Printer only or Multifunction

[miskairal]

Hi all, new to the group and new to buying printers.

I have an ancient Canon printer and an almost as ancient Canon scanner.

I want to buy a new printer and am thinking I could do with a faster,
new scanner as well. I have spent 2 days searching the net but what I
can't seem to find out is whether the multifunctions can do as good a
job of printing as the stand alone printers?

I would like to be able to print photos, including copies of old sepia
photos, that are comparable to photo lab prints.

Would you recommend buying the printer and scanner separately or the all
in one?

I've mostly been looking at Canon b/c I know I can buy them locally in
my tiny town and after sales service would be premium. These are the
ones I've come up with so far:

Canon PIXMA iP4000 or iP5000 - any recomendations there? Can any of the
Canon multifunctions do as good a job with photo printing?
OR
Canon MP780 but I don't need fax capability so is there a model without
this and do you know what the photos prints are like?

In the past I have always had to buy the cheapest available product and
I'm finding it actually harder to buy when I have a bit more money to
spend. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheerio
miskairal

 

[Don Phillipson]

I would like to be able to print photos, including copies of old sepia
photos, that are comparable to photo lab prints.

Would you recommend buying the printer and scanner separately or the all
in one?

A standalone scanner is likely to make your photo
scans much faster than any three-in-one.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

Hi all, new to the group and new to buying printers.

I have an ancient Canon printer and an almost as ancient Canon scanner.

I want to buy a new printer and am thinking I could do with a faster,
new scanner as well. I have spent 2 days searching the net but what I
can't seem to find out is whether the multifunctions can do as good a
job of printing as the stand alone printers?

Often, the print quality will be the same as stand-alone models using
the same cartridges (and printheads for those with separata ink/heads).
I'm most familiar with HP, and it's generally true with them.

 

[measekite]

After much research I bought a Canon Pixma IP4000 and an Epson 4180
scanner. They are both the best in their class and are the best value.
I would make the same choices today.

 

[PC Medic]

Hi all, new to the group and new to buying printers.

I have an ancient Canon printer and an almost as ancient Canon scanner.

I want to buy a new printer and am thinking I could do with a faster, new
scanner as well. I have spent 2 days searching the net but what I can't
seem to find out is whether the multifunctions can do as good a job of
printing as the stand alone printers?

I would like to be able to print photos, including copies of old sepia
photos, that are comparable to photo lab prints.

Would you recommend buying the printer and scanner separately or the all
in one?

I've mostly been looking at Canon b/c I know I can buy them locally in my
tiny town and after sales service would be premium. These are the ones
I've come up with so far:

Canon PIXMA iP4000 or iP5000 - any recomendations there? Can any of the
Canon multifunctions do as good a job with photo printing?
OR
Canon MP780 but I don't need fax capability so is there a model without
this and do you know what the photos prints are like?

In the past I have always had to buy the cheapest available product and
I'm finding it actually harder to buy when I have a bit more money to
spend. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you do not need the fax function the PIXMA MP750 would be the model to
get.
Yes it can print as well as it is built on top of the PIXMA iP4000 print
engine.

 

[PC Medic]

A standalone scanner is likely to make your photo
scans much faster than any three-in-one.

This is based on what?
Stand alone or part of a 3-n-1 does not effect speed of the components
(printer, scanner)

 

[miskairal]

Thankyou all for your advice.
Hubby (who doesn't know how to turn on a pc let alone print) doesn't
like the idea of a multifunction b/c if one fails sooner rather than
later, you are left with a machine that only half works.

Thankyou PC Medic for the info on how to get the iP4000 in a multifunction.

Will probably end up listening to hubby and go with the separate printer
and scanner. Will do more research on scanners bearing in mind
measekite's advice and will probably get the iP4000.

Thanks again
miskairal

 

[measekite]

Canon IP4000 and an
Epson 4180 scanner. If you need a fax with buy a cheapo or get Fax
software and use the scanner for input.

 

[Caitlin]

Canon IP4000 and an
Epson 4180 scanner. If you need a fax with buy a cheapo or get Fax
software and use the scanner for input.

It depends what scanning you want to do. I have the Epson Perfection 2480
and it is more than adequate for high quality slide and photo scanning, as
well as document scanning (2400 dpi). The 4180 is semi-professional at
4800dpi, and is probably more than most users would need. (and costs a fair
bit more).

The Epson 2480 and Canon IP4000 have proved a good compo for me.

 

[measekite]

I got my scanner for $150 less a $50 rebate. I felt I might as well get
a 4180 over the cheaper model for not much more. Shop around.