Opinions on Dell all-in-one printer/scanners?

Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

Mike Marquis wrote:
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

I picked one up (the A940) as a second printer for my wife's home
office. I use an HP Deskjet 970Cxi and Scanjet 5000C. The Dell AIO cost
less than either of the HP boxes. In comparison, the Dell is easier to
use for scanning and especially copying, the black ink isn't as good as
HPs (its more grey than black), and the Dell's scanner while great for
documents (and the OCR function works very fast and accurately) has
poorer color rendition. From comments I've heard, the A940 requires
quality paper (heavy stock) to feed well. I always use HP's premium
papers. Also be aware that the Dell printer does not work with any OS
other than Windows XP or 2000. Ink cartridges must be purchased directly
from Dell, and while they are the same price as HP's they don't last as
long. Dell provides free recycling for spent cartridges.

Note that an AIO is considerably bigger than a printer so if your
daughter doesn't need the scanning/copying facility she would probably
better be served by an inexpensive, compact printer.

Mike Marquis wrote in message ...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

My2¢
I believe I read that Dell's printers are Lexmark. I would stick with
Epson or HP for an all-in-one.
Personally, printer/scanner can do it all.....better! (Epson
C82/Epson 1260 Perf.)

b_d

if you don't need colour printing then stay away from all the above
mentioned inkjet models... they seem cheap but when you add in the cost of
the cartridges you will find that they are relatively expensive to the laser
alternatives. brother makes several excellent laser printer/copier/scanners
in sheet feed, flat bed, or combo type scanners. the sheet feed are like
regular fax machines that lets you stack a bunch of paper for scanning but
don't allow you to scan oversized objects so flat bed may be what you are
looking for. the toner cartridges last for thousands of pages and unlike
hp's more expensive competing laser products the drum is separate from the
toner (so toner only costs about $25 a pop for brother vs. $80 for hp... but
after about 10 toner cartridges you do need a new drum for the brother at
about $150.... and by that time you may just buy an whole new printer, or
get the drum and still be ahead of the cost of alternatives.

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

Chris,
For a college student, a color inkjet all-in-one makes more sense than any
laser based alternative, cost-wise, usefulness-wise and otherwise.

HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
if you don't need colour printing then stay away from all the above
mentioned inkjet models... they seem cheap but when you add in the cost of
the cartridges you will find that they are relatively expensive to the
laser
alternatives. brother makes several excellent laser
printer/copier/scanners
in sheet feed, flat bed, or combo type scanners. the sheet feed are like
regular fax machines that lets you stack a bunch of paper for scanning but
don't allow you to scan oversized objects so flat bed may be what you are
looking for. the toner cartridges last for thousands of pages and unlike
hp's more expensive competing laser products the drum is separate from the
toner (so toner only costs about $25 a pop for brother vs. $80 for hp...
but
after about 10 toner cartridges you do need a new drum for the brother at
about $150.... and by that time you may just buy an whole new printer, or
get the drum and still be ahead of the cost of alternatives.

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

i disagree. in my opinion the best choice for a college student (aesthetics
aside) is the brother mfc-4800 laserjet fax/copier/scanner/printer. it
costs $249, prints fast, has 'no smudge' laser quality printing (not lousy
smudgeable inkjet output that looks good until touched), prints 2,200 pages
per $25 cartridge (instead of 500 per $30 ink type cartridge) making it much
more economical that any inkjet machine that is expected to get any use...
the higher cost of the machine makes people turn away, but when you consider
the cost of the supplies you understand why the manufactures essentially
give these ink jet printers away (supplies are where xerox made its money
and why they did so poorly after years of eroding market share... and why
dell wants in on the action with their recent entry into the printer
business). inkjets are good for their low entry price but are only
economical for very light users or in the higher end for color photo output
(which in my opinion only provide convenience as cheaper and better quality
photo printing is had from shutterfly and it is archival too... but clearly
there is the need to wait for them to arrive in the mail...). but for a
student that wants fast quality output that is economical the answer is
laser... if you don't need fax/scanner/copier there are some amazingly small
and cheap ($150) lasers from Minolta and Sumsung that are great for home
users or students. but if you need color then laser is still too expensive
(and big) for now.

