Canon Multipass MP C555 Color Bubble Jet Printer, Fax, Copier, and Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm tempted to give this baby 5 stars, primarily because it exceeds expectations. First of all, it's practically half the price of any other manufacturer's competing model as well as half the size and weight. Secondly, the print quality should satisfy all but the most demanding tastes--even the color is more brilliant and and less grainy than what I'm getting from an Epson 740 at fast speed. The only drawback I've discovered so far with the Canon is the slowness, especially when printing color. If this were my only printer, I'd probably lose patience with the 2 ppm speed. And (...) the machine does not appear to be rugged enough to stand up to constant, heavy use. I suspect that few printers can match the "indestructibility" of an HP.
The Canon line of multifunction printers presents quite a challenge to the consumer trying to sort them out. The current models are the models ending in 5--the C545, C555, and C755. The "C" models ending in 0 are no longer being manufactured. The "F" flatbed models are the newest machines. The C755 is incompatible with Mac platforms, and I've had better success matching the C555 with my iMac than the C545, which uses a USB conversion device in the cable rather than in the machine itself. Windows users, on the other hand, will probably find the C755, with its faster printing, sharper resolution and steep discount from retail, the better value. The F models are faster and sharper yet, but at a significantly higher cost.
If you're purchasing a Multipass as a 2nd machine, or planning to use it sparingly, the C555 could still be the best bet, especially given its light weight and compact dimensions. Thus far I'm using it primarily as a stand-alone unit, and it does the jobs I'd formerly assigned to separate copy and fax machines--more efficiently, economically, and easily. Despite the comments of some other users, the black printing is among the most economical of any printer. And the individual tanks, especially by "clone" makers, can be picked up for peanuts from dealers all over the internet. Incredibly, for the price of a single Epson cartridge, I can purchase 10 Canon-compatible ink tanks! In other words, don't be too quick to believe some of the negative reviews of these "low-end" Canon machines.

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The Canon MultiPASS MP C555 multifunction peripheral is everything you could possibly want. It's a color Bubble Jet printer, fax machine, copier, and scanner. With all these functions the C555 is a multitalented machine that will save you space and money.
Well designed, and stylish to boot, the C555 plugs into any parallel or USB and is compatible with either a PC or Macintosh.It's fast and efficient so you can send or receive faxes at 14.4 Kbps--equivalent to 6 seconds per page. You can store up to 42 pages in memory and load up to 20 pages in the automatic document feeder.
Photo-quality color printing comes to you at 720 x 360 dpi resolution. Print reports and promotional materials that look professional and slick. Scan color photos, artwork, and text at 600 dpi (300 dpi optical) with the push of a button. You can send documents to your e-mail or OCR (optical character recognition) application. You can even use your fax or copy function without your computer! And with easy drop-in ink cartridges (BC-20), changing your ink is a cinch.
The C555 comes with special software tools. These will help you enhance or manipulate photos, integrate scanned text into word processing documents, and create terrific Web pages. In fact, with the C555 you receive a free business Web site. This machine weighs 11.2 pounds and measures 14.4 by 13.4 by 10.9 inches and comes with a one-year limited warranty. --Linda Anderson

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HP PSC 1311 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier Review

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(More customer reviews)UPDATE: If I could change my original 3-star rating to 1 star, I would! There is no need to put up with such frustration after all, even at the low-tier price range!
It's one year later, and I finally gave up putting up with this piece of junk, and replaced it with a Canon Pixma MP150 (which was about $20 less than I paid for this HP). With the HP, I got "jams" reported after EVERY page printed. The "fix" I'd thought I'd found (in my original review) stopped working. No good especially since I usually have to print things in duplicate--and I have more things to print now (still not lots but enough to get sick of this nonsense)! Even worse, it said it even though there was no real jam. But I'd have to reset it after every sheet. Intolerable! And, sometimes it'd come up as having an error when I first turned it on and hadn't even tried to print anything yet that day. Argh argh argh!
Cheap does *not* have to mean shoddy, and the HP is just plain shoddy. The Canon I just installed breezed through a multiple-sheet print test with no problems. Installation was a breeze, too. The only thing that says "cheap" about the Canon, other than the price, is it's a little less than solid sounding, but IT WORKS RIGHT, unlike the HP. I just wish I'd picked a Canon to begin with.
-Original Review-
Before I get into specifics, I'll say that the belief that cheap all-in-one devices are mediocre at everything, seems to be correct! But, for the great [ie, CHEAP!] price of this machine, it's good enough. I rarely need to print, copy or scan, so buying individual devices or even spending much for an all-in-one just wasn't justified in my case.
The machine's working fine now, but HP doesn't really seem to have its act together. First off, it was supposed to come with an installation CD. There wasn't any. Even whoever wrote the instructions didn't seem to be sure on whether it comes with one - one picture of the accessories shows CDs, but the picture of how they're packed shows NO CD! So I guess the packing team got confused.
Then, when I went to HP's site to download the software (rather than wait for them to send out a disk), it says that the download doesn't have all the software on "the CD." But, the download actually *did* have all that was claimed to be on the disk.
So finally I got to turn it on and set it up. It set up easily enough. But, I quickly found annoyance. Most importantly, every time I tried to print more than one page it would report that the cartridges had "stalled," stop printing, and dump the rest of the print job. I discerned that this was due to it holding onto the first page "so the ink could dry," which would be cool but when it did that, its own jam-detection software was thinking that the page - the one it, itself was holding onto - was a paper jam!
Also it would print a new alignment page every time I turned it on. What a waste...certainly HP doesn't think people will leave their printers on 24/7??
I figured that these irritations had to be due to poor coding of the driver software, rather than mechanical errors. YEP! Sure enough, the next day HP's auto-update detected a couple of available patches. Usually it's necessary to download a patch for things like this when the original came off a CD, but it seems that actually fixing the one live on the site isn't the HP Way! That has to be patched too, rather than them doing it themselves for the live downloads and putting out a single fully-functional version!
Immediately after installing the patch, I tested printing a 2-page document. No more "stalling!" Whee! Now it counts as a functional printer!
Unfortunately, it STILL starts printing an "alignment page" every time I turn it on. That's an utterly ridiculous, ink and paper-wasting behavior and I'll be looking to find out how to stop it. For now I'll turn it on with my other hand hovering over the "cancel" button, but I'm hoping that there is some way to turn that idiocy off.
As for the other functions: I haven't tried the copier function yet. But, I have used the scanner for some photos. These photos are in a catalog. It makes a grainy scan. Fortunately, I have Photoshop, so I am able to clean up the images well. Their own image-editing software is a basic-type program. Photoshop works very well and allows a lot more things to be done.
Strangely, it will auto-set to a resolution of 200 dpi and then complain when it's turned up. And, it wants to put "sharpening" on everything (ever see those lines in a .jpg? That's where they come from!) So I ditched that, which also caused an "alert" box. I found out how to stop these irritating "alerts" from appearing (If I didn't want more res and no sharpening, I wouldn't have clicked for it, would I have!!?)
While that did improve things, I still had to "blur" out the dots and lines in Photoshop. THEN I shrank the picture (dimensions and filesize) back down, and it looks almost as good as the catalog's original. But if I had let the scanner put it in as a small picture to begin with, it would have been lousy. Better to make it do a BIG picture and shrink it back yourself after retouching it.
I am presuming that the scanner will do better with text documents that don't have much detail to begin with.
A couple of other things about this machine are that it's loud, and does a whole lot of moving the print carriage for no apparent reason on startup. When using the scanner, the parts related to that start moving, apparently for nothing, when the lid is opened, then about 10 minutes after I'm done scanning they'll move some more. And it all sounds clunky to me. I'm not too confident in how long this machine'll last.

