The inkjet technology means exactly what it's name states, a jet of ink (very tiny drops) that are sprayed on paper. It can work on almost any type of media and isn't very resistant over time. Humidity, sun-light and other factors may deteriorate your print pretty fast. It's true that manufacturers are working to provide longer lasting inkjet prints, but for now they didn't manage to produce a better result.



The dye-sublimation technology uses heat to transfer dye onto paper. The dye, specifically made for those printers, turns from solid straight to gas state without ever achieving a liquid state. They use a ribbon with a core at each end of the roll, that each has dyes. After transferring colors to paper (through heat) most printers also produce a final protective layer that is meant to guard against moisture, scratches etc. It's somewhat of a challenge to chose whats best from inkjet or dye sub photo printers.

So, advantages to inkjet printers include the wide variety of media that you can use, in a wide variety of sizes (including non-paper media like cloth, CD's etc). This is where dye-sub printers don't do so well. Most of them are limited to 4 by 6 inch prints and you'll generally have to purchase photo paper. Same goes for the ribbons. Paper and ink are usually sold together in a kit and the cost of consumables is generally higher in the case of dye-sublimation printers. Then again, so is the quality.

The advantage to a dye-sublimation printer is that it has a 16 million color gamut and produces extremely high quality prints. The last coat the printer applies makes the photos be much more resistant over time and also waterproof. Photos produced through the dye-sublimation technology are usually guaranteed to last the same for a high number of years.

As a contrast, even in the case of an 8-ink inkjet, you'll find it hard to achieve the same kind of quality a dye-sub has to offer. Because of dithering (those little tiny drops of ink printed right next to eachother) you will also be able to see them if you're looking very closely or through a magnifying glass. Sure, very few users will take the time to use a magnifying class to check out their printed photos, but unfortunately even with a bare eye you can tell that the image is made out of very little dots.

Now, when you are considering whether to buy an inkjet or dye sub photo printer also consider the fact that dye-sub means you'll only be able to print photos. Inkjets however, even good photo ones, might also offer extra features like scanning and copying, perhaps even faxing. You'll also use them for various meaningless documents you have to print out (grocery lists, letters, e-mails to name but a few) and you can stick just about any type of paper at any time in them without having to worry if your special photo paper runs low. Choose a dye-sublimating photo printer if you want a compact very high quality device to take along with your digital camera because for that they are amazing.

The small office life is tough at times and pleasant at times. Because small businesses are so small, that means few people have to handle several responsabilities. It also means that you'll equip the office with most likely only one printer that will work for the whole group of people. This is why it's so important to chose a reliable printer that can offer every single thing you need.



There won't be any 'hey Bob, use the printer in the next office because this one is broken down'. Because there won't be any printer in the other office. Ricoh specializes in exactly this type of device. While Ricoh printers aren't the top of the line when it comes to design or size, they generally are robust, reliable and capable.



A good choice for equipping your small office is the Ricoh AC205 printer. Right out of the box you'll be getting digital copying, printing, scanning, faxing as well as networking capabilities. The AC205 uses an all-in-one toner cartridge design. The black and white printing is supposed to be 22 pages per minute and the digital copying is done at the same speed. Since it offers a duplex, you'll also be able to save on paper by printing on both sides of the sheet while copying.

What seems to be a major inconvenient most of the time is how slow the printer switches from standby and warms up. Although the actual printing speed is indeed fast, it proves to be more than annoying to wait for the device to warm up before it starts printing, if you're not having a very busy day and it does end up entering standby constantly. In fact, the warm up time is actually much higher than the actual printing time.

The Ricoh AC205 printer supports a wide variety of media including labels, envelopes, transparencies or card stock. Copying quality is ok, but printing quality is not so great. Think of this as the fast printing and copying machine that can handle large amounts of paper in a short period of time, but won't exactly throw out state of the art presentation documents.



For the money you're paying, you'll get several advanced features. These features include printing documents straight from an USB flash drive, scan directly to USB flash or scan to e-mail. You won't need to use these on a daily basis but it's sometimes really handy to have them. After setting it up to work for all computers in your office, it should handle the printing needs of all the users with no problems at all. The maximum 550 sheet capacity means you'll have to remember to change the paper in it decently often if your printing needs are high. The printer settings utility software that it comes with will allow the user to program fax features (like phone book entries) straight from the PC. Super G3 33.6kb faxing works at a 3 second per page transmission speed and should be satisfying for most users.

The Selphy CP780 could easily qualify as a photolab in the user's pocket. Selphy photo printers are generally small, portable and offer great photo quality for photography enthusiasts. If you're used to carrying your digital camera around all the time, it's not hard to simply pack the Selphy CP780 too, specially since it also offers an optional battery pack. The design of the Selphy is straight forward and friendly.



The interface is easy to use, there are several large buttons and a 2.5 inch TFT LCD color screen that will offer previews of what you are printing. Navigation is easy and it has menu support for 7 languages. Canon designed this one for functionality as well as fun. It was meant to be a family printer, so, to blend in better it's being offered in a variety of colors including pink, blue, silver and white.



First special quality of the printer is versatility. It provides three memory card slots that allow the user to print without the help of a PC straight from their memory card. Without an adapter you'll be able to use Compact Flash, Microdrive, miniSD, SD, SDHC, MMC, Memory Stick (+ Pro) and Memory Stick Duo (+Pro) cards. Due to the PictBridge technology you'll also be able to print straight from your compatible digital camera.