"HH" wrote in message
. ..
Chris,
For a college student, a color inkjet all-in-one makes more sense than
any
laser based alternative, cost-wise, usefulness-wise and otherwise.

HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
if you don't need colour printing then stay away from all the above
mentioned inkjet models... they seem cheap but when you add in the cost
of
the cartridges you will find that they are relatively expensive to the
laser
alternatives. brother makes several excellent laser
printer/copier/scanners
in sheet feed, flat bed, or combo type scanners. the sheet feed are
like
regular fax machines that lets you stack a bunch of paper for scanning
but
don't allow you to scan oversized objects so flat bed may be what you
are
looking for. the toner cartridges last for thousands of pages and
unlike
hp's more expensive competing laser products the drum is separate from
the
toner (so toner only costs about $25 a pop for brother vs. $80 for hp...
but
after about 10 toner cartridges you do need a new drum for the brother
at
about $150.... and by that time you may just buy an whole new printer,
or
get the drum and still be ahead of the cost of alternatives.

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

I don't know. I got burned by Brother. Bought a nice, top-of-the-line does
everything Brother about 2 years ago.

No XP support.

None.

No plans.

Never.

They were still selling it when XP came out.

Tom
"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
thlink.net...
i disagree. in my opinion the best choice for a college student
(aesthetics
aside) is the brother mfc-4800 laserjet fax/copier/scanner/printer. it
costs $249, prints fast, has 'no smudge' laser quality printing (not lousy
smudgeable inkjet output that looks good until touched), prints 2,200
pages
per $25 cartridge (instead of 500 per $30 ink type cartridge) making it
much
more economical that any inkjet machine that is expected to get any use...
the higher cost of the machine makes people turn away, but when you
consider
the cost of the supplies you understand why the manufactures essentially
give these ink jet printers away (supplies are where xerox made its money
and why they did so poorly after years of eroding market share... and why
dell wants in on the action with their recent entry into the printer
business). inkjets are good for their low entry price but are only
economical for very light users or in the higher end for color photo
output
(which in my opinion only provide convenience as cheaper and better
quality
photo printing is had from shutterfly and it is archival too... but
clearly
there is the need to wait for them to arrive in the mail...). but for a
student that wants fast quality output that is economical the answer is
laser... if you don't need fax/scanner/copier there are some amazingly
small
and cheap ($150) lasers from Minolta and Sumsung that are great for home
users or students. but if you need color then laser is still too expensive
(and big) for now.

"HH" wrote in message
. ..
Chris,
For a college student, a color inkjet all-in-one makes more sense than
any
laser based alternative, cost-wise, usefulness-wise and otherwise.

HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
if you don't need colour printing then stay away from all the above
mentioned inkjet models... they seem cheap but when you add in the
cost
of
the cartridges you will find that they are relatively expensive to the
laser
alternatives. brother makes several excellent laser
printer/copier/scanners
in sheet feed, flat bed, or combo type scanners. the sheet feed are
like
regular fax machines that lets you stack a bunch of paper for scanning
but
don't allow you to scan oversized objects so flat bed may be what you
are
looking for. the toner cartridges last for thousands of pages and
unlike
hp's more expensive competing laser products the drum is separate from
the
toner (so toner only costs about $25 a pop for brother vs. $80 for
hp...
but
after about 10 toner cartridges you do need a new drum for the brother
at
about $150.... and by that time you may just buy an whole new printer,
or
get the drum and still be ahead of the cost of alternatives.

