Printer dilemma

[MrChad]

Well, I think my HP OfficeJet d145 is dead. I got a great deal on it about 18 months ago, but now it's out of warranty and not printing, and I refuse to throw any more money at it to attempt to fix it. I like the copying and scanning capabilities of the d145, so I'm now looking at possible all-in-ones to replace the HP behemoth. However, my girlfriend already has a working HP DeskJet 940C printer, and she lives with me now. So I also have the option of just using that for printing, then buying a standalone scanner for scanning/copying needs.

In short, do I:

1. Replace the OfficeJet with another all-in-one (Canon Multipass, for instance)? If so, what do you recommend?
2. Replace the OfficeJet with a scanner and use the DJ 940C for printing. If so, what scanner to you recommend?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Erasmus-X]

Historically, all-in-one printers tend to be a little less sturdy than separate solutions are because you putting the functionality of 3 or 4 separate machines into one big one. I've never been a particularly huge fan of the all-in-ones, especially since I prefer separate scanners for the quality and features.

If you print mostly text documents, that DeskJet 940C might still be an adequate printer for your needs. If you do a lot of color printing as well and want to keep the option open for printing photos, you'll definitely need to get a newer printer because a) the quality will be better and b) the ink will be cheaper if you swing for a model that uses individual color cartridges. If you end up keeping the 940C as your primary printer and get a scanner, we'd have to know what your budget is and what you'll be actually using the scanner for. Some scanners excel at documents, while others are clearly designed for photos. I like Epson and Canon scanners the best, but I scan mostly photos.

If you go the all-in-one route again, what type of printing do you normally do? HP all-in-ones tend to be very good for documents, have expensive ink, and so-so photo quality. Canon and Epson seem to be the best-balanced products (but Epson doesn't offer fax if you're looking for that).

A couple of recommendations for all-in-ones:

Canon MultiPASS MP730 - individual ink tanks, fax capability, media slots, Pictbridge port on front, automatic document feeder. $300 usually. They have a couple of cheaper models with about the same print quality and less toys, but they're both based on the BCI-24 cartridges (black and tricolor) - could be potentially more expensive to operate.

Epson CX5400 - individual ink tanks, no fax, no automatic document feeder or media slots, not too many frills. But prints great photos and graphics and has pretty good text quality. Also costs half as much at $150 ($130 after rebate) for very comparable quality if you don't need the bells and whistles.

 

[Timathy]

I assume officejet d145 can do 1 click copy without go through your computer. To me this was the best feature I got switching from scanner+printer to all in one machine couple months ago. With 2 machines, you will most likely lose some quality/speed on the copied image. So if you "copy" alot then you better off get an all in 1 machine.

I would try to fix Officejet first too as suggested above.

 

[Lotdog]

office jet 6110 is a great printer

 

[Comp625]

If you wanna stick with HP, the Officejet 7130 is basically the same thing as the d145 and has a card reader. I'd suggest going the Canon route though...cheap ink for the same or better quality as HP!

Oh, the Canon's BCI-24 cartridges come out to be cheaper than HP but you have to buy the ink in bulk (since the amount of ink per cartridge is small). However, the BCI-24 is more expensive to operate versus other Canon machines that use the separate color ink tanks (eg: BCI-3 or BCI-6).

 

[usernamemax20charact]

I like the Canon MultiPASS MP730 too. It's a solid machine though I do find the color output on regular paper to be not that good -- colors look faded compare the the HP and Epson models.

Also, if you need a legal-size scanning bed then the HP is the only game in town. No other manufacturer offers an inkjet all-in-one with a legal size scanning bed. Do you need a media card reader or a duplexer (which the HP Oficejet 7130 has)? If not, the HP Officejet 7110 is essentially the same machine and it's $100 cheaper.