Getting serious about your embroidery business? While a single-needle machine may be adequate for simple personal projects, a multi-needle embroidery machine offers loads more benefits in terms of speed, flexibility, and productivity. So, if you need a solution that can help you create amazing designs on a broad range of items such as caps, jackets, shirts, judo belts, hats, bags and more, then Brother’s new 6-needle offering might be the right investment to help you take off.
Innovations that empower your creative vision
Designed with greater versatility, usability and connectivity in mind, the professional Brother PR680W 6-needle embroidery machine is the perfect match for entrepreneurs or Business to maximise their creative potential and achieve their business goals.
With its 6-needle speed and versatility, the PR680W allows you to work on a generous 200 mm x 300 mm area to give you the confidence to handle projects of different size.
What’s more, getting creative has never been easier! With its large 10.1” built-in high-definition LCD display, more than 100 built-in embroidery designs, and host of quality-of-life innovations that help you to view, position and illuminate your projects, the PR680W is truly a professional tool that takes the hassle out of every creation.
Wireless LAN connectivity allows you to wirelessly send designs from your PC to the PR680W and receive updates automatically. You can even wirelessly link as many as 10 machines with Brother’s PE-DESIGN 11 software1.
Crosshair Embroidery Droplight Laserensures precise positioning accuracy and lights up your fabric to clearly view where the needle will drop every single time.
Optional accessories such as Flash Magnetic Frame enables you to quickly snap and position fabrics into place. You can even add a Wide Table accessory for large or heavy items such as quilt tops, towels, blankets, jackets, and rugs.
Large 10.1” Built-in High-definition LCD Display makes it easy to preview, navigate, zoom and edit your projects. What’s more, you can view a library of helpful tutorial videos directly on the high-definition display.
Wide Range of Built-in Embroidery Designsoffers a great starting point that can be customised to fit your needs. The full range of built-in fonts allow even greater personalisation options for your clients.
Start your professional embroidery journey today
The Brother PR680W is packed with professional innovations and performance to take your creativity to the next level. To find out more about its features, specifications, and availability, visit here today.
Looking to take up a new hobby that lets you explore the creative side of you? How about adding a personal touch to your home, upcycling old clothes, or designing your own unique apparels? With the popularity of home crafts rising in recent years, there’s been a huge surge of interest in sewing, quilting and embroidery worldwide as individuals seek out new ways to express themselves artistically through the creations that are not only fashionable and artistic, but functional and sustainable as well.
Step up your creativity with a machine that does it all
If you are one of those who is considering taking up a new needle craft or looking to take your craft to the next level, then Brother’s Innov-is NV2700 might be the perfect match for you. This versatile combination powerhouse allows you to embark on your quilting, sewing and embroidery adventure with the greatest ease.
Best of all, with its suite of innovative features, next-gen connectivity and intuitive user-experience, this talented performer is a great choice for newcomers and advanced users alike!
A stitch above the rest
While the Innov-is NV2700 comes packed with the latest features and innovations, it has also been designed to make it easier than ever before to bring your inspirations to life – and to share it all with your friends and family. These include highlights such as:
A generous working area of 260 x 160mm that allows you to to tackle large projects with ease or provide a little more breathing room when you take on elaborate projects.
291 built-in stiches including comprehensive list of utility, decorative and buttonhole stitches that would suits all your projects. You can even create your own unique stitch patterns from scratch, or edit the built-in stitches as you see fit, and save it all on your machine for future use.
Quick and easy data transfer1 using Design Database Transfer lets you send designs wirelessly from your PC to your machine when connected to a wireless network. With wireless LAN connectivity, you can wirelessly transfer data as well as keep up with Brother’s software developments.
Never run out of ideas with the Brother Support App that’s loaded with useful “how-to” videos to help inspire you and get your creative juices flowing.
Large 4.9” HD LCD Touchscreen makes it effortless for you to navigate the user-friendly interface and view and edit your design in vibrant colours.”
Start your creation journey today!
Packed with all the features you could ever want to start your quilting, sewing and embroidery journey, the Innov-is NV2700 is truly a capable and flexible machine for the modern home creator. Best of all, with Brother’s proven track record for build quality and customer service, you can count on an uncompromisingly reliable partner for years to come. Find out more about the machine now.
Proper labelling is essential in not only data center performance and reliability, but also in high-performing enterprise networks. To keep data centers and networks running smoothly, it is important to know what’s being deployed where, what each component’s purpose is and what it is connected to. The advantage of a clearly labelled infrastructure is that system components can be quickly and accurately identified to facilitate fault tracking and replacement; so that the downtime impact on infrastructure and business services will be as minimal as possible
Industrial Cabling Standards
Brother has been given UL mark license on the Brother TZe tapes that have been tested and certified to become a UL recognized component under the UL-969 standard, Marking and Labelling Systems.
