De-clutter your home office - buying a multifunction centre.

If you have a home office (or even a busy home), chances are you don't have dominion over the biggest room in the house. Usually restricted to the unwanted spare bedroom or the closet under the stairs, home offices rarely have much in the way of room. This article looks at how swapping to a multifunction centre can help you save space while also giving you the functionality you need to go paperless and wireless.

What is a multifunction centre?

Multifunction centres (or MFC's as they are known) vary dramatically in what they do and how well they do it, but at their most basic level a MFC combines your printer, fax, scanner, copier and sometimes phone into a single unit. Today, many MFC's can be connected to your home network either through wired or wireless connections that mean they can also be shared with multiple computers.

Why would I want a multifunction centre?

There are many reasons why you might want to make the switch to a MFC.

The cost of repairing an old printer may exceed the cost of replacement

While it is not a reason as such, the unfortunate reality of technological progress is that it is often more expensive to replace computer parts than it is to simply buy a new unit. If this happens to you, it's worth keeping in mind that it may be time to look into a MFC.

The dream of the paperless office

As they sit amongst piles of used paper and bills, many people wish they had a paperless office. A MFC can help you get a good part of the way there as many of them make it possible to scan a whole stack of paper at a time. The MFC produces a PDF file that is then saved on your hard drive in a directory of your choice. Imagine if you were to scan and discard your paper bills as they arrived. How much space and filing would you save over a few years? This way all of your files are just stored in folders on your computer.

Network printing and scanning

Many MFCs come with built in networking capabilities that allow them to sit on your home network without requiring a direct connection to a computer. This means you can use them independently of having your computer switched on and can also share the print, scan and fax functionalities provided with any other computers connected to the network. Great if you have a multi-computer household or want to leave the MFC wherever you open your bills so you can scan them in straight away.

Fax if you must

Fax technology should've gone the way of the dodo long ago, but if you still must to use it, MFCs give you this functionality and enhance it. As they are networked, most MFCs allow you to fax without needing to first print out a copy of whatever it is you're faxing. You simply type up your document on screen, and fax it directly from your computer. The same is true of incoming faxes. Most new mid to high-end home MFCs can be set up to deliver received faxes via email directly into your inbox. They don't even print out the document. This is great if you want to save paper and also if you want to have faxes delivered to you wherever you are in the world.

Choosing an MFC

There are literally hundreds of different MFCs available on the market, so it's important that you know which features differentiate the best from the rest. It's also important that you don't go for the cheapest and nastiest MFC you can find. MFCs really are a "you-get-what-you-pay-for" type item and only the better models really enable you to make the most of the machine in a way that is intuitive and efficient.

Inkjet vs. Laser

This is probably the hardest decision you will need to make when buying an MFC. Inkjets are cheaper and smaller than laser versions (especially colour laser) but are usually slower and in the long run have more expensive consumables. Ultimately this will come down to what you use it for.  If you intend to print photos using your printer, an inkjet will be more suited to your purposes. If however, you run a home office or are likely to print lots of documents a laser printer is the way to go. If you can afford it, go colour.

Automatic duplex printing and scanning

One of the key differentiators between lower model MFCs and mid and high-end models is the ability to print onto or scan both sides of a page. While almost all of them will say they have "manual duplex" what this means is that to print on both sides of the page you have to feed the paper through once, then turn it over and put it back through again. This is a real pain so make sure you look for something that has "auto duplex". This allows the printer to feed paper through twice and print on both sides of the page without you needing to intervene.

Auto-document feeder

If you intend to archive your bills or convert to a paperless office and will therefore need to scan in lots of pages at a time, definitely look for a MFC that has a ADF or "auto-document feeder". Like the photocopier at work, these let you insert a stack of paper into a tray which is then scanned, copied or faxed automatically. They're a real time-saver and well worth it.

Consumables

While we've only really talked about features above, it's worth investigating the cost of consumables down the track as these tend to be expensive (just like any printer). Do some quick research online and find out what you're likely to have to pay for replacement cartridges and how many pages you're likely to get out of the machine before any major parts will need replacing.

Getting it all set up

Setting up a MFC can be a fair bit of work as there are lots of bits and pieces that need to work together perfectly (especially if you are going to use the networked functionality). Gizmotechs are experts at setting up MFCs, so if you need a hand, don't hesitate to give us a call.