as the title suggests, my parents are in the market for an all in one number

looking at a budget of about $400-500 is this realistic?

I've got NFI on these things so looking to mongie (you work at office works yeh?) for some advice

thanks

*whistles at mongie*

just browsed my local computer store and they have this - http://www.canon.com.au/products/visual/all_in_one_printers/all_in_one_printers/mp750.html

for $300

I think its an old model as the main page of canon refers to the MP760, but for $300 who can complain!

last edited by HeardY at 20:34:11 14/Aug/05

or this for $350

http://www.epson.com.au/products/multifunctional/photorx510.asp

There's a HP one - PSC1300 I think, which you can get for under $150

But if they want to spend that much, I've played with one of the new canon pixelar(?) models, which turned my strip of negatives into photos :)

$399 hp 2610(memory card slots, network built-in)
$499 hp 2710 has wireless and bigger lcd screen.
$399 hp 6210(autofeed-fax/copy more than one sheet at a time)
both got picbridge,
50c photo prints(6x4) still cheaper to get them done at harveys(33c) or kmart or something, however anything bigger than 6x4, cheaper to do yourself.

last edited by Fuknukle at 20:52:51 14/Aug/05

This is mongie...

as has been said, canons are the s***. MP780 = Print, Scan, Copy, Fax + Pictbridge, and its the best in its class by a rather large margin.

MP760 = Print, Scan, Copy, Memory Card Print (It has a colour lcd) and it also has pictbridge plus, it can scan from slides and negatives. It doesnt have a Auto sheet feeder though.

MP750 = Print, Scan, Copy + Pictbridge. (Basically an mp780 minus the fax)

All three will print photos brilliantly, as well as everything else.

They all use the same ink, BCI3eBK ($23 for 27mL - Text Black), BCI6BK (13mL for $25 photo black) and three BCI6 colours (Cyan, Magenta and Yellow which are also 13mL and $25)

They all have two paper feed options (rear + tray) and can duplex print (double sided)

As for choosing, well, I would suggest going to your local harvey norman / officeworks and looking at all three, (Officeworks do not range the MP750). I would suggest that if they want a fax, they go for the 780, if they want to print their own photos, the 760 and if they just want a printer/copier, they take the 750. They will all print photos though, its just not as easy to do it directly.

Then

Look on Ausprices and StaticIce and find the best prices for your chosen printer, then either (a) go to your local officeworks store and ask them to price match the company or, (b) just go to the store and purchase it there.

The only reason I would suggest officeworks is that they have a 14 day return policy, so if they decide its not what they wanted, they can return it, even if they've opened it and used it. Dont take this as me spruking, because I dont really care. (as a side note, i'm not on commission, so it wouldn't matter even if you lived in brisbane and bought it from me personally). Officeworks' price matching policy requires the store to be able to call and confirm that the store they're price matching (a) exists, and (b) has stock of the product. So try not to pick online stores. They may also add a shipping charge onto the price of the machine if the store you want them to price match would normally charge you one.

Hopefully that helps.

oh, and I should add, while fooknookle's hp suggestions are good, HP printers offer a 5 picolitre print quality while canon's can print as small as 2picolitre.

HP's can also be as much as 3 times as expensive on ink when you're comparing it on a dollars per mL basis (why I included those in my original post)

HP's only advantage is that their print cartridges have the print head on the them, so if they become faulty (rare) or become clogged (common with infrequent use) you only need to buy new cartridges (2) to fix it. However, if you leave the canon's turned on all the time (they have a powersave mode which they will move into if they haven't been used for a while) then they will clean their print head often enough for it to not clog.

HP's are good machines, but expensive on ink, and have lower print quality for photos on photo paper than canon machines.

i have 3 of the hp 3030s.

<3 hp

3030's are now end of line, and they are laser machines, not ink jets.

wtf has that got to do with it? he never prescribed it had to be inkjet anywhere. who buys inkjets these days anyway.

P's can also be as much as 3 times as expensive on ink when you're comparing it on a dollars per mL basis (why I included those in my original post)

accually this is wrong and the main reason i recomended hp. hp are by far the cheapest to print photos for one, and cheapest for normal prints aswell. while i do indeed love canon they are the dearest of the lot.

ive read this in 2 mags and online somewhere reviewing the lastest models of hp, canon, epson and lexmark.
it really disapointed me as i really like canons printers and scanners, and have always hated hp printers, but the lastest range i must admit do a good job and are pretty solid.
i'll see if i can dig up the online reviews.

Mongie

Just wondering which office works you are at; as I am considering buying a fair amount of office furniture for tax purposes etc

awesome, thanks for the replies :)

I'll double check if they wanted fax, cant remember

It cannot be wrong.