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HP PSC 1311 Multifunction

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Canon MP620B BLUE version Wireless All-in-one Photo Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this printer from Best Buy in January. I needed to replace the Lexmark All in One printer that I had, which was really terrible. Stay away from Lexmark! Anyway, when I got it home and tried to setup the wireless connection with my laptop(which I had gotten only a few weeks before) I had a lot of difficulty. I think that this is entirely due to the fact that I'm running Windows 7 and it was set to do that. I downloaded the correct driver for the printer for my version of windows. I could get it to print wirelessly once, then I tried to have it scan something wirelessly for me. That worked well, but then when I went back to print something again, it wouldn't work. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. I dealt with customer service and they weren't a lot of help. Eventually, I was looking at some options in the print dialogue box and clicked on something there and it solved the whole problem. So if you have a problem printing wirelessly with these Canon printers, make sure to check all of your print settings. If it hadn't been for this one seriously annoying problem, I would give it five stars. It has been super reliable and the paper tray is underneath, which is great since we have kids. Also, the output tray closes so that the printer entirely closes up into a cube(also great because of the kids). When you want to print, it automatically opens up! So wonderful!

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Dell 2155cdn Multifunction Color Laser Network Printer Copier Scanner Fax -Max Resolution 600x600 DPI - Max Print Speed 24 PPM - Duty Cycle 40000 PPM - Max Sheet Size Letter - Auto Duplex - Gigabit Ethernet, USB - 256MB RAM - CPU 533MHz - 50-Sheet ADF - PCL, XPS Review

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(More customer reviews)OK I have to brag, had a friend at Dell give me a 17% off discount when I ordered my computer system. Then he emails me a 30% off coupon for a printer and asked if I needed one. Wasn't planning on getting a printer, but with that discount I had to see what was available. When I saw the 30% was ADDED to the 17% system discount I had to jump on it. Bottomline it cost me $380! LOL
It's pretty new but I managed to find one review to make sure it was good before I bought it. Am I Glad I did. Just found another review at MacWorld that placed it second to the $800 Xerox, basically because the Xerox is more quiet.
Even at the regular price of $650 it's a great buy. Manufacturers are notorious for BS on their print speeds, but this thing smokes! It's very close to the 23 ppm advertised speed, but what's really amazing is how quick it spits out the first page.
The important part, flash and features aside, the print quality on black and white text is amazing, incredibly sharp. The color is good, but on some photos I think the output needs to be calibrated, makes some images a little reddish.
Love most of the features, it's nice to be able to scan pages right to your computer as a pdf file to easily email.
The ONLY donwside I have with this computer which was a disappointment is that I couldn't set it up to email a scanned image directly from the printer. For some dumb reason the software to set it up to email docs asks for the primary smtp gateway address, but only accepts a numerical address instead of textual(like you would enter with outlook) so bottomline I spoke with 4 different Dell techs and none of them could make it so it could email via my qwest account's smtp server. So that is a feature I would have liked, but unless Dell comes up with a fix I won't be able to. That being said I can scan to my computer and then attach doc to email, but an unnecessary extra step.
As for noise, it's a little loud when in action, but I think that's typical for color lasers and not any louder than some HP's I have tested in stores.
Copy speeds are great and images are very close to originals. Scanned images look great as well.
If you are tired of slow and expensive to use color ink jet mfp's, take the step up to laser with this great offering by Dell, you won't be disappointed!

