12 Evaluating wide-format laser MFPs
Evaluation
Evaluating paper handling
Produce the type of material typical for your day-to-day business, such as a report, high-quality brochure,
wide-format spreadsheet, or other professional document. While you perform your evaluation, consider the
following:
• Is the product customizable to meet your needs? Does it fit into your existing office environment?
• Is the paper-handling system adjustable and expandable?
• Does the range of paper sizes and types supported meet your needs? How well does the product support
special media, such as envelopes or transparencies?
• What are the product’s input and output capacities? How easy is it to change paper sizes and types?
• Are automatic two-sided printing, copying, and scanning available?
• How well does the product handle special media?
• Does the product support automatic stapling and stacking?
Evaluating copying
Copy the type of material you typically copy. While you perform your evaluation, consider the following:
• Can you make a quick copy by simply pressing a single button on the control panel?
• How easy is it to adjust image quality and select output options from the control panel?
• How quickly does the page copy?
Evaluating faxing
If faxing is available, fax some test documents. If the product has fax speed-dial capabilities, program some
fax numbers. While you perform your evaluation, consider the following:
• Is the fax function easy to use? Does it provide advanced faxing capabilities like fax forwarding, remote
retrieval, and fax receive and send from your computer?
• Do you encounter any problems sending or receiving faxes?
Evaluating scanning
Scan several documents and photos. While you perform your evaluation, consider the following:
• How easy is it to configure scanning options?
• Can you easily scan to destinations of your choice? Can you scan directly to e-mail or network folders?
Evaluating extended functionality
Determine what kinds of extended features could be valuable for your business. While you perform your
evaluation, consider the following:
• Is it possible to add additional functions to the product? Does the product have an open EIO slot or host
USB port?
• Is mobile printing a possibility? Does the product support direct PDF printing?
• What, if any, are the digital sending capabilities? Is it possible to integrate the device with enterprise
document management solutions?
• Does the device include a hard drive? Are there job retention features available?
Evaluating compatibility
• Does the product support automatic print language switching?
• Does the product support legacy print jobs?
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