Best All-in-one printers?

October 24, 2007 10:10 AM

I just need an all-in-one printer that will copy, print and scan. Don't need fax really. This is for home use. I currently have an Epson CX4600, actually it's the 2nd one in 3 years. The first one died before the warranty was up, so they sent me a new one and I sent the old one back. Now this one won't print or copy. I've tried all of the trouble shooting things. Epson says I have to buy a new one. I dont want another Epson.
posted by sandra194 to technology (17 comments total)

I've had two HP all-in-ones. They worked well. THe current one is a slight old C3180. My only complaint is the HP ink is expensive and the cartridges seem to have less ink with every new model year. But the quality for such a cheap printer is great.
posted by GuyZero at 10:15 AM on October 24, 2007

I wanted to get away from expensive inkjet cartridges, so I did a bit of research and found generally good reviews for the Brother 7820N. It does have a fax, also, though. I bought a factory refurbished unit with full factory warranty on ebay It's been working great since I got it about two months ago.
posted by wsg at 10:18 AM on October 24, 2007

My HP 750psc (that's print-scan-copy) has done me right for a few years now.
posted by Rykey at 10:20 AM on October 24, 2007

I just booted our Epson CX4600 to the curb as well. I think in the two years we owned that steaming heap it worked once.

I replaced it last week with the HP Photosmart C4280 All-in-One (on sale for something like $80) and it's worked wonderfully. I've been pretty surprised by the color quality for such a cheap printer.
posted by Mamapotomus at 10:29 AM on October 24, 2007

I have a HP officejet 5510 and it works great - it does have fax capability, though. It is a printer, fax, copier and scanner and handles fairly bulky printing/copying jobs well.
posted by Sk4n at 10:31 AM on October 24, 2007

Seconding the Brother 7820N. I bought on for the small business I worked for and it worked great with no problems. When I needed an all-in-one for home a few months ago, I bought another 7820N without hesistation.
posted by disaster77 at 10:31 AM on October 24, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks so much guys!
posted by sandra194 at 10:42 AM on October 24, 2007

I just got a Brother MFC665CW. I've only had it a couple months, but I'm happy with it so far. It networks wirelessly, which was a big must-have for me. Inkjet, if you can't stand that, but I don't print all that much, so I don't mind.

I scanned 90 old pictures with it a couple weeks ago and I'm very happy with the scan quality.
posted by rusty at 10:47 AM on October 24, 2007

i have a canon pixma MP500. i'm pretty happy with it. it's inkjet, but that's fine by me.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 11:37 AM on October 24, 2007

We've been happy with the Canon PIXMA MP530 Office All-In-One Photo Printer with Fax for my husband's small business. Got it at Amazon for about $150 6 months ago. We've never used the fax (which you don't care about anyway) but everything else has worked well.
posted by MsElaineous at 12:36 PM on October 24, 2007

I don't have any first hand experience with them yet, but I've heard and read very good things about Kodak's new line of inkjet printers.

They're a little more expensive to buy, about $130 (street price) for the low-end all-in-one like you want, but the ink cartridges are dirt cheap. Unfortunately, they're new and only available in a handful of places right now, like Office Depot or Walmart's online store.
posted by 14580 at 12:41 PM on October 24, 2007

I was a fan of HP all in ones until I brought mine to the UK (from the US). I bought new cartridges here and they don't work. Turns out HP region codes their cartridges. Very irritating to pay so much for a cartridge and not find out until it is opened and installed (and un-returnable) that it won't work because of a software lock. I suggest Canon.
posted by cosmac at 12:56 PM on October 24, 2007

I recommend the laser-based brother units. Solid, work great with both Macs and PCs, wireless networking available, but optional.
posted by Wild_Eep at 1:09 PM on October 24, 2007

I've been using the Samsung SCX-4200 laser printer/scanner/copier. Dead easy to use, no problems, loved it.
posted by poissonrouge at 1:45 PM on October 24, 2007

I'm thirding the Canon MPxxx series. I have an MP530 and it's been a fantastic "dishwasher" (AIO).

Pros:
- It's very conservative with ink. I just replaced my first cartridge [text black] and I've owned it for close to a year. We usually print and make copies at least a couple times a week, though not huge jobs. I've done 10+ 4x6 photo prints on it too.
- Photo quality very, very good. It can't quite compete with the highest quality online print companies, but it easily rivals Walgreens, etc. Excellent if you just print an occasional digital photo and aren't running dozens of them through it. More economical than other photo printers.
- Logical design, not prone to silly malfunctions [like most HPs of this price range]
- Scanning works beautifully. Actually, my primary reason for buying this was the nice ADF scanner - I use it to backup all of my important papers, invoices, receipts, etc into a document management application. This scanner makes it cake, a painless task
- Can use generic ink. I just bought my first set of refills (though I don't need them yet, except for that one black tank) from abcink.com. I got 2 whole refills (10 cartridges - 2 of each color + blacks) for $23 with free shipping. Most other brands won't allow generic inks to work in the printer at all.

Cons:
- Though it can use generic ink, you have to take the tiny electronic chip out of the original Canon tank and reinsert it into the replacement. No big deal, and a small price to pay (again, I paid $23 for 10 cartridges compared to probably $200 for that many Canon cartridges)
- It's a bit large, but all the ones like this are


Honestly I can't recommend it enough. I work in IT and have set up dozens of AIOs like this, mostly HPs. I've seen how tremendously bad most of them are. I did my research thoroughly when I bought my Canon and haven't been disappointed. I've been to recommending Canons to users in my office as well, and we've had no problems from them.

Bonus: Buy.com is having a sale on the MP530 right now! It's $135 with free shipping - GREAT deal!!
posted by sprocket87 at 5:38 AM on October 25, 2007

I also have and love a Canon MPxxx. (Although I'm not brave enough to use generic ink like sprocket87).
posted by srt19170 at 10:44 AM on October 25, 2007

Re: generic ink - I've used it in previous [Canon] printers with good success. It's worth the risk of spending $10 on a whole set of refills, considering you're lucky to get one Canon color for that price!
posted by sprocket87 at 11:11 AM on October 25, 2007