If you are planning to buy a printer, the first decision you need to make is whether to buy an ink-jet printer or a laser printer, as both have their respective advantages and disadvantages.

Some people are of the opinion that a laser printer ideal for business needs whereas for personal or home based needs one should go for a ink-jet printer. But before arriving at such a conclusion, one should consider all the pros and cons of both types of printers.

A laser printer is ideal for big organisations where there’s a significant amount of printing required on daily basis as laser printers are capable of producing more pages in comparison to an ink-jet, which needs toner and cartridges to be re-filled more often. On other hand, an ink- jet printer is much cheaper in comparison to laser printers, and is smaller in size.

Apart from choosing between an ink-jet and laser printer, you would also need to determine the type of prints you want - black & white or colour – as laser printers tend to cope with colour more easily. You also should take into account the total number of prints your office is using on average during a working day.

Regardless of which you choose, another important point to keep in mind is the after sales support that accompanies the product after buying it.

With innovative technology and design today, you have a choice to opt for a multi use or multi-purpose printer.  As well as printing, these also have the ability to scan documents and photocopy pages. With increased competition from various top manufacturing companies to capture a larger share of the printer market, a customer has many options. One can select a printer, which is not only multipurpose but is also extremely cost effective.

While such a printer provides all the facilities of a conventional printer, it also helps you scan documents and also store them in a digital form in your computer, making your office paperless - a goal that every office wants to achieve to become more cost effective and decrease their carbon footprint.

The copiers available in these new printers helps you in creating multiple copies of any documents whereas keeping documents in digital form saves space in the office and allows better use of the space available.
Printers today are necessary for any business, and with so many functions at your disposal, you should be able to find a printer suitable for your needs. Also consider the cost and availability of its accessories such as ink refills, toner, paper, etc.

Are you searching for a ink-jet printer for your personal or office needs? Before taking a decision, we suggest that you take a critical look at various key pointers before coming to a final decision.

While there are various advantages attached to an ink-jet printer like the low cost of purchasing, which is often the most critical factor, they also take up less space because they are more compact.

However some important things to consider before buying an ink-jet printer are:-

•    What kind of print quality do you desire? It’s known that they are more efficient in printing Black &White prints but not so much for colour
•    How many prints do you need on a daily basis?
•    What is the printing capacity in terms of copies for the selected printer?
•    Power consumption of the printer: is it efficient?
•    What is the cost of peripherals attached for the particular model?

We are sure if you try and include some of these pointers in your search you should be able to find your ideal printer. With so many models and companies one should make comparisons between different brands before making a decision, We provide printers from top of the line companies such as Epson, Canon, Samsung, Lexmark, etc. Importantly, we provide you with a wide range of equipment to choose from and are happy to help you come to the right decision.

You can find a range of fax machines that are available in the market today, but the basic work of all fax machines remains the same - that is to send and receive documents, using plain paper. The output looks very similar to a printout.

Today, the fax machine has advanced features, such as answering machine, telephone, built in voice mail and can also distinguish between voice calls and fax mails. Another important feature seen in today’s fax machine is the ability to work as a scanner too.

In present times, most fax machines come with an inbuilt scanner thereby making it a machine with multipurpose capability.

The most important things to look for in a fax machine while buying one is the number of pages it can hold in the tray and its speed. Check whether it has features like delayed delivery or not and also find out the cost and availability of its accessories.

The best way to choose a fax machine is to determine what your requirements are in terms of capacity and quality. Then you can compare models from various companies and look into the different features provided by them in terms of usage before arriving at a decision.

Do you ever wonder how a fax machine, such an indispensable unit in one’s business these days came into practice?, Well the answer is, Mr. Alexander Bain of Scottish origin.  He created a back-and-forth line-by-line scanning mechanism making use of his knowledge of electric clock pendulums. His model was designed to receive signals from a telegraph wire and then convert them into images on paper. Fredrick Blakwell, another inventor from London, patented a similar machine in the year 1851 and called it a “copying telegraph”. Blakewell had introduced several improvements in Bain’s original model and further developed his device.

“Pan Telegraph”, the first fax machine to be sold, was marketed by Giovanni Caselli in 1861 and surprisingly this took place before even workable telephones were created. The models available in the market today have acquired their design after a long series of refinements and developments.

The first coloured version appeared in the year 1924. The first colour facsimile was transmitted and reconstructed by H.E Ives of American Telephone and Telegraph. The “Hellschreiber”, an early technique in fax transmission was invented in 1929 by Rudolf Hell. But the fact remains to be seen that fax machines had never attained such popular usage until the mid 1980s. The implementation of a standard protocol in the year 1983 for transmitting faxes at rates of 9,600 bps (bits per second) is the significant factor behind this colossal transformation that accounts for the fact that most modern offices use a fax machine.

We all know that once you buy a POS machine, the other critical decision that is to be made is to buy the right POS software, which in turn may require some knowledge of computers, software, retail management and technology.

