Every business requires office supplies in
order to enable communication, efficiency, and maximum productivity. No
matter what kind of business you operate, in order to operate
functionally, you will have to purchase at least one copier, printer,
scanner, and ink and toner for your office. If your business requires
communicating with cliental or other businesses, you will need these
supplies to send documents and other critical information.
Copiers
A device that creates duplicate copies of document and other image in
black and white is referred as copiers or photocopiers. Copiers are
basically classified into two main types they are analog and digital
copiers. The mode of operation is same for both, but the major
difference is that the copying method. Digital photocopiers scan the
original document once and create the replica with the stored text or
images, whereas analog copier copies the original file each time when a
copy is created. The latest photocopiers come with advanced technology
called xerography that uses a dry process using heat, which offers
high-quality output. Network copiers, laser copiers, color photocopiers
and multifunction copiers are some of the other types of copiers
available in the market.
Printers
A machine that prints a hard copy of text or images stored in
electronic form on a print media like paper, chart, transparencies, and
more. Based on the printing technology, printers are basically
classified into two major types they are inkjet or laser printers.
Inkjet printers spray small droplets of ink onto paper to produce a text
or an image. Laser printers use xerographic technology printing process
that produces quality text and graphical images. Other printer
categories are daisy wheel, dot matrix, LCD and LED, line and thermal
printers. Dot matrix printers have movable print heads with pins and a
ribbon. Each pin generates a dot and combination of dots form a text and
illustrations. LCD and LED printers use liquid crystals or
light-emitting diodes rather that produce an image on the drum. They are
very fast, but offer low-quality print. Thermal printers use charged
pins to produce images onto heat-sensitive paper. Thermal printers
produce low-quality and low resolution print, but they are faster when
compared to others.
Scanners
Scanners are a machine that scans images, printed texts or objects,
and then coverts it into a digitalize documents. Scanners are classified
into several types based on their mode of operation and features they
are flatbed scanners, sheetfed scanners, portable scanners, handheld
scanners, drum scanners, photo scanners, and more. Flatbed scanners can
scan material from both thin and thick objects. In sheetfed scanners you
need to feed a document into the scanner rather placing on top. Drum
scanners offer high-quality scans and it is very large in size. Using
photo scanners are just used for scanning photographs. They are best in
converting film photographs into digital format. They are manufactured
by leading companies like HP, Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, and more.
Ink & Toner
Inks or ink cartridges are replaceable components of an inkjet
printer that contains the ink, which spreads on paper during printing.
Toners are powders that are used in laser printers and copiers to form
the printed text and images on the paper. Inkjet cartridges are
available in two types they are dye based inks and pigmented inks.
Pigmented inks deliver high-quality print and they are ideal option for
color printing. The dye based ink takes some time to fix that may result
in smearing at times. Dye based ink is not light or water proof that
may fade, whereas pigmented inks are resistant against water and light.