Durable Labels
Brother Pro Tape range, part of the TZe laminated tape series, is designed to be used in various indoor, outdoor, hot, and cold environments. The tapes are resistant against liquid, grease, acidic and alkaline chemicals, fading caused by UV rays and abrasion. Designed to be super thin, yet technologically elegant, the label contents are protected by clear laminated film. Labels printed from Brother Pro Tape range are engineered to achieve industrial standards across manufacturing, datacom, electrical, chemical, and general business applications.
Ideal Labels for Datacom Specialist
Brother offers a wide variety of labels specially designed for data centers.
Safety and Facility Signages Labels
Printer resolution determines the clarity of the labels and this is critical when you want to keep things organized and ensure work safety standard is not compromised. Safety and facility signages (like safety instructions and electrical hazard) and voltage marking labels for electrical equipment/enclosures/panelboards and excreta must be properly marked. The Brother Pro Tape range is available in a variety of industry standard colours-such as red, fluorescent orange and fluorescent yellow-come in handy for producing eye-catching safety labels for on-the-spot safety inspections.
Cables and Wires Identification
Create professional labels to increase work efficiency and productivity with Brother heat shrink tubes. The non-adhesive heat shrink tube is wound in Brother TZe tape cassette in flat tube form. After printing, the tube can be open and pass through a cable or wire. Apply heat with a heat gun, the tube will shrink to fit and grip itself onto the cable or wire.
The Brother flag tape is suitable for small diameter cables from 2.0mm to 8.0mm, making it ideal for fibre optic cable identification. The label is in a special pre-cut shape. Once printed the long “tail” can be placed around the cable and the label can be folded over the tail to lock the label into position.
For wider diameter cables that are 3mm or more, the flexible ID tapes in Brother Pro Tape range are suitable for creating cable wraps. The flexible ID tape is also suitable for use on other tightly curved surfaces such as pipes and conduits. Barcodes and other detailed information can be included when used in the style of a cable flag.
The Brother Pro Tape range has been developed and tested to meet the needs of electrical and datacom professionals who require dependable, durable, long term identification solutions.
In recent years, it’s no secret that data theft has been on the rise. But while financial institutes and large enterprises have borne the bulk of these cyber-attacks, criminal organisations have been increasingly targeting SMBs as their lack of safeguards make them especially vulnerable to all forms of data breaches. These malicious attacks not only cost companies millions of dollars in losses each year, but with valuable customer information being compromised, a loss of trust in your business can be truly difficult to recover from.
While this ever-present and ever-evolving threat has led businesses to take steps in securing their computers, laptops and smart devices, there still remains one aspect of the workflow that is frequently overlooked – your printing environment.
Safeguarding your printing workflow
With the advancement of mobile and wireless technology, it is now easier than before for workforces to print, scan and copy wherever they are. However, with this convenience comes certain vulnerabilities as confidential data sent to your printers and scanners could be compromised and stolen by hackers. That is why organisations around the world are turning to trusted brands such as Brother that equips its printing solutions with enterprise-level security features to keep businesses safe from threats.
Block unauthorised access to your printers
As invaluable productivity tools, printers and scanners are one of the most widely used devices in any department. However, leaving your printers open to indiscriminate use could lead to unchecked data leaks. To combat this, Brother printers with Secure Function Lock features advanced security capabilities that give businesses full control and protection of their print infrastructure. With Secure Function Lock 3.0, your IT department can easily gain control over groups or individual usage of the printer by authorising users to access specific functions of the printer such as colour or monochrome printing, page limits, scanning features, and printer web connectivity for up to 200 configurations.
Print securely from the Cloud
Through the power of the Cloud, businesses can now share and collaborate from anywhere in the world. But too often, print jobs with confidential or sensitive data are directly sent to the printer for printing, resulting in printouts being left at the printer for unauthorised personnel to view. With this in mind, Brother devices with the Cloud Secure Print feature allows user to send secure, password-protected documents through either email or by uploading the documents on a web browser to a Brother machine for printing from wherever they are. To prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, these documents are then held securely in the device and can only be retrieved for printing after a password is entered at the destination machine.
Mobile productivity without compromises
With an increasing amount of work being done via mobile devices it simply makes sense for your workforce to print and scan straight from their smartphones and tablets for productivity. Brother’s iPrint&Scan app enables users to securely print, scan, fax or copy documents directly from their smartphone or tablet without the need for a PC. Best of all, Brother iPrint&Scan is a free app available on Android and Apple mobile devices for maximum productivity on the go.
