Home - Article - Office Supplies
How to Buy Fax Machines
The fax machine is becoming a common home appliance. For people doing work at home, the ability to fax to the office or to other businesses is very valuable. Also, many companies now offer printed products such as charts, tables, newsletters and maps by fax. Many computer modems include fax capability, but without the addition of a scanner, they are not satisfactory substitutes for the stand alone fax machine.
Features
Speed Dial Memory: Much like a telephone with speed dial, a fax machine with this feature allows you to store your most frequently faxed numbers, for one touch faxing.
Document Feeder: Unless you have the time to stand over the machine and insert each page of your document manually, a document feeder is a must. This is simply a tray which accepts a variable number of pages and feeds them through the machine automatically.
Page Cutter: Available on all but the least expensive machines, a page cutter automatically cuts each page from the continuous-feed roll of paper, as they are finished printing. You should get this feature unless you like to read your material in scroll format.
Plain Paper: Better fax machines use plain paper, much like a copy machine or laser printer, in lieu of continuous rolls of treated paper. This is a convenience, and is important if the fax will serve as a permanent hardcopy record.
Multi-Function: Some manufacturers are combining phone, copier, printer, and fax functions into a single unit. Although this saves space and is certainly a harbinger of trends to come, these combinations are generally so compromised that performance of each of the component parts is only marginally acceptable.
Auto Fax/Tel Switching: Nearly a standard feature, auto fax/tel switching decides if an incoming call is a voice call or a fax call, and routes it to the appropriate device.
Resolution: Normal, Fine, Extra Fine, and Gray Scale are increasingly detailed resolutions to which a fax can be set for sending a document or graphic. The higher the resolution setting, the better the quality and the longer the transmission time.
Auto Redial: Will automatically redial the number called several times in an attempt to connect the fax. This is very useful if you frequently call an active office fax line where a busy signal is common.
Broadcast: Allows a single fax to be sent to a list of preselected phone numbers. You will need memory for this function. See Memory feature below.
Memory: Some fax machines allow pages to be scanned into memory for subsequent transmission. The memory capacity is usually stated as a number of maximum pages. These ratings are usually very optimistic. For real world use, cut these page/memory ratings in half. Additional memory can frequently be purchased as an option
Refer these features of fax machines,you can choose a good one.
Keywords
Fax Machines
Sponsored Links
Relative Company
Relative Product