How to Choose the Right Office Printer for Your Small Business
Laser vs inkjet, mono vs colour, MFP features and label printers explained. A practical guide to choosing the right office printer for Australian small businesses.
Buying the right office printer saves a small business thousands over its lifetime — and the wrong one becomes a daily headache. This guide breaks down the real trade-offs between laser, inkjet, multifunction, and label printers so you can choose with confidence.
Start With How You'll Actually Use It
Before comparing brands, write down honest answers to four questions:
- How many pages do you print per month? (Estimate — most owners undercount by half.)
- What percentage is colour vs black-and-white?
- Do you need to scan, copy, or fax?
- Will multiple staff print at once, or is it a single-user device?
Those answers determine almost everything else — print technology, page yield, paper handling, and connectivity.
Laser vs Inkjet: The Real Trade-Offs
| Factor | Laser | Inkjet |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per page (mono) | 2–4 cents | 3–6 cents |
| Cost per page (colour) | 15–25 cents | 8–18 cents (tank: 1–3 cents) |
| Speed | 25–50+ ppm | 10–25 ppm |
| Photo quality | Good for graphics | Excellent for photos |
| Warm-up time | 5–15 seconds | Instant |
| Idle reliability | Excellent — no clogs | Heads can clog if unused |
| Upfront cost | $300–$1500 | $150–$900 (tank: $400–$900) |
| Best for | High-volume office docs | Mixed text/photo, low-volume |
Choose Laser If…
- You print >500 pages per month.
- You need fast first-page-out time.
- Output is mostly text, invoices, contracts, reports.
- The printer sits idle for days at a time (laser handles idle far better than inkjet).
Choose Inkjet If…
- You print mostly photos, marketing collateral, or full-colour graphics.
- Volume is low (under 300 pages per month).
- Upfront cost matters more than long-term consumables cost.
The Tank Inkjet Sweet Spot
Modern refillable-tank inkjets (Epson EcoTank, Canon MegaTank, Brother InkVestment) have completely changed the maths. Cost per colour page can be as low as 1–2 cents — beating laser handily — and a single bottle set lasts thousands of pages. If you print mixed mono and colour at moderate volume, tank inkjets are now the smartest pick for many small offices.
Mono vs Colour
Mono printers are 30–40% cheaper to buy and run than colour equivalents. If you only print marketing material occasionally, you'll save more by buying a fast mono laser plus outsourcing colour jobs to a print shop than buying a colour laser. Be honest about your actual colour needs.
Multifunction (MFP) Features Worth Paying For
Most modern office printers are multifunction (print/scan/copy/fax). Key features that genuinely matter:
- Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) — scans/copies multi-page documents without manual feeding. Look for at least 50 pages and duplex scanning (single-pass duplex scans both sides in one pass).
- Duplex print — saves paper and money. Now standard on most business-class printers.
- Wi-Fi and ethernet — both, not either. Ethernet for the office wired network, Wi-Fi for guest devices and laptops.
- Mobile printing — AirPrint (iOS), Mopria (Android) are now table stakes.
- Cloud connect — direct Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox scan-to-cloud is a huge time saver.
- Secure print release — staff enter a PIN at the printer to release confidential jobs.
Paper Handling and Volume
Cheap printers ship with 100–150 sheet trays — enough for a home office but a daily annoyance in a real business. For any office with more than 2–3 staff sharing a printer, look for:
- 250+ sheet main tray
- Multipurpose / bypass tray for letterhead and envelopes
- Optional second tray for high-volume use (1500+ pages/month)
- Recommended monthly duty cycle 3–5x your actual usage (printers rated for 5000 pages last far longer when you only print 1000)
Don't Forget Label Printers
If you ship products, manage inventory, or run a workshop, a dedicated thermal label printer is dramatically faster and cheaper than printing labels on a shared MFP. They use no ink or toner, print at 100+ labels per minute, and the labels themselves are inexpensive.
Common use cases: shipping labels, asset tags, barcode labels, food date labels, file folder labels, and address labels.
Recommendations by Business Size
Solo / micro business (1–2 people, <200 pages/month)
EcoTank-style colour inkjet MFP. Low upfront, near-zero per-page cost, prints colour when needed.
Small office (3–10 people, 500–2000 pages/month)
Mono laser MFP with ADF and duplex. Add a separate tank inkjet for occasional colour work, or step up to a colour laser MFP if colour volume is regular.
Growing business (10+ people, 2000+ pages/month)
Departmental colour laser MFP with secure print release, second paper tray, and 2.5GbE ethernet. Add a dedicated label printer for shipping and inventory.
Retail or warehouse
Dedicated thermal label printer + a shared MFP for office paperwork is almost always cheaper and faster than running everything through one device.
Total Cost of Ownership Reality Check
The cheapest printer is rarely the cheapest solution. Calculate your real cost over 3 years:
- Printer purchase price
- + (Pages per month x 36 months x cost per page)
- + Replacement drum/maintenance kit (if applicable, every ~50,000 pages)
A $250 printer at 8 cents/page costs more over 3 years than a $700 printer at 2 cents/page once you exceed 600 pages/month.
Find the Right Printer at Tech Kingdom
Tech Kingdom stocks a wide range of office printers and dedicated thermal label printers ideal for retail, e-commerce, and warehousing. Browse our label printers collection for shipping and inventory printing solutions, plus our wider office equipment range.
Need a recommendation? Tell us your monthly volume and use case and we'll spec a printer that's right-sized — no over-buying, no under-buying. Fast Australia-wide shipping and business invoicing available.
