserJet Pro used flash memory for its fax-related features like no-paper receive, “fax vault” or send-later while the OfficeJet Pro used regular RAM memory for the same functions.

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw colour laser multifunction printer

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw - an example of an entry-level colour laser multifunction printer

The cost-per-page for an entry-level colour laser printer is slightly cheaper than a high-end business inkjet that is fed the high-capacity cartridges although manufacturers like HP are  implementing ink cartridges in these printers that have a similar or better cost-per-page to the laser printers.  On the other hand, the inkjet is more flexible with print media than the laser because it doesn’t use any heat to bond the marking material to the paper. This can make it useful for printing short-run documents to glossy material or printing out labels and transparencies.

Dedicated printer vs multifunction printers

An increasing number of printers on the market, like most of the printers I have reviewed on this site, are of the “multifunction” type with a built-in scanner mechanism. Here, these printers will be able to scan to the computer or work as convenience light-duty photocopiers. Most of the business-focused multifunction printers are able to work as fax machines and these units typically are equipped with an automatic document feeder.

Compare this with the dedicated printers which just print from a computer. This class of printer is typically represented by laser printers or some photo-grade inkjet printers pitched at the graphic arts users.

A multifunction printer can work well as an all-round “workhorse” printer for most office applications whereas a dedicated printer can serve “infill” requirements that the multifunction cannot achieve. For example, you could use a colour inkjet multifunction printer as the main office printer in a doctor’s office while you have a monochrome laser printer turning out health-insurance forms and accounts that are part of the workflow. Similarly, you could use an A3 colour inkjet printer for turning out plans, signs and similar documents while you use a regular A4 multifunction for regular printing needs.

Features worthy of note

Auto-duplex printing

A feature that is becoming common amongst a lot of printers is auto-duplex printing. Here, the printer is able to automatically “flip” the page to print on the reverse side of the paper. This has become popular as a paper-saving measure but some of us may find it of value as a desktop-publishing benefit.

This is demonstrably so with laser printers like the Brother HL4150CDN colour laser that I recently reviewed. Here, the printer can print “to the edge” yet work on both sides of the page. As well, laser printers don’t have to “dwell” for up to 15 seconds to allow the ink to dry, thus it doesn’t have significant impact on print speed. Infact the previously-mentioned Brother printer could work both sides of two pages at once and with this, there is effectively no throughput penalty if you intend to do duplex or booklet printing.

Some inkjet printers, namely HP printers, may require a non-printed margin at the top and bottom of the page for auto-duplex printing. This is perceived to permit reliable paper handling but can be a problem if you intend to print landscape documents or “work to the edge” in your documents. It is also worth noting that some printers such as cheaper high-throughput colour lasers may only be able to use this function for the common document paper sizes like A4 or Letter.

At the moment, it is worth noting that not many of these colour laser printers that have auto-duplex printing can print on both sides of small-page “flyer-size” documents like A5, DL or postcard. This is usually because the auto-duplex mechanisms are not able to reliably push the small sheets of paper through the colour laser printing mechanism in order to print on both sides of the flyer.

It may be worth knowing that some high-end A4 multifunction printers will be likely to have “full duplex” functionality. This means that they will have auto-duplex printing as well as an automatic document feeder that can scan both sides of a page. This typically leads to functions like automatic “both-sides” copying and faxing.

Use as the business fax machine

Brother MFC-7460DN monochrome laser multifunction printer

Brother MFC-7460DN monochrome laser multifunction printer

Firstly, most of the multifunction printers that appeal to the business user will have an integrated fax functionality. This can be of use if that old fax machine has nearly “had it” or is becoming costly to run due to its use of the thermal-transfer tape.

Infact, the purchase of a low-end plain-paper fax that uses this kind of printing is really a false economy because these fax machines will work through the thermal-transfer tape even if a page is partially written on. Instead, a fax-equipped multifunction printer uses the ink or toner when and where it needs to mark the document.