Once bought, the same software could serve you for years to come with regular upgrades. Follow the below steps to help you choose your software:

-    Assessing your needs first
-    Finalising the features you want
-    doing comprehensive research of the type of software you need
-    studying the companies providing it along with the cost involved

The right POS software can help you to-

•    Increase profits.
•    Lower Inventory Cost.
•    Maximise efficiency.
•    Improve customer service.
•    Better inventory management.
•    Make various reports and analysis for better growth and management

Merlin equipment have a wide range of cash registers and POS machines with accompanying software that would be ideal for meeting all your business needs.

The main purpose of a scanner is to scan documents like photos, text and slides, and then transfer them on to your computer system for storage or manipulation. One of the most important things to consider while choosing a scanner is the quality of prints you desire, as scanning text documents is much easier on the scanner than scanning photos and coloured material.

Another important point to consider is the memory. Usually, a scanner would require 32MB to 64MB of memory while in use, so you should make sure that the same is available for the scanner to be put to use.

The cost of the scanner depends largely on the resolution, speed, size & capacity. If you don’t need high end picture scanning, you should not waste money on buying a high resolution scanner as you are unlikely to need it.

Along with the points mentioned above, look into the warranty and after sales clauses the product purchase agreement covers.  If required, consult experts or people who are already using scanners.  You have come to the right online source for your scanner requirements. You can check an entire range of scanner from Epson, Canon, Samsung, HP and Lexmark on our site.

Computer printers, which are commonly known simply as printers, function primarily as local computer peripherals and are usually linked to a computer through a printer cable.

A printer has the ability to produce a hard copy. These hard copies have various forms, such as fax pages, computer printouts, continuous printed tapes, and so on.

Some printers can be connected to other devices like digital cameras, scanners etc. by an interface whereas some are coalesced with other devices ranging from fax machines to scanners in a single comprehensive unit. Such printers that incorporate non-printing features along with the usual functions of a printer are termed as “Multifunction printers” (MFPs) or ‘all-in-one printers’.

A computer printer is specifically designed so that it can carry out low-volume and short-turnaround printing functions.
Charles Babbage is credited with designing the first computer printer in the 19th century; in this case, the printer being a mechanically driven apparatus for his “Difference Engine” (a mechanical digital calculator). Chester Carlson’s invention - a dry printing process - served as the basis for the advent of laser printers. Remington-Rand developed the first high-speed printer in 1953. Gary Stark weather, an engineer with the Xerox Corporation, developed the first laser printer named “EARS” by adding a laser beam to the original mechanism.

It was 1976 when the first inkjet printer appeared. The year 1977 marked the appearance of the first Xerographic laser printer product “the Xerox 9700 Electronic Printing System”. This was followed by the first high-speed laser printer and significantly, the first one to merge electro photography. The first 600*600 dots per inch resolution laser printer system was designed and marketed as the “Laser Jet 4” by Hewlett Packard in the year 1992.

A laser printer uses a laser beam for printing of documents unlike an ink-jet printer, which uses a set of set of ink balls printed on a document. Therefore, they provide more clarity in any type of printed documents when compared to even a high end ink-jet printer.

Let’s discuss some more advantages of laser printers:

•    Printing speed - In comparison to an ink jet printer, a laser printer can come out with more pages.
•    Low cost of prints - Laser printers can print more pages in comparison to an ink jet printer that need regular cartridges and cost more.
•    Silent operation - Laser printers often work much more silently when compared to an ink jet printer, thereby providing you noise free environment.
•    Better quality - In comparison to even high end ink-jet printers, laser printers have a definite advantage in quality printing.

If you are planning to buy a laser printer, keep in mind that it should be easy to use. Also, do the mathematics to see that the cost being incurred while buying such an expensive piece of equipment is justified in the long run through less maintenance and low cost per page.

A triumph of the modern inventive era, a photocopier (or copier) machine is an extremely useful tool in the office. A photocopier machine can be used to create copies of documents, which may contain text and/or visual images on plain or untreated office paper. It has the ability to produce a number of copies of the original document in quick succession and consequently is of the utmost importance and indeed is often considered vital in offices where numerous copies of the original document are required.

This machine boasts of a number of beneficial features. To begin with, it can carry out the task of duplex (or two-sided) printing. This feature combined with the fact that a photocopier can use untreated office paper is the key advantage over other copying technologies that were earlier in use.  It can also staple sheets of paper together for you.

A photocopier machine can create a paper copy in a matter of few seconds thus saving a lot of one’s time, energy and efforts and it’s faster than using a printer. And certainly one aspect that cannot easily be ignored is the cost-efficiency. While printing via an electronic medium costs quite high, photocopying turns out to be a cheaper alternative when compared to the former.

A number of versions are available in the market to choose from. This efficient machine, which works in a user-friendly manner, is perfectly in tune with the modern modes and standards of working.