There is an article in today’s Unplggd blog about why monochrome laser printers still make sense in today’s office.

The article says that in most offices, what’s being printed is documents–letters, agreements, emails, proposals. None of this derives any benefit from being in color instead of black and white. Even maps are useable in black and white.

At IvanExpert we tend to agree. Our office has an inexpensive black and white HP laser printer that we’ve had for many years, and we don’t have a color printer at all. There are so many advantages to a black and white laser, so it’s what we generally recommend to our clients. Just a few reasons:

• inexpensive to purchase
• workhorses, they last a long time
• no breakdowns: the mechanics are pretty simple so you rarely need a tech to come
• very inexpensive to print, per sheet
• toner cartridge runs out infrequently, so you don’t spend lots of money on ink, nor do you need to have lots of extra cartridges lying around

And if it’s really necessary to have color, there’s always the corner copy shop.

There are rare occasions when we do recommend a color printer to a client. A few examples of those exceptions:

• The business is in a field that’s highly visual: photographer, art gallery, fashion house, graphic designer. People in these businesses routinely need to print out full-color images or designs.
• The business is in marketing or PR and does a lot of small mailings or in-person presentations. Often a compelling visual is required in these cases, and color is a good way to get it.
• A company logo looks really awful without color, and the company does a lot of written correspondence.