Which All-In-One Inkjet

[John]

I'm trying to help a friend buy an All-In-One inkjet printer, one that
prints, copies, scans, and faxes. I've tried to make sense of the
various reviews and user opinions I've been able to find on the net
but am still uncertain which one to get. Some say avoid HP with its
"bloatware," other says Lexmark is "not as good as crap."

I'm looking for one of the less expensive All-In-One's, like the HP
Officejet 5210 and the Lexmark X8350.

Can anyone make a persuasive case for either of these. Both are
selling locally at Staples and Circuit City for $150.

If I buy one of them, which one should it be?

Thanks.

 

[Saul Rabinowitz]

I'm trying to help a friend buy an All-In-One inkjet printer, one that
prints, copies, scans, and faxes. I've tried to make sense of the
various reviews and user opinions I've been able to find on the net
but am still uncertain which one to get. Some say avoid HP with its
"bloatware," other says Lexmark is "not as good as crap."

I'll confirm that HP software is more bloated than bloatware.
However, your "other" is wrong: Lexmark _is_ as good as crap.

CalBubba

 

[Clark W. Griswold, Jr.]

I'm trying to help a friend buy an All-In-One inkjet printer, one that
prints, copies, scans, and faxes. I've tried to make sense of the
various reviews and user opinions I've been able to find on the net
but am still uncertain which one to get. Some say avoid HP with its
"bloatware," other says Lexmark is "not as good as crap."

I liked the quality and economy of the Epson 3in1s I've had multiple CX5400s,
one CX3800, but I finally got tired of the heads getting blocked up. I've come
to the conclusion that if you live in a dry climate and don't do full color
print jobs every day, your Epson *will* block up - it's just a question of when.

Although I was annoyed with HP reducing the ink quantity in their newer carts
(thus doubling the cost per page to print), I bought a PSC 1510. Figured
replacing the occasional jammed ink cart was cheaper than replacing heads or the
whole printer. It lasted about 2 months (less than 1 ream of paper) and then
refused to load paper properly. Tried different weights of paper - no good. It
would either not pick up any sheets or would take multiple sheets. Come to
discover that lots of people are having this issue with HP printers these days.

Currently running two different Canon 3in1s. The MP500 is 3 months old and
working like a champ. It uses ink tanks instead of carts (cheaper), but the
heads can easily be replaced if necessary. Also easily modded to print direct to
CD/DVD.

Just bought an MP150 which uses the HP style cart (with head). Very impressed
with the cost, speed and quality. There are also hi-cap ink carts available for
the MP150.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

I'm trying to help a friend buy an All-In-One inkjet printer, one that
prints, copies, scans, and faxes. I've tried to make sense of the
various reviews and user opinions I've been able to find on the net
but am still uncertain which one to get. Some say avoid HP with its
"bloatware," other says Lexmark is "not as good as crap."

I'm looking for one of the less expensive All-In-One's, like the HP
Officejet 5210 and the Lexmark X8350.

Can anyone make a persuasive case for either of these. Both are
selling locally at Staples and Circuit City for $150.

If I buy one of them, which one should it be?

For HP, check the website for driver downloads. Often, there is a more
basic driver that doesn't include all the picture management and similar
stuff you probably already have.

 

[measekite]

[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

I'm trying to help a friend buy an All-In-One inkjet printer, one that
prints, copies, scans, and faxes. I've tried to make sense of the
various reviews and user opinions I've been able to find on the net
but am still uncertain which one to get. Some say avoid HP with its
"bloatware," other says Lexmark is "not as good as crap."

They are almost correct. Lexmark is "as good as crap."

If you are bent on getting an all in one (if one function goes bad you
have a paper weight) try to find a left over Canon MP780. If not get a
high end current Canon. HP is ok but the Canon is better.

However if you are not going to do photos to any great extent and you
will use the remainder very infrequently than the HP with an integrated
printhead might be a good choice since you get a new head each time you
replace the ink cart.

 

[zakezuke]

I'm trying to help a friend buy an All-In-One inkjet printer, one that
prints, copies, scans, and faxes. I've tried to make sense of the
various reviews and user opinions I've been able to find on the net
but am still uncertain which one to get. Some say avoid HP with its
"bloatware," other says Lexmark is "not as good as crap."

I'm looking for one of the less expensive All-In-One's, like the HP
Officejet 5210 and the Lexmark X8350.

Can anyone make a persuasive case for either of these. Both are
selling locally at Staples and Circuit City for $150.

If I buy one of them, which one should it be?

For ease of use, I have to say I kind of like lexmark. The last one I
looked at, the cheepo free with a dell model had a very nice user
interface which permited access to all fuction through either button
presses or a few clicks including scan to fax, scan to e-mail, scan to
file, that sort of thing. The canon mp760 which I own I can't scan to
fax directly... superior product IMHO, lower cost of ink by far than
low end lexmarks, but from a user interface standpoint they have some
maturing to do. Canon does offer fax models, the older mp780 and the
current generation mp830. The older mp780 will be cheaper to print
with by far, using color cartridges costing 9.60 per, and a black
costing $12ish per assuming costco. The newer, same volume more or
less but $4.00 more per cartridge, on a good day.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2006_reviews/canon_mp830.html

The X5210/ X8350 I believe has close to 200p yield for $20ish, the
Canon in this case will do about 500p for between $12.50 and $16
depending on whether we are talking old or new model. Now there is a
high yield black close to 475p @ 5% yield, but that's like $25.

HPs do offer bloatware, but you can install the drivers without the
bloat, and pick and choose from which applications you want. I can't
speak for the Officejet 5210, I don't know that model. The 5610 though

http://www.hp.com/pageyield/us/en/OJ5600/summary.html
at least offers a somewhat large black, 630p / 165p color. (#56/#27)
$19.99/$17.99. While there are larger capacity color and black
cartridges in HP models, this isn't bad, well the color is a tad tiny
but still not horrible.

------------------------------

Now, becarefull what you spend. What might seem like a good deal at
$150 may cost you an arm and a leg for ink. Given the choice, i'd go
HP 5610 over the lexmark x8350 on raw price alone. While I've not met
it, HP has a history of really good text, passable to decent color.
Lexmark has a history of selling ink which is 1/3 the price of gold per
volume and not giving you any super duper benifit. Higher end Lexmarks
are not bad at all, but the consumer ones, the low priced consumer
ones, are not happy.