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Epson CX7450 All-in-one Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)I've owned a lot of printers over the years including dot matrix printers (remember how much fun it was to feed the paper onto those and line them up just right?); but this Epson is by far the worst printer/all-in-one.
Won't print in black and white if any of the color ink cartridges run out; cannot set it to print black and white only. In fact even when printing text documents with black ink only it uses some color ink. And the color ink is used quickly. Every time you replace one of the ink cartridges you have to charge so it takes a bleeds some ink out of the cartridges. And the fun part is that they all need replaced at different times, so they're constantly charging and bleeding off ink.
My main frustration, however, was that I ordered several ink cartridges directly from Epson that the printer said were "incompatible" with my printer. Ummm, what???? So I had to call in and get replacements. They do not list a Customer Service number on their website . . . only Technical Support and Pre-Sales. They want to troubleshoot everything first even when they ship a bad product, which wastes time and money. They do replace the ink, but you have to wait for it to arrive which means no printer for days on end. I had three, count 'em, three separate instances of bad cartridges, and had to wait for the replacements. They are refusing to replace the printer or give me my money back because I purchased the unit at Target.
Yes, it does scan and make copies of letter sized docs, but I have a Canon at home that does the same but is much nicer and uses much less ink and prints my text docs even when the color ink is out. You get what you pay for I guess.

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HP Photosmart C8180 All-in-One - Multifunction ( printer / copier / scanner ) - color - ink-jet - copying (up to): 34 ppm (mono) / 33 ppm (color) - printing (up to): 34 ppm (mono) / 33 ppm (color) - 100 sheets - Hi-Speed USB, 10 Base-T, 802.11b, 802.11g, Bluetooth Review

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(More customer reviews)I received a HP photosmart c8180 all-in-one printer as a Christmas present in December 2008. It will be the last HP product I, or any member of my family ever buy, and here is why.
Within three months of the end of it's warranty, it began behaving erratically and within a week, no longer would function. The HP on-line support center advised me as to how to reset it, but when that failed, their subsequent response was to offer me only a $50 rebate on a new printer.... HP offers no repair service. Trying to protect the ~$100 invested in spare ink cartridges and HP photopaper, I took it to Best Buy (where it had been purchased for ~$350) to seek diagnosis and repair. They informed me it was one of the few HP products their service center would not even accept to evaluate for repairs!! I then took it to a local independent computer repair business and paid them $30 to evaluate the problem. They found that the mother board had been damaged where the power adapter plugs directly into it, projecting out about an inch beyond the back of the unit. Such a vulnerable, obvious design/engineering flaw is inexcusable, not to mention the absence of meaningful product support. This experience destroyed my confidence in the quality of HP products. I replaced it with a Canon MP 990, receiving a $100 rebate.

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Epson Stylus Photo 580 All In One Inkjet Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)I've owned 4 or 5 other Epson printers (as well as several from HP) in the past, but the Stylus Photo RX580 all-in-one is the easiest to use printer I've ever had, with excellent picture quality and a very good built-in scanner as well. Combine that with the fact that it is the least expensive of the printers I have bought and you'll see why I consider this a bargain.
Let me start with the scanner -- it is quiet and fairly fast. The supplied TWAIN compatible software has three levels: fully automatic, "home" use, and professional. It works well. The resolution is fine for home use, although it is not a scanner for film or slides. The scanner integrates with the printer allowing use as a stand-alone copier. It can also copy photos directly to the face of an (inkjet printable) CD or DVD. And there are some interesting surprises -- you can print an index of a memory card -- then fill in a few choices (with a black pencil or pen -- like a test answer sheet) and scan the index sheet and the printer will print photos from the memory card, only the photos you choose on the index sheet, sized and borders as you selected. Very cool -- and easy to use. The scanner also allows you to directly prepare greeting cards without the computer.
The print quality is quite good. The Claria inks are dye-based inks (NOT pigment, as incorrectly stated in other reviews) giving them bright colors, and able to print on many surfaces. This is one of Epson's "Hi-Definition" printers -- which means tiny droplets and great pictures. The inks are separately replaceable, and available in two sizes (regular and high capacity -- from Epson direct -- 50% more ink for only $5 more). The printer works best with Epson papers, and can print on virtually any stock Epson sells. It also creates excellent prints directly on printable CDs and DVDs -- the results can look very good, and are much better than add -on labels.
The 2.5" built in color LCD is very useful -- it allows meaningful dialogues with the printer as well as previews of images from memory cards, etc.
The printer is fully Mac compatible (as well as PC) and includes some useful software, including a CD/DVD print layout program.
What does it lack? Well, an USB cable -- but, unfortunately, most prints ship without a cable. It doesn't do paper sizes bigger than 8.5" wide, and its not aimed at professional photographers (who want larger images, higher resolution scanners, and more permanent pigment inks), but for home/office use it works quite well.
All in all an excellent all-in-one at a reasonable price. I'm very happy with it.

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The Epson Stylus Photo RX580 photo all-in-one brings superior photo printing home with full-featured scanning and copying plus Ultra Hi-Definition printing. Get total performance for your photos, documents and CDs with or without a computer. Print beautiful photos without a PC. Use the 2.5color LCD to view, select, rotate and crop photos from memory cards, digital cameras and mobile phones. For larger memory cards with hundreds of images, use the exclusive Print-by-date mode to quickly sort through your photos. When it s time to print, the RX580 automatically analyzes and adjusts the color and lighting of each image, plus easily removes red-eye. You get phenomenal photos without extra effort - it s like having a lab technician right inside your all-in-one. Precision 6-color printing with Claria Hi-Definition Ink produces the ultimate combination of photo quality and longevity. You can feel confident about sharing and displaying stunning, borderless photos that are smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant, up to 200 years album storage. Best of all, the RX580 races through every project, printing black and color text up to 30 ppm and 4 x 6borderless photos in as fast as 13 seconds and better than lab quality in as fast as 32 seconds. With high-resolution scanning, this powerful performer makes it easy to restore the color to old, faded photos for brilliant reprints and enlargements - PC-free. You can even make photo greeting cards, using your own photos and text, without ever turning on your computer. Plus, print directly onto ink jet printable CDs/DVDs for professional-looking results with no messy labels. The Epson RX580 makes it easy to achieve amazing results whatever the task at hand, from crisp color copies and scans to Ultra Hi-Definition photos with remarkable richness, depth and clarity. It s all possible with Epson.

