Home Office All in 1 Printer

[cmartin]

I think it's finally time to retire my HP3100. Anyone recommendations on a decent laser printer/fax/copier? I havent looked in a long time and it looks like ~$150 is the entry point now, times have changed. Wifi sounds great but color is not required. Low consumables cost key, not interested in dealing with ink cartridges.

Any experience with Brother? Specs and price look good on paper.

[gottspd]

Canon's MF4880 is great. I like it so much that I bought one for home and one for my office. It has wifi.

[Fritz]

I have the HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus and really like it. It's a bit bigger than some, but for a true home office it does everything I need. The large ink capacity ensures that I can print a crapload between refills. Plus with the legal size bed scanner and feed scanner it allows for easy capturing of every format I deal with. I don't know if they make that model anymore, but it's replacement is likely just as good. Also, check out B&H photo in NY for great prices on printers and ink.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

[Dr K]

Do you need to print from iOS device? What is your monthly printing load? Spending an extra $150-200 for the printer might save you that much every quarter in toner if your load is high. The HP LaserJet Pro 400 MFP (M425dn) is a networked printer but doesn't have internal WiFi (hooks to your ethernet - is one more cable an issue or is the printer very far from a network drop?). But it's inexpensive to run since it takes 80A or 80X toner, which lasts a long time. Does 2-sided printing, too, and has an optional 500-sheet paper tray if you do a LOT of printing or need to have both plain and letterhead paper loaded.

Another option would be a color inkjet MFP PLUS a high-capacity laser printer. That has the advantage of ability to print color and a backup printer just in case. We actually have a laser low-volume MFP, a high-volume straight laser printer (>20 years old, still going strong), and an inexpensive color inkjet printer, but we've got a lot of room in our home office--I'd recommend the solution above over this.

[HoodPin]

I have the HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus and really like it. It's a bit bigger than some, but for a true home office it does everything I need. The large ink capacity ensures that I can print a crapload between refills. Plus with the legal size bed scanner and feed scanner it allows for easy capturing of every format I deal with. I don't know if they make that model anymore, but it's replacement is likely just as good. Also, check out B&H photo in NY for great prices on printers and ink.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/


X2 on the HP8500 (I think ours is Premium version, with 2nd paper tray, duplex and WIFI). We have one in our home office. Operates via USB, network cable or WIFI. Good ink supply, as mentioned, and also does a nice job with double sided. Also used it to make some "booklets", where it prints 2 pages per sheet, but organizes so the stacked pages can be stapled in the middle and folded. Useful for saving paper on some manuals, etc.

[cmartin]

Thanks, good info.

I think I'm over thinking this as usual. For each review that reads, "great printer" there is another that says "POS".

Thanks for the advice

[jbailey930]

++2 on HP 8500 series. they give you the 'razor' cheaply for blade/in refills! Look for deals from Staples or Office Depot. Sometimes they run trade in deals and that helps get rid of your old device.

[Dr K]

I could have sworn he asked for "laser" printer...

[Jazzbass]

Data point of one: we've had a Brother 8840 all in one for 5 or so years and have been very happy with it. B/W and Brother consumables tend to be cheap. Wifi, scan, copy and fax (which we use every 2 years or so).

[ruffyz]

I'm a huge fan of brother. I have an inkjet multifunction and a color laser both of which have never let me down.

[jbailey930]

I could have sworn he asked for "laser" printer...

yah, but toner cartridges for lasers are butt expensive....

[APKhaos]

We've used them all. Janet's business kills lesser printers and puts consumables cost in sharp focus. The Brother lasers have been terrific rock solid performers at very reasonable prices. Take a look at this one for comparison at $139
http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Printer-MFC7360N-Monochrome-Networking/dp/B004QM99K0

[Dr K]

yah, but toner cartridges for lasers are butt expensive....

Are you serious? Toner for lasers (except the small personal ones) lasts MUCH longer than inkjet, and cost per page for lasers is a fraction of that for inkjets. Why do you think inkjets (and color lasers) are so cheap? HP figured out you can make a killing on the consumables.

I've had back luck with 2 Brother laser printers. They've kept working, but don't print very well after a while. Just my experience, and obviously others on the board have done better, but I won't be expanding my data set there...

[Lupin..the..3rd]

I've never had good luck with these "all in one" devices. Been through two or three of them over the years. They do several different tasks, but poorly, and the operating system drivers suck and are seldom updated as new OS versions are released. Build quality always feels chintzy too.

Machines that have served me well are HP laserjet 1300n printer. Epson Perfection 4870 flat bed scanner. Fax? Who sends those anymore?

yah, but toner cartridges for lasers are butt expensive....
Yeah, in 1994. Today they're cheap and last a lot longer than overpriced inkjet cartridges.

[jbailey930]

ok, ok, my data point is for office sized printers with large cartridges. cost were about 2 cents a page. replacement toner for color lasers were quoted $1k.......


Yeah, in 1994. Today they're cheap and last a lot longer than overpriced inkjet cartridges.[/QUOTE]

[smdubovsky]

Cartridges for my wife's HP color laser is ~$70ea (off brands or refills are cheaper.) Still only a couple cents per page. Color toner is the same cost as black (but you typ use a lot more per page if printing pics.) Uses four separate CYMK cartridges so only need to replace the empty one.

[Cliff Claven]

i've been very happy with all the brother laser printers that i've purchased over the past five years--five for the office (two in color--one color duplex); two for home; and three all-in-ones. all are still going strong with zero issues. all were low-priced to purchase and are relatively inexpensive to operate. have not been as happy with the HP printers over the same time period.

[Dr K]

Cliffy,
Why do you need so many printers at home?

My Brother experience was all printers produced MORE than 5 years ago so perhaps they've improved, but my HP experience (excellent) is up-to-date.

[APKhaos]

i've been very happy with all the brother laser printers that i've purchased over the past five years--five for the office (two in color--one color duplex); two for home; and three all-in-ones. all are still going strong with zero issues. all were low-priced to purchase and are relatively inexpensive to operate. have not been as happy with the HP printers over the same time period.

^ THIS! The MFC 9560 CDW was our first and is still going strong. Dead nuts reliable, low consumables cost, great color quality, and great software. Janet prints a ton of paper and scans a ton of docs, and this thing handles it without a single issue. It has a truly reliable multi sheet original feeder that will happily handle a stack of 50 pages and feed them without a screwup.

[cmartin]

Thanks again for all the info. I got my new Canon 4880 setup last night. Not the smallest unit but I'm impressed so far. wifi makes it dead simple to setup and Win7 has no issues so far.