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for
my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

....And while the student with the laser is handing in B&W documents and all
her classmates are turning in color work.....'m fraid we must agree to
disagree here.
FYI, my V40 does not smudge if you allow some time for the ink to dry.
HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
thlink.net...
i disagree. in my opinion the best choice for a college student
(aesthetics
aside) is the brother mfc-4800 laserjet fax/copier/scanner/printer. it
costs $249, prints fast, has 'no smudge' laser quality printing (not lousy
smudgeable inkjet output that looks good until touched), prints 2,200
pages
per $25 cartridge (instead of 500 per $30 ink type cartridge) making it
much
more economical that any inkjet machine that is expected to get any use...
the higher cost of the machine makes people turn away, but when you
consider
the cost of the supplies you understand why the manufactures essentially
give these ink jet printers away (supplies are where xerox made its money
and why they did so poorly after years of eroding market share... and why
dell wants in on the action with their recent entry into the printer
business). inkjets are good for their low entry price but are only
economical for very light users or in the higher end for color photo
output
(which in my opinion only provide convenience as cheaper and better
quality
photo printing is had from shutterfly and it is archival too... but
clearly
there is the need to wait for them to arrive in the mail...). but for a
student that wants fast quality output that is economical the answer is
laser... if you don't need fax/scanner/copier there are some amazingly
small
and cheap ($150) lasers from Minolta and Sumsung that are great for home
users or students. but if you need color then laser is still too expensive
(and big) for now.

"HH" wrote in message
. ..
Chris,
For a college student, a color inkjet all-in-one makes more sense than
any
laser based alternative, cost-wise, usefulness-wise and otherwise.

HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
if you don't need colour printing then stay away from all the above
mentioned inkjet models... they seem cheap but when you add in the
cost
of
the cartridges you will find that they are relatively expensive to the
laser
alternatives. brother makes several excellent laser
printer/copier/scanners
in sheet feed, flat bed, or combo type scanners. the sheet feed are
like
regular fax machines that lets you stack a bunch of paper for scanning
but
don't allow you to scan oversized objects so flat bed may be what you
are
looking for. the toner cartridges last for thousands of pages and
unlike
hp's more expensive competing laser products the drum is separate from
the
toner (so toner only costs about $25 a pop for brother vs. $80 for
hp...
but
after about 10 toner cartridges you do need a new drum for the brother
at
about $150.... and by that time you may just buy an whole new printer,
or
get the drum and still be ahead of the cost of alternatives.

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for
my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

A good inkjet is dry when it comes out of the printer. My Epson 1270 is
capable of truly STUNNING photographs, particularly with 120MB images from
my film scanner.

Any belief that an inkjet HAS to be inferior is old news.

Tom
"HH" wrote in message
.. .
...And while the student with the laser is handing in B&W documents and
all
her classmates are turning in color work.....'m fraid we must agree to
disagree here.
FYI, my V40 does not smudge if you allow some time for the ink to dry.
HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
thlink.net...
i disagree. in my opinion the best choice for a college student
(aesthetics
aside) is the brother mfc-4800 laserjet fax/copier/scanner/printer. it
costs $249, prints fast, has 'no smudge' laser quality printing (not
lousy
smudgeable inkjet output that looks good until touched), prints 2,200
pages
per $25 cartridge (instead of 500 per $30 ink type cartridge) making it
much
more economical that any inkjet machine that is expected to get any
use...
the higher cost of the machine makes people turn away, but when you
consider
the cost of the supplies you understand why the manufactures essentially
give these ink jet printers away (supplies are where xerox made its
money
and why they did so poorly after years of eroding market share... and
why
dell wants in on the action with their recent entry into the printer
business). inkjets are good for their low entry price but are only
economical for very light users or in the higher end for color photo
output
(which in my opinion only provide convenience as cheaper and better
quality
photo printing is had from shutterfly and it is archival too... but
clearly
there is the need to wait for them to arrive in the mail...). but for a
student that wants fast quality output that is economical the answer is
laser... if you don't need fax/scanner/copier there are some amazingly
small
and cheap ($150) lasers from Minolta and Sumsung that are great for home
users or students. but if you need color then laser is still too
expensive
(and big) for now.