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Brother MFC-3100C Inkjet Multifunction Review

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(More customer reviews)I have recently purchased this machine for fax and mostly black and white print jobs for my home office. Since then I have purchased a digital camera, and have found this machine produces great framable pictures!!! I would highly recomend this machine for anyone who shops around and wants the most features and quality for the price. I have used up a few ink cartridges printing larger 8x10 photos, but the individual ink cartridges make it easy and cost effective to use. The only thing I am missing is a flatbed, but so far I haven't needed it and have been able to scan pictures through the document feeder. Also a great color copier.

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Brother contributes another smart machine (at a smart price) to the multifunction market with this 5-in-1 combination of color fax, color printer, color copier, color scanner, and computer-based fax.
As a printer, the MFC-3100C can produce 10 pages per minute of black and white and eight pages per minute of color, at up to 2,400 x 1,200 resolution (naturally, the higher resolutions are a little slower printing). The 100-sheet paper cassette keeps you always in stock.
As a full-color fax machine, the MFC-3100C features 2 MB of memory, storing up to 100 pages, and 14.4 bps speed, delivering a page roughly every six seconds. With 40 station auto-dialing, the machine also can broadcast faxes to 90 locations. In addition, the MFC-3100C is equipped with a Brother PC Fax Driver, enabling you to send black-and-white faxes from your PC.
The MFC-3100C's scanner function can scan at up to 2,400 dpi, and one-touch keys allow for scanning directly to e-mail or OCR. When it comes to making copies, the MFC5100c can print up to 99 copies at a time at 1,200 x 1,200 dpi resolution. Copies can be reduced and enlarged from 25 percent to 400 percent.
With parallel and USB interfaces, the MFC-3100C is cross-platform compatible, working with Works with Windows and iMac/iBook/G3/G4, with parallel and USB interfacing (cables not included). The unit is backed by a one-year limited warranty.

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Dell 946 All In One Inkjet Printer (Fax/Scan/Copy/Print) Review

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(More customer reviews)This printer bites! I had a brand new 946 all in one printer from dell and not quite after a year it stopped printing. It started with the black ink not printing, I checked the Dell tech site and the remedy was to replace the ink cartridge since the black ink was probably faulty. (Also just a note while browsing on their tech forums for printer solutions A LOT of people had the same problem) I did this (as did several people on the forum) didn't work!
I checked with tech support again they had me reinstall the drivers I did this (as did several people on the forum) didn't work!
Now my color ink won't print. And it isn't just the print that won't work, the copy doesn't work either.
Unfortunately my warranty had expired so I wasn't able to demand a replacement. I really don't like this printer! Just a forwarning about the printer.

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Brother MFC-420CN Color Inkjet Network Multifunction Review

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(More customer reviews)Update: Now I've had the Brother for over a year and a half, and I see that others have had bad luck with theirs. I will temper my original joy with the comment that my first unit did go bad (just wouldn't print), but Brother replaced it with a new one during the warranty period. They are so inexpensive that I bought another one to see me through the two weeks of repair/replacement time. That was less than great, but now I have a backup, for still less than $300.
I've never experienced much in the way of paper jams, so I would guess that at this price point, Brother just isn't providing consistent build quality. That's too bad, because the prospect of a bad unit is a real disincentive. I'm still satisfied overall, but recognize that not everyone is having the same experience. And of course the downtime resulting in purchase of a second unit was a drag. I would consider a different printer, but Epson and HP have both been such poor experiences for me (with far inferior support), that I will still probably prioritize a new Brother model when I need to upgrade. No sign of that happening any time soon though.
August 30, 2006
---------------
Ok, I have only had this all-in-one for a little over a week. But after years of being a slave to the HP ink needle, I am so happy with it I want to dance.
I have never really seriously considered Brother in the past, and now I feel like I have been living in the wrong world. Like if someone told you "My new car does 0-60 in 5 seconds, gets 70 mpg, and cost $1500. What, you didn't know about those?"
For less than $150, I now have a very compact printer with 10baseT ethernet (goodbye nightmarishly technical HP JetDirect 300x external network box), separate ink tanks for all colors, more advanced features than my 3 year old HP that cost around $1000 with the JetDirect, sharper printing, and best of all, real, honest-to-goodness Mac OS X support. Their software and documentation shows an absolute commitment to doing Mac right. (It took a year and a half for HP to get the Mac drivers for my OfficeJet to be minimally functional, and never did manage to handle things like scanning from the unit to a computer on the network.) Brother has earned a long-term customer here, and I am telling everyone I know.
Like any AIO, the quality of printing and scanning is probably not up to what you can get in stand alone units. But for general small office/home office use, it is more than fine. If you want the highest photo quality, get a specialized photo printer with a 6-color head. But actually, the photo quality on this unit is still far better than you could get at any price only a few short years ago. It's just that we have gotten spoiled at the truly amazing quality of photo inkjets in the last couple of years.
I will probably get one of the Olympus dye-subs for photos eventually, but in the meanwhile, prints from this on photo paper are plenty good enough for posting on my refrigerator door. And the resolution and appearance of business graphics, while again possibly not up to what current stand-alones will do, are the best of any printer I have ever owned, and leagues ahead of the older HP OfficeJet I just gave away.
And the best part is, it could fall apart in 6 months, and still not cost much more to replace than I have been spending on HP ink cartridges. My OfficeJet sucked down ink like a storm drain, and the cartridges were EXPENSIVE. It became clear in short order that their business model was built around bleeding you dry on consumable costs. Those guys have quite a racket, but I'm happy to say I am out from under it.
Thanks Brother, I will sing your praises to the skies.

