All-in-one vs 1 printer + 1 scanner

crazycat said:

I gave away my all in one printer, scanner and copier. Should i buy 1 printer and 1 scanner or should i buy another all in one? I am intrested in quality not what i can do or space.

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If you care more about quality you would do better with a seperate printer and scanner.

crazycat said:

I gave away my all in one printer, scanner and copier. Should i buy 1 printer and 1 scanner or should i buy another all in one? I am intrested in quality not what i can do or space.

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I'm just going through the same thought process, as I've a HP All-in-one (2175 IIRC) the printers fine, but the scanner's developed some streaking across the glass on the inside. It's useless now, for full page scans.

Here's my thoughts.

I've found that the all-in-one's great for quick photo-copying, but actually that's about it for me.

You generally can't make use of the new USB>Network hubs or something like the Airport express with it's USB printer port, as they don't support all-in-one printers. They will support a separate USB printer and scanner though, which could be handy if you have more than one machine. This is what I'm interested in, I wouldn't have to have the desktop powered up, just to share-printer/scanner.

The current generation of scanners use a low-power light system, which means they're powered directly from the USB port, so no separate power brick required. Obviously the printer will need the power point, but at least you won't need an extra power-point if you go from an all-in-one, to a separate printer/scanner.

Danksi said:

You generally can't make use of the new USB>Network hubs or something like the Airport express with it's USB printer port, as they don't support all-in-one printers. They will support a separate USB printer and scanner though, which could be handy if you have more than one machine. This is what I'm interested in, I wouldn't have to have the desktop powered up, just to share-printer/scanner.

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When I had our AIO connected to the AE, I didn't have a problem with the print function being shared. Scanning was a pain with the software, so I had to unplug it from the AE and into my PB and run a hardware based scan.

We have an HP 5510 or something like that for an AIO - what did/do you have?

If you do get an AIO, do not get the Lexmark X3350.

It is the worst printer I ever used. It is really slow, and I could not get it to share with AE or by hooking it up to my W2K server.

If you go with Epson's nicer All-in-Ones, they have excellent printers and scanners in them. I've got an RX 500, which is a little old now, but when I got it for $250 it was the equivalent of the R300 in print quality ($180 at the time) and the scanner was the 3200 or something like that ($149 at the time).

I just bought a Pixma MP500 All in one. I'm happy with my canon printer and scanner, but I wanted to have a second printer and I figured I'd save space with an all in one. I actually haven't had time to take it out of the box, though. If you PM me in a week I can give you a review.

I prefer my peripherals to be separate.
If one function in an AIO machine breaks such that you need to send it away for repair, you are out of both scanner and printer. If you have separate machines you will at least have one machine up and running.
Same thing if you want to upgrade for example the scanner. You can keep your printer and thereby save some money.
Still, I am sure you will be happy regardless if you get an AIO or you choose separate machines. 🙂