Printer/Copier/Scanner Looking Again

[jparker402]

I am still plodding along with my HP Photosmart 6520, but see the need to buy ink cartridges soon again. This always prompts some soul searching! And prompts the need for some information and suggestions. I guess if I had to prioritize my actual accessory needs, scanning and copying would come in tied for number 1, printing in B&W would be number 2, and printing in color would be a distant number 3. About the only color things that I would really want to print I could probably take to Walgreen's or Walmart and be happy. Now the questions. Can one get a B&W laser printer that copies and scans? Sort of a laser 3-in-1? If there is no such animal at a very reasonable cost, how would I scan and copy? Scan to the computer, and for a copy print back out of the computer to the laser printer? The scan I would wish to do would be of photographs, both B&W and color. And yet another questions: do scanners scan color? I don't remember having scanned anything in color before.

 

[velocityg4]

Yes scanners scan in color. Both on Color and B&W all in ones.

You can get a Brother all in one laser printer. Brother is probably the most reliable laser printer manufacturer. At least for home/small business units. These are the most reliable printers I setup for clients. Issues are rare.

Just one quirk with Brother scanning. Don't have two network connection to your Mac at one time. Such as WiFi + Ethernet connected. For some reason the scanner can't communicate with a Mac which has both connected simultaneously.

HP Lasers are the worst. They frequently drop their connection. Also their driver on Macs has a long time flaw. Where certain Photos and PDFs print incredibly slow on their laser printers, not all but some PDFs/Photos. So, bad that you can be waiting several minutes between pages. Windows can also have this issue depending on if you use the PCL or PS driver. But the Mac only has the bad type. I forget if it is PCL or PS which exhibits this behavior.

Generally the higher end color Brother units with an Automatic Document Feeder have faster scan speeds than cheap B&W units. This can make a big difference if you have a lot of pictures.

If you have a ton of pictures to scan. I'd recommend a dedicated high speed scanner. You can get them used off eBay. Do your scans. Then resell it to get most of your money back.

The Brother MFC-L27XX series would make for good B&W units. I won't say specific units. As they'll have different features like Duplex scanning. Which you can decide if you want for yourself. The basic scanning and printing speed should be about the same between models.

The Brother MFC-L37XX series would make for good Color units. Same disclaimer about the various sub models as the L27XX series.

Now the fun part. Trying to find one in stock with all the features you want. As basically all that's in stock are some cheap printers and expensive junk printers no one wants. As there's a big printer shortage.

 

[MacGizmo]

I gave up inket printers for good a little over a year ago and haven't looked back. I got a relatively inexpensive HP laser printer from BestBuy for $129. I see it now costs a bit more.
It scans color/b&w, copies, and prints quickly. Best part is it works with macOS with no driver installation at all (unless you prefer to use the HP scanning software vs. macOS Image Capture app. I also like how (relatively) small it is compared to most of these all-in-one printers.

I don't miss expensive color ink cartridges that clog constantly and "expire" when they're still half-full. I don't print a ton, so I'm still using the toner cartridge that came with the printer. But I also have a spare cartridge ready to go - which unlike many inkjet cartridges, won't go bad after sitting for a few months.

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[Nhwhazup]

I have had great luck with Canon all in ones. I had a cheap all-in-one ink jet that had very heavy use for 5 years. I was able to buy ink cartridges from Amazon with a 3rd party company really cheap. I bought a Brother laser replacement for my work job and then when I quit that job and gave the printer back, I went back to Canon. I now have a Canon laser all-in-one.

 

[MacDividend]

I've had a great experience with Brother printers over the years, although in college I did sell printers for another company. The Brother MFC-L2710DW Wireless All-In-One Laser Printer seems to fit your needs. If you would like a color printer, there is also this one which is a laser printer or this one which is an inkjet printer. From my experience selling printers and from my own experience, I'd recommend buying a laserjet printer because the ink won't dry out compared to inkjets if you don't print out that often. Also, it's not recommended to buy from third-party companies that say that they work with printers since they may damage your printer.

 

[JimmiebAZ]

I had always used a wired Brother laser printer with my 2013 iMac. I just got a new 24” iMac and the printer is not supported. Looks like there are currently no/few drivers for wired Brother printers. They say use AirPrint or the Brother Print and Scan app from the App Store. Current printer is not wireless and the Print and Scan is worthless. I’m lookin again as well. Does anyone know if AirPrint will support duplex printing on Brother all-in-ones, preferably laser? How about on Canon? Don’t want to play HP’s games of having to have an account and internet connection to print.

 

[MacDividend]

This may be a good resource stating point to look at Airprint printers, "The 6 Best AirPrint Printers - Summer 2021." Brother lists on their website that the Brother MFC-L2710DW works with AirPrint. That is a black and white printer all-in-one laser printer.

 

[johnny51981]

We had a Canon MF644CDW that we just left behind in a move to a different state. I am in the market for a new one, and I'm glad I stumbled on this post.

My issue at the end with our previous Canon, once we upgraded to Big Sur (it could have also been a change in internet provider), we would constantly lose connectivity with the printer. Would have to restart both the printer and the computer that was about to use it (we have multiple Apple devices), reset the printer settings, add the printer back, as well as add the scanner back to the accompanying software. Drivers were always up-to-date as well.

All this to say, I have had hesitation in buying a new printer of any kind because this practice has been frustrating. Is this an avoidable practice? Are there settings that I may not know of, being a fairly new Apple user? Any help would be greatly appreciated, we need a printer and scanner very soon!

 

[JimmiebAZ]

I ended up with a Canon D570 laser/scanner, which is adequate for my needs. Currently using air print and air scan as the usb cable I had was not high speed. I have not gotten a new cable yet, not sure what additional functions it would give me. Also able to print from my iPad.

 

[velocityg4]

We had a Canon MF644CDW that we just left behind in a move to a different state. I am in the market for a new one, and I'm glad I stumbled on this post.

My issue at the end with our previous Canon, once we upgraded to Big Sur (it could have also been a change in internet provider), we would constantly lose connectivity with the printer. Would have to restart both the printer and the computer that was about to use it (we have multiple Apple devices), reset the printer settings, add the printer back, as well as add the scanner back to the accompanying software. Drivers were always up-to-date as well.

All this to say, I have had hesitation in buying a new printer of any kind because this practice has been frustrating. Is this an avoidable practice? Are there settings that I may not know of, being a fairly new Apple user? Any help would be greatly appreciated, we need a printer and scanner very soon!

Brother printers have been excellent for me in that regard. None of my clients have any issues with Brother printers I setup for them.

HP is garbage.

Don’t connect Ethernet and WiFi to a Mac at the same time. That can cause issues with some network printers.