Looking for a printer, under $300. It’s got to be able to do wireless, scan, fax, blah, blah, blah.
Suggestions?
Two suggestions:
I have a Canon Pixma MX850 (new model MX 870) at work. Wireless, sheet feeder, faxes, scans, prints from both the magizine (8.5X11) and a rear feeder for whatever size you want. Auto duplex printing and super easy to use software.
I love this printer. so when I needed a printer at home I caught a swinging deal on a Canon Pixma MP 990, All of the features of the 850, except one more ink tank, and no sheet feeder. Again I love this printer.
They work great, and I have yet to have a problem with either one.
Do a lot of photos? Epson Artisan 810 $199 at Staples
Not a lot of photos? Epson Workforce 610 $129 at Staples
Black and white only? Go with a ‘laser’, imho. I got a Brother MFC 7420 (N?), a wireless print/scan/fax combo, a few years ago and works great with the toner cartridges lasting MUCH longer than inkjet-based printers. IIRC, think it cost ~$250 back then. Wireless setup was painless, too. I go to WalMart (or similar kiosks elsewhere preferably) whenever I need photos/colors printed - usually pretty inexpensive for that stuff (for me anyways).
I know little abut color printing nowadays other than (most) cartridges being a bitch to deal with long-term, particularly when printing only occasionally. There’s a lot of options, for sure.
I just bought the Canon MP640, which gets rave user reviews. Nearly every other printer I researched had problems right out of the box, particularly the HP line. I don’t use the wi-fi feature, since I’m a single user. Oh wait, it doesn’t have scan. But you might look at other Canon models.
I think we’ve nailed it in one, unless someone hops in with a better printer. The printer is for someone else, so I don’t know exactly how many photos he plans on printing out (probably not that many), but this should work.
Any thoughts on the HP C309a? We just picked one up for $180 at Sam’s Club, but have yet to install it.
We’ll hardly use it. Between six and ten faxes come in a year, and another handful or so go out. Printing is mostly done via an old workhorse Laserjet or an Epson wide-carriage ink jet, so printing isn’t a high priority.
We don’t want to constantly buy ink to let it run through it’s self-cleaning routine (had a Brother that ate ink tanks every four to five months just sitting there).
We’d really like to have received faxes get sent directly to the computer (had an Epson for a week, it wouldn’t do that so we took it back).
Are we likely to get pissed or at least be complacent with this unit?
Do you really need to print color? If not, I’d recommend returning that HP C309a and getting a monochrome laser all-in-one instead. (You can always get your photos printed at Walmart, Walgreens, etc.)
My bad: it scans, but it doesn’t fax. My excuse is that I was fasting for bloodwork when I wrote that.
And now I’ve quoted the wrong response. Think I’ll go back to bed.
I opted for an inkjet printer and a laser printer, sitting next to each other. I did it for about $300, buying at Amazon based largely on customer reviews. I’m sure there’s no $300 single printer that does so much so well, and I have the advantage that if a printer completely dies I still can do many kinds of printing, especially in a pinch. In particular I wound up with an Epson Artisan 50 inkjet and a Brother HL-5250DN (with built in two sided printing), and both work very nicely, but it’s really the principle I mean to endorse.