What Causes A Slow Printer and How To Fix It?

A slow printer is not just an irritating part of office life that you should ignore, it can have an impact on how efficient your workplace can be.

An under-performing printer can cause a significant dip in productivity, as well as frustrating everybody in the workplace, meaning that if you find yourself with a slow device on your hands, it is important to get it fixed.

If you’ve found yourself with a printer that’s driving you crazy with how slow it is, and you think it’s getting in the way of productivity in your workplace, use this guide to find out what could be causing the lack of speed and how you can fix it.

Using a wireless connection

In some cases, the printer itself may not be the issue.

If you have a wireless printer that you’re finding is running slowly, along with any other devices connected to the Wi-Fi, then your issue may be the Wi-Fi router you have. Restarting or troubleshooting the router is the first thing you should do, and it might result in a quick fix if it has simply dropped signal or crashed.

If it is only the printer that is running slowly or seems to drop from the wireless network often, it could be that your device is outside of the router’s Wi-Fi reach. In this case, moving your printer closer to the router or vice versa will help to improve the problem – the less distance between them, the fewer issues you’ll have with a wireless connection.

High resolution printing

Printing pictures with a higher DPI is necessary if you are looking to produce a high resolution print out, such as if you are a photographer who relies on high definition document printing.

However, printing in this quality can sometimes mean that an image takes longer to print as there’s more detail in the image for the printer to replicate. If this is happening frequently, try updating your machine drivers to check if any bug fixes or new software developments can speed it up.

If, after updating your printer to the latest software, this is still an issue, you could look into investing in a more modern machine that is more capable of printing ultra-high resolution images.

Outdated printer firmware

Outdated printer firmware can also be a factor in slow printing, with the latest firmware updates helping to keep your machine running smoothly and quickly.

If you’re finding that your machine is struggling with printing at speed, even when you’re printing simple documents, download the latest version of your printer’s firmware. Firmware updates could have been released several times since your printer was released, so the latest version might improve performance and counter any bugs you’re experiencing.

Bulk printing

Sending documents in bulk to a printer will mean that a lot of data will have to be processed by the machine at one time, which can occasionally result in slower printing processes. This is the same idea as your computer slowing down when you have too many power intensive programmes open at any one time.

Upgrading to a new colour laser printer, such as the HP M552dn that is built to handle this kind of demand and is capable of printing 33 colour pages per minute on average, can help you to get some speed back in your printing process.

Alternatively, you can send documents to your printer in batches to avoid overloading it with too many requests at one time.

Older machine

As with all types of technology, your machine can become outdated.

If your printer is simply reaching the end of its life span, this can have a huge impact on the speed it functions at as the hardware deteriorates. If you’re trying every suggestion in this article but nothing seems to be making your printer any quicker, it might be that it’s just too old to keep up with modern printing demands.

Upgrading your machine to a newer model or simply expanding the RAM in your current printer can help to reduce the inefficiencies caused by having a slow printer and help everyone in the workplace get back on track.

Making these changes to your office device should bring your workplace back up to speed, and mean that your business is free to function as fast as it needs to, with nothing holding it back.