# suggestions for all-in-one printer?



## dimamo1983 (Jun 16, 2003)

I'm thinking about getting one of those for my home to save some space. Any suggestions/good/bad stories? I'm looking for something under $200.

In terms of printings, I'm not very picky... I don't do photo printing, so as long as it's decent and the ink doesn't cost arm and leg (yea, right...)

For scanning, again, as long as it scans in text/pictures decently and has decent OCR software to convert text docs into .doc/.rtf formats, I'm happy with it.

I'm not planning on doing a lot of copying, but it would be nice once in a while. Same thing with faxing... I think I would like to have the feature just in case I ever need it.

I'm leaning towards HP, but I'm still pretty open minded.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks!

Dima


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## smeegle (Jan 18, 2004)

This is a thread that I posted some time ago http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?p=2078699#post2078699 The products may not still be available but the advice still applies.


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## noobie777 (Apr 17, 2005)

HP PSC series is the best All in One.

(never go with canon, they do not last at more than a month and the ink is too expensive)


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## 4steve44 (May 4, 2004)

dimamo1983 said:


> I'm thinking about getting one of those for my home to save some space. Any suggestions/good/bad stories? I'm looking for something under $200.
> 
> In terms of printings, I'm not very picky... I don't do photo printing, so as long as it's decent and the ink doesn't cost arm and leg (yea, right...)
> 
> ...


Before buying any All In One go online and read the reviews. Here would be a good place to start http://www.download.com/ also here http://www.cnet.com/


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

my advice is only get when if you hardly ever print. Most to all of them have tiny ink cartridges. If you get a business printer the cartridges are 3 times the size and cost the same. Both my sister and mom have all-in-one machines and my dad and I have regular printers. We save a ton of money compared to them when it comes to ink(and cost of the printer).


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## jjb (Dec 9, 2001)

I realize this thread is nearly a month old but I thought I would offer my own experiance and review.
I have always liked the HP all in ones and have heard and read good things about them. Prior to Christmas this past year I decided that is what I wanted for a Christmas gift for myself  Of course I told my wife she wouldn't have to bother getting me much else  

For anyone on a limited budget you may want to consider doing what I did. I looked at and priced the models I liked at the local retailers and pretty much decided the HP psc2175 fit my needs. I think it may now be a discontinued model and prior to Christmas they had taken a price drop to about $200.
I was a little weary of doing this, but after a little net shopping I purchased a factory refurbished 2175 off of ebay. It was delivered to my door in a factory sealed box for under $90 saving me well over $100 over the store prices. It came with software, ink cartridges, usb cable and a full 1 year HP factory warranty. If the box had not been marked factory refurbished I would have never know the difference. I am very happy with the product and the $$$ I saved  
The 2175 is a 3 in 1 and does not have fax function. My old scanner had fax and in 4 years I never used it.
The scanner and copy features do an excellent job and is far superior over my old scanner features. Its OCR program is nearly flawless and one feature I really like that my previous scanner did not have is that it automatically converts documents to pdf. files for email attachments.
I have yet to use it for photo printing, but that is only because I really just haven't had or taken the time for my photography interests. The 2175 uses a 2 cartridge system which allows you to use a photo ink cartridge in place of the black ink cartridge which gives you a 6 ink system for higher quality photos.
The 2175 is also a stand alone unit, meaning it can be used without a computer, just another feature for those considering all in ones.

My only complaints:
I have only used the SD card slot but the card reader seems rather slow.
The HP software conflicts with my Kodak camera software, I am sure if I took the time this is something someone here could help me correct, but for now I live with it.
Transferring pics to my computer thru the Kodak dock is probally at least twice as fast as using the HPs card reader, but for reasons unknown to me my computer will only recognize the HP as a transfer device so for now I live with the slow transfers. The thing I find strange about this is that the reader of the HP opens the Kodak software to make the transfer???  ???

The CD creator software included with the HP in my opinion also is slow and the only time I tried adding music to a CD slideshow it didn't work.................if I recall I had music but no pics  so I just stick with the Nero software that came with my burner.