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MFC-420cn Inkjet Flatbed Color Fax Printer/Copier/Scanner/PC Fax (BRTMFC420CN)

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Lexmark X6575 Wireless Professional All-In-One Inkjet Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)I want people to know that the color cartridges for this printer are expensive and maybe not too long lasting.

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Lexmark Prestige Pro805 Small Office Wireless Multifunction Inkjet Printer with Web-enabled Touchscreen Review

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(More customer reviews)Summary: Two great features make this printer worth considering: a penny per page (black ink cost) and ease of use powered by a touchscreen and one button "smartsolutions." Unfortunately, the implementation of these features involves a lot of setup complication, both for smartsolutions and the delicate printhead/cartridge system. Most people will be better off waiting a year or two until the smartsolution ecosystem further evolves and kinks are worked out of the printhead/cartridge mechanism in some future model.
But if you need a printer before then with competitive printing/copying/scanning quality and speed, and you find these extra features attractive, you'll likely be pleased with the Pro805 - once you get past the 2-6 hours setup hassle. Though I'm annoyed at the 5 hours I spent on setup, we like the end result and will stick with the Pro805 for many years.
Details (long):
Usage: This unit is used at home with Wifi, my wife's iMac (10.4), and my Windows XP desktop and netbook. I purchased this all-in-one primarily for my wife, a part-time writer. This replaced a piece-of-junk printer that she used for drafts (which required that she email me final copies or anything long to print at my office on a laser printer).
The penny per page black ink cost is the main selling point - as a writer, my wife prints out frequent black and white drafts. She doesn't want the bulk of a laser printer and she does have an occasional need for color, copying, and scanning. Ease of use also matters, so competent paper handling and the potential of smartsolutions is attractive. It was a birthday gift - so as part of the gift I set it up, including setting up one button smartsolutions appropriate for my wife. But I thought this printer would also be nice for me, as I use Evernote and liked the idea of being able to easily scan in documents and have them show up in my Evernote or Gmail accounts. Printing at home over WiFi is also an added convenience.
Printing Quality - (Note: Most of our usage/testing is Black & White) - The printing quality on draft mode is reasonable. On highest quality mode it is very crisp - you have to look very closely to distinguish from a laser printer. We noticed some stray dots and a little streaking at first but when we selected "clean printhead" from the menu, these issued were resolved. Overall we are very pleased, though we hope we don't have to clean the printhead too often, as ink gets depleted with each cleaning.
Printing Speed - The claimed 33 page per minute printing speed is accurate using draft mode, after the first page is printed. When trying to print after many minutes of inactivity, there is a long period where the printer wakes up and gets ready to print the first page. Given these constraints, a faster way to use the printer is to print a many documents in a row. It prints less than 10 pages per minute in high quality mode, but my wife finds that acceptable.
Ease of Use - WiFi printing works flawlessly - any computer (with the Pro805 driver installed) that is connected to the router (either WiFi or Ethernet) can print. The drivers for both the Mac and Windows are easy to use and offer a vast array of options, including the ability to set up "profiles" (i.e. one profile for quick draft black/white, another for final drafts, another for photos, etc.). The Windows drivers appear to offer a wider array of printing options. The other functions of this all-in-one are also easy to use, whether you use customized one-button smartsolutions, navigate the touch screen, or use the included software on your computer. No paper jams so far and the automatic document feed worked fine in a couple of test cases.
Copying - Have not tested extensively, but Black/White is excellent, color seems pretty good.
Scanning/OCR - The quality of Black/White scanning is excellent. A 15 page scan using the automatic document feeder took just over 2 minutes. The included Abbyy FineReader 6.0 OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software for Windows systems has been 100% accurate so far in converting typed or printed text into text, RTF, or searchable PDF files. To use OCR, you must have your computer turned on and connected to the same WiFi network. Macintosh OCR software is not included, requiring an extra purchase for Mac-only networks that want OCR. Color scanning works, but I don't feel qualified to comment on quality. Scans can be initiated from a computer, from the printer "scan" button, or from a smartsolution. As of March, 2010, the types of scans you can do from a smartsolution are somewhat limited, so you currently need to use the "scan" button or a computer to have access to all possible scanning options.
Email - Documents can be scanned and then emailed, with or without smartsolutions. This is a great feature. I found out the hard way that the printer hangs when attempting to send an attachment that exceeds the limit of the ISP. Comcast is the ISP set up with our Pro805, so the attachment limit is 10MB. A 600 DPI 8.5x11 JPG exceeds this limit (13MB?). And in many instances you will not know if your multi-page PDF file will exceed the limit and hang the printer. The only way to restart the printer after it hangs is to pull out the plug and put it back in.
Smartsolutions - Once set up, these one-button solutions make the printer really easy to use - even a pleasure to use. My favorite smartsolution is "Scan to Email." You can set up one "Scan to Email" to send 300DPI PDFs to your real estate agent for documents you signed and give it a custom name such as "PDF docs to agent." Then set up another "Scan to Email" which emails yourself a 150DPI JPG, etc. The user simply puts the document on the glass, then uses the touch screen to touch "smartsolutions", followed by "PDF to agent"or some other customized "Scan to Email" smartsolution.
An Evernote (a web-based notetaking app) smartsolution particularly intrigued me, but the Evernote smartsolution is basically a limited version of "Scan to Email" which gives you the Evernote Icon but subtracts the ability to have a subject or message. So I just set up a different "Scan to Email" to get things into Evernote and used a subject line with PDF scan @scans to direct the scanned file, called "PDF scan," to go to an Evernote folder called "scans."
Another good smartsolution is "Scan To PDF" which does OCR and saves the file into a specified folder on the computer with the OCR software. This results in a PDF file whose text is searchable and can be copied/pasted. It would be nice if there were similar smartsolutions that allowed scanning to TXT, RTF, and XLS files but that is not the case as of the time of this writing (4/2/10). I would also like to see a smartsolution that allows emailing TXT, RTF, searchable PDF, or XLS files with the touch of one button. Yet another nice feature would be to allow naming the subject of an email from the printer instead of automatically having the same subject name each time.
Overall, I think the smartsolutions idea is great, and is off to a nice start. So long as you have one person in a small office or family who doesn't mind going through all the setup hassles, any printer which supports smartsolutions can be set up to simplify certain complicated, multi-step functions. This will only improve over time as more smartsolutions are rolled out by Lexmark, and possibly outside developers.
Maintenance/Reliablity - My unit has been fully functioning since 3/20/10, so I can't speak to long term reliability. However, from the setup hassles I experienced (see below), it is clear that the printhead and cartridge mechanism is a point of potential failure. All the parts involved are delicate, tricky to install/uninstall, and require cleaning if dirty. Sometimes manually cleaning of the printhead and its insertion point are necessary, while other times a "clean printhead" must be performed by the printer, which depletes ink (the deep clean depletes about 1/8 of each cartridge). Lexmark has a 5 year warranty on the Pro805 so if the printhead experiences problems, they will replace it for free - but I would much prefer not having problems to begin with. I'll update this section in the future after at least a few months of use.
In 2 weeks of use (80-100 pages?), there has been no paper jam or skipped pages, and this includes testing the automatic document feeder and duplex printing. Paper handling has been perfect so far.
Setup: It took over 5 hours to completely setup this printer, and it is complicated by many factors. Configuration settings are spread out between the printer, computer, and smartsolutions website, and sometimes one change involves making a change in two or more of these locations. Here's the detailed breakdown:
1 hour: Minimum required setup for 2 computers (1 Mac, 1 Windows XP). Installing from the CD or the web site is easy enough (though, to be safe, I obtained the Mac driver from Lexmark's web site, bypassing the CD altogether). I installed XP first as I figured Windows XP would be most likely to have a smooth installation. While the software ran smoothly, there were many printer setup steps. Had I not got hung up with a manufacturing defect, it would have taken approximately 1 hour to set up the two computers, including Printer's WiFi, excluding email. Note that setting up computers after the first one is a simple driver installation - only the first is lengthy because the software directs you to set up the printer as well.
3-30 minutes: Email setup. Before you can Email, you need to configure the Pro805 with an ISP. After 20 minutes of trying a bunch of combinations and Googling for help, I gave up trying to get Gmail...Read more›