Protect your data with a leader in print security
When it comes to data security, place your trust in a proven name in print security. Find out more about how Brother printing innovations can help your business to safely, securely and reliably maximise your printing productivity here.
If you are in search of a printing solution for your home or office, the common choice would most likely be the regular A4 printer. After all, they are widely available and will enable you to start printing standard documents without much fuss. As with any purchase, it would be great if you could enjoy more functionality and productivity on your investment, and that’s why we believe that you should consider getting an A3 printer instead.
A4 or A3 printers – what’s the difference?
Simply put, an A3 printer or Multi-function Centre (MFC) is a device which is capable of handling paper sizes up to A3 size (29.7 x 42 cm) .This means that A3 printers can not only print at up to double the dimensions of a standard A4 office document, but everything in between as well. This gives you greater versatility when it comes to your printing options while ensuring that your everyday printing needs are well-covered too.
Make a bigger impact without the bulk
When it comes to making an impact, nothing beats a large, vibrant printout. Whether it’s creating an attention-grabbing marketing poster, a presentation chart, or even a sales brochure, having the ability to print A3 materials in-house can truly open up a world of creative possibilities. Best of all, rather than being the bulky, space-eating devices that you might expect, today’s A3 printers and MFCs can be found in sleek, compact designs that barely take up more space than the average A4 printer, making them suitable for not only office environments, but within your home workspace too.
Types of A3 printers available
Although there are some A3 laser printer models in the market, it is much more common to find an A3 inkjet printer. With fast print speeds of up to22/20 images per minute1, the ability to print vibrant colour graphics and images, crisp lines and clear text, and cost-saving features such as Brother’s Refill Tank System which allows for quick and fuss-free refills using ultra high-yield ink bottles, Brother’s inkjet printers offer a unique blend of performance, print quality, and cost-effectiveness that simply cannot be beaten. Best of all, these modern A3 printers come packed with the latest wireless and mobile connectivity to ensure that you have the freedom to stay productive from wherever you are.
Finding the perfect A3 printer for your needs
Now that you’ve gained a better understanding of the many benefits of an A3 printing solution, where can you find the right device for your specific needs? As a world leader in printing innovation, Brother’s wide range of A3 inkjet solutions would be a good place to start. Find yours today here.
Frustrated With The Never Ending Printer Problems? Here Are Some Solutions
Are you struggling with your home or office printers? Wonder why your wifi printer does not work properly? Frustrated with printing errors from your duplex printer?
These problems can be a huge headache to those who simply want their printing work done.
Help is here! In this article, we have put together a list of the most common printer problems and their solutions.
Slow Printing with Wifi Printers
Home / Office Printer Not Printing
Duplex Printer Printing Error
Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper
Paper Jams
Unclear Printed Texts
Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos
Poor Black and White Print Quality
Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints
Unreliable Error Messages
Take a deep breath, calm yourself down, and try these solutions before you call your printer repair man!
1. Slow Printing with Wifi Printers
In today’s fast-paced world, a slow printer can be exasperating when you have a sizable number of pages to print.
The common reasons for slow printing are due to large photo sizes and large presentation files. You can either lower the quality of the output or simply send a part of the document at a time to speed things up.
If you are printing wirelessly, do check that the distance between your printer and your router isn’t too far—poor wireless connection could be a possible cause for slow printing. A simple solution would be to place your wireless printer as close to the router as possible, since wifi speed slows down with distance.
Do also check your print settings. Higher quality prints do take more time to print. If an average print quality (eg. for a text document) is good enough, consider switching your printouts to draft mode or the lowest quality setting your printer has to speed up your printing process.
2. Home / Office Printer not Printing
Are you staring at a printer that is just not printing? Well, you are not going crazy, there’s probably a reason for it. Before you start kicking your printer, consider checking if the paper tray is empty—yes, we’ve all made that silly mistake!
OK, there is paper in your tray. So what could have gone wrong?
Consider checking the connection of your printer. There may be multiple printers in the office and you may not have connected to the right printer.
There is a chance that you have accidentally sent the print job to another printer—be sure to double check just in case you are printing confidential documents!
If your printer is still not working, then your print driver may be corrupted. You need to upload the latest version for your model and reinstall it on your computer. Should that still fail, it is best to call your local printer technician.
3. Duplex Printer Printing Error
Having a duplex printer should save you the hassle of flipping each printout manually. But what’s the point of having this functionality if your printer prints the back page upside down?
Fret not, there’s an easy solution to this. All you have to do is select Print on Both Sides, and opt to Flip on Long Edge. Your print jobs should be in the correct orientation now.
But what if you encounter disorderly pages, where the last page is at the top of the document?
There is a way around this incorrect manual sorting—simply print your pages in reverse. This can be found in the Advanced Settings box. You should only select this if your documents are to be put in order once the printing is complete.
