Printers/Scanners

While standalone flatbed and All-in-One devices can cope with many scanning tasks, sometimes you need a more specialised piece of equipment to handle this aspect of your document management needs.

This is a multi-function unit which means, print, copy, scan and for those who still want/need it fax. However this unit has something extra the ability to print up to A3 and while it is a good deal wider than most A4 units it is not that much deeper or taller.

The Ricoh SP 3600DN product is a mono laser printer. This particular unit has been developed to replace the Ricoh SP3500N, SP364510DN and SP4100NL models. As such Ricoh believes this product would be best suited for use in a small office or home office environment where it could service the printing needs of between 2 and 5 users.

This mono laser can print, scan and copy. It is a quite small unit so would easily fit into a cupboard or even onto a strong shelf, being black or perhaps more accurately very dark grey it is unlikely to pass the tests imposed by the ‘lounge police’.

A four in one unit as it has fax as well as printing, scanning and copying ability. This is quite a sleek unit but as its black it is unlikely to pass the lounge police so having Wi-Fi as well as USB could be a benefit as it could sit behind the sofa.

As part of its new range of inkjet printer models, Brother has released the DCP-J4120DW. This particular model is an All-in-One device that includes A3 print capability and automatic 2-sided printing along with its basic print, scan and copy functionality.

In the past I have checked out numerous All-in-One, Multifunction and standalone printers, either of the inkjet or laser variety, from various manufacturers. On this occasion, however, the printer under the microscope is the first printer product that I have had the opportunity to check out from Ricoh. The product in question is the Aficio SG2100N model which offers colour print facilities.

This is an Inkjet All In One offering but not the basic two cartridge offering as this has no less than x inks. So this has to be something to consider if the printing output is more important than basic mono or quick print output to you.

I confess the Canon i-Sensys MF4730 left me scratching my head for some time. It is a small mono laser All In One unit capable of connection by USB or Network. The reason for my head scratching is that it seems to only work on 32bit systems.

Rather than a range of print facilities, this next product concentrates its functionality on the production of labels.

While ink jet printers are still dominant in the colour market lasers can now offer much more and with less of a premium, printing speeds are better and perhaps most important the quality of the printed output is now excellent.

When a Brother product arrives for review, usually its main function is that of a printer whether of the monochrome or colour variety. However printers are not the only type of device that is associated with Brother. The company also manufactures scanners either as a standalone unit or combines with a printer to make a multifunction device. In the former category is the Brother ADS-2100e which has been developed for use in a medium sized office environment.

I saw this unit at the BETT (Education Show) at the end of January and the quality of its output was the reason I requested it. I knew it would be big and expected the normal review place in my cramped office not to be enough, I was wrong.

Newly arrived from Brother is the MFC1910W which is a multifunction laser device with options that include ADF and Wi-Fi.

I have been using this unit for several months. Mainly because of the claim that the ink tanks should last up to two years. A bold claim but when you examine the minute amount of ink normally supplied in cartridges 70ml is a lot.

While London has its Gherkin, Brussels has its Egg which was the location for the annual IRISLink event where a new portable scanner was launched.

I understand that Epson claim this to be their smallest printer ever. It runs either on a solid internal battery or by mains power. It can receive data via Wi-Fi, eMail or USB. So will this mobile offering be in place in every sales person’s car?

On the one hand there is continued talk regarding the possible myth of the paperless office while developers continue to come up with technology to increase the use of printers and I am not just referring to recent initiatives regarding ink use.

This is a small A4 printer with a scanner lid on top, so small you think it’s only a printer but it’s a true All In One as it scans in colour and prints and copy in mono. This laser surely has a place in any small office if only for its diminutive size.

Adding to its range of label printers, Brother has released its P-Touch D600VP model.

This is actually a multi-function device as not only does it print, scan, copy but it also has fax. HP call it an All In One so that is why I must also. The OfficeJet series are designed for office use but assuming the slate grey colour passes the lounge police…

Epson has thrown down a challenge to other inkjet printer manufacturers with its introduction of “bottles instead of cartridges” initiative.

We often use labels to identify items for our personal benefit and that of others. These labels can be tags which we add to digital data or physical markers such as name badges. This next product offers the means to give those physical labels a professional appearance.

Available from Ebuyer.com listed at £169.98 is the Officejet Pro 8620. This product is a HP All-in-One device offering print, scan, copy and fax capabilities along with an ADF (Automatic Document Feed) facility and a Duplex print module powered by a 600MHz processor with 128MB of memory. When linking the Officejet Pro to a computer system, you have a choice of wired, wireless or USB connectivity.

This is a true A3 printer as well as a unit that scans, copies and faxes, it prints A3 from within the outline of the machine yet is a good deal smaller than you would expect as paper is stored in landscape rather than portrait format.

I admit that the main reason I accepted this evening invitation was to see the view from the top of The Shard, sadly the 34th floor was the highest we got but this amazing portable scanner made up for the disappointment initially felt.

While the majority of printers, whether of the laser 0r inkjet persuasion, can produce a range of documents, there is one particular skill at which they do not excel. The skill in question involves the creation of stick-on labels. Based on the concept of horses for courses, the solution would be to use a device that was specifically designed for the creation of labels that can easily be attached to where ever they would be most beneficial. One such product is the P750W