There you have it, jjb's experience of purchasing an all in one and a quick revirew of the HP psc2175.

jjb


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## foxtrotsam2 (Apr 1, 2004)

I bought a HP all in 1, 1300 series and it works just fine at least for my purposes. Paid $230 Canadian, went further down the street next morning and seen the exact same model at Compu Smart for $179, my own eagerness, you know?? BUt its worked fine for me, the inkjets run at $80 for both color and black, not bad. I used it for photo prints with the glossy paper and it worked great, the OCR software leaves something to be desired, but I don't have anything to compare it with, the scans are not that clear for OCR editing and I had problems with it, maybe my fault tho, wondering if there is any OCR software out there that may be better. 

But like I said, I'm satisfied, and will be keeping around for sometime, its currently serving my purpose for the work i do.


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## LauraMJ (Mar 18, 2004)

jjb said:


> I realize this thread is nearly a month old but I thought I would offer my own experiance and review.
> I have always liked the HP all in ones and have heard and read good things about them. Prior to Christmas this past year I decided that is what I wanted for a Christmas gift for myself  Of course I told my wife she wouldn't have to bother getting me much else
> 
> For anyone on a limited budget you may want to consider doing what I did. I looked at and priced the models I liked at the local retailers and pretty much decided the HP psc2175 fit my needs. I think it may now be a discontinued model and prior to Christmas they had taken a price drop to about $200.
> ...


Thanks for the information! I'm basically going the same route you are, I am looking at a HP G55 on ebay. I've used one before, and here is my point for posting, lol. The G55 is an older, discontinued model, however, at the time I was using one, I found out by searching the HP site that Windows XP came with generic HP drivers that will run one (they are plug-n-play), and a lot of the older deskjet series, without needing to install the software. In fact, the software that comes with these older ones are NOT compatible with XP, and one needs to either use the generic drivers, or one should contact HP and order the NEW software with the NEW drivers compatible with XP.

As I read your post and you described having some problems, I wondered if this driver thing might not be the cause of them? You don't mention it, or if you had Windows XP, so I thought I would throw it out there.

I am looking at that G55 all-in-on on ebay, and if I get it, I will use the generic drivers while I am waiting on the new CD from HP


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## spurkbik201 (May 18, 2005)

How much memory does your PC have? If it does not have 384MB or greater, forget HP. Their recent HP all-in-ones have this 1GB, yes 1GB, software/bloatware to install. Their specs said it would work on a 128MB machine. I had twice that much. After three failed software attempts and hours with HP tech support (I feel sorry for these guys), the printer went back to the store. At my local Staples store, the rep there said lot of people returning HP printers (wonder why?). Bought a Lexmark X6170 at under $200 with less than a 100MB software install which have been happy with for several months.


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## jjb (Dec 9, 2001)

> Their recent HP all-in-ones have this 1GB, yes 1GB, software/bloatware to install.


I find that very strange................
My computer is rather old by todays standards and only has 256MB of memory.......................no problem from a performance standpoint with the HP all in one I mentioned earlier. And my HP file reads 334MB..............yeah a big file but no where near the 1 GB you claim.
Add up the properties of a stand alone printer and scanner program and see what you come up with for size. If newer software didn't require more resources..............why would we need bigger and faster computers?????

jjb


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## coderitr (Oct 12, 2003)

I'll never buy another HP printer until they stop with all the bloatware they try to install. On my last reinstall I managed to stop the installations before they started so I got *only* the printer driver. Go Lexmark.


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## Space Cowboy (Apr 19, 2005)

I agree about the software Coderitr but you can't beat the price.

I just got a HP1315 all in one for 35 dollors after rebate .. delievered

I couldn't buy new ink for my old printer for that cheap.

I did the same thing and only installed the driver. Don't know if I'll need anymore to scan or copy yet.. Haven't tried it.

Overall I like this new HP.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

An all-in-one unit isn't going to come with great OCR software. You'll probably have to purchase it separately.


