Multipurpose printer/scanner recommendations?

[ravenvii]

My mother is looking for a multipurpose printer/scanner for her office. She'd like one that's fast-printing, and she plans to get a digital camera. so if it can print nice pictures, that'd be great. Of course, it has to be OS X-friendly, as she uses a Mac.

And on a side note, I'm wondering if you plug a printer/scanner into an AirPort basestation, will you be able to both print and scan with Bonjour? Or am I better off with a ethernet-based printer/scanner?

 

[iHacker]

My mother is looking for a multipurpose printer/scanner for her office. She'd like one that's fast-printing, and she plans to get a digital camera. so if it can print nice pictures, that'd be great. Of course, it has to be OS X-friendly, as she uses a Mac.

I have a HP PSC 1610 all-in-one printer, copier and, scanner. I would suggust this printer to anyone looking for an all in one. It also works well with HP photo paper. You can buy it from Apple HERE .

 

[dcv]

I have an HP PSC 1215 printer/scanner/copier - allegedly the world's smallest all-in-one solution (so it claims on the box anyway).

Print quality for text is very good, in both black and colour. I can't really comment on photo printing since I've only tried to print one picture, which was on the day that i bought it and it wasn't a great quality photo to start with (taken with the camera on my mobile phone), plus I was printing from a slow windows machine! I bought this particular model to use for occasional printing/copying because I work from home. I don't know if it's a good model to purchase for regular photo printing, since that's not what I'm using it for, but I do recommend it for general text printing and copying. It is very reasonably priced - about £75 in the UK, which I think is very good value for money considering its scanning/copying functions.

I have mine connected to my Airport Express and works great wirelessly.

It took about 5 mins to set up with my Powerbook. Compare that to about 45 mins of it installing god knows what on my windows laptop!! So yes, it is very Mac friendly

There are several models of HP PSC available and I'm assuming that the higher the number the better the printer so the one that iHacker suggested might work out better for you. I just wanted a fairly cheap solution for very occasional use.

- hope this helps -

ps: i LOVE your avatar!!

 

[ravenvii]

Got an slightly older PSC 1210. Seems to work well. Not that great with photos, but she doesn't mind buying a dedicated photo printer. Thanks guys!

 

[iHacker]

Atleast you went with HP i really like them but not their computers.

 

[CalfCanuck]

Laser vs Inkjet question

One key issue is the high cost per page with inkjet, (which would, however) allow for color images.

If she plans on printing a lot of B & W text pages for her work, then she should probably think about a B&W laser all in one (such as the Brother models). While inkjets have many nice qualities, I've seen so many articles talking about buying a cheap laser for volume text printing to cut the high cost of ink cartridges...

She could always get a cheap inkjet printer solely for color photos, or even have them printed from an online commercial digital imaging service.

 

[jywv8]

I have a HP PSC 1610 all-in-one printer, copier and, scanner. I would suggust this printer to anyone looking for an all in one. It also works well with HP photo paper. You can buy it from Apple HERE .

I have had this printer for a few months now. Here are my impressions:

Pros: Compact size, nice look/design, easy to setup and use, good price. Text printing is fast and very quiet (compared to my old Epson C82). I like the front-loading paper tray.

Cons: Scan quality is ok, but not great (does not compare with a mid-quality, stand-alone scanner). I believe that for photo printing you are supposed to swap out the black ink cartridge for some sort of other cartidge. Copier function hasn't really worked for me (never picks up small text, see my previous comment on scan quality).

Personally, I haven't tried any real photo printing, as I have a different printer for that. I bought the HP for printing out emails and stuff. I'm very happy with it.

 

[iHacker]

I have had this printer for a few months now. Here are my impressions:

Pros: Compact size, nice look/design, easy to setup and use, good price. Text printing is fast and very quiet (compared to my old Epson C82). I like the front-loading paper tray.

Cons: Scan quality is ok, but not great (does not compare with a mid-quality, stand-alone scanner). I believe that for photo printing you are supposed to swap out the black ink cartridge for some sort of other cartidge. Copier function hasn't really worked for me (never picks up small text, see my previous comment on scan quality).

Personally, I haven't tried any real photo printing, as I have a different printer for that. I bought the HP for printing out emails and stuff. I'm very happy with it.

I got lucky i bought it with my mac so i got a 100 doller rebate so 30 for the printer was a wonderfull deal!

 

[iHacker]

Uhh... I went on Cnet and it got a 5.6 for user review... You may want to return lots of comments say works for first year and then breaks.

"Broke after one year of use. Carriage jam errors and poor printing when it does work. I tried cleaning and lubricating it, but didn't work. Don't buy this printer if you want it to last longer than a year. Totally defective. Was always an HP fan in the past, but may be time to move on."

"I would never recommend this to anyone. HP usually makes good products but i think they failed on this one. It jams all the time and i can only feed one paper at a time. Now it has an error message that wont go away."

Here is the Link.

 

[jywv8]

Uhh... I went on Cnet and it got a 5.6 for user review... You may want to return lots of comments say works for first year and then breaks.

"Broke after one year of use. Carriage jam errors and poor printing when it does work. I tried cleaning and lubricating it, but didn't work. Don't buy this printer if you want it to last longer than a year. Totally defective. Was always an HP fan in the past, but may be time to move on."

"I would never recommend this to anyone. HP usually makes good products but i think they failed on this one. It jams all the time and i can only feed one paper at a time. Now it has an error message that wont go away."

Here is the Link.

[original reply removed]

Sorry -- thought you were replying to me, but the buyer of the 1610. My bad.