As well, it will save on bench space because you don’t have to have a separate machine to receive your faxes on. This is an important requirement for small offices and shops where this space can be at a premium.

It is also worth knowing that the inkjet and colour-laser multifunction printers that have the fax functionality are capable of receiving and transmitting faxes in colour to businesses equipped with similarly-capable equipment. Here, if you select “Colour Fax” on these machines, they will transmit the document according to “best-case” rules where if the receiving machine isn’t colour-capable, the transmission will succeed with the document being in monochrome. Other examples of these printers offering increased value for money as a small-business fax machine include the business class printers offering a “fax-vault” function where you can set the unit to hold received documents in memory and print them when required; or “print-to-fax” functions or “fax-to-computer” functions so you can fax a document from your computer or capture a faxed document to your computer without reprinting it.

Of course, these machines will have the expected fax functionality and can work with a dedicated fax line or a shared phone line, including support for “distinctive ring” dedicated-fax-number setups like Telstra’s Faxstream Duet.

What to be careful of

The two-cartridge colour inkjet printer

A lot of inexpensive consumer and small-business inkjet printers still use two cartridges for their printing setup. One of these cartridges is the black cartridge while the other is a “tri-colour” ink cartridge that houses the cyan, magenta and yellow inks in one plastic body.

The main problem with this design is that if one colour runs out in the colour cartridge, you have to replace the whole cartridge even if there is plenty of ink remaining for the other colours. It can become more exacerbating if you print material using your business’s trad dress which will be dominant in particular colours.

This may be OK for an occasionally-used printer but should be avoided if you use your printer frequently. Instead, look for a midrange printer that uses four or more ink cartridges with each colour in its own cartridge.

Wi-Fi-only network connectivity

Another feature common with inexpensive network multifunction printers is to provide Wi-Fi as the only network connection method. This is more so with the printers that are positioned at the consumer end of the market.

There are a few limitations with this setup. One is that you have to run a Wi-Fi network to obtain the benefits of network connectivity and this can be fraught with problems because of Wi-Fi being a radio based method. For example, walls made out of double-brick, cinder-block or reinforced concrete can play havoc with a Wi-Fi link; as can metal-reflective insulation. This limits the ability to connect the printer to your business network using alternative network technologies like Ethernet or HomePlug powerline networking.

As well, a lot of these printers require the user to configure them for the wireless network by connecting them to a host computer and running manufacturer-supplied software before they will work with that network. The exception to this rule for most of these printers is Wi-Fi network segments that use WPS “push-to-connect” setup, where you may push a button on the printer or select a menu option to start the configuration process. This is although the HP ePrint-enabled Wi-Fi-only consumer printers like the Photosmart Wireless-E B110a economy printer and the HP Envy 100 (D410) slimline printer do support configuration for non-WPS wireless networks from the control panel.

Recommendations for most businesses

General-office work

I would recommend a midrange network-connected business inkjet multifunction printer with four ink cartridges and auto-duplex printing for a “general-use” workhorse printer. It may be OK to use a high-end consumer printer or low-end business inkjet for low-traffic applications like a secondary printer.

A photo-optimised consumer printer like a Canon PiXMA or HP Photosmart may be good as a secondary printer for applications where you value high-quality photo prints with the full saturation. Some manufacturers may offer a dedicated photo-optimised printer but typically these can be very expensive and are pitched at the graphic-arts industries.

A dedicated monochrome laser printers can be useful for printing out forms or documents as what would be required of medical, legal or similar professions. Here, it would be wise to look for auto-duplex-equipped units if you turn out many multipage documents like most legal documents. As well, I would recommend that these machines are network-connected if you have or intend to have two or more computer workstations that will turn out the documents.

HP OfficeJet 7000 wide-format printer

HP OfficeJet 7000 A3 wide-format inkjet printer

If you don’t care about colour printing but turn out many documents, you could get by with a monochrome laser multifunction printer like the recently-released Brother units or the HP LaserJet M1212nf that I had previously reviewed. Then if you want to do colour printing at a later date, you could add on a dedicated colour printer like the HP OfficeJet 6000 inkjet; HP OfficeJet 7000 A3 inkjet or Brother HL-4150CDN laser “desktop-publishing workhorse”.

