We ’re all busy tackle several projects at once , so naturally we expect our machines to multitask as well as we do . That ’s why multifunction printers ( MFPs ) , sometimes scream all - in - ones or multifunctions , are spring up in popularity .
An MFP combines print , copy , scan , and sometimes fax functions in one on occasion bombastic or odd - look package . This compounding — long a staple fibre of the PC universe of discourse and progressively common in the Mac marketplace — is specially attractive for personal use , small or place - based stage business , and even busy satellite or administrator spot .
Today ’s MFPs perform better than ever , and they ’re becoming more acceptable for people who want a graceful , versatile , and integrated printing machine , digital scanner , copier , and facsimile car but who do n’t have the money and space for separate single - use machines .
Macworldlooked at some Modern sub-$1,000 gloss laser MFPs and a pick of their downhearted - cost , ink - jet plane counterpart — all of these multifunctions can print , copy , scan , and ( in some cases ) fax in colour . ( For a reexamination of the color optical maser MFPs , see Color laser MFPs : Speedy , precise , and pricey )
When you shop for an MFP , keep one matter in intellect : What an MFP provides in convenience , it sometimes lacks in capableness . A peculiar MFP may stand out at faxing but may proffer only lusterless printing process , or frailty versa . In any case , color is the fashion to go .
Ink-jets
Ink - jet MFPs typify the largest and most pop category of all - in - ace on the market . They cost less ab initio — the models we review here price between $ 100 and $ 400 — and until recently , they were the only option for color output in this price range . They ’re succinct and easy to move around , which is utilitarian for the belittled government agency - dwelling house federal agency crew . Print quality has ameliorate over sentence as well ; you may print nappy textual matter ( though limited newspaper usually plays a supporting persona ) and nice - looking images . And ink - jets can acquire laboratory - quality picture , something laser printers ca n’t quite match .
However , ink - jets MFPs tend to print tardily , and quality often bear when you publish lower - resolution simulacrum through the written matter , scan , or facsimile functions . Also , the cost of renewal ink can quickly overtake the toll of the unit , making an ink - jet best suited for depressed - loudness usance ( say , for an individual or a very small office ) .
Lasers
Color laser MFPs may be more , but they cover many of the shortcomings of ink - jet multifunctions . They ’re generally faster and have respectable print quality overall , peculiarly on copies and prints of scanned images . They ’re also designed to deal high volumes — thousands of pages per month , as opposed to century on an ink - jet . While these machines cost more up front , replacing toner and other consumables ordinarily costs less over clip . But even if terms is no aim , space or logistics might be . Color optical maser MFPs are much bigger and heavier than ink - super C , and they could easily overtake a closet - size function or a cubicle . However , for high - book use , they are the better choice .
Function, not price
Because MFPs vary widely in how well they handle sure tasks , adjudicate which are most of import to you and then frequent accordingly . If you need the sheer honest and most amply have printing machine or scanner , for instance , you may be better off getting a stand - alone social unit .
All MFPs print capably and accommodate standard newspaper sizes ( alphabetic character and legal , as well as gasbag and other small pieces ) . Two - sided printing , or duplexing , feature deviate : Some printer deal it manually ; some , automatically ; and a few , not at all . If you impress documents that have more school text than images , or roughly a fifty - fifty mix , you might be better off with a laser printer . Its schoolbook quality will be better than that of an ink - special K , and its image quality , while not quite on a par with what you ’d expect from a pic lab , will probably be quite pleasing . An ink - blue jet may give you in force - quality photos , but ink - jets are ho-hum at this task than laser . Volume is the last divisor ; the more pages you impress per month , the more you need a laser .
When it comes to copying , it ’s about letter versus legal , as well as volume . Most MFPs come with a flatbed scanner that takes only alphabetic character - size documents ( the car with legal - size flatbeds are across-the-board ) , but some mannequin have a 2nd scanner head that work with an automatic text file feeder ( ADF ) , so you’re able to make a copy of a legal - size contract , say . If you make only occasional modest - volume , letter - size of it copies , then you could probably do without an ADF .
Pay for what you need
The typical office scanner ’s function — scanning to fax , copy , or Es - mail , or to send out through an OCR ( optical character resolution ) app to get editable school text — regard resolutions ranging from 200 dots per column inch ( dpi ) to 600 dpi , well within the optical resolution of most MFPs ’ scanners . What ’s more , some of these scanners ’ interpolated resolutions are sometimes as eminent as 19,200 dpi ( though 9,600 dpi is more rough-cut ) , which is more than enough for scanning photograph , single-valued function , and other elaborate ikon . All the MFPs offer some variety of scanning , OCR , or photo - editing software , roam from underlying to full - vaned . Do n’t base your purchase on the bundle ; you’re able to always buy your own applications .
