That said, most home offices will benefit from at least occasional copying and scanning, and therefore choose an AIO. Sometimes all you need is a device that prints, and paying extra for a bigger device with imaging features you don't need doesn't make sense.

In terms of design, most AIOs are printers with a flatbed scanner sitting on top. Single-function printers do just one thing-print, naturally-while all-in-ones (AIOs, also known as multifunction devices or MFPs) can also copy, scan, and sometimes fax documents. What Kind of Printer Do You Need: A Single-Function Model, or an All-in-One? Printer and scanner technology has matured enough that you can focus on productivity and convenience features-things like paper-input capacity and handy control panels-as well as on saving money by comparing running costs.ĭo you need to print and copy in color? Do you need an all-in-one (AIO) printer that makes copies and scans documents and photos, or will a single-function (just a printer) model do? These are only two of the crucial choices, so let's take a look at them and others one by one. The good news? Nowadays, you don’t have to worry much about paper jams, poor print quality, and other performance issues. Though choosing the right printer for your needs is not rocket science, you still have plenty to consider when buying a one. Let's break down the best values available for your family's home-which has increasingly become the family office, too. For many folks, a cheap-which we'll define as under $200-occasional-use model is all they need. We're seeing fresh, heavy demand for low-cost, entry-level printers for working from home. And where in a corporate office several coworkers might rely on the same high-volume printer all day long, print and copy volumes for home workers are considerably lower, spread out over lots of cheap home and home-office printers. Many of us still need to print, scan, and make copies, and maybe even send the occasional fax. Indeed, our printers are dust collectors no more. And even as the pandemic seems to be (fingers crossed) winding down, venturing out to the local Kinko's or Staples to make prints and copies doesn't have the appeal it once did. Best Malware Removal and Protection SoftwareĪs many office workers start to return to their workspaces, others are finding their remote-work situation permanent or at least part-time.

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