Promoting your business yourself

You may want to use a colour laser printer as a promotion tool for your business. I have infact written up an article about why it is worth considering these printers as a buying option. Here, it would be a good idea to stick to high-throughput colour laser printers like the Brother HL-4150CDN especially if you do a lot of your own short-run publishing, including “infill” print runs.

You may want to take advantage of the larger A3 page size as a paper size for signage and similar material. It may even come in handy within the office for turning out large spreadsheets or business charts that can have more detail. Here, you may look at a single-tray A3 multifunction like the HP OfficeJet 7500 for occasional A3 use or a dual-tray A3 multifunction like the Brother MFC-6490CW or dedicated A3 printer like the HP OfficeJet 7000 if you do turn out a lot of A3 material.

Brother MFC-6490CW A3 inkjet multifunction printer

Brother MFC-6490CW A3 inkjet multifunction printer

Conclusion

In simple terms, I would suggest that you check how much the printer will cost to run; such as the price of replacement ink or toner cartridges; the availability of high-capacity cartridges and the kid of cartridges used and other cost-saving practices like auto-duplex

Then make sure that your printer can suit your current needs as well as allowing for future needs.Here, you can then own and run the right printer that will serve your business’s needs for many years without being a drain on your business’s cashflow.

Poor print quality from your Epson or Brother inkjet printer? Airlocks may be the problem

Introduction

Brother MFC-J6720DW A3 inkjet multifunction printer

Brother MFC-J6720DW A3 desktop inkjet multifunction printer – uses piezo printheads rather than thermal printheads

If you own an Epson or Brother inkjet printer, you may end up with a situation where there is reduced print quality for particular colours even if you have just put in a new ink cartridge. The symptoms will be in the form of one colour not appearing in your printout or gaps at regular intervals in the printed output.

This is a problem that I have experienced previously with an Epson inkjet printer that I had earlier on through 2000 to 2004. As well I had run in to this problem when I was reviewing the Brother MFC-6490CW A3 inkjet multifunction printer; and had to run this printer through the cleaning cycle a few times after installing a new cartridge.

The piezoelectric print head working as a pump

Saeco GranBaristo Avanti espresso machine press picture courtesy of Philips

An espresso coffee machine that uses a pump to push the water through the ground coffee – similar to how the piezo printhead in an Epson or Brother printer works

This may be to do with the way these printers work compared to most other brands. Here, the ink is pushed through the printer using a piezoelectric pump mechanism which integrates technology similar to what is used to force the hot water through the ground coffee in a domestic espresso-coffee machine when you make that latte or cappuccino.  On the other hand, the HP, Canon and Lexmark printers use a thermal a.k.a. “bubble-jet” method of pushing the ink drops through the printhead in a similar vein to the way water is pushed through a drip-filter coffee maker.

Mr. Coffee Smart 10-Cup Drip Filter Coffee Maker - press image courtesy of Belkin

HP, Canon and Lexmark printers use a printhead that works in a similar way to how this drip-filter coffee maker passes water from its tank to the ground coffee

If you happened to fill one of the previously-mentioned espresso machines with water after allowing it to run dry, then decide to make a coffee, it will take a very long time for the coffee to come through. As well, you will hear the machine’s pump initially make a loud noise, then make a softer noise as it takes on the water. The loud noise that you hear initially is due to the pump encountering an airlock. Then the softer noise that you hear is what is happening as the espresso machine’s pump is being primed and airlocks are being removed out of the pipework in the machine. In some cases, you may have to run water through the machine’s cappucino steam-jet as if to make hot water for this to work.

