ALKHOBAR: In the coming weeks, people will be returning to the Kingdom from their summer holidays. They’ll want to quickly get started again in using their personal and business technology resources. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia’s climate with its high temperatures and sandstorms, isn’t great for maintaining ideal printer performance. Inkjet printers suffer the most as their cartridges dry out and their print heads and printer nozzles clog up. It can be messy to get an inkjet printer head back in working order and it’s wasteful to throw away an expensive printer cartridge, simply because it has dried out.

In a bit of market research, last weekend Arab News went to eXtra in Alkhobar and asked customers looking at printers what their criteria were in the purchase of these peripherals. Everyone mentioned the initial purchase price as most important, followed by the machine’s features. This is absolutely the wrong way to purchase a printer. In actuality, when purchasing a printer it is best to first determine the use parameters for the device and then select the printer that most cost effectively meets those requirements. Many people now also consider environmental impacts when selecting a new printer.

Some of the questions to consider are:

*Who will be using the printer and where will it be located?

*Where will the print jobs be sent from and how will those devices connect to the printer?

*How many pages will be printed and on what type of paper?

*Will photos be printed, color pages, black and white — or all three?

*Will the printer be used every day, weekly or rarely?

*Will the printer be handling special print jobs such as brochures or banners?

*Is a simple printer required or is there a need for a multi-function device that prints, scans, faxes and copies?

Printer selection is particularly critical for small businesses. A printer that has a low initial purchase price, could very well have a staggeringly high total cost of ownership. It’s true that capital acquisition can be low on inkjets. There are some inkjet printers available that cost less than $50 as an initial purchase price. Also, the inkjet manufacturers have made big efforts in the development of photo printing technology. But how many small businesses print photographs as their primary printing requirement and what is the per page cost to print with an inkjet?

“Small businesses survive based on cash flow and making sure that they are very, very efficient with their resources. Inkjet isn’t necessarily an efficient use of resources,” said Dan Smith, GM for Integrated Marketing, Xerox, MEA (DMO). “The running costs of owning a Laser device can be up to thirty percent less compared to an inkjet.”

According to Smith, Laser technology is greatly improved. In the past, if a Laser printer were used to print a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation it could become very expensive because so much toner was laid down on the page. That has changed. The new generation of Laser printers uses technology that conserves toner, as well as electricity and the initial purchase price of the printers has dropped dramatically. Desktop color Laser printers are available for less than $350.

Those who may not be familiar with Laser printers also need to know that the toner used as ink by a Laser device never “dries out.” Even if the printer is only used to print a few pages a month, the machine will perform well every time and the toner will never be wasted. With inkjet, the length of time the cartridge will be viable after it is unsealed is generally one to three months, depending on the manufacturer and environmental conditions where the cartridge is used — no matter how few pages are printed.

“Most businesses don’t have a great need for photo printing and many businesses are trying to print less. Inkjet in the business environment is a mismatch of technology. It’s like buying a racing car to drive across the dunes,” explained Smith. “In the hot dusty climate of the Middle East, the nozzles on inkjet clog up and have to be cleaned — especially when they aren’t constantly used. That takes quite a bit of ink, depending on the printer and it’s just a hassle most businesses don’t need. Such issues are never faced with laser printers.”

But some businesses do need to print really vibrant images and there is another printing technology in the marketplace that can now compete with inkjet. Solid Ink has only recently reached a price point where it could be considered by small businesses. Solid Ink printers have been engineered by Xerox to specifically meet the requirements of having great image quality. With Solid Ink, the wax used as ink lies on top of the paper and produces a very glossy, very vibrant print.

“Solid Ink is suited for printing customer facing documents, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, logos on documents and other graphic rich materials found in the workplace” advised Smith. “Solid Ink printers start at about $500 for the hardware, but then the cost per print is significantly lower than inkjet — up to fifty percent lower. If the coverage per page isn’t very high, then the cost would be even less.”

Solid Ink can be used to print on a variety of paper including cardstock, envelopes and transparencies, as well as recycled paper and custom page sizes. Getting specific, Solid Ink printers can accommodate media from 16 lb. to over 80 lb. cover cardstock. Laser printers vary and can be limited to 58 lb. cardstock; inkjet printers generally require specially treated media which is not always available in a wide range. Solid Ink printers are space savers too, offering versatility in a small office, where they can be situated on desktops, credenzas or small tables. And Solid Ink is an environmentally conscious technology. Solid Ink printing produces 90 percent less supplies waste than Laser printing. The result is dramatic: after 100,000 prints, a color Laser can produce 157 pounds of waste, while a solid ink printer produces only five pounds.

Why is all of this important? Because by upgrading the printing technology they use, small businesses can economically create quality in-house color brochures, presentations and marketing materials. There’s no need to go to an outside printing service and have marketing materials produced in advance. Small businesses can stop paying to run off hundreds of brochures per print run, that then must be stored for years. Companies can simply print what they need, when it’s needed, tailoring the materials to suit the client or occasion.

Today’s office printers give small businesses the tools they need to create a wide variety of materials in-house and make a professional “big company” impression on customers and clients. It’s time for small businesses and even consumers at home to be informed about what modern printing technologies can offer. Better selection of printing hardware, coupled with intelligent use of printing software can save money while still producing high quality printed materials that delight the eye while limiting the impact on our planet.

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