Recommend a tabloid MFP?

[HCHTech]

Not that I expect any actual availability, but what the heck. I have a client looking for a color MFP that can do tabloid (11x17). Budget about $3K, so that leaves out the fancier ones. Any particular recommendations on make/model?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Lots of printers can print wide format. $3K IS the fancy ones. Need more info. Laser or Inkjet? What is the volume they expect to print? What is the nature of what they expect to print? Photos? Newsletters? Blueprints? Just a color graph on a spreadsheet? How fast must it be? Fast is more expensive. What are they willing to pay per page in paper and ink costs?

 

[HCHTech]

He's a mech engineer. Currently has an HP Officejet 7740, low-budget inkjet, but has worked fine for a couple of years. This unit is being moved to a new worksite office, and he wants a "better" one for his main office. He prints 3-D piping diagrams, so not blueprints, but lots of detail for sure. Needs duplex, and 2 paper trays since he uses the same printer for normal office stuff. I don't have more detail than that, but that's a healthy budget; although not up to the $9K they want for the M880z for example.

This is out of the normal printers I buy, recommend or have experience with - so I don't want to just blindly pick one.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Honestly sounds like he needs a plotter for the diagrams and basic laser MFC for his office work. He has a healthy budget trying to cram all your printing needs into one machine isn't going to get good results.

 

[Markverhyden]

What's the monthly volume for each paper size.

I have one customer, commercial real estate agents, who just upgraded to a Ricoh IM C2500. But they're doing the managed printing thing. The purchase price is a good bit above their budget but maybe the managed printing solution might work out.

 

[HCHTech]

I finally got more information after an in-person meeting yesterday. Volume is low, maybe 100 pages per month. The main complaint he has about the HP7740 is that only the scanner bed will do 11x17. The ADF scanner is limited to 8.5x11. So I'm looking for a low-volume tabloid MFP whose ADF will handle duplex tabloid. I don't love Epson, but it looks like the WorkForce Pro WF-7840 might fit the bill. You can't easily search for this detail (for example the specs shown for the one we have, the HP7740, don't say the ADF is limited to 8.5x11 until way far down in the small print), so I'm going to keep looking for a bit to see if I can come up with a couple of choices.

 

[Markverhyden]

A stand alone scanner would fit the bill but there doesn't appear to be anything that's reasonable in price. The WF-7840 specs does say the ADF will handle 11x17 so I'd just go with that. The price isn't too bad at 329.99

 

[HCHTech]

The project that never ends. Presented the idea of the WF-7840 today and was shot down - too slow scanning. Turns out it's about 38 seconds for simplex and 72 seconds for duplex. He sent me back to the drawing board with his $3K budget, so I think I'm going to pitch a standalone scanner. So far, I've found the Epson DS-60000 (about $3,200) and the Plustek SmartOffice SC8016U, about $1,700. I'll keep looking for some other choices, but hopefully I can get him to agree on something soon.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Fujitsu fi 7460 Sheetfed Scanner - Office Depot

This scanners wider feed mechanism allows for the scanning of large and odd shaped document. With a gentle straight paper path important customer documents can be scanned both safely and quickly. Experience reliable high speed scanning for complex projects. Scan both sides of the page at up to...

www.officedepot.com

 

[HCHTech]

Whoa. How in the heck did you find that one? I have one of the little Fujitsu Scan-Snaps and it's my favorite piece of tech. I have used it hard every day for about 4 years now and it still works great. Just yesterday scanned in a 160 page health plan document. If it ever does die, I'll be fast-shipping a new one for sure. Thanks!

 

[Markverhyden]

The project that never ends. Presented the idea of the WF-7840 today and was shot down - too slow scanning. Turns out it's about 38 seconds for simplex and 72 seconds for duplex. He sent me back to the drawing board with his $3K budget, so I think I'm going to pitch a standalone scanner. So far, I've found the Epson DS-60000 (about $3,200) and the Plustek SmartOffice SC8016U, about $1,700. I'll keep looking for some other choices, but hopefully I can get him to agree on something soon.

A 100 pages a month and he can't wait a little over a minute for duplex 11 x 17? Not sure what to say.

 

[nlinecomputers]

More money than sense…

 

[nlinecomputers]

Whoa. How in the heck did you find that one? I have one of the little Fujitsu Scan-Snaps and it's my favorite piece of tech. I have used it hard every day for about 4 years now and it still works great. Just yesterday scanned in a 160 page health plan document. If it ever does die, I'll be fast-shipping a new one for sure. Thanks!

Fuji makes the best scanners. So a Google search for Fuji wide scanners popped it up.

 

[HCHTech]

A 100 pages a month and he can't wait a little over a minute for duplex 11 x 17? Not sure what to say.

100 pages printed every month. 50 pages or more scanned every day now that I press him for details on the pain points. He gets drawings, hand marks them up, then scans and emails or uploads them back. In the middle of a big project, he's often spending 10 hours a day doing this I guess. He says his time is worth way more than that. He told me to order the thing before I even finished explaining it to him - haha.

 

[Markverhyden]

100 pages printed every month. 50 pages or more scanned every day now that I press him for details on the pain points. He gets drawings, hand marks them up, then scans and emails or uploads them back. In the middle of a big project, he's often spending 10 hours a day doing this I guess. He says his time is worth way more than that. He told me to order the thing before I even finished explaining it to him - haha.

Ahh.... I see, I see said the blind man.....

I think going with the standalone scanner is the best option.

 

[nlinecomputers]

On point rant from Adam Savage