4. Extra Printed Blank Sheet of Paper
“Why is there an extra sheet of blank paper after my prints?”
No, your printer isn’t intentionally wasting paper. Rather, this extra sheet of paper probably came about due to your print settings. This is typically used in offices with multiple users and high print volumes, to separate print jobs from different users and avoid documents from being mixed-up.
If your printer is only for your personal home use, you can change the settings using your printer preferences. You should be able to deselect the option for separator pages from there.
5. Paper Jams
Close-up Of Businessman Hand Removing Paper Stuck In Printer At Office
Paper jams are one of the most common issues people have with their home or office printers. This can happen due to static electricity (which causes pieces of paper to stick to each other) or when your printer tray is overloaded with too much paper.
A quick tip is to square off the stack of paper before placing it into the tray, ensuring that the pages line up and are flushed with the tray guides. Remember not to overfill the tray!
Jams may also occur when the print media used is not compatible with the printer. There are certain types of print media that are way thicker or bigger than the normal A4 Paper which is commonly used in most printers. Be sure to check that your printer is able to handle such media types and change your PC settings to match the print media.
6. Unclear Printed Texts
This problem may be caused by multiple reasons. Thus, you should go down this list to consider which option is the most likely possibility.
First, consider if you are using the draft mode or low print quality setting. Such settings may cause your printed texts to become unclear. By switching to a higher quality print, you will get clearer texts. However, be prepared to forgo your print speed—some printers are not able to simultaneously handle fast and high quality prints.
If you are using a laser printer, there is a high chance that the toner has settled, resulting in blurry texts. All you have to do is to remove the cartridge(s) and shake it gently from side to side to release any residual toner clinging onto the side of the cartridge. This works 90% of the time, but remember that the toner will eventually run out and needs to be replaced.
Finally, if you are using an inkjet printer, check if your unclear prints are due to a dirty nozzle or misaligned print head. Thankfully, you don’t have to deal with this manually (though you can if you wish).
Simply launch your printer’s maintenance menu and select “Clean Ink Cartridges”, “Clean Heads”, “Deep Cleaning” or a similar function. Cleaning the printhead will help improve the quality of the printout. As it uses a fair amount of ink you should only do it if you notice that the print quality is particularly bad.
7. Poor Quality Inkjet Printed Photos
Poor quality inkjet prints would commonly be due to a misaligned print head, dirty nozzles or empty ink cartridges. You can troubleshoot this by following the steps described in the previous point above.
The type of print media used may also affect the quality of your prints—especially if you intend to print photographs or posters in high definition colour. Make sure that you use the right photo paper. Often, third party photo papers are unable to reproduce your prints with the same resolution as the original photo papers from your brand.
Don’t forget to check that you have chosen the right paper type in your print settings and that it is set for photo printing.
It is also possible that your printer is low on one colour, causing discolourations. To achieve vibrant print reproductions of photos in the right hues, you need to ensure that inks in all the different colours are available—having one colour less can make a huge difference to your print quality.
8. Poor Black and White Print Quality
Do you turn off the colour when printing black and white documents? This is probably the cause of poor prints, especially for black and white images.
The colours give your documents smoother gradations and richer tones compared to solely using black. Thus, if you are printing a high quality black and white document, consider turning on the colour option for the best results.
9. Thick Ink on Inkjet Prints
Do your prints have a thick band of ink clustered around certain sections? This happens when your printer is unable to print at a certain resolution, usually on an uncoated paper. When it encounters this issue, it will try to adjust for the higher resolution by using more ink, causing the thick patch of ink (also known as banding) to appear.
To solve this problem, simply opt for a lower print resolution on your printer.
10. Unreliable Error Messages
Wonder why error messages like “low toner” or “ink error” appear when you’ve just replaced your toner or printer cartridge? Unless your new cartridges are faulty or broken, resetting your computer and printer usually fixes this problem. Do follow the instructions of your printer model to reset it properly.
Conclusion
Printer problems like slow printing, poor quality printouts, and paper jams can pose a huge inconvenience, especially when you need to get your work done. Hopefully, these solutions to the most common printer problems can help you to quickly get back on track. Should all of them fail—and we certainly hope that they wouldn’t—you should probably contact your local printer operator for immediate help!
Wish To Print Anything From Anywhere? Look No Further
Do you find yourself frequently printing on the go? Need new ideas on how to easily print to your home printer from anywhere?
Cloud printing might be just the solution for your home or small business.
In this article, you will learn the fundamentals of printing any document or image from the cloud:
What is cloud printing?
Why do you need cloud printing?
Types of cloud printing services available
How to get started on printing from the cloud
What is Cloud Printing?
