It’s a question I have been grappling with for a while. In shopping around for a printer that can do double duty for my photo projects and writing jobs I’ve noticed a few trends.
First, stand-alone ink-jet printers are fading fast. Stores are now filling their shelves with “all-in-one” printers that usually combine a printer, copier and scanner. What’s more, prices for these multi-purpose machines have fallen so dramatically that you can usually find an all-in-one device for the same price as a single-function printer. In my mind I look at these all-in-ones and rationalize that I’m getting a scanner for free.
And I need a new scanner. Not just for making copies of the thousands of old photos I have, but really want to make digital copies of receipts and other important documents I have accumulated over the years. If I digitize them and store them on hard drives, I can free up space around my desk.
Here are some of the observations I made during my shopping trips in December:
BEST BUY. They were offering the Epson RX595, a printer/copier/scanner for $99. But next to it was a multifunction printer/copier/scanner from Hewlett-Packard on sale for $75, which was less than most of the stand-alone printers displayed on the next shelf over.
TARGET. Lexmark’s X5470, which also includes a fax function was selling for $89.99. This particular model offered “photo” quality printing, with six ink cartridges for more colorful prints, instead of the four colors used on most stand-alone printers. The machine allows you to print directly from digital memory cards or PictBridge compatible digital cameras. It also features a scan-back proof sheet option for photo selection from memory cards with no PC required. I also liked that it included Photo Editor and Imaging Studio software, which allows you to crop, rotate and resize photos. It also had a red eye reduction feature.
Still, most of the professional photographers (and architects) I know swear by single-function scanners and printers, though I have a feeling it’s because they need a device that is going to allow then to create wall-size copies and most multi-function machines don’t offer that feature.
The sales guy at Best Buy did tell me that manufacturers prefer selling multifunction units because they go through ink at a faster pace given that owners are using them for color printing, scanning and copying. Makes sense… companies make more on ink sales, which is where the real money is. I wasn’t surprised to hear it–cheap printers that need color ink refills that often cost nearly as much as the printer itself is how most of these companies stay profitable.
In any event, I’ve been assured that the scanning quality on these new all-in-one printers is not inferior (as I had once thought) to stand-alone scanners, but I’m not sure I am entirely convinced.
Do you own an all-in-one printer?
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