Anybody know printer catalogs better than I? I need recommendations for a multi-function printer. My requirements:
- Fax
- Copy
- Networked (RJ45)
- Sheet-feed (no single feed for copy/fax)
- Job Accounting.
The job accounting is what typically drives the price up, but basically this office I’ll be setting this up at will be shared by two companies (three employees from each) and I need to have job accounting so that the individual companies can be billed properly for print usage (per the boss folks of the companies that are hiring me to set this whole mess up).
Print volume will be (at most) 4000 pages/month. Color printing is not a requirement. Laser preferred over inkjet, as is the availability of cheaper consumables, but I’m open to options.
Unfortunately, this is something you easily find and expect on stupidly high-end lasers, but finding it on multi-function devices (especially when you have about a $600 budget) involves just digging through a bunch of documentation online — which is no fun at all.
Anybody know of a mult-function device that has all of the above — new or old — so I can hunt it down for prices?
Comments
(Disclaimer: I work at Xerox, but as a geek, not in sales.)
Have you looked at the Xerox multifunction printers?
Maybe:
http://www.office.xerox.com/multifunction-printer/enus.html
I have. I actually like their printers, have a Phaser 860DP at the office already, but they’re just a bit too expensive (unless you can get me some sort of insider’s discount ;-).
But I was also told that only their high-end colors, but no black and whites (this was by a Xerox sales rep) have job accounting. If you can tell me otherwise, I’d love to hear it.
Aww, you’re right. I thought _all_ the WorkCentres had accounting. Guess not!
Are you Mac or Linux saavy? The default Mac print spooler (CUPS) could do the job accounting for you, and your machines could be configured to print through it.
Yeah, I knew if I was running this all through a printer attached/shared via file server or whatnot, that I could install something on that server to do this for me. Unfortunately, I don’t have budget/room for an additional machine. The desktops are all Windows 2000.