Click Here to see more reviews about: Lexmark Prestige Pro805 Small Office Wireless Multifunction Inkjet Printer with Web-enabled Touchscreen

Launch into the next generation of business productivity with the revolutionary Lexmark Prestige Pro805 Small Office Wireless 3-in-1 with Touchscreen. The web-enabled 4.3" myTouch interface improves efficiency by allowing you to create one-touch, custom SmartSolutions for automating repetitive tasks.The myTouch interface also allows you to connect to the web without the need for a computer. Tap an icon to copy, scan, send an e-mail and more. Get the news, view your favorite photo sharing sites, and discover the weather before you step outside, directly from your printer. It's more than a printer, it links you to your world.The Prestige Pro805 also offers the freedom to print from virtually anywhere within the building and the flexibility to print from multiple computers with Wifi-n and Ethernet compatibility.Using our WiFi Protected Setup (WPS), you can sync a printer to a WPS-enabled router wtih the touch of a single button.Included with the Prestige Pro805 are individual, high-yield XL ink cartridges with 3X the pages of standard cartridges.Individual XL inks increase your efficiency, save resources, and lower printing costs.The Prestige Pro805 ships with a special 105XL black ink cartridge, which provides one cent black and white prints, which is a lower cost per page than many laser products.You also have the benefit of Eco Mode, which offers automatic 2-sided printing and energy saving features.The 50 page automatic document feeder easily handles large printing, scanning, copying and faxing jobs.This robust All-in-One also ships with Business Card Scanning software which lets you scan up to eight cards at once. Using optical character recognition (OCR), the software parcels information such as first and last name, employer, address, email and phone and synchronizes it with many popular contact management solutions. All of this functionality is backed by an industry-leading 5 year warranty and lifetime, priority phone support!

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Dell 962 All-in-one Print/Scan/Copy/Fax Review

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(More customer reviews)I have owned this model of printer since 2005. It is a 4-function printer (copy, fax, print, and scan). It has never given me any problems. The software was easy to install, the equipment was easy to connect, and it does not overuse ink (uses one black and one color cartridge). Faxes are received and sent with ease, anything that I scan is clear and the colors are correct, the paper tray is perfectly situated so that the paper lays flat and does not get pulled in crookedly (as what happens with some printer models where the paper stands vertically). I like the copy feature too, as I always need to keep a copy of something for my records. The previous review sounds like the equipment was unfortunately a lemon to start with, which can happen with anything that's manufactured. However, a true representation of the printer is that it is a very good printer.

