Question about Printers (ALL IN ONE) Laser Jet??
by admin on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 | 3 Comments
I am looking for the best deal preferrably around 0-400. I am hoping for all in ones, Laser, color, possibly able to print double sided, and must be able to print on Legal size. I am not sure the difference in brands. It is for my home office so it will be used fairly frequently. There are so many brands….any advice on a specific model or at least any brands i should avoid?
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The consumer website below (Consumer Search) collects and consolidates reviews for all types of products and makes recommendations based on their analysis of various reviews. The link below is for their latest report on laser multifunction printers (last updated in January 2010):
http://www.consumersearch.com/multifunction-printer-reviews/laser-mfps
Here is their report on all types of multifunction printers (including inkjet):
http://www.consumersearch.com/multifunction-printer-reviews
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You may also want to look into Consumer Reports…the last time they reviewed all-in-one printers was in their November 2009 issue (they also did a review on a wide spectrum of printers in their December 2009 issue). They also publish a yearly "Electronics Buying Guide" which includes printers. Both of these (the magazine and the Electronics Buying Guide) should be available at your local public library.
Or, for $5.95/month (auto-renewing, but you can cancel at any time), you can subscribe to their online version, which offers a full ratings/report on many types of printers (examples/links below):
All-in-one printer ratings:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/computers-internet/printers/all-in-one-printer-ratings/ratings-overview.htm
Their overall printer guide (with Overview, Ratings & Reliability, Recommended, Buying Advice, and Price and Shop sections):
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/computers-internet/printers/index.htm
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In addition, Castle Ink (the company I work for) has posted a guide to what to look for when purchasing an all-in-one printer:
http://www.castleink.com/_a-AllInOnePrinters.html
Hope this helps,
Kerry
Walk into an Office Depot. Look at the HP printers. In our experience, it’s been best to LOOK at, and grope the printers. Get a feel for the size, and how the buttons look and feel, and the paper trays, and like that. Does it FEEL sturdy enough? Will it fit the space where you want it to sit? Take a tape measure with you! Important!
Write down the names of the two or three model numbers fitting your price range. Walk over to the print cartridge area, and NOTE THE PRICE OF REFILLS, and prepared to be shocked, of course.
Then, go home, and look up the two or three model numbers, finding ratings and reviews in places like cnet.com, eopinions.com, and pcmag.com …to find any shortcomings. (Compare your measurements to where the printer’s gonna sit, of course!)
With all that done, you should be able to make an intelligent choice.
I am partial to HP laser printers. They have been around for many years, and I consider them to be workhorses, and built to last. With that said, the only thing I want to point out, when you have an all- in- one, if one component goes out, it makes the all-in one capability rather moot. You end up making do, with a product that is only "half" as usable as before. Sure they save space, but consider if you really need all the features of an all in one… scanner, fax machine, photo printer, etc. If you need a scanner for business, and scan multi-page documents, go for the higher capacity auto-feeder. It will save you a lot of time. Most printers will handle legal size without buying an extra tray, as long as there is a manual feed tray in addition to the regular paper tray. If you need to print documents with both letter and legal, you can feed the legal thru the manual feed tray, while keeping the loadable paper storage filled with letter size. (or visa versa) I keep legal paper in the big storage tray,and keep my manual feeder tray loaded with letter size.