All-In-One Printers....

sendero · Dec 11, 2004

I hate to be disagreeable, but I disagree. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif The reason an all-in-one unit is cheaper is simple. The printer part common to a printer, a fax, and a copier. The scanner is shared between the scanner and copier.

I just bought an all-in-one for my office and like it so much I bought another one for the house. It prints photo quality, scans and of course faxes are easy.

The fact is you wouldn't buy 4 tractors instead of 1 tractor and 4 implements - so if you actually need all of these functions an all-in-one is the way to go IMHO.

gws · Dec 11, 2004

All in one printers are good printers if thats what you need. My wife likes the copy, scanner and printer functions. For basic black and whiite printing all in one is great. For function specific color printing (mainly photo color) then get a printer specific to that need. Color printer quality is always improving, B&W printing doesnt change as much. The HP LaserJet 3015 All-in-One printer is a nice b&w printer. If you need color you need to know cosumable cost. How many pages will you print and how much does it cost.

Bird · Dec 11, 2004

I did have a 4 in 1 HP Desk Jet that I gave to my grandson because it would print in color, but only copy in black and white, and the scanner was not a flat bed scanner. So when I bought a new computer, I also bought an HP Office Jet G55 which will scan and copy in color, and it's a flatbed scanner. However, it is NOT a stand alone fax. But I've been quite satisfied with with since I almost never send or receive faxes anymore.

GerardC · Dec 12, 2004

Well guys, the search is over.

I purchased the EPSON STYLUS CX4600 3-in-1. (see attachment)

I looked at the HP 5510 4-in-1 that was mentioned here but didn't like the design of it (weak spots). The Brother that I mentioned turned out to be a malfunctioning piece of crap (researched reviews and first hand at two stores). EPSON reviews seemed to be very high and I really like the look and design of it. Now I need to get to know it and how it works. The software is totally different from my old HP.
Thanks for all your suggestions and input. Gerard

Edit: BJ's Wholesale Club has it the cheapest. I paid $119.99 and will get a $30.00 rebate.

GerardC · Dec 12, 2004

WOW!! Just printed some 8 x 10 and 4 x 6 photos. I can not believe the quality of these photos! The copier is quiet, smooth and much quicker than the HP (940c) was. The software that comes with it offers quit a bit. It'll take some time to figure it all out but it's fun experimenting and learning at the same time. I'm not an expert with this stuff by any means, but for the price would recommend this 3-in-1 in a heartbeat. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Gerard

milkman · Dec 12, 2004

I also have an Epson printer, the cheapest place I've found for ink cartridges is http://meritline.com
the combo prices are the best. I can get 4 black and 2 color cartridges for $18.00 and they ship free on most of the combos. They have the brand cartridges and also the compatible cartridges, I've not had any problems with the compatible ones. Good luck with the new machine. My next one will also be an Epson, Lexmark worked well but the ink is out of sight.

buckle97 · Dec 13, 2004

Well Gerard, I'm going to hope that you picked a good one. After reading this thread this morning I went on my lunch break and bought the same exact printer. I got it at Office Depot for $130 plus a $30 mail in rebate. I can't wait to get it home, hook it up and print!

Lawrence

GerardC · Dec 13, 2004

milkman:
Have you bought anything else from them? Seems like their prices aren't that bad. Thanks for the link. G

GerardC · Dec 14, 2004

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Well Gerard, I'm going to hope that you picked a good one. After reading this thread this morning I went on my lunch break and bought the same exact printer. I got it at Office Depot for $130 plus a $30 mail in rebate. I can't wait to get it home, hook it up and print!

Lawrence )</font>

I'm sure you'll be as pleased as I am with it once you get it up and running /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. If you read the owners manual from front to back, you'll be amazed at what you can do with it. Glad this thread was helpful to you. Keep us posted. G

Soundguy · Dec 14, 2004

We just picked up a brother mfc 4800. Fac, copier, scanner, printer.

Great machine.. and it was only a couple hundred bucks. What turned our office on to it was kind of a chain of events. We went to a new accounting system in the late 90's that obsoleted our dot matrix printers ( multi-part checks ) and we were in a rush and picked up the only laser printer we could find during our year end upgrade.. it was a brother 1040 printer. Our fax machine ( an old toshiba thermal job ) shortly thereafter died, and we again picked up one in a rush.. Didn't want a thermal one as we were running the copier to death.. so got a brother intelifax 2600. fax/copier.. liked the idea. So when we added a new computer to the system, we picked up the next in line.. that mfc 4800.. works great.

On our network we also had a few faxmodems, and at least 1 scanner, etc.. but for the most part... If I wasn't in the office.. no one knew how to use the scanner or fax modem..etc.. We were still doing some manual typing then too.. and they never got the hang of scanning a typed document, then emailing or faxing it out via computer. Nowadays all work is done onthe computer.. and while I sometimes fax stuff out via modem.. I mostly just print it and then fax it.. as we still have to keep a paper copy anyway.. and it still gets printed.. etc.

Soundguy