5 Best ID Card Printers for a College or School

With classrooms returning to full capacity and in-person teaching resuming, facility managers on campus across the country will be assessing their long-term ID card requirements to ensure a safe and secure return to classrooms. This may include identifying a need to bring card printing and issuance for staff and students in-house.

Below we’ve taken a closer look at some of the best ID card printer systems for printing staff and student ID cards within your school or college.

(Please note all prices shown are excluding VAT)

ID Card Printers for Colleges and Schools

1. Zebra ZXP Series 7

Zebra ZXP Series 7

The Zebra ZXP 7 is a firm favourite for colleges and schools with high-volume photo ID card printing requirements. Why? With exceptionally high print speeds and impressive reliability scores, this printer system can handle even large scale ID card issuance, while also producing near-photo-like prints and crisp, clear writing ideal for photo ID cards.

Based on a typical 35-hour working week, the ZXP Series 7 can print onto almost 50,000 monochrome single-sided plastic cards – that works out at 1,375 cards per hour. If you require full-colour photo ID cards, expect to produce around 300 ID cards in 60 minutes.

The ZXP 7 is a little larger than the average ID card printer, but that’s a small sacrifice to pay given its high-volume printing capabilities.

Price: £1,250.00

2. IDP Smart 51 GDPR Secure

IDP Smart 51 Smart Secure

The IDP Smart 51 is one of Digital ID’s most popular ID card printer systems and with good reason. The GDPR Secure model makes it an appealing option across many sectors; particularly when it comes to education services like school, college and universities.

The lockable ribbon cartridge and standard Kensington lock ensure the Smart 51 GDPR Secure model is one of the most secure printers available. IDP’s SmartMark technology also gives you the option to add an extra layer of visual security to your photo ID cards themselves.

We can help determine your card printer requirements and whether extra security features are necessary for your organisations needs here.

It also benefits from a 10% increase in print speed compared to its predecessor, ensuring it is capable of meeting your demands come enrolment time.

During a standard seven-hour working day, the single-sided model can produce up to 5,000 monochrome cards or 1,475 full-colour ID cards. IDP products feature an industry-leading five-year warranty too, so you needn’t be worrying about upgrading your in-house printing services all that often.

Price: £935.00

3. Magicard 600

Magicard 600

The Magicard 600 is one of the newest direct-to-card printers on the market, and as such is the perfect choice for the 2021/22 academic year.

We understand the importance of finding more sustainable ID badge distribution within the education sector. The 600 might just be the right choice if you’re looking to boost your eco-credentials. For every printer purchased, Magicard has committed to planting a tree helping to reforest the globe and help reduce CO2 emissions.

The printer itself also features a ribbon data shredder feature, meaning that just like the IDP Smart 51, it’s a fantastic solution for those establishments that need to be extra security conscious. Magicard’s standard HoloKote also allows you to add watermarks during the printing process, upping the security the ID cards or badges can offer as well.

You can determine more about your in-house access control and ID card print needs, and whether printer technology such as encoding modules and watermarking are necessary by browsing our helpful printer buying guide.

The 600 has also been designed with fast printing in mind. It can produce up to 190 full-colour ID cards per hour and, with an input hopper capacity of 100 cards, it’s a sensible choice for those schools and colleges with high-volume print needs.

Price: £1,050.00

4. Fargo HDP5000

HID Fargo HDP5000

Need to produce complex photo ID card designs? Then you’re best off looking at a retransfer ID card printer. Retransfer printers transfer ink onto a clear film to produce your card design, this film is then applied directly to the card. This allows for crisp, high-quality images and long-lasting photo ID cards. One of the best machines to do this is the Fargo HDP5000.

Capable of printing up to 138 full-colour cards per hour, it’s among the faster retransfer printer systems on the market. The large card hoppers also ensure minimal interruptions during print runs.

What’s more, it’s an ideal machine should you need to encode access control cards and smart cards. A range of add-on modules for encoding Proximity, iClass and Indala are available with the HDP5000, to name but a few.

For more information on how to determine your card printer budget and whether a retransfer printer is right for you, check out our in-depth blog here.

Price: £1,350.00

5. Evolis Primacy

Evolis Primacy

The Evolis Primacy has been designed to be as intuitive and as user-friendly as possible. Combine this with its fantastic reliability, a three-year warranty and high-volume capability and it’s easy to see why so many schools, colleges and universities are choosing the Primacy.

It can print up to 225 full-colour ID cards per hour, putting it at the top of the class if you need to produce high-quality college or school ID cards quickly. With a dual-sided model, you can print up to 140 full-colour cards with monochrome text or barcodes printed on the reverse of the ID card.

Evolis is also a manufacturer that takes its commitment to the environment very seriously, so you can rest assured that the materials used to create the printer and consumables such as printer ribbons are sustainable.

This only adds to its appeal as a printer system fit for use in the education sector. It’s also one of the easiest printers to carry out a ribbon change on too – yet another bonus.

Price: £1040.00

Not quite ready to purchase?

If you’d like to research more, you can browse our full range of ID card printing machines and solutions here.

Or if you’d prefer to talk to someone with advice on creating an effective ID and access control system for the education sector, contact our education specialists for a free consultation on 0800 988 2095.

*Disclaimer: Prices are correct as of 10/02/2022 and are subject to change.