subject: Choosing Your Color Multifunctional Copy Machine [print this page] If you're serious about your business, then color is certainly your direction. Color documents are just better! They're better in terms of looks, feel (the Xerox Colotech paper feels fantastic in the hands of the reader) and of course quality.
So you're going to go for a Multifunctional Color Printer and you're a bit confused about what separates one model from another. Here's some guidelines to get you through the ruff sea.
Since we're talking about bigger machines, we're talking A3 format by default.
First you need to have all the productivity functions: Copying, Printing and scanning are the basics that you need to have.
Let's talk about speed. Now speed comes in different forms when it comes to color machines.
First there's the proper speed of printing, which is measured in pages per minute, where 30-50 pages per minute is pretty decent. But before you can get to print your pages, there's something that needs to be done to the files, that's what's called "Processing". Now processing is done by something called a controller. A controller is basically a computer built inside the machine or independent of it, which processes all the documents that need to be printed. It translates them from their specific file format to the Printer language. So for this, a fast processor will help a lot! So always try to go for the ones with quicker processors. Then there's memory, you need that too because you're gonna have big files printed.
Then there's storage. You need to be able to store some jobs that you did for reprinting later, so a big hard-drive can help.
The resolution is one of the most important factors. Resolution basically means how detailed your prints can be. The more DPI you have the better. 600 to 1200 to 2400, the more the better. What does DPI mean? Dots per inch. More dots, better quality. The resolution on A4, A3 prints needs to be good because people ussually look at them from a small distance as opposed to the huge posters, which can have significantly low resolutions because the viewing distance is considerably larger, sometimes even 100-200 meters.
So let's recap on that, speed, resolution, storage. If you take all these into consideration you're sure to make a better decision in the near future! Now all you need is the money to buy the machines.
Here's a list of color multifunctional a3 machines: Copiator Color