Cloud printing is a technology that allows you to print from anywhere over the web.
While traditional printing is done via cables, wireless, bluetooth or WIFI connections between your devices and your printer, cloud printing enables you to print from any web-connected device by sending print jobs through an internet connection.
It is also safe and secure with the Cloud Secure Print feature that is built-in within Brother Apps. Documents can be uploaded to a web browser or sent via email, and retrieved for printing after a password is entered at the destination machine.
To do so, you need to ensure that your printer is capable of connecting directly to the Internet. This allows it to receive printing instructions that you send to the web.
The result is fast, seamless, and reliable printing, without the need to tangle with cables.
Why Do You Need Cloud Printing?
Printing from the cloud brings forth various advantages. Here are some of the most popular ones.
Always On The Go:
If your business requires you to be on the move, cloud printing could be a real time-saver! Imagine rushing for a business meeting, and having all your documents ready printed – even before you step into the office. That would be a real boon to your productivity.
Shared Office Facilities:
In shared workspaces, employees are able to use any device to print, without having to worry about compatibility issues or drivers.
Eco-friendly:
Who would say no to an efficient printing process that helps reduce waste and carbon emissions at the same time? Cloud printing gives you more control over what you print, so you only print what you need – when you need it.
Convenience and Simplicity:
With cloud printing, life (and getting prints) would be a breeze. You no longer have to mess around with the installation of software and drivers, or battle with cables. You can quickly discover printers that you can access and print from – anywhere around the world.
Affordable:
Cloud printing is an affordable way to manage your print needs as you need not invest in in-house server storage and other software or maintenance costs. You would only need to pay for the services you use, and can take advantage of free or low cost cloud storage solutions.
Types of Cloud Printing Services and How to Get Started
Brother WebConnect
With Brother WebConnect, you can print documents directly from an online storage site, allowing you to share and collaborate anywhere in the world in an instant.
The services that are supported include:
Box
Dropbox
Evernote
OneDrive
OneNote
Depending on your printer model, you may be able to connect directly to any of the above services without a computer. You can also add a PIN to restrict user access.
Here are the steps to getting started on Brother WebConnect:
Create an account with the desired service (go to step 2 if you already have an account).
Apply for Web Connect access via a one-time process to obtain a temporary ID using a computer.
Enter the temporary ID on the Brother device to enable access. Specify the account name as you would like it to be displayed on the machine, and a PIN code if desired.
The Brother device now has access to the registered service.
AirPrint
Apple’s AirPrint feature is built into a variety of printers, such as the ones listed here. AirPrint features include easy discovery, automatic media selection, and enterprise-class finishing options.
To print with AirPrint from your iOS device, here are the steps to follow:
Open the app that you want to print from.
To find the print option, tap the app’s share icon or more icon.
Find the print option. If you can’t find the print option, check the app’s User Guide or Help section.
Tap Select Printer and choose an AirPrint-enabled printer.
Choose the number of copies or other options, like which pages you want to print.
Tap Print in the top right-hand corner.
The Brother MFC-L8900CDW Colour Laser Printer lets you print and scan more with greater speed and assurance. You can wirelessly print from any device with Brother iPrint&Scan, Apple’s AirPrint, or Mopria. You can also preview your copies and faxes, and save to Cloud.
Conclusion
Mobile cloud printing is an important feature not just for personal and business productivity, but also for future-proofing your business.
Used effectively, it can be a powerful tool to keep your business and staff safe by enabling remote work, while also enhancing cost efficiency in your printing jobs.
Looking For The Perfect Scanner? Here Are The Top Features To Consider
Looking for the best scanner for your home business or small office use? What scanner features do you need and which model should you consider?
From scanning documents, photos, business receipts, name cards, professional certificates, and testimonials, to newspaper articles, magazine ads, or school reports, the sky’s the limit when it comes to things you can scan! And there are multiple scanners available on the market equipped to handle your everyday tasks.
But the question remains… What features in a printer scanner are most important for a home-based business like yours?
In this article, we touch on the top questions to think about when buying a scanner. We’ll also cover the different kinds of scanners you can choose as well as their unique features.
What is a Scanner?
A scanner is an input device that works by using light and optics to convert an image or text on paper into a digital format for computer editing, displaying or archiving purposes.Often, these images need to be of a fairly high resolution in order to be useful.
1. What Do You Need Your Scanner for?
When it comes to choosing the right scanner, it really boils down to your home business’ needs and preferences. Photos and documents are the most common things that you’ll need to scan, along with receipts, articles, business cards, or film.
If you need to scan things very often or have multiple pages to scan at one go, you will likely be looking at document scanners (also known as sheetfed scanners)—most of these scanners are designed to be high-volume workhorses. We will cover the different scanner types in more detail below.
