Reviews related to : Multifunction printers
As the title suggests, these printers do much more than print. A built in scanner allows copying and in some cases direct fax. The scanner can then also be used to bring photographs and other sources into your computer for editing.
This has been a long and frustrating review. The first unit was incomplete so it was replaced. The second had several paper jams and then decided ‘cannot detect edge of paper’ was it’s message of choice, so it was replaced so this is unit number three.
I have therefore given it a far more exhaustive test than in normal simple to see if the problems return. So far they have not I suspect that the initial problem unit was a ‘Friday afternoon’ unit. It is 40x30x14cm when closed. The front has a drop down door that you store the paper waiting to be printed on, this increases the 30cm depth by another 20cm. The USB lead and the power leads both enter the unit back right.
A laser AIO has a huge advantage for those needing to print a lot of documents, it always prints at the stated speed. It can copy without the PC being connected and of course the scanner does its work in colour.
The Canon i-Sensys MF4010 is 42x38x30cm and it weights only 12.7kilos. Of course it is creamy grey so may or may not pass the lounge police. Installation is from two different CD’s the driver files etc are on one and these took 50MB of hard disc space. Omni Page (for OCR) and Presto Page Manager together take around 300MB but the whole install is less than five minutes. The print speed is 20PPM and it does this for as long as there is paper in the open tray at the base of the unit.
Anyone needing to print a little, scan a little and copy a little then this small light All In One unit from Lexmark may be the answer you are looking for and with its predominately white colour it may just sneak past the lounge police.
The Lexmark X2650 is 42x30x15cm, add paper into the tray at the rear and that adds 20cm to the last figure the height. Should you also extend the output tray this adds another 13cm to the second figure the depth. Both the extended paper trays are a mid grey colour and there is a matching band in that colour that forms the left and right sides of the unit.
Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to look at a number of multi-function or all –in-one printers from various manufacturers. However this is the first time that the product comes with the Kodak brand.
The Kodak ESP 3 is an all-in-one printer that immediately catches the eye due to its clean-cut appearance. Box shaped with curved edges, and measuring 422 x 298 x 173mm, the combination of matt and reflective black, with a patterned top, certainly gives a stylish look to this piece of kit. As is standard with all-in-one devices, the ESP 3 brings together a printer with a scanner and includes photocopying capabilities.
This is a rather neat looking AIO (all in one) unit. However being black I doubt it will pass the lounge police. However for those making their own decisions only two things matter, quality and speed.
The Epson Stylus SX200 is 44x34x17cm when no paper is inserted and the output tray is collapsed. Insert A4 in the rear and the last figure increases by 15cm and fully extend the paper output tray and the depth increases by 18cm. This is a four ink four cartridge offering and although lots of units print somewhat faster the quality is excellent.
Rather like their cameras I suspect this AIO (All IN One) unit is aimed at the novice and occasional user. While not doing anything special it works reasonably efficiently and perhaps most useful has some acceptable hand holding software.
click to enlarge The Kodak ESP-3 All-in-one printer is 41x33x16cm. However depth (middle figure) increases by 12cm when there is paper in the drop down tray waiting to be printed. All the controls are grouped together to the right of the landscape flat bed. This is a total of seven bar buttons and eight LED's all clearly marked as to their purpose. Mine was black, very un-lounge.
This is a multi function unit (as it has fax) but for me anyway the major selling point is it’s ability to print A4 photo quality borderless images in 68seconds, yes I do mean one minute and eight seconds.
click to enlarge Speed of photo printing has never been that important to me only quality, but when a MFU can print lovely images with great sharpness and depth in this time I wonder why some other units take ten times this long to produce an image. It is quite large at 47x42x21cm and will never pass the lounge police as it is silver grey and matt black. The front edge has 45 buttons several LED's and a 5x4cm TFT display.
This is a small All In One unit, meaning it can scan, copy and print. It has a small TFT screen so it is possible to print images direct from either of the two card slots or even from a USB stick.
This review has not been without it's problems. Initially I got a lot of paper jams, I thought I could see the reason as when the paper was stacked in the paper tray it was very slightly convex, the paper guides however seemed to be fully open. I eventually managed to get another few millimetres and from then on no more jams.
This is a rather squashed looking grey unit, but it does have some surprises, it is an All In One unit, it can print direct onto CD’s and DVD’s and while on printing, in custom mode you get close to 30PPM.
The Canon MP610 is 44x40x18cm the last figure the height increases by around 20cm when paper is waiting to be printed in the vertical rear tray. Although it has the squashed look it is remarkably clean as all the controls are under a lid that also has the 5x4cm TFT display inset into the rear of the cover.
This is a mono laser (all in one) AIO product that is neat, compact and virtually silent. In fact when I first saw it I could not believe it was a AIO because it was so small.
