A SCANNER CHEAPLY
Do you need a printer, scanner, or copier? These days, those three are almost always contiguous: Modern printers contain the necessary technology to digitally scan and copy whatever documents you might choose.
Think carefully about whether or not you need one, though.
Many employers have moved steadily towards digitization over the past two decades, and old-fashioned paper files are on the way out. Let the door hit them as they go, we say.
Our advice would be to not get a printer unless you absolutely need one. Even modern units are bulky, heavy, and usually quite loud— and don’t even get us started on the cost of printer ink. However, there are situations that necessitate a printer, such as printing labels for packages or leaflets for distribution. If you can’t access your usual printer in the office
(or a local library), then buying a printerscanner-copier may be the right call.
It’s important to match the product to the purpose, of course; if you just need to print off the odd letter, make sure you buy a compact printer that you can easily store out of the way when not in use, like the LaserJet Pro M15w or Envy 5055, both from HP. The M15w is very reasonably priced, although it’s worth noting that it doesn’t offer automatic duplex printing. However, if you expect to be churning out documents just like you would at the office, investing in a heavierduty model might be a better call, and the Epson EcoTank ET-3760 isn’t pretty, but it’s very ink-efficient and not too noisy. Alternatively, if you’ve really got money to burn (or a workissued ink budget), the Ecosys P5026cdw printer from Kyocera powers through large duplex print loads without making much of a racket—just do yourself a favor and be sure to keep abreast of how fast you’re burning through those ink cartridges, OK?