Moreover, if an optional Bluetooth adaptor is acquired, a user can also print from any mobile phone or wireless device. For short, you'll be able to print off just about any device that can store photos, with no problems at all. The Selphy CP780 is obviously not a printer without flaws. The main flaws of the device are two : the speed of printing and rather large consumption and cost of consumables.

Now, since it's meant to be a family printer and photography doesn't usually mean you're rushing, speed shouldn't be an issue for most users. Consumables, however, is another matter. Due to the fact that the printer uses dye sublimation technology it tends to be rather wasteful and bleed ink cartridges dry. As usual, you either end up paying more upfront then make up for it with cheap, cost effective printing, or you pay less and end up buying expensive consumables as you go.

For Selphy photo printers it's generally the second version. And it's initial price tag really is low. It will cost you just around $100 to buy. Also due to the technology it uses, you'll have to purchase Canon media (a pack of photo paper usually comes bundled with a cartridge).



Another thing you might need to know is that you'll have to have some space behind the printer when you're using it. This is because the paper needs to pass in and then out the back of the printer. The Selphy CP780 will work right out of the box. Its user will just have to plug it in or attach the optional battery (if they've decided to purchase one) then insert the ribbon cartridge on the side.

Japanese company Ricoh specializes in manufacturing office equipment. One of their products, the CL3500N Ricoh printer, was designed to suit the needs of small offices that need to print a large amount of documents at very fast speeds. The appearance (design) of the printer is standard, as in, it looks just like you'd expect it to, it's simple, it's bulky and it blends in with all the other office equipment.



It weighs 'just' 72.6 pounds which means holding it on a desk is simply out of a question and you'll need several people pushing and pulling if you decide you want to move it to some other location. At the center of the printer you can find a two-line backlit screen that provides you with a simple and intuitive control menu, for when you need to navigate directly through the printer and not from your PC.



Just to the left of the output bin you'll find a panel. Lifting the panel will uncover the toner cartridges. As you receive the Aficio CL3500N it will already contain a black and a color cartridge that will last for about 2500 pages. When the ink runs out you'll replace them with high capacity cartridges that can work for printing around 6000-7000 pages.

The CL3500N Ricoh printer is one of the fastest in its range. This makes it an ideal candidate for people who get annoyed while waiting what seems to be ages for a page to print out, or for offices that have higher printing needs. If more users are connected to the same printer, that will obviously amount to a lot of documents that have to be processed on the same device. This is where speed is so important. A slow device might mean you'll have to buy at least 2 for a busy office, or considerably slow down your operations.

Restocking your Aficio CL3500N with paper won't slow you down either. The sheet capacity is satisfactory. The printer has a standard capacity of 630 sheets of paper and a maximum of 1690. Moreover, if you want, you can acquire a duplexer for it, which will make printing even faster and more convenient. As an average, the printer can work with about 16000 pages a month, but the manufacturer claims that you can even print up to 50000 pages in some month without risking damage or repair costs.



Now, one of the primary reasons for buying a color laser printer is print quality. The Ricoh Aficio CL3500N doesn't do so well in this department. The quality is ok for what most businesses need (if you're printing letters, documents, reports it's not so important how sharp and crisp the font looks) but compared to other color laser printers it can be considered low. This is where the compromise was made. For printing large amounts of paper at a very high speed, some of the quality of the prints was lost. When deciding whether to equip your office with a Ricoh Aficio CL3500N you'll have to straight up decide if it's fast speeds you are interested in or if you value print quality more.

In order for an office to work properly, it needs to be properly equipped. It's not very important if it's a small office or a big business, matter of fact you'll most likely need the same machinery. There is a difference though, the capabilities that machinery has.



For large offices, a serious amount of printing and copying has to be done on a daily basis. For this, a reliable and high quality device is needed. It might have a rather high price tag, but sometimes when you pay upfront for quality you end up saving in the long run.



If you need to print out about 100-150 pages per minute, the best device for that would be a high volume printer. Most offices are equipped with laser printers nowadays, and that's because they can print large documents at fast speeds. There are several important factors in buying a high volume printer. You'll need a reliable device that doesn't break down (doesn't matter how fast it prints if it's broken down half the time), with a high paper capacity (doesn't matter how fast it prints if it runs out of paper) and networking capabilities.

Most of these printers are multifunctional and will offer scanning, copying and faxing. Prices obviously depend on how many features you want on top of what was already mentioned (like duplexing, ADF and so on).The quality of the prints is well known, and depending on model, speeds are generally high too. In a large office setting up a workgroup and using the printer for 10 or more users will be very appreciated as well.

But how does a digital copier do vs a high volume printer?Copiers have evolved a lot in the previous years, and they aren't just bulky one-feature mediocre quality machines anymore. Digital copiers now work great for an office environment. They are mainly designed to work by scanning documents and then producing printed copies of the said document. Advantages to choosing a digital copier are many.

First off, after scanning the document can be stored in the device's memory, so you can at any time simply print out copies. Secondly, almost all digital copiers are multifuncion devices. They generally work for printing, transmitting documents via fax or sending them to an e-mail adress. The maintainance cost of the machine is also significantly lower than in the case of any other device that can provide you with so many prints in a short amount of time. The ink that is used in digital copiers lasts for a lot more prints per copy. What copiers usually offer and printers do not : document finishing features such as binding or sorting.



Initial buying price in the case of both devices varies depending on model, brand and features. Copiers tend to be more expensive when you buy them. Printers are cheaper initially, but over time, they make up for it by consuming more ink (which is also more costly). The way things are going, it's hard to tell anymore what a printer can offer that a copier can't and vice versa. In the digital copier vs high volume printers battle the best choice is the machine that fits an office's need best.