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FujiFilm FinePix S3000 3.1MP Digital Camera w/6x Optical Zoom Review

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(More customer reviews)I wouldn't pay so much attention to the first person's review seeing as how that person is rating a digital camera's score based on its video functions.
So, most of you who are shopping for this camera probably are purchasing it as a first time camera (like I did) or possibly a gift for someone else. I've been overly impressed with this camera. It has a very nice macro lens (and mode) that's user friendly. I can easily focus on subjects only 2.5" from my lens. It's great for artistic purposes or if you just need to get the camera close to the subject matter.
I chose this camera over others because it offered a 6x optical zoom which is easily out of the effective range of the flash. This digital camera (like almost all) depends on the flash to maintain focus for the majority of its images. For in-focus distance images (not scenery shots), say like a graduation, you'll need a tripod to obtain images with excellent clarity. Since the flash will be out of range, you'll have to turn it off, but the camera needs to be incredibly still in order to obtain perfect images.
With that said, the camera can do action shots. I'm not too sure why the other person couldn't obtain shots without them being blurred, but I was able to capture images of my friends practicing kickboxing with no motion blur (which even surprised me). Those images were obtained using the flash. Not only that, but I've taken pictures while driving in my car and I captured an image of a van I was driving by and scenery on the side. Doing 70mph pass the trees on the side of the road and getting almost no motion blur, I have trouble seeing as how the reviewer couldn't get pictures of his children running around.
Clarity on images is excellent and grain is almost nonexistent. The camera offers many modes including sports, continuous (two consecutive shots only), night (good night time color, but needs a tripod for sure), landscape (beautiful pictures), portait, and a few others.
This is definitely a good starter camera, and like all cameras to effectively utilize all of the options available, you have to just learn how to use the camera for whatever situation needed. My biggest complaint would have to go to the slow focusing/charging modes. It makes it hard to capture moments when you're having to focus the subject first. However, most cameras I've played with in this price range do not offer much faster, if at all, focus speeds. It's the only camera I've seen with a 6x optical zoom (which is what you want, no digital zoom) under $300, and it also has an adapter ring if you'd ever like to upgrade your range.
As far as the software, it's not anything spectacular but it worked for me. Also, it's easy to use for those not too familiar with computers (slideshows, cd burning, etc.). I'm running on Windows 98, and my computer recognized the camera as a massive storage device as well; however, if you follow the installation process correctly, the software should correct that problem (the manual advises not to connect the camera prior to installing the software).


Click Here to see more reviews about: FujiFilm FinePix S3000 3.1MP Digital Camera w/6x Optical Zoom

This Fuji 3.2MP Digital Camera looks like an SLR camera but is actually a first-rate digital. Shoot crisp, colorful images using the auto or manual exposure modes, 6x optical zoom and the 1/2.7" CCD sensor. Features: 3.2 million effective pixels; 1.8" amorphous silicon TFT LCD monitor; multiple file formats; 6x optical zoom plus 3.2x digital zoom; 16MB xD-Picture storage card; auto focus; white balance; 5-mode auto-flash; multiple exposure modes; NTSC and PAL video outputs; USB interface; multiple shooting modes; up to 240 seconds of movie recording; self timer; shoulder strap; lens adapter ring; lens cap; USB cable; FinePixViewer 4.1; and ImageMixer VCD 2 for FinePix.

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Canon Pixma MX300 Office All-On-One Inkjet Printer (2182B002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've owned the MX300 for about two months now. If you're sure about your priorities, this MFP could be fine for you -- it is for me. I mainly print text documents of 5 pages or less for my own use -- I don't need the best text quality. I also wanted the ability to fax, but I don't need to fax more than a page or two every week. I receive a few pages a week as well.
Overall, the MX300 was easy to set up. I wasn't sure how well it would work with my single-line digital phone from Time Warner. The instructions were of little help with fax setup, but it wasn't difficult to figure out, and it works well. Fax quality is very good, very legible.
Photo output is mixed. The smoothness and color is good --it's just that the color is really not accurate at all. Color scans also have this problem. If you can calibrate your monitor to the printer, you can get better color, but I find color is pretty far off from the originals. So if color isn't that important to you, photos are fine.
One nice aspect is the small footprint compared to other MFPs, which was a priority for me. Be aware that the 'starter' ink cartridges that come with this model won't last long -- mine gave out after only a couple of weeks of low-volume printing. The printer will SAY it's out of ink before it actually is (you can turn off the ink monitor if you poke around in the menu). Replacement cartridges cost nearly $45 -- I'm still using the full cartridges, so not sure how long they will last.
Overall, this MFP works well for me -- it's small (though very noisy)and it can fax (send/receive) and it was cheap.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Canon Pixma MX300 Office All-On-One Inkjet Printer (2182B002)

The Canon PIXMA MX300 Office All-in-One Inkjet Printer lets you scan, fax, copy, and print photographs and documents with one easy machine. This all-in-one printer features a compact, streamlined design that can scan vivid images with color resolutions up to 4800 by 1200 dpi, copy images and documents, or print bold, laser-quality text or photos directly from memory cards, cameras, DV camcorders, or camera phones in seconds. The printer's Easy Scroll Wheel makes operation a breeze, and the Auto-Image Fix feature ensures that every photo is clear and vivid. With this PIXMA, you can even fax at Super G3 fax speed in color and black-and-white, and its memory can store 20 speed-dial codes and receive 50 incoming pages.
Just press the Power button and get to work, thanks to the printer's helpful Quick Start design. Copies come out crisper than ever with the system's Dual Color Gamut Processing Technology. Compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Mac OS X 10.2.8 to 10.4.x8 operating systems, this versatile printer comes backed by a 1-year limited manufacturer's warranty.
What's in the Box Pixma MX300 all-in-one printer, cross sell sheet, easy setup instructions, quick start guide, setup software and user's guide CD-ROM, PG-40 black cartridge, CL-41 color cartridge, power cord, and telephone line cable.