Similarly, what can happen with your Epson or Brother printer is that after allowing an ink to run dry, you will end up with airlocks in the pipework or printhead. This may be more so if you try to “run it out” beyond the “out-of-ink” warning so you could get those last few pages printed. This same situation tends to happen with newly-purchased printers because you have to establish a constant flow of ink through the pipework and printhead.

What can you do?

The cleaning cycle

Main menu on Brother MFC0J5720DW printer

Newer Brother printers represent the settings menu with “tools”

If this happens, you may have to do one of two things. One would be to run the printer through the “cleaning” cycle a few times as this will “prime” the printhead pumps. You may have to do this after you install a new ink cartridge.

Brother MFC-J5720DW settings menu

Maintenance menu in Settings menu

In most of these printers like the previously-mentioned Brother printer, you will need to start the cycle through going to the “Maintenance” or “Setup” menu on the printer’s control panel, then select the “Cleaning cycle” function. Recent Brother printers use a “tools” icon for access to the Settings and Maintenance functions.

Brother MFC-J5720DW head cleaning menu

Head cleaning menu under Maintenance menu

Older single-function printers and some Epson multifunction printers may have a dedicated “cleaning cycle” button or require you to hold down a button like the “Paper Eject” button to start this cycle. To be sure, check the instruction manual that has come with the printer or the manufacturer’s Web site concerning how to activate this cycle.

Creation and use of “printer cleaning sheets”

Another would be to prepare a “printer cleaning sheet” for each colour. This would be a drawing that has a rectangle of the specified colour (black, cyan, magenta or yellow) that covers at least 50% of an A4 or A3 sheet of paper. You could create this with your favourite graphics, presentation or desktop-publishing program. Even a “paint” program like Microsoft Paint could do the job. Then make sure you save this as a file. If you created a multi-page file such as the PDF file that I have created and made available for you, you have one page per colour and print this page out for the colour that needs attention. Otherwise, print out the file pertaining to the colour that needs attention. You may have to print this a few times to prime all of the pumps in the printhead.

The idea behind creating and printing these sheets of paper is that the printer has to keep running the pumps continuously so they are primed and the ink starts flowing through all the nozzles properly. As far as the paper is concerned, you just then use the blank side of these sheets you printed out as notepaper, such as to keep beside the telephone.

How do you prevent airlocks from getting in to your printer?

The only way to prevent airlocks from appearing in your Epson or Brother inkjet printer is to make sure you have a spare ink cartridge on hand and ready to install when the ink cartridge in the machine is running low. Here, your machine will notify you of this with a warning message on its display or a flashing light. As well, the print-monitor utility on your computer that comes with the machine’s drivers will flash up a “low-on-ink” warning.

Similarly, if you anticipate large print runs you may find it a good idea to stock up on ink cartridges and/or purchase the extra-capacity cartridges. This may be more so if you are doing campaign-driven print runs; frequently printing on A3 using your A3-capable inkjet printer; or using special media like glossy paper.

If you do use generic-brand or third-party cartridges, you may have to keep an eye on the ink level because these cartridges may not work as accurately as the manufacturer-original cartridges. In some cases, you may even have to run the cleaning cycle every time you change these cartridges.

Those of you who use an aftermarket continuous-inking system may need to keep an eye on the bottles associated with these systems so that you know when to replace the inks. As well, you need to make sure that the system is in good order with the pipes secured properly and full of ink. This also applies to those of you who use an Epson EcoTank printer that has user-refillable ink tanks mounted on the side of the printer. Here, you need to check the ink tanks on the machine’s side to make sure your machine isn’t getting too near the “empty” mark.

Conclusion

Once you know how to use the cleaning cycle and / or create a “printer cleaning sheet”, you can be able to avoid an unnecessary service call or product return concerning your Epson or Brother inkjet printer.

Note: This article was originally published on March 2011 but has undergone a major revision in 2015 to illustrate the different types of coffee machines and to encompass the newer Brother printers. It has been revised in August 2016 to encompass Epson’s EcoTank printers which use large user-refillable ink tanks.