Oppinions on 4 in 1 printers
I am looking to buy a new printer since my ink is out of my cheapie printer and the ink costs more than the printer itself. Printer ink does come with printers still correct? The two models I am comparing are HP's. They are the HP PSC 2510 photo all-in-one and the HP Officejet 7110 all-in-one. What are your oppinions on these? The office jet has a slight performance (detail, print quality, print speed) over the photo, but the photo has an ethernet, which is wanted highly but not needed. I also think the photo printer has a separate photo print cartrage, is this true? How much performance can one get out of this extra cartrage? They are identical price (=/< $320 where I live, retail $400). I do not do digital photography yet and do not even have a camera. I do not know when I may get one, I might get a high quality standard camera first, and again the card slots are not a biggie now, but might be in future, if I can't plug into computer directly.
Anyone have any experience? I have pretty much put my eye on these two, but it is so hard to decide!
P.S. My favorite printer I have ever seen has been an HP bought in 1998, it seemed faster than the model 7110 at the store, especially since it *instantly* printed, where as the 7110 seemed to load and studder, then go, then studder, then finish (22 pages black per minute is an exageration even in quickest mode, but maybe it was because it was copying and/or scanning?), it seemed more like 2 per minute.
+'s for office jet
better scanning, copying
better quality prints
faster printing?
easier button interface
+'a for photo all in one
smaller
ethernet
photo printing?
neat lcd screen
more input options (paper types) I think
What the heck, maybe I'll just get the office jet, and if I NEED a perfect photo printer when the time comes I will get one, the office jet printed pretty dang good, however I am leary of it after seeing the store model and that is my biggest problem.
Anyone have any experience? I have pretty much put my eye on these two, but it is so hard to decide!
P.S. My favorite printer I have ever seen has been an HP bought in 1998, it seemed faster than the model 7110 at the store, especially since it *instantly* printed, where as the 7110 seemed to load and studder, then go, then studder, then finish (22 pages black per minute is an exageration even in quickest mode, but maybe it was because it was copying and/or scanning?), it seemed more like 2 per minute.
+'s for office jet
better scanning, copying
better quality prints
faster printing?
easier button interface
+'a for photo all in one
smaller
ethernet
photo printing?
neat lcd screen
more input options (paper types) I think
What the heck, maybe I'll just get the office jet, and if I NEED a perfect photo printer when the time comes I will get one, the office jet printed pretty dang good, however I am leary of it after seeing the store model and that is my biggest problem.
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Comments
Personally I've always found my cartridges have dried out more often then run out. One other thing and I don't know if any of those printers you have mentioned have this. But if you want really good quality printing try to find a printer that uses four cartridges instead of just the black or color. The color cartridges are all sperated down to their specific colors. These give you optimal color control and help manage the cost of replacement cartridges.
*I will beable to plug this directly into a router without trouble, correct?
*It also has a USB, can I connect a scanner from its usb to the printers usb? I heard people that it works.
I also think I am sold on the Epson Perfection 3170 PHOTO scanner. It has 3200X6400 dpi Resolution, pretty dang good. In the end, getting both these things will total just barely over the amount of one of the all-in-ones.
*Is there any more output, especially on the scanner?
Cartridges aren't too bad ($20 generic color, $30 for retail photo). The photo also serves as the black ink cartridge. Mine seems to be on par with my prior Canon in ink usage (which was very good/efficient). I also compared the HP's and I'm VERY glad I opted to take a chance with Lexmark. They really make a good product for the $$ IMO.
Should note that the photo prints are awsome and borderless, but drinks ink for lunch in photo mode.
What do you primarily use it for? Printing, most likely? Then buy a cheap, reliable printer like the HP Deskjet 5150. For less than $100 it has crisp, fast printing and uses ink like a miser. I've yet to replace the cartridges going on six months now, and I do alot of printing and photo reproduction. I have owned lots of printers and this one is the bomb as far as value, speed and ink usage goes and the photo prints are as good as any out there.
Buy a decent scanner that doubles as your copier (say a HP scanjet 3300, also less than $100) and you're money ahead. If you have a checking account at the local bank you can probably get free faxes. I usually send two or three faxes a month, for free, for keeping aminimum balance at the bank, saving me the extra expense of a seperate fax machine.
Remember, the copier manufacturers GIVE the machine away to get you to purchase THEIR cartridges. The HP Deskjet 5150 is by FAR the best at ink utilisation I have ever owned. I highly recommend it.
Printer cartrages supposedly come as the retail ones do.
PERFECT SO FAR.
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So, now the question is... Do you like me giving you the somewhat detailed version of my story, or would you rather just have the facts?
I would recommend the visioneer 9450USB scanner or similar device for scanning if your main purpose is copying. The automatic document feed is a real time saver and combined with any printer you have a good copier. You must turn your PC on to copy unlike with a 4 in 1 device via paperport software which is easy to use.
I signed up for a fax service and got a seperate fax number and have incoming and outgoing faxes by email which works very well. I can attach TIF, JPG, PDF, DOC, HTML, RTF & TXT as outgoing faxes. PDF is probably the best format for outgoing faxes and the visioneer 9450USB came bundled with the full version of Adobe Acrobat 5.0 for creating PDF's.
Printing onto CD's is a great feature on some of the new printers. No longer do you have to send out CD's that look unprofessional simply print them with your logo and business detail and problem solved. I can recommend the Canon i865 for this purpose or perhaps the next model up if you want a full blown photo printer.
Only reason I can see for going 4-1 is if space is at a premium and if the capital outlay is significant less compared with seperate devices. It's more difficult to shop for seperate but I am now happy with my setup.
A company called Inke have developed an auto refilling system for HP cartridges. This is good news for the consumer and will hopefully be the begining of the end for overpriced HP ink cartridges. HP have responded by saying users risk failure rates of up to 30 percent if they use an ink refill device praised in local media reports. Inke marketing vice-president Christina Tay said that the source of the 30 percent claim did not include an Inke machine in its failure rate test. I have a HP450C A0 printer and I for one will be buying the Inke refill sytem.
Ed^