It is 39x32x15cm and that includes the slight protrusion at the back for the power lead. You will need a few centimetres of space above to lift the lid to place items on the flatbed. You need to allow space in front for pages to come out and also access to the small paper tray at the base. When you first switch on there is no great whirring and churning noises, in fact the only way you know it's on is a blue light.
This is a sleek low slung AIO (All In One) unit that without the black front may have just passed the lounge police. However it still is a rather nice unit that does everything rather well.
It is 43x34x15cm the last figure the height increases by 17cm when A4 paper is in the tray at the rear of the unit. The scanner lid opens landscape front to back and to the right of the lid are the only controls a total of eight buttons and some LED's including a simple 1 to 9 counter for copies. You can of course copy either in colour or black without the PC being turned on or even connected to the unit.
This is a multi function unit (MFU) as it has a fax and it also has a wireless phone unit attached to the side. I remember reviewing many units with phones attached but never a wireless one.
It is 36x39x18cm with the phone and it's socket adding 8cm to the 39cm width. The power lead fits at the rear of the left side well behind the phone so needs to further space, note I said power lead as there is no external power brick. The USB cable fits inside the unit and exits at the rear on the right side.
While this may look like just another All In One it does have the odd surprise of two. Certainly the silver grey top and black for everything else is unlikely to pass the lounge police unless he/she is of the Goff persuasion.
The Epson RX585 all-in-one printer is 43x43x19cm but once you put paper in the tray (vertical at the back) this adds 14cm to the last figure the height. Installation is reasonable although it does have several (linked) parts and once started just make a cup of coffee and look in on it a few times.
Multi Function Machines with wireless are not that unusual, what is unusual is that it has USB but no Ethernet. So you can setup for Wireless or USB.
This is not a large unit it is cream in colour so it just may pass the lounge police. The dimensions are 44x30x20cm the last figure the height increases by 13cm when the vertical paper tray is lifted and paper inserted. This is a printer, scanner, copier and fax. The scanning can be either sheet fed or flatbed and the printing can be duplex. For a novice the excellent software can guide you with wizards to do everything.
Adding to its recently redesigned product line-up of colour inkjet multifunction devices, Brother has released its DCP-350C model.
This product brings together the capability to print, scan and copy documents from a single item of kit with the aid of a colour LCD feature. Combining matt silver and creamy white colours with a rectangular box shape, the DCP-350C has an attractive appearance that would not look out of place in a small office or home environment.
This is quite a beefy All In One unit, so it scans, copies and prints via the PC. It can also copy when not connected to the PC and it also prints directly from a range of card media.
The is 46x40x22cm when closed. The output shelf opens automatically at print time and initially this adds 13cm to the depth. Having paper in the rear mounted tray adds 18cm to the 22cm height. Canon Pixma MP970 All the controls surround the screen that flips up in the central part of the top at the front and as this goes to just beyond 90 degrees you can choose the display angle. The screen is 7.5x5.
This is described as an ‘Office All In One’ As it is black and grey it is unlikely to pass the ‘lounge police’ but apart from that it is not that tall and the output quality is good. It is actually a multi function unit as it has fax.
The dimensions of the Canon Pixma MX300 are 45x42x16cm however the height required will be increased to at least double the 16cm stated when you insert A4 paper (face forward) in the rear near vertical tray, this should also be sufficient to insert items onto the flat bed. However to fully raise the lid to vertical would require 30cm on top of the 16cm height of the unit.
This is a All In One as it scans, copies and prints but it also has a built in Light Scribe CD drive so it can also do that bit more, so I suppose it’s an All In One plus unit.
I have seen several small printers that are really designed as photo printers but they were all only for 15x10cm output. This is a full A4 printer and that as well as copying can be down from the four buttons on the interface that slides out 45% at the front, it also has a huge 7x5cm display. The unit is 43x38x19cm and the front of the unit also has four card slots and a USB stick slot that allows Pict Bridge connection.
This is quite a squat unit, it will never pass the lounge police as it is very dark grey, so if not in an office into a cupboard never to see the light of day.
It is 44x34x16cm the latter figure the height increases by 18cm when there is paper in the rear vertical tray waiting for printing. This is an All In One unit as it prints copies and scans. There is no fax capability so it's not a Multi Function unit.
As an Officejet it is unlikely to ever get past the ‘lounge police’ partly because it is not small but mainly because it is black with grey sides, shame really as it is a nice MFU.
Firstly for those occasional readers an MFU (Multi Function Unit) has fax capabilities whereas the AIO (All In One) does not. Both have the ability to print, scan and copy. It is 54x42x36cm and compare that to a lot of similar machines and you will see it is big. Mind you it has a duplex unit that adds to the second figure the depth and the third figure the height would be less without the page feed.
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