Networked Scan/Copy/print advice

[mrman5917]

Hello there,

I am looking for a networked laser printer that has the following:

Needed:

• Automatic sheet feeder
• Network scanning (either to file over the network or to email over internet)
• Faxing
• Mac Compatibility (obviously)

Would Like but not entirely necessary:

• Color
• Duplex feeder
• Toner that doesn't cost as much as the printer would be nice

I have been looking at the HP Color LaserJet 2820 and 2840, but I am just not sure that is the printer for me and my wife's needs. She is a teacher and gets a very limited number of copies each month and would like to supplement that with a home solution. We are looking at about 1000-2000 copies a month, plus printing and scanning needs. She scans all of her worksheets to PDF for management and tagging, but the little HP 1160 laser printer we have just isn't cutting the printing needs and manual scanning of hundreds of pages a month is getting really old.

If any of you have a suggestion i would love the input. I would hate to lay down $900 for an HP if there is a Canon, Brother, or other printer out there that will do it for less. thanks in advance.

 

[Cave Man]

I'm pretty sure you'll only be able to network print - not any of the other functions. You can connect it to a USB port on a Mac and turn on USB printer sharing to share printing services, but all other functions will only be do-able from the computer to which the device is connected (unless things have changed recently).

 

[mrman5917]

I was chatting with HP sales and they said that the 2820/2840 will do a scan to email, which is more than adequate for most of our scanning needs, which will almost always be documents.

I am hesitant of laying down nearly $1000 if people have had problems getting it to work or if a feature like scan to email is more of a hassle than its worth. I suppose that if I have to plug in for scanning it wouldn't be the end of the world, but it wouldn't be the most productive solution either.

Thanks for the response though Cave Man. I appreciate the input.

 

[Cliff3]

I use a Belkin Network USB hub to access my Epson flatbed scanner over my network. My guess would be that there can only be one active user of the peripheral connected to this device, but it is still an option that might work for you.

 

[mrman5917]

Thanks for the suggestion. I talked to an old work buddy o mine and he suggested that I look what Brother had to offer. It is looking like the MFC-9840cdw from Brother will meet all of my requirements, and isn't too badly priced either. Even the consumables are decently priced.

Thanks again for your help.