All-in-One Printer?

[tzikeh]

What is the best all-in-one printer for a reasonable price? It needs to print scan and copy - I don't need a fax.

(I'm on a Mac but I'm pretty sure the consumer level ones all work with both platforms.)

Comments

[mtgat]

We've got an HP 1310 printer/scanner/copier that's pretty nifty. Apparently it was about eighty bucks at OfficeMax and the copier (b&w and color) has paid for itself already. Also? Small footprint on the desk.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

I adore my HP Officejet G85. Although it has a fax.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I don't have a specific printer to recommend, but I have to mention that the optional feature of a disk-tray for printable CDs and DVDs is a great thing to have around the house. "Telling Deeper" would have been a much bigger pain in the ass without one.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Catch me on chat when I'm home and I'll give you the specs of mine. It's worked well so far ;).

[jfc013.livejournal.com]

I bought two HP 1610 PSCs in one week (one for work and one for home). We like them a lot! (Maybe a little snazzier than the 1310 mentioned above...)

[abbylee]

I think that these days, no matter what you'll buy you'll be happy with the quality. That is, they all get the job done. Hope you don't mind the upcoming long writings, but I've been helping friends shop for exactly that this month, so it's on my mind.

The main thing with an all-in-one is that they're usually slower at doing their job than if you bought the parts individually. If you're just doing occasional work, they're good because they don't take up much room, but they do get frustrating because they're not as speedy or well designed as they should be for that technology. They're good, they're just not great. (I should clarify, I have one, and it's exactly what I need, but I also wanted something tiny and very rarely use it.)

I usually recommend laser printers, if initial cost isn't the main priority and you're planning on printing a lot of text. They've come down in price so that they're not much more expensive than an ink jet, and for high volume jobs they're cheaper to maintain. You can buy all-in-ones that scan in colour and print in black, or you can buy a smaller laser printer and a small scanner.

No matter what you buy, printing colour photos is always cheaper to send them out than to buy paper and ink yourself. You don't have to trust me on this, just check out how much plain photo paper costs. So I very much recommend ignoring that need when you're choosing a printer.

Are you going to need extra features like a feeding tray for scanning multiple documents? How many blank pages do you want to be able to print on at a time?

In general, the more you pay for a printer, the cheaper it ends up being per-page to print. That is, the cheap ink jet printers use more expensive ink (ie, they may cost about the same, but contain less and get used up faster). Same for the lasers; check the prices for the refill toners.

Once you've narrowed it down, take a look at reviews on the product, such as at cnet.com to see what others have to say. The quality is pretty comparative for most printers, so the other functionalities become pretty important.

Good luck!

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

i had an HP something-or-other when i had a desktop; it came in two varieties, both print/scan/copy and one with fax and one without. i don't remember the details, but cmshaw owns it now (unless she's gotten rid of it). it never failed me. :-)