Printer/Scanner/Copier/Faxer/Wireless thingy

[magenta321]

For the year plus that I've lived here, I've been forwarding things to myself at work if I absolutely needed to print them because I didn't want to buy a printer.

Yesterday I realized that I couldn't keep doing this, so I broke down and went to Staples. I was just going to buy their cheapest printer -- I wasn't even sure if a color printer was in my price range.

That's when I saw that they had a copy/fax/scan/print thingy for $100. For an extra $30 I could get it wireless -- and it came with a $20 rebate. I think I did this then this

I had no idea they were so inexpensive. That's what I thought I'd be paying for a regular color printer that didn't do anything else.

Now that I'm reading my email I see that Costco has a special. Now I'm wondering if I got ripped off a little.

Here's what I bought:

HP Officejet J4680 Color Flatbed All-in-One at Staples®

This is what I just saw from Costco:

Costco - Up to $65 OFF Brother MFC-465CN Color Inkjet Multi-Function Center

I did ask Staples for their return policy, and they said 14 days in original box... :s

The printer is the most important thing to me, copying and scanning is nice. Faxing is not important because I don't have a phone line. Is there any reason why I shouldn't go for the lower price one?

[taurusmoon]

Forget the cost of the printer. Research the availability and cost of consumables and see what will run you less money over the lifetime of the product. All printer manufacturers make their money off the ink cartridges, not the sale of the hardware.

[nc10]

taurusmoon said

Forget the cost of the printer. Research the availability and cost of consumables and see what will run you less money over the lifetime of the product. All printer manufacturers make their money off the ink cartridges, not the sale of the hardware.

Bears repeating. Its almost as if the printers are as disposable as the ink cartridges. When you factor in the value of the included ink cartridges (even the small ones), the printer cost is pretty small.


I'm partial to the Canon multifunction models myself (have a Canon MP610). But my daughter has a HP multifunction (4385) with wireless, it works pretty well, but operating costs are a little higher. Its a model that uses the same ink cartridges as the J4680.

How do you want to use the wireless connection? By connecting the printer to a wireless router?

Connecting a laptop wirelessly directly to the printer turned out not to be so great for my daughter. She used the printer on campus, and to print wirelessly, she would have to disconnect from the campus wireless network, connect to the printer wireless, and then disconnect and reconnect to the campus network when done. So she ended up just using a USB cable when printing.

Brother's reputation is improving, my impression is that their models are pretty competitive now, though I've never looked at the costco model. I don't think you can go wrong with the $70 printer, though I wonder if full size cartridges are included. It has a ethernet port, so you could still connect it to a router, but you'd need a ethernet cable, since its not wireless.

If you need to buy a ethernet or usb cable, get it at PC microstore, much much cheaper than Staples or other B&M stores.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Look for "printer cost per page" for your model for an idea of the true cost - a more expensive printer may cost less in the long run if it will last longer and the ink is cheaper.

[magenta321]

Ah, ok, I didn't understand what ethernet was, so I'm glad I didn't get the brother. Wireless printing is very important to me.

I guess my choice was not bad, it costs $.04 a sheet for black printing. That doesn't sound terrible (I guess).