E - mail and the Web have certainly issue into facsimile traffic . Even though you might sing yourself into wanting a facsimile machine just in case you need it someday , think severely about whether you ’d apply it enough to justify the monetary value . If you ’d use it only for faxing signalise written document a few time a year , you might be OK visit a local copy shop and paying a one dollar bill or two per page .
If you sleep with that you need a fax , then you ’re in luck : many MFPs , peculiarly laser ones , are highly facsimile - capable and usually offer an copiousness of feature . Conveniences include programmable speed telephone dial — some machine will let you store XII or even hundreds of numbers . For occupation that rely heavy on faxing , fax transmitting during off - hr can save time and phone charges , whilepolling(one fax machine asks — or crown — another facsimile machine car to send it a facsimile ) andforwarding(that is , sending incoming facsimile machine automatically to another facsimile automobile ) make managing incoming and extroverted facsimile machine traffic easy . facsimile machine computer memory capability lease you restrain facsimile until you want to print them , preventing incoming fax from spill all over the billet . colour faxing is a fairly novel and fun feature , but of course it works only if the receiver has a compatible coloration car .
Photo-card support
Many of the ink - special K MFPs , and some color optical maser models , come with slots for digital photographic camera memory cards . These slots simplify the transfer of digital photo to your computer , where you could use software system ( bundle with the MFP ) to o.k. - tune your images . Some models even have control - panel liquid crystal display so you may preview and print pic without your Mac . If you ’re really fussy about your photos , pick out an ink - cat valium MFP , which will give you well over - all upshot .
Color MFPs are even more beguiling now that optical maser models are useable . While many citizenry might be content with a modest , childlike ink - jet machine , the swiftness and high - volume capabilities of laser are giving busy offices better options than they ’ve ever had before.—Melissa Riofrio
Ink-jet MFPs are for photos
When we decided to review a natural selection of ink - jet MFPs , we kept the filter widely undecided : we asked the vendors to send us the manakin of their choice , as long as it was an ink - jet , included a flatbed scanner , and was Mac - compatible . The five we ended up with vary quite a number : the very low-priced Lexmark X5470 ; the fax - focused Brother MFC-665CW ; the photo - centric Epson Stylus Photo RX580 ; and two photo ink - jet that incorporate slide and film scanning , the Canon Pixma MP960 and the Hewlett - Packard Photosmart C7180 . And even though all the models we look at have their virtue , we found that the Epson was the best bet for photographers , while the HP was the best all - around ink - jet MFP of the crowd .
Read the individual product reviews :
• Lexmark X5470;• Brother MFC-665CW;• Epson Stylus Photo RX580;• Canon Pixma MP960;• Hewlett - Packard Photosmart C7180 ;
I’ve been set up!
Four of the five MFPs have the same colour scheme — silver and Black person . The Lexmark is singular , with a clean and silver typeface . And although the Brother and Lexmark look smaller than the others at first glance , all of these printer take up roughly the same amount of space when their paper usher are widen and image scanner lids are opened . If space is an issue , the Brother actually does take up about four less inches of horizontal space with the scanner lid unresolved , and it is n’t as deep as the other MFPs .
All of the MFPs we looked at connect to your Mac via USB . This is the easygoing connection , and in some case the fastest , but if you need to share the machine on a connection , it would be better to get a modelling that includes Ethernet . The networked models we looked at — the HP and the Brother — offered 10/100 Ethernet as well as wireless 802.11 g transceivers . The Lexmark offers 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11 g wireless connectivity as options that cost $ 129 and $ 149 , respectively , but we did not test them . Of the two ink - jet MFPs that shipped with built - in networking , the HP was far easier to arrange up than the Brother , which had PC - specific instruction for the wireless and less - than - intuitive pedagogy for the wired Ethernet connections . Once set up up , both play as advertised , allowing us to scan from the whole to our Mac and print from our Mac to the printers without a problem . Interestingly , the Brother was slower when connecting over the internet , especially when scanning , while the HP perform the same or quicker when connect in that fashion .
Fax facility
Three of the ink - green MFPs , the Lexmark , the HP , and the Brother , feature work up - in gloss fax machine , think of that they can facsimile in people of color . However , the coloration capableness is necessary on thereceivingfax car for this part to work properly . The Brother takes its telephone features the furthest , even set aside you to ditch your office phone by put up build - in phonation mail , a telephony handset , and a speakerphone feature .
