Don't let plastic scare you, My last HP was loaded with steel inside and the scanner locked up.
One of the trends that I see and looking at the refill sections at the store is the vast number of different cartridges that HP uses. They tend to go obsolete and or HP changes stiles continuously. Why are they constantly changing ink cartridges, you might ask yourself. I fear the reason is to make you upgrade as different cartridges are phased out.
Any more it is hard to get just a printer/scanner W/O FAX. The copier is a wonderful function along side the scanner.
I have never ever had an issue with Panasonic, if you can find one or Canon. I hear nothing but good about Brother and that may be my next brand or Canon again.
I have an HP 3520. Have had it for over three years and have had no problems. It will scan, copy and print. Does photos that look professional. I couldn't be happier. Also it is network and wireless though I haven't used it that way. Got it at Office Depot.
"Lee Michaels" wrote in news:535faf70$0 $1315$c3e8da3$ snipped-for-privacy@news.astraweb.com:
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I've had two Brother printers, ne in my office, one at home, for some years now (one is 4+ years old, and the other must be nearly 10) -- and have had only one problem of any significance, a software glitch that was fairly easily reset. Both are multi-function units (print, scan, copy, fax).
Over the years, I've also had several Epson printers, retiring them only when they became obsolete. When my son's Canon printer died two weeks after he went off to college (four years ago), we bought him an Epson to replace it. Total problem count for all the Epsons we've ever owned over all the years we've owned them: zero.
Obviously, I'd recommend either of those brands without hesitation.
The hardware from Useless Bastard is well-made, but their software is s**t: install an HP printer, and then spend the next hour UNinstalling all the useless crapware that comes along with the printer driver. On top of that, their drivers are poorly written: it's not unusual to see an HP printer driver using 50% of the CPU time when you're not even printing anything. And the support is about the worst I've ever experienced: apathetic, incompetent, and rude.
I have no comments on the quality of Epson's tech support -- I've never needed to use it.
The few times when I've had questions for Brother's tech support, they've been very pleasant and helpful.
Swingman wrote in news:Le6dnVFGbPkYO8LOnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
That's actually not too different from my experience: the HP hardware is fairly well made, and problems are not frequent. But if you do have a problem... then God help you, trying to get competent technical support from those clowns.
That's why I call them Useless Bastard: because of their horrible tech support.
I do recall the last HP all in one that I bought increased boot tome to nearly 12 minutes, 6 years ago. That was up from about 4 minutes. HP suggested uninstalling their software and using Windows vs. boxing the unit back up and returning it to OfficeMax.
We have a HP Officejet 5610 All-in-One that we have used hard for over 5 years with no problems. Started using it with Win XP now connected to Win 8.1 still no problems.
We bought a Canon MX459 wireless printer. Less than year old now, it works with my iPhone, and my wife's laptop, and tablet so far no problems with the MX459.
Exactly. Our HP AIO is a decent piece of hardware. The software is crap. The drivers seem to "disappear". Especially bad with a wireless network connection. It's visible and accessible on the network - just will not print or scan. A wired connection works somewhat better. Sometimes works fine for a month. Sometimes requires re-installation for every use. Sometimes scanning multiple pages is fine, other times the scanner gets "busy" and we cannot recover without rebooting both PC and printer. HP's support forum shows the same problems going back seven years with no resolutions.
I'm also in the market for a new printer and was looking for that supports Apple AirPrint. We use iPhones and iPads in the house, although the computers are Windows machines (7 and 8.1)
Have had good luck with Canon's thus far, and you can't beat the price of that one for an all-in-one. (detest FAX, but required for me as many of my sub's are still in the stone age).
Thanks for the heads up ... that one is now on my short list.
I had a problem with an HP monitor. Called tech support and got a guy (in the US) with such a heavy Indian accent I only understood every tenth word. I asked him, politely, if we could continue via email. He essentially said I could shove it, and not very politely. So much for HP.
Thanks everybody for your input. I installed a HP printer for my wife and had a lot of problems getting it up and going. I spent hours with an Indian techie who had a heavy accent and kept reading the manual to me. I finally figured out the problem myself. Support was useless. The printer has worked just fine since then though. And she hardly uses it.
But I refuse to have anything to do with driver issues or bloatware. So, no HP.
I have had good luck with both brother and canon before. I will look around some more. Thanks again guys. Hearing some stories from others does add to a little clarity to the issue.
I have 2 Brother lasers, a B&W and a color, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. They support Windows, Apple, and Linux. I've printed 4500 pages on the B&W and I'm still using the toner that came with it. I've printed about 400 pages on the color one and it says it has 99% left of all the colors.
I know you're looking for a lower cost inkjet, but if you don't print on a regular basis you'll wind up replacing a lot of clogged cartridges - I know I did.
I've had the Pixma MX850 for years now. It's been great. No complaints. Even when I updated to win7 I was able to get drivers from Cannon.
I only wish that the scanners would autofeed small things like receipts. You only have so much glass for the flat scanner, so long receipts would be nice to autofeed which go until the end. They are too narrow. That's a request for a feature, not a complaint.
I keep all my more important reciepts on the computer now. Very handy.
I had epsons .. I can say that I had nothing but problems with the paper feed. So much so they replaced it after trying to repair it and failing. They gave me a lower end model.. I was not happy. That printer was junk too, as it had problems feeding.
That's when I went and bought an HP for my son. That would be the last HP printer I would own. Years ago in the office HP was king. Not anymore.
My Canon has to be 8 or more years now. I use it on the network wired. I prefer wired for the printer. Now they all seem to be wireless. But I would disable and still go wired.
"Lee Michaels" wrote in news:535faf70$0$1315$c3e8da3$ snipped-for-privacy@news.astraweb.com:
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Printers don't necessarily have to be networkable to work on a network. I've got a QNAP box that is combination data storage (Network Attached Storage--great for backups) and print server. I still have to plug the printer in to the computer to scan, but I only scan once in a blue moon so it's not a big deal.
It's been a while since I set it up, but I remember having to plug the printer in to install the drivers then moving the cable back to the server. Then once the network printer was opened it was set as default and everything works perfectly.
It might be more than you want to get in to, but it might let you use a printer you may not have otherwise bought.
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