2. What Types of Scanners Are Out There?
The range of scanners available are fairly wide—have a look at the options below to see which suits you best.
Flatbed scanner
For photos or bound material (e.g. a periodical or report), a flatbed scanner works best. These scanners come with a large glass surface on which you can place the item to be scanned. They also tend to be more flexible, allowing you to scan pages from books, magazines or easily damaged items like old photos.
Sheet-fed scanner/Document scanner
Unlike a flatbed scanner, a sheet-fed scanner scans only document pages and cannot be used to scan thicker items such as books. Most sheet-fed scanners have two-sided scanning capabilities and an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), which give these lean mean scanning machines high processing speeds and efficiency.
Image scanner
If you are in the business of archiving and are specifically looking to scan images and photographs, your most obvious choice is to opt for a specialised photo scanner. Such scanners tend to provide photo-friendly features, boasting of a high resolution and the ability to scan transparencies or negatives in addition to photographs. Some even come with their own editing software to help retouch image-based scans and remove dust and scratches.
3. What Scanning Software Will You Use?
Most scanners come with basic scanning software, for example, Brother scanners which can be easily operated via the iPrint&Scan app which is free to download.
Depending on your scanning needs, the features which you may need in your home business scanner may include:
Photo editing: to allow scanned images to be manipulated
Optical Character Recognition (OCR): to translate scanned text into editable text
Text indexing: to process scanned text to be searched and sorted
Searchable PDF documents: to create PDFs that can be searched
For a reliable and compact home scanner, check out Brother ADS-1700W Scanner. This smart wireless document scanner simplifies your everyday scanning tasks. Scanning up to 25 sheets per minute, documents will automatically be scanned as soon as you insert it into the ADS-1700W. Frequently used scan-to destinations can also be set up as one-touch shortcuts on the touchscreen.
4. How Will You Connect To The Scanner?
Need to access a scanned document or image in a jiffy? Do consider the different connectivity options for your scanner.
While some scanners may only work with computers, others can be accessed through mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. These connectivity options may affect how quickly the scanner can scan to your device.
A standard USB cable will usually suffice if you’re connecting the scanner to a single computer. However, if you’re looking for a scanner that multiple people can access and use, do ensure that it has Wi-Fi capabilities so it can be connected to your wireless computer network.
5. What Resolution and Colour Depth Do You Need?
Unless you are a graphic designer, you probably don’t need a scanner with the highest dots per square inch (dpi)—but let’s be honest, a good scan resolution is always nice-to-have! That said, a dpi of 600-1200 is usually enough for most home-based businesses.
What about bit depth? Also known as colour depth, the bit depth is the number of bits used to determine the colour of a single pixel—the more bits available, the better the colour reproduction of your scanner. For standard colour scanning, a significant depth ranging from 24-36 should be sufficient.
Conclusion
Deciding on the best scanner for your home or office use will depend on your business’ specific scanning needs. Keep an eye out for the features that matter most to you and you should be on the right track.
Spending Too Much On Printing? Here’s How To Save Some Money Are you looking for ways to save money on your home office printing needs? Need help to choose the best home office multifunction inkjet or laser printer to reduce your operating costs?
If you need some pocket-friendly solutions for years to come, consider these cost-efficient tips for your home office printing.
Use smaller margins and line spacing
Use smaller document size
Preview before printing
Print in black and white
Print with toner and ink-saving fonts
Duplex printing
Continue printing with low ink or toner
Unplug printer or use deep sleep mode
Buy printer consumables in bulk
Re-evaluate your printer
Owning a printer gives you the freedom of convenience and customized printing. However, the cost of maintaining one can quickly add up if you are not mindful. Being attentive to such details can help you reduce cost in the long run.
Let us look at each of these money-saving printing tips in detail.
1. Use smaller margins and line spacing
Most people use the default settings when printing a piece of document. However, this wastes a large amount of space, especially along the margins as well as the line spacing in between paragraphs.
By adjusting the margins closer to the edge of the page and reducing the line spacing, you can significantly increase the number of words per page—which means less paper used, saving you money in the long run.
2. Print more documents on a page
Another economical option is to print two pages of a document onto one page. This is especially useful for high resolution documents that have clear typefaces, or documents that are predominantly images.
You can adjust your print settings per page according to how you deem fit.
3. Preview before printing
When printing online web pages such as articles, do consider the sections of the page that you don’t actually need to print out and read. Printing out these sections wastes both your paper and ink.
By previewing what will be printed, you can remove advertisements, comments and unnecessary footnotes. You can also click on the “printer mode” on websites, which automatically sets the page to the ideal sizes for printing.
