6 Best Multifunction Printers for 2011
|
|
Dell V313w All-in-One Printer. CREDIT: Dell |
You can buy a printer, a scanner, a copier and a fax machine for your small-office/home office (SOHO) setting. Or you can buy a multifunction printer, which does all these things for less than the cost of four separate machines. Sealing their popularity, SOHO multifunction printers are surprisingly inexpensive. Given the traditional choice of "good, fast, cheap — pick any two," the loser here is usually print speed. But for incidental correspondence printing , you won't even notice.
The wize.com site assigns WizeRank ratings (of 0 to 100) to products based on consumer and expert reviews, so we'll use this crowdsourced ranking. But any unit on the market these days probably exceeds the expectations of the average SOHO user, especially in terms of print quality.
No. 1: Dell V313W – With a score of 96 (although it cannot fax) this color inkjet offers a resolution of 600 by 600 dots per inch in black and white, and 4800 by 1200 in color. The output is rated at 33 pages per minute in black and white and 30 in color. Additionally, you can use Wi-Fi as well as a USB connection. And the price is an astonishing $99.
No. 2: Dell V715W – Rated at 94, this Dell color inkjet can do two-sided printing and has a wireless as well as an Ethernet interface, and a color LCD control touchscreen. Print resolution is 4800 by 1200 dots per inch, and throughput is 33 pages per minute in black and white and 30 in color. The list price is $169.
No. 3: Canon MX850 – Also rated at 94 (but ranked lower since it costs more) this color inkjet offers resolution as high as 9600 by 2400 dots per inch, and uses a five-color ink system with two types of black (one for graphics and one for text). Printing speed is 33 pages per minute in black and white and 24 in color. It has a touch screen for control, an ethernet interface, and a price tag of about $700.
No. 4: Canon MP560 – This color inkjet with a Wi-Fi interface is very similar to the previous model, but is considered a photo printer, basically meaning it's slower (9.2 pages per minute in black and white and 6 pages per minute in color) and costs less—about $150. It is also rated at 94.
No. 5: Canon MP560 – Rated at 93 and costing about $150, this color inkjet is again very similar to the previous model, but is intended for the home office, offering two-sided printing, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and USB interfaces.
No. 6: Brother MFC-7840W – This monochrome laser printer is also rated at 93, and offers resolution of 2400 by 600 dots per inch, and a print speed of 23 pages per minute. It has a USB, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi interface. Its 250-sheet input tray is about as big as it gets in the SOHO market. The price is about $270.
Finally, keep in mind that the cost of refill ink for SOHO printers is notoriously high — that's where the vendors make their money. For incidental convenience printing, you may never notice. But if your business revolves around printing, you may want to invest in a fancier machine that relies on inexpensive refills.
