Multi function printers

Our old Canon printer needs to be replaced and we are thinking of a multifunction one. What do others recommend? We don't want an expensive one, but would like to print photos and do a reasonable amount of ordinary printing. What are the advantages/disadvantages of the added 'fax' feature? Any info will help us make the choice!

Hi Jeannielea,

Currently I'm using a Brother MFC-5840CN which I'm very happy with. I've had it for about a year and it cost $295. I use the fax function a lot, so that was the reason for going for this particular MFC (Multi-Function Centre). If you don't need fax, you can save a bit of money.

The other reason my MFC cost a bit more than some others in the range, is that it has a network port (Ethernet connection). This means that anyone in the house can print to it, no matter whether any other PCs are powered off or on. If you get a printer which only has USB, you need to have the attached PC powered on whenever you want to print.

Another reason I now prefer Brother printers is that the Ink Cartridges are very reasonably priced and seem to last quite a bit longer than other inkjet printers I've owned (HP, Epson and Canon).

Those are my experiences with MFCs and I hope they will be helpful to you.

Cheers,
Grant.

In terms of print quality - HP and Canon consistently win all the reviews but unless you want to print hi quality photos you might not notice the difference. In terms of fax - it is just as easy to scan/e-mail for small quantities. You might also like to consider the MFC size - some of the 'office' ones can get quite big.

Peter

Yes, you're right about the photo quality GBpeter. Brother don't rank the highest on that score. However, after buying a Canon which had all the photo-printing accessories (roll paper holder etc), I found we very seldom used it. Mostly we would just view photos on screen or do a slide show for relatives directly from the camera into our TV set.

On the few occasions where we really needed photo quality prints, I found it was more efficent to take a CD to the local shopping mall and pay 60 cents per print using the self-service kiosk.

Personally I still find a lot of use for the fax in our business as it's quicker to just sign off an invoice and bung it into the fax machine rather than scanning and e-mailing it.

It's horses for courses I guess...

P.S. Our Brother MFC has a memory card socket catering for all types of Flash cards used in cameras. But I've hardly ever used it. I find it's better to upload all the photos onto my PC where I can view/rotate/delete them on my 19" monitor while checking the focus and lighting etc. Then I just print off the best one or two on plain paper to pass around, while most of them stay on my hard disk or get e-mailed to friends and family.

Cheers,
Grant.

Thanks for all that useful info. I had heard that users of the Brother ones were having problems, so its reassuring to get your views. Also the tip about cost of cartridges. One reason we have to change is because I can't get the (very expensive) cartridges for the one we currently have, so presumably that printer is now outdated.

jeannielea

What are the cart numnbers for your printer?

B/W is BC01 and colour is BC05. I could only get b/w last time and the only place in town was Warehouse stationary and they had put them down to $29.95 as they only had 5 left and are not getting more.

Just because that particular retailer is not holding stock of an item, do not take it to mean anything, other than the fact that "they" dont want to.

Do not upgrade merely based upon that, but make enquiries. Your local small computer shop/ other outlet may be able to come up with a solution. Also look in the yellow pages under computer supplies or some such.

Also remember it is not the cost of each cartridge that is important, but how much it costs to print a page. A lot of printer companies know that people look at the cost per cartridge, so they make smaller/cheaper cartridges. You think you are getting a good buy, untill you find that you onlyu get a couple of hundred pages per set, rather than, perhaps, 4 or 5 hundred.

False economy, but a good marketing ploy!

While talking about printer cartridges, try Inkpost which I understand is based throughout NZ, I have found them very good and their cartridges are very reasonable, the service excellent, I ring today, and cartridges are here tomorrow. I have 3 Brother printers small, medium & larger. Laser printing drums and cartridge are very expensive, I use the Inkpost own brand and have had no problems, and have done so for 3-4 years. Cheers.

I have just bought an HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One and a LOVE it. I am busy printing out cat photos like a mad woman possessed Go to a Noel-L store coz they have/had a special going and if you bought a certain printer HP also refunded you another $100-$200. So I ended up getting a $400 printer for nearly 1/2 price with the discount I also got off Noel-L. Check it out, they had some great deals on & I've only had my printer for just over a week so its probably still going.