# Printers-All in One or dedicated scanner?



## hunter gatherer (Dec 6, 2002)

I'm in the market for a new printer and would like a scanner as well. I'm torn between purchasing an all in one or going with a separate ( ink jet printer) and a dedicated scanner.

I've looked at many HP all-in-one printers and while they do seem handy, every one of them have received mixed reviews on the performance end of things. With all the bells and whistles it just seems as if there would be more things to go wrong. I also don't think I would utilize the photo printer that often, as it's so much cheaper to go the one hour route at my local pharmacy.

I've found a basic HP inkjet printer for $50.00 that has positive reviews all around and a Canoscan scanner for $80.00 that reviewers just cannot say enough good things about. I could secure both of these for less than the price of an all-in-one.

And so I was wondering...what set up do you have for printing? Are you happy with it?


----------



## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

I use brother all in ones. You can find them cheap, 60-70.00. they work well, and best of all the cartridges are inexpesive, 12-13.00 if you go to places like Meritline. I had HP and Lexmark and they were trouble and expensive cartridges.


----------



## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

All in one printers are great little devices if they fit your needs. If you scan documents once in a while, fax once in a while and your printer needs are light duty color then they work well. Keep in mind many all in one scanners will only do sheet fed paper and not book scanning. Make sure you know what your will do .


----------



## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

All in Ones are great I have a H-P, my Friends have an H-P, and we all love em.. Maybe a little harder to install because you MUST follow H-P's Directions to the Letter, but if you do, and use the USB, way to connect them up, H-Ps are just fine.


----------



## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

We have both and I hate the all in one - HP piece of junk, luckily it is on DH's computer and not mine. He scans but does not use it for printing, the boys use his computer and almost every time they go to use the printer something goes wrong so they send it to my printer instead.

I have a Brother network laser printer that I love. My scanner is a Canoscan LIDE (80 I think, I've had it for years) - I broke one of the hinges when I dropped it in a library once, but it still works great. I especially like that it can sit on its edge and still scan without taking up lots of desk space.

I don't do any colour printing, but I do have a Lexmark colour printer hanging around that I would set back up before I would use the HP piece of junk.


----------



## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

I own a Kodak AiO easyshare 5100. Would not reccommend it because the scanner died on me after only two months. The ink cartridges are cheap compared to other manufacturers, but you need dependability.

BTW: if anyone else here owns a 5100 and has gotten error message 1-2010 please tell me what it means.
I was in the middle of a scanning project and now am dead in the water. 
Stef


----------



## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

I'm still on the fence with the "all-in-ones". I like them because they are fairly compact and perform many different functions, and considering what they do, the purchase price is quite low. I don't like them because sooner or later, one of those functions fail - toner/ink can also be a bit pricey depending on which model you purchase - and some are quite slow when used as a printer. 

For printing, my favourites are the business class monochrome laser printers - like older HP laserjets and some of the Lexmarks. Why? Because they're built like tanks, toner is dirt cheap and the printers themselves are very low priced.

For what little scanning I do, I have an older Canon Lide USB scanner which works well.

For faxing and large copy jobs, I have an HP all-in-one laser - which sits unused and unconnected most of the time.

.


----------



## lharvey (Jul 1, 2003)

I've never been a fan for all in ones.

The only benefit I can see is space saver.

I prefer single units for single jobs. Yes it takes up space but the units arn't getting wear and tear when not in use.

If a component goes bad, it gets replaced. Not a whole unit.

I have an:
HP Laser printer
View Sonic Scanner
Plain paper FAX
HP Jet Printer for color

Items like the scanner and the fax are over 10 years old and work like a charm.


----------