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HP PSC 750 Multifunction (750se) Review

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(More customer reviews)I saw a review of a Lexmark X83 which rated it extremely highly so toddled off to get one pronto for my budding business startup. Of course could not get the X83 only the X73 which was slower. They couldn't get hold of it , they only stock certain models etc etc (if u live in the UK you'll know what I mean, its like old Soviet central planning THEY ytell you what you can buy!)Saw the HP750 psc (not se or x just 750, are these better models?)
I was quite prejudiced against getting a HP because Ive used them at work -networked- and there's always been some sort of hassle (endless 'load letter' messages etc) I advised a friend to get a HP 970 inkjet based on a review and it printed OK (well, excellent scanned photos on glossy paper)but not good instructions and hassly setup.
I took the plunge and bought the 750 psc as it was in the store at the same price as the X83 was listed at and the spec seemed pretty OK and more than adequate (speed , res etc.)
I got it home after scrounging a USB lead (not you don't get one supplied in the box, what's wrong with these people? You can't print without it, I got one thrown in when I bought a cheaper Concord Eye Q digicam so put one in the box and don't be a scrooge HP!)
After the inevitable hassly setup (installed software, didnt work, uninstalled it, reinstalled it twice; BTW you really have to do exactly as it says on the (...) sheet in EXACTLY the same order otherwise it won't setup correctly)I got to work. Well, the copier function is standalone (doesnt have to be connected to pc) is VERY fast (it prints AS it scans) and very good quality. This standalone facility is good because I know how hassly and SLOW copying thru scanning then printing can be from past experience.
The scanning is similarly impressive though is let down by less than uintuitive software, particularly the OCR. The controls on the unit itself are good and I liked that the pc software shows you what the status of the LCD on the printer is so you don't have to get up to look etc, neat feature.
The printing in black and white is very impressive and almost embarrassingly fast - almost as if its spitting out your document with contempt as its got better things to do ! (fast mode is adequate for most needs)I printed out some business cards and the small black print of the address section belied the fact it came from an inkjet and not a professional printers.
HOWEVER...the colour Im not exactly sure of, hence the 'mmmnn...' in the title . Reviewers in magazines almost invariable pick some picture that is either easy to print so it won't show up flaws anyway or pick something you'd never print out in a month of sundays. I printed some shots taken on my digicam of the outside of my house and they printed out fine. However, the colours on the page do not always match the colours on my screen so, for instance, my business card blue had to be lightened on the pc several shades lighter before it came out as I wanted it , even then not brilliant. Pictures often come out a lot darker, I have to lighten the image in the HP printer control settings AND reduce the inkflow to minimum to get a closer replication of what I see on my screen. Is this the software, is it the printer? Is it the fact that my backlit LCD (TFT) laptop screen lightens the image anyway like a stainedglass window. Is it the paper? Well, maybe only time will tell as I get to 'know' my printer but I would have expected the blue to be the same on the business card , it actually comes out a bit 'dirty' looking. Skin tones are particularly variable. If you buy a colour printer you expect the colour to look very much like the colour on your screen or camera LCD monitor; you don't want to spend half your time second-guessing what the unit is going to come up with.
There are a lot of features and settings to wade thru so maybe in time i will have a better idea of where the fault lies. Certainly for outside type photos it prints out fine.
The fact that it is all bundled together in a sexy little package that uses up less desktop space and truly functions as a mini-office, copying scanning etc very quickly, noiselessly makes it a winner, so I would have to recommend with perhaps the proviso that you do several instore comparison colour tests with other printers before you make a decision.

Click Here to see more reviews about: HP PSC 750 Multifunction (750se)

When your home or small-office needs to print, scan, and copy, but youaren't in the market for three separate units, the Hewlett-Packard PSC750se all-in-one will save you time, space, and money. It featuresphoto-quality images, 36-bit scanning, and a maximum copy speed of 11pages per minute, all built into one reliable product.
The PSC 750se copier works as a standalone unit to producefine quality copies in color and black ink, at copy speeds up to 11copies per minute for black, and 8 cpm for color. You can selectmultiple copies from 1 to 50, and reduce or enlarge your images from25 to 300 percent. p>The 750se flatbed scanner features 600 x 1,200 dpioptical resolution (up to 4,800 dpi enhanced) to a maximum scan size of8.5 by 11.7 inches. OCR software is included for easy editing andrevisions, and the hinged cover permits scanning of 3-D objects.
Inputcapacity is 150 sheets, with the paper-handling tray accommodatingplain, ink-jet, glossy and matte photo paper, labels, transparencies,and more. With USB connectivity, the PSC 750se supports both PC and Mac systems and is backed byHewlett-Packard's one-year limited warranty covering parts and labor.

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Gepe 457011 2x2 Standard 35mm Glassless Slide Mounts (100-Pack) Review

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(More customer reviews)Gepe 457011 2x2 Standard 35mm Glassless Slide Mounts (100-Pack)
This is a beautifully-made and easy-to-use product. The assembled slides are very professional, and do not require the use of glue or heat. HOWEVER, the assembled slide is 1.95mm thick and will not fit into the slots of a Kodak Carousel 140 tray. If you are using a Carousel 80, it will probably work.
As has been previously noted, you only receive 20 mounts, not 100 as stated by Amazon

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