Any business that doesn’t want to be a laughing stock needs to invest in a reliable machine that will send faxes to clients and other businesses; it’s just impossible to be taken seriously otherwise, no matter how uncommon faxes seem to be these days. When you decide on a fax machine, Sharp (a company that makes electronics and appliances) has many models that run the gamut on printer technology-from thermal transfer to copier toner.
How your machine prints on paper will greatly affect the choice you make. The technology your machine uses will influence how good the copies look once their printed and how much the toner costs. One type of fax machine, usually the cheap dedicated versions use thermal transfer rolls, like the UX 1300 does. They don’t make great copies, but they can get the job done like they always did and the toner doesn’t cost too much.
Some faxes use a newer (but already very familiar) technology to print and make copies. That would be the Inkjet, and many stand-alone faxes now use this ink instead of toner (like Sharp’s UXB20). These printers are usually at least a tad better at printing than thermal printers, and faxes will look and feel more like anything you print from a computer. Just remember that the quality between Inkjet printers is not always the same: a photo printer will always look much nicer than a machine designed to just make faxes.
Laser machines are often considered to be the best way to print on paper. They use those toners and drums like those regular copiers do. Laser machines tend to be much more expensive, however, and are not always the choice for home or small business. They are also very expensive for color copies, compared to Inkjet printers. Since they are more expensive, make sure you get a nice one that will have all the functionality of your main printing source if you get one of these.
The next thing to consider before buying a printer is the cost of its toner, not just the machine. Thermal transfer rolls for fax machines like Sharp’s UX 1300 are pretty affordable. I saw one online that sold for $36.99. You might feel a little weird or out-dated when you install them, but if it works the way you want it to it doesn’t matter! The site said they print about 510 copies. Make sure you’ll be able to find these in the stores you like to buy office supplies.
Inkjet printers use a more common technology for cheap printing solutions. While the particular ink cartridge you need for your printer may or not be available anymore, the cartridges are more common in general. You get slightly better quality with an Inkjet printer, and I found a cartridge for Sharp’s UXB20 for the same price as the thermal rolls. The yield in printed pages was only estimated to be 10 less at a max of 500.
Laser printers can be more expensive. These toner cartridges for Sharp laser copiers can cost from 60 to 100s of dollars, but the number of pages you will be able to print will be in the thousands. The toner might be cheaper when you factor that in, but it will still be a more expensive investment, at least from the start.
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