HP's could be cheaper for printing photos, if they somehow use less ink to achieve the same results, but I have no way of measuring how much ink a printer uses to print a photo, and because of that, I made a point of saying "WHEN YOU'RE COMPARING IT ON A DOLLARS PER ML BASIS".

Let me explain.

Using HarrisTechnology as an example because their prices are on the net, and they stock everything...

A HP 97 cartridge (which for those who dont know, is the larger capacity colour cartridge for the current series of printers) costs $54.00 and contains 14mL of ink. (HP use one cartridge with three colours in it for colour, so the 14mL is actually 4.666r mL of Cyan, 4.666r mL of Magenta and 4.666r mL of Yellow.

54 divided by 14 = $3.85/mL

So, each millilitre of ink from a HP 97 cartridge costs $3.85.

Now, for the canon comparison.

The current canon printers use three colour cartridges. BCI6M, BCI6C and BCI6Y. They cost $22 each from Harris Tech, and they each have 13mL of ink in them. So, you're paying $66 for 36mL of ink, compared to paying $54 for 14mL of ink in the hp, I think you see where I'm going.

Admitedly, HP cartridges also have the added cost of a printhead with each cartridge, as I mentioned earlier.

$66 / 36 = $1.83 per mL for canon. So, not my 3x as promissed, but its less than half price. (also note, that if you compare, say, the HP 6210 that Fooknookle mentioned earlier, it only takes the 94/95 (smaller) cartridges, so its more expensive.

Will we look at black? Its even better.

HP 96.

$49 for 21mL = $2.34 per mL.

Canon BCI-3Ebk.

$19 for 27mL = $0.70 per mL.

Look, its more than 3x as expensive for the HP ink, and thats the big cartridges.

Just for fun, since I'm bored, I'll work out the other two as well.

HP 94 (black, small capacity)
This is by far the best, I assure you!
$32 for 11mL = $2.90/mL (4.1 times as expensive as a BCI3eBK)

HP 95 (colour, small capacity)
$40 for 7mL = $5.71/mL (yep, 3.1 times as expensive as the 6-series colours)

The Conclusion (Cliffs)
HP cartridges, on average, are 3.16x as expensive per mL as Canon cartridges.

Funny Rock, I work at the Upper Mt Gravatt (Garden City) store, but... I dont work in furniture, and unless you are buying bulk quantities of the same item, there is probably no chance of being able to get a discount for you. I'm sorry.

canon MP370 here.

Biggest pos ive bought. Spent so much money on ink since i got it 6 months ago its not funny and thats just for straight black cartridges after I saw how quickly the colour one was used I just stuck to straight b/w printing. From coming from a straight bubblejet to it I wish I just went down the seperate scanner / printer path, and Im far from a heavy printer user, if anything im light.

MP370's use BCI-24 cartridges, which are 8mL for black and 6mL for colour or something like that.

They're for light use, and while the mp370 wasnt a cheap machine, they arent top of the line either, thus why they use the low volume cartridges.

going with the MP760

thanks for the help mongie :)

$340 from teh local bloke - he knows me so hopefully I can get it cheaper

if you're after a printer / scanner / fax id definately go for the samsung 4216, theyre laser printers and you'd obviously only do your black and white stuff on it. you could pick one up for around $389

then if you wanna do photos/colour prints id run down to the post office and get a HP7660 for $69, top quality prints out of these things

edit: btw if you only need this machine for black and white prints, youd be crazy to go an inkjet.

last edited by mattamon at 21:26:16 17/Aug/05

yeh, they want to scan in old pics of their parents and print them, last time mum got someone to do it it was $200 to restor the photo's or something and then she got stung for $150 last week...

told her to buy something

HP's could be cheaper for printing photos, if they somehow use less ink to achieve the same results, but I have no way of measuring how much ink a printer uses to print a photo, and because of that, I made a point of saying "WHEN YOU'RE COMPARING IT ON A DOLLARS PER ML BASIS".

totally Mongie, except your "forgeting/dont know" about the pack which includes a colour and blackphoto cartridge plus a 125 pack of photo paper for $62.50
which for a start is $20 dollars cheaper than buying the cart's seperately but it also comes with a generous 125 pack of photopaper.

so not only are we talking ink here but also photo paper. this is why they are cheaper, of course without this pack i agree with you totally.
this pack is the ONLY reason i would even consider buying a hp

last edited by Fuknukle at 22:59:00 17/Aug/05

well, I guess you make a good point, but it still doesnt justify their extreme prices...

Plus... Its a photo pack (95 - small tricolour + 99 - photo) even if it is a good deal for photos, it still doesnt help the regular cost of printing.