In Microsoft Office, there are print outs preview before final printing. Sometimes there might be alignment issues which causes an additional page consisting of a few short lines to be printed out. This can be easily avoided by adjusting the document.
Re-printing due to mistakes can also be avoided by first checking your documents in draft mode before printing. With this step, you can reduce up to 50% of waste, ensuring more cost-efficient printing in the long run.
4. Print in black and white
This next tip can potentially save you quite a bit of money in terms of ink or toner usage. Printing in colour uses more ink compared to printing in black and white. This can be easily overlooked especially with documents that have coloured logos or graph charts.
If colour is not necessary, take the extra step to switch your print setting to monochrome printing. You will be surprised by how much ink or toner you can save and how long your cartridge will last by applying this tip.
Do note that printing in grayscale might not have the same effect. When printing in grayscale, the grey is not printed with black, but is composed instead of all other colours—which is exactly what you want to avoid.
5. Print with toner and ink-saving fonts
The following option is for the penny pinchers out there! Certain fonts with wide letters, thick lines, many curls and serifs use more printer ink and toner than other fonts.
By choosing fonts that do not have these features, you can potentially reduce your printing costs by up to 30%! These toner and ink-saving fonts are “Century Gothic” and “Garamond“, which can be found in most word processing programs.
Fonts that use more toner and ink include “Arial”, “Trebuchet” and “Tahoma”— these are fonts which you should avoid if you have the flexibility to do so.
6. Duplex printing
This tip is a no-brainer—print on both sides of the paper. As simple as it may seem, it has the potential to save you big bucks, especially when combined with the previous few tips.
However, this becomes an issue if you are printing in high volumes and don’t have a printer capable of duplex printing. Manually flipping each page will soon get on your nerves and you’ll end up choosing single-sided printing for its convenience, causing you to be less cost efficient.
For better cost-savings and convenience, consider switching to a printer that has duplex printing capabilities such as Brother DCP-T820DW Ink Tank Printer. Its automatic 2-sided printing will ensure fuss-free and cost efficient printing.
7. Continue printing with low ink or toner
You have probably seen the message that pops up when the ink level is low, advising you to replace the cartridge. Instead of rushing to change your cartridge, you can actually continue printing for a couple more print runs. This allows you to squeeze more prints out of the cartridge before it truly runs dry.
For toner cartridges that indicate “low toner” levels, consider taking them out of your printer and giving them a quick shake to distribute the toner powder inside the cartridge. This will enable you to continue printing for more pages without any errors before your toner finally runs out.
8. Unplug printer or use deep sleep mode
You won’t be saving thousands of dollars with this tip, but if you are really looking into ways to reduce costs, this will still add up. Printers—or any electronics for that matter—left plugged into outlets when not in use, will draw passive energy away from the circuit. This will cost you money over time, so unplug your printer when not in use.
You should also pay attention to a printer’s energy efficiency. Brother printers come with deep sleep mode where it reduces its energy consumption while idling.
9. Buy printer consumables in bulk
Another huge money saver tip is to buy your printer consumables in bulk—paper, ink cartridges and toners. More often than not, you can tap on bulk discounts, save on delivery costs or even lower costs with bundle deals. By pre-planning and keeping an eye out for great deals, you could save a whole lot of money compared to buying these supplies individually as they run out.
You can also choose to get ink or toner cartridges that come in standard or high yield containers that hold more ink or toner for a lower cost per page. The Brother DCP-L3551CDW Laser Printer is one of the printers that has a low cost and high print quality resolution with affordable toner options such as the high capacity toner (BK: Approx. 3,000 pages; CMY: Approx. 2,300 pages) or the drum unit (Approx. 18,000 pages).
It is also important to store your bulk purchases properly. Do note that ink cartridges can dry out if stored incorrectly. To prevent the ink from drying out prematurely, store them in their original packaging in the shade at room temperature or slightly cooler temperatures.
Laser printer toners are usually more durable as they are filled with a dry powder. However, you should still store them in a cool and dry place to ensure that they are kept in prime condition.
10. Re-evaluate your printer
If you have had your printer for a long time, and are still struggling to keep it cost-efficient, chances are that you may need to re-evaluate your printer. Yes, you may have bought it a couple of years ago at a good price—however the printer supplies (ie consumables) are often the ones that tunnel through your pockets.
A toner or ink-efficient printer is a cost-efficient printer! Switching to a modern printer that has cost-efficient cartridges is a smarter move to enjoy huge cost savings. To look for an efficient printer, you will first have to find out what cartridge the printer uses. Look for information such as the price of the cartridge and the cartridge page yield. With these factors, you can then figure out the cost per page for each printer and compare them.
