Faxes Bristol

Faxes - Page 3

Plain Paper

The most common form is plain paper. This is divided into two forms, inkjet and laser, that print onto ordinary copier paper. The benefits are that, depending on price and specification, plain paper produces superior images to that of thermal roll. However, inkjet is slower than laser and more suited to low to mid-volume users. It will cost more in terms of consumables such as toner, drum and paper but the initial outlay can be very cheap. Inkjet can also support colour printouts when attached to a PC and sent to a compatible colour fax. Inkjet-based plain-paper fax machines cost anything from £150 to £400.

Laser faxes operate in the same manner. The machine itself is more costly, varying between £400 and £800 but is likely to print several thousand pages before its toner and drum cartridge runs out. The cartridge itself will set you back around £80 but its life expectancy is far larger than its inkjet counterpart that will only last for approximately 500 pages.

Thermal roll

A less popular method of faxing than plain paper is thermal roll. This type of technology is still on the scene and quite often used by low volume users such as home workers who only need to send or receive a handful of faxes each day. The machine prints onto special rolls of heat-sensitive paper and without any moving parts and consumables is cheap to run. Thermal roll fax machines are extremely cheap ranging from £80 to £140. Another benefit is its efficient use of paper because each page is cut to the length of the message.

However, the downside is that while different thermal fax machines support different roll lengths, from 10 (30 pages) to 50 metres (160 pages), the rolls themselves have to be replaced a lot more often than plain paper cartridges and, the cost can mount up. The rolls can also be awkward to load and the waxy surface can react badly when written on with pencils and highlighters. Many thermal faxes now include a 'decurler' device that avoids the ‘curled paper of the past syndrome’ when it comes out. However an irreversible feature is that thermal paper turns yellow over time and the printed image fades.