9 Features You Must Consider When Choosing a Printer Scanner Combo

A scanner printer combo is a compact hardware device with multiple functionalities. Whether you need one for your office or have diverse printing needs within your household, scanner printer combo machines offer the most versatility—all while capturing less space than using separate devices. Use it to scan and print copies of research papers, assignments, and presentation slides at home. Or print letters, invoices, Local Purchase Orders (LPO), diagrams, sketches, etc. at your office.

A printer with scanner not only has multiple functions, but also saves you both money, and space. If you are getting confused about the right model due to so many features, types, and brands (Brother, Canon, and Xerox), here is what you need to consider. We have come up with some of the important features that you must look for.

Important Features of Printer with Scanner

● Print quality or resolution (in dots per inch)
● Speed (in sheets of paper printed per minute)
● Colour (full-color or black-and-white)
● Cache memory (it affects the printing speed)

Print Resolution

The print resolution is measured in dpi (dots per inch), which largely depends on hardware types and their intended function. If you need a device for office use, look for a resolution not higher than 1200 x 1200 DPI (dots per inch).

● A minimum of 600 x 600 dpi is recommended for black-and-white printers.
● Resolutions 2400 x 1200 dpi are ideal for high-quality black-and-white print productions.
● 1200 x 1200 dpi is the minimum standard for good quality print quality.
● A resolution of 4800 x 2400 produces excellent-quality color printouts.

Some specialized models, specifically inkjet, offer resolutions up to 9600 x 2400.

Print Speed

The minimum standard printing speed is 10 color pages per minute and 20 black-and-white pages per minute. Look for it as a print speed specification. A good print speed for 3D printing can range between 40mm/s and 100mm/s. You should choose 60 mm/s print speed as it is most appropriate for general usage. Note that for a quality print, you should got for low printing speed.

Laser vs. Inkjet

● Laser printers are designed to produce higher quality printing than inject printers. They operate more efficiently than inkjet when it comes to cost per page. They print much faster. Due to high-capacity paper trays, they print more pages at a given time. Also, you can print thousands of pages per month.

● Inkjet printers offer crisp multi-page office documents and excellent photos. They’re a good choice if you need them for your school or college projects, or photos.

However, choose a laser printer for printing great volumes of text-based documents.

Duty Cycle

The duty cycle of a printer is the approximate number of pages the device can print in a certain time period without any damage. It is the maximum number of pages that should be printed per month.

● A high-duty cycle of 20,000 to the 25,000-page range is recommended for office use.
● 5,000 pages monthly duty cycle is sufficient for most home users.

Scanner Element Type

Mainly, there are two types of scanner elements, Charged Coupled Device (CCD) and Contact Image Scanners (CIS).

● Charge Coupled Device (CCD): It is good for scanning graphic files and barcodes. It is a highly sensitive photon detector and can capture images by transforming photons into electrons.

● Color contact image scanners (CIS): CIS scanners produce better text image scans. They provide the highest quality images with modern technology and give the most reliable performance.

Scanner Resolution

Look for a model that can balance readability and file size while scanning documents. For photo prints, 300 dpi is okay. 600 dpi is needed for getting all the hidden details in your prints.

● Resolution 2500 dpi is recommended for standard scanning
● For high-quality reproductions, a minimum resolution of 1200 x 600 is required.
● A resolution of 4800 x 4800 is required to produce excellent quality images.

Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)

Choose hardware that is packed with an automatic document feeder that places a stack of papers on the feeder tray. So, you don’t need to place every single page on a scanner platform that consumes a lot of time. Check ADF in the machine and make sure it matches a suitable amount of fax memory.

Stylish & Compact

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi allow wireless printing within a particular range. So, always look for a wireless printer with a scanner. It can fit perfectly anywhere in your office or home. Plus, enjoy the ease of connecting your tablet, smartphone, laptop other devices.

Fax Page Memory

If choosing an all-in-one printer, check the fax page memory, which shows how many pages the hardware can scan and save in memory. It is advisable to go for a fax memory of at least 100 pages.

Bottom Line

The market is flooded with a wide range of printing technology to handle your paper needs. When choosing one, your target should be to pick a model that can print high-quality documents, as well as scan all your documents. The device must have Auto Scan Mode, Document Removal Reminder, Save to PC, scan to print, and wireless connectivity.