Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Must-Have Equipment

You no longer have to invest several thousand dollars in big, clunky pieces of equipment because both the size and the prices of these items have dropped tremendously. The prices of all-in-one items such as a fax, copier, printer, and scanner combination are dropping and, obviously, take less space.

Make form follow function

Rather than think about your office equipment in terms of a collection of cartridges and cords, think of each piece in terms of the function it provides. You need access to some key functions (equipment) to run a business.

This list describes the functions most businesses need access to most often:

• Printer: Although most of your correspondence can be conducted online, you still need to print invoices, offline marketing materials, and hard copies (printouts) of items for your files. You can choose from a laser printer (which uses a laser to draw the images) or an inkjet printer (which sprays ink on the page). A laser printer is designed for more demanding, high-volume print jobs and is typically priced starting at $250. An inkjet is more affordable and has superb quality for a small office. You can purchase a decent inkjet printer now for less than $50. More money buys you a faster printer: Slow printers can handle 1 page per minute (ppm), and higher-end printers can handle more than 10 ppm.

  Rather than compare only printer functions, be ...