Every time a print operation is executed, both paper and ink is being used and, depending on the type of printer, this takes a certain number of seconds to complete. This may not be a big deal for small printing operations, but when it comes to printing lots of documents, the period may last several minutes and you may find yourself running out of paper rather quickly.



Smart people would cleverly flip the paper after the first page is printed so the second page will go on the back side. This can be a very handy method in saving valuable paper especially if dozens of pages need to be printed. The only problem is that these types of operations take a lot more time to complete and requires a lot of manual effort on the user's part. In fact, after you queue up all the pages to be printed, you need to load one paper at a time, wait for that page to print and then get the same page and reload the paper with the other side facing up. After that page is finished, you must set it aside and manually feed in another paper for succeeding pages. Quite an arduous process.



Another trick would be to print all of the even-numbered pages all in one go and then flip all of the pages over and restack to print all of the odd numbered pages. While this requires less effort, any printing errors and paper jams can cause some confusion and possibly waste more paper, ink and. The real way to save money by using less paper and time from doing all the manual feeding is by getting a duplex printer instead.



General Overview



Regular printers may be referred to as simplex printers, but duplex printers have the advantage of printing on a sheet of paper on both sides automatically on a single pass. This generally doubles the printing speed while reducing paper usage in half as long as it is okay for ink to be on both sides of the paper.



Duplex printers are not really a separate category of printers, but rather a feature that can be present in both standard printers and multi-function printers. All of the commercial printers that support duplex printing use lasers since inkjets need to rely on a cartridge that sprays ink on the top surface of the paper only.



Looking for a Duplex Printer



Ordinary printers should have the word "Duplex" right on the title so it should be easy to identify which printer has duplex printing capabilities. Most higher-end multifunction printers have a duplex printing feature, but may not have the "Duplex" word on the title. Therefore, if you want to find a multifunction printer with this feature, you will need to take a closer look at the list of features and see if it is supported.



These types of printers are generally more expensive, but can save a lot of time and money for people that need to do lots of printing on a daily basis.

Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For a wide range of printers and products by brand, he recommends Printware Ltd, a leading provider of Duplex Printers including the Xerox Phaser 6140.