"HH" wrote in message
. ..
Chris,
For a college student, a color inkjet all-in-one makes more sense
than
any
laser based alternative, cost-wise, usefulness-wise and otherwise.

HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
if you don't need colour printing then stay away from all the above
mentioned inkjet models... they seem cheap but when you add in the
cost
of
the cartridges you will find that they are relatively expensive to
the
laser
alternatives. brother makes several excellent laser
printer/copier/scanners
in sheet feed, flat bed, or combo type scanners. the sheet feed are
like
regular fax machines that lets you stack a bunch of paper for
scanning
but
don't allow you to scan oversized objects so flat bed may be what
you
are
looking for. the toner cartridges last for thousands of pages and
unlike
hp's more expensive competing laser products the drum is separate
from
the
toner (so toner only costs about $25 a pop for brother vs. $80 for
hp...
but
after about 10 toner cartridges you do need a new drum for the
brother
at
about $150.... and by that time you may just buy an whole new
printer,
or
get the drum and still be ahead of the cost of alternatives.

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for
my
daughter to use at college.

Mike

same can be said for the under two year old hewlett packard 1100a laser
printer/copier/scanner... should we be mad a brother and hp or microsoft?

"Tom Scales" wrote in message
.. .
I don't know. I got burned by Brother. Bought a nice, top-of-the-line
does
everything Brother about 2 years ago.

No XP support.

None.

No plans.

Never.

They were still selling it when XP came out.

Tom
"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
thlink.net...
i disagree. in my opinion the best choice for a college student
(aesthetics
aside) is the brother mfc-4800 laserjet fax/copier/scanner/printer. it
costs $249, prints fast, has 'no smudge' laser quality printing (not
lousy
smudgeable inkjet output that looks good until touched), prints 2,200
pages
per $25 cartridge (instead of 500 per $30 ink type cartridge) making it
much
more economical that any inkjet machine that is expected to get any
use...
the higher cost of the machine makes people turn away, but when you
consider
the cost of the supplies you understand why the manufactures essentially
give these ink jet printers away (supplies are where xerox made its
money
and why they did so poorly after years of eroding market share... and
why
dell wants in on the action with their recent entry into the printer
business). inkjets are good for their low entry price but are only
economical for very light users or in the higher end for color photo
output
(which in my opinion only provide convenience as cheaper and better
quality
photo printing is had from shutterfly and it is archival too... but
clearly
there is the need to wait for them to arrive in the mail...). but for a
student that wants fast quality output that is economical the answer is
laser... if you don't need fax/scanner/copier there are some amazingly
small
and cheap ($150) lasers from Minolta and Sumsung that are great for home
users or students. but if you need color then laser is still too
expensive
(and big) for now.

"HH" wrote in message
. ..
Chris,
For a college student, a color inkjet all-in-one makes more sense
than
any
laser based alternative, cost-wise, usefulness-wise and otherwise.

HH

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
if you don't need colour printing then stay away from all the above
mentioned inkjet models... they seem cheap but when you add in the
cost
of
the cartridges you will find that they are relatively expensive to
the
laser
alternatives. brother makes several excellent laser
printer/copier/scanners
in sheet feed, flat bed, or combo type scanners. the sheet feed are
like
regular fax machines that lets you stack a bunch of paper for
scanning
but
don't allow you to scan oversized objects so flat bed may be what
you
are
looking for. the toner cartridges last for thousands of pages and
unlike
hp's more expensive competing laser products the drum is separate
from
the
toner (so toner only costs about $25 a pop for brother vs. $80 for
hp...
but
after about 10 toner cartridges you do need a new drum for the
brother
at
about $150.... and by that time you may just buy an whole new
printer,
or
get the drum and still be ahead of the cost of alternatives.

"Mike Marquis" wrote in message
...
Anyone tried these? Any opinions? I am thinking of getting one for
my
daughter to use at college.

Mike