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## NotAGeek (May 9, 2005)

I have the HP PSC 500 (discontinued). It cost around $200 on sale two years ago at Staples. Funny thing was that it never performed as well at home as the display model did at the store. The salesman ran and showed me a printed scan of a blister packed store item. I was sold. The print quality was astounding! It equalled that of a camera shot. Depth and color were brilliant. I took it home and tried to put it to use right away, but the drivers that came with it didn't work right. I had to download the latest drivers from HP's website. The first number of scans turned out respectable images but after that they began to degrade. It was running out of yellow ink. I then left the printer idle for three months before refilling the cartridge with yellow ink. That was a mistake. First off when the cartridge is out of ink and left idle the head will dry out. And If you continue to use a printer when the cartridge is out of ink it will eventually destroy the cartridge. I refilled it with yellow ink and ran a clean procedure of the print head. Once again the images were acceptable but not the quality I expected. Inkjet printers produce the highest quality images, but they must be used frequently to maintain optimum print head function and they constantly have to be refilled. They also run out of yellow ink quickly and then cyan, magenta and black in that order. The cartridges are also ridiculously exspensive. Why, because theyre proprietary. So I refill mine with quality ink. It's messy, but it saves money. Black on white prints on this were excellent, but the ink would run out too quickly. 

If your a moderate user a PSC will be sufficient for your needs. But if you intend to use one for printing more than 30 to 50 copies a day, for longevity, it won't do. Inkjet cartridges are notoriously subject to frequent failure. Let's say you buy a Lexmark PSC and use it frequenty, you'll soon find that you will have spent more money on cartridge replacement over the lifetime of the PSC than you paid for the unit itself. The manufacturers know this and set a relatively moderate price on their printers accordingly. They make the bulk of their profits on inkjet cartridges not on their printers. HP is a solid and respected company, but that doesn't mean they haven't produced some lemons over the years. They seem to have been producing so many different models over the years it's hard to see how they can maintain any kind of quality at such a pace. Lets say you buy a new car. Youre going to keep it. So theres a period of time where you work the bugs out in it, and so does the manufacturer. But with inkjet printer manufaturers they make a printer model and immediately move on to another without bothering to answer consumer complaints or problems. They simply produce a new model and move on. They're made to be disposable, not repairable. Just like Tv's and Radio's, when they go bad, you throw them away. If you go to their websites for your particular model you will see: Sorry but we no longer maintain support for your particular model of printer (other than perhaps the driver). 

I can remember back in the 60s when our Engineering firm received its first Xerox copy machine. It was more than half the size of a Volkswagen, and a wonder to behold. Goodbye carbon paper! This thing could crank out copies minute after minute, day after day. But where is the Xerox giant today? Oh its still around, but it was left behind in the dust of other companies innovations - such as HP and Lexmark and others. Would you believe that 3M and Minolta were once a serious competitor to Xerox. And where is the AB Dick Corporation, once the worlds largest producer of facsimile (copy) machines - Gone like the wind. Lexmark was once the printer division of IBM which they spun off in 1991 as so much dead wood. But alas, I digress, which I have a terrible habit of doing.

If you want quality, reliability and service maintenance, but not necessarily photo quality color prints, then go with an HP laser color printer. The downside is the toner cartridges for these are very expensive, but they produce more prints than inkjets do. Besides you can have them refilled at a fraction of the cost of a new one. The prices have gone down on these dramatically. You can find a new one at your local office store at a reduced price because theyre being discontinued. Or you can find good used units on Ebay, where I found mine. The one I have is a black on white laser printer that has a 35,000 print life cycle per month that produces 7,000 to 9,000 prints per cartridge change. For my purpose thats overkill maybe, far more than Ill ever need - but thats called reliabilty - which translates into savings. Also the toner doesnt dry up - duh! And to think that this printer is already 5 years old and still going strong. Try to say that about an inkjet printer.

As to PSC all in ones? Lets face it, they cant do all functions equally well. With multiple functions come multiple problems. As printers they do reasonably well. Personally, I have the HP black and white laser printer, a standard HP inkjet printer, a standard Visioneer scanner, a Canon photo quality scanner and a Canon photo quality printer - all used or refurbished in excellent condition. Total cash outlay - $450 stretched out over a period of time. Each one does one specific job only for which it was designed, and does it well. If one were to fail, I simply replace only that one unit for another used or refubished one. Never allow yourself to take the failure depreciation hit by buying a new one, unless its on sale.


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