Cost per page ($) = Cartridge price ($) / Cartridge page yield (No. of pages)
If you need more information as to which is the best home printer for you, do consider the different types of printers that are available.
Conclusion
Choosing a printer based on its consumables might not be something that most people think about from the get-go. To keep your home office running costs really low, combine these cost savings with the penny pinching habits mentioned above to reap the rewards of a printer with high cost savings!
Need to print labels for your online business? Keen to learn how you should print labels that portray your e-commerce brand in a professional manner?
You will probably need a good label printer to keep things running efficiently if you run an e-commerce store and ship more than two to three orders a day.
Whether your store is on Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, or Etsy, you will need a way to easily keep track of inventory and be able to ship the right items out on time. A label printer can help you do just that.
In this article, we cover some of the benefits of having a label printer and the types of label printers best suited to your small business needs.
Why You Need a Label Printer for Your E-commerce Business
Here are some of the main benefits of having a label printer for your online store.
1. They help you to manage your store inventory and shipping
Label printers help small businesses to easily keep track of stock and access key product information. With a scan of a barcode, you will be able to access the relevant product information such as stock quantity, price, dimension, colour, and other variables.
Poor quality labels could result in negative customer experiences and even impact your bottom line. If the addresses on your shipping labels are not printed correctly, or if the barcodes are not legible, your carrier may face a problem in processing your order. The end result is that your customer’s goods may not get shipped and delivered, resulting in delays and customer complaints.
2. They are more professional compared to manual labels
Like many small home-based businesses, you may have started out your business by manually writing your labels. While this may be possible for a small start-up, it can get time consuming when your business starts to scale-up.
That’s not all. While charming, your handwritten labels may get smudged during transit. This prevents you from getting your product to your customer on time—or worse, gives your customer a poor impression of your brand!
Compared to handwritten labels, professionally printed shipping labels look more credible and are less likely to tear during transit.
3. They keep your small office or stockroom organised
Do you enjoy having an organised stockroom or spending hours on end looking for items? A properly organised and clearly labelled stockroom could translate to greater efficiency and time savings, especially if you are thinking of hiring help in the near future!
Keeping things organised can also be a major time-saver, especially when your small business starts to expand and your number of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) start multiplying.
Young businesswoman with glasses using laptop work at home, online business at home, handling delivery packages
How To Print Shipping Labels?
There are two main options when it comes to printing your shipping labels: printing them with a standard laser or inkjet printer, or a thermal label printer.
Let us look at the pros and cons of both printing options.
Printing labels using a laser or inkjet printer
Laser and inkjet printers can produce high quality labels if you buy the right label sheets. They also allow you to print labels of many different sizes and dimensions.
However, this may be costly if you need to mass produce labels on a regular basis due to the higher cost of label sheets and cartridges relative to other options.
Printing labels using specialised label printers
Professional label printers, on the other hand, are specially designed for label printing. The beauty of using such label printers is that you don’t need to worry about extra supplies like ink or toner.
Some of these labellers also come in nifty, portable versions which can help greatly when you need to move about and print shipping labels on-the-go. These come in really useful when your SKUs increase, and you need to process your goods and ship them Just-In-Time. Some of these label printers also allow you to print directly from your phone or other mobile devices.
Types of Label Printer
When it comes to specialised label printers for small businesses, Brother offers both thermal label printers and laminated label printers. What are the main differences between these printing technologies and which would suit your business better?
1. Direct Thermal Label Maker
If your online business requires labels for barcodes, address labels, shipping labels, and food packaging, the direct thermal label maker may be your best bet.
Thermal printing uses heat-sensitive label stock and directly burns text and shapes onto the label itself.
The main advantage of using thermal printed labels is that they are easy to use and are more accurate. However, do note that they should not be exposed for long periods of time to heat or direct sunlight as the material will darken over time.
The Brother QL-800 Label Printer is a popular label printer in Singapore that utilises thermal printing technology. It has a fast printing speed of 93 labels per minute, and also offers black and red printing at a high print resolution of 300 x 600dpi.
2. Laminated Label Printer
If you carry a significant amount of stock and need to pay attention to your backend assets such as labelling your shelves, office equipment and files, the laminated label printer may be more suitable.
Laminated labels are water and fade-resistant and can withstand a harsher environment such as abrasion, heat or cold.
The Brother PT-D600 Label Printer is ideal for clear and durable workplace labelling up to 24 mm wide. Its compact and sleek design ensures that it fits at any office workstation. It is perfect for the organisation of workspaces, clear identification of equipment, assets and filing, as well as creation of basic instructional or warning notices.
Conclusion
Getting the best label printer for your e-commerce business could be the best solution to achieving a smooth-running logistics and delivery process. Creating a reliable end-to-end system would make a world of difference — for your customers and yourself.