While these MFPs were able-bodied to send and receive facsimile machine , the Brother and the Lexmark feature ADFs , making it easier to fax a little mass of documents . The HP , on the other hand , demand that you scan each sheet individually ; you must lift the lid and lie in each bed sheet on the flatbed — a tedious task for anyone who has a spate of faxing to do .
Camera cards
All of the ink - jet MFPs we looked at have card slot to go most tv camera remembering cards , but their photo capabilities varied greatly . All but the Lexmark offer preview LCD , which make choosing , redaction , and impress photos from your retention plug-in much easier . Without a preview LCD , the Lexmark requires that you publish out a proof sail containing pocket-sized set ( like the ones on exchangeable test ) under a thumbnail image of each photo on your card . You fill in the proof sheet with a pen or pencil to nail down the photo(s ) you ’d wish to publish and the size and paper character . Once you ’ve take out the sheet , place it on the scanner seam , and the unit reads it and “ fills ” your orderliness .
Three of the pressman — the Canon , the Epson , and the HP — habit six ink to print photos , tot up light magenta and light cyan to the cyan , magenta , yellow , and black ink that the Brother and Lexmark use . The downside to having more ink is that the monetary value of replacing your ink tanks is high , so if you do n’t project on impress exposure on your MFP , you might require to debate a four - ink model . All but the Lexmark use individual ink tanks — so if you run out of magenta , for example , you replace only the Battle of Magenta tank instead of a multiple - colour tank in which there may still be plenty of cyan , icteric , and black ink .
Can you handle it?
All the MFPs we try can defend at least 100 sail of plain , varsity letter - size paper . The Canon uses two trays — a top - loading sheet feeder and a theme tray beneath the whole . Together they can hold up to 300 piece of paper . With two tray , you’re able to either lade them with paper and not worry about running out for a long a time , or use dissimilar types of newspaper publisher in each tray — for case , plain paper in the sheet bird feeder and photo paper in the tray . This allows you to flip-flop between text file types without having to swap paper . The HP also has a 2d tray , but it is confine to just 20 sheets of 4 - by-6 - inch exposure paper — not quite as flexible as the Canon but still handy .
Plan to scan
A printer with a flatbed scanner gives you more versatility in terms of what you could skim — magazine , books , or other objects such as farewell or script . But the automobile - matic document feeders on the Brother and Lexmark models make scanning multipage documents much promiscuous . The HP and the Canon , being more photograph - tailor , admit an mix transparence adapter build into the scanning lid . And although these unit do n’t support a large variety of film format , they do allow you to scan multiple 35 mm microscope slide or negative at 4,800 - dpi declaration .
Speed it up
In terms of print velocity , the clear achiever was the Canon , which post the best clock time in three of our four amphetamine tests . It was capable to print our one - page Microsoft Word document in just 9 irregular ; the closest contender was the HP , which spit out its one - varlet Word document in 16 second , followed by the Epson , the Lexmark , and the Brother at 21 , 29 , and 34 seconds , respectively . The Canon also took first place when printing our 22 megabyte Photoshop epitome and in the ten - varlet Word document test . The only mark - pep pill test it did n’t win was the four - varlet PDF written document ; at 1 minute and 54 s , the Canon was just two seconds behind the HP , which take home the amber in that contest . The Brother was the slowest printer in the one - page Word and the Photoshop image tests . It come in second to last in the ten - varlet Word test and the four - page PDF competition , with the Lexmark trailing it in both of those test .
However , the Brother was the USB read speed champ , take under a minute to scan both an 8 - by-10 - column inch photo at 600 dpi and a 4 - by-6 - column inch photograph at 1,200 dpi . But when scanning over the electronic internet , the Brother ’s advantage was diminish , with scanning times more in wrinkle with the rest of the pack .
Quality counts
To try output caliber , we assembled a panel ofMacworldeditors to rate the job each MFP did at printing process , scanning , and copying a variety of documents . In the print - quality category , there was no clear winner . If you be after to center primarily on photographic printing process , you should remark that the Epson take in the only Superior rating given in any test , for its beautiful 8 - by-10 - in glossy print of our Photoshop test image . The Canon received a Very respectable evaluation in this trial .
All but one of the ink - spurt printer realize a Very respectable military rating in our school text - tone test . The Lexmark ’s text was a little less precise , but it still received a evaluation of Good . In our mulct - lines and graphic test , the HP and the Canon took top laurels ; there were no breaks in their wind lines and no seeable banding in gradient and colour portmanteau . The Lexmark obtain a Fair valuation because faint horizontal business register up in many areas of the print .
To judge scanning tone , our control board looked at two documents — a photograph scan at 600 dpi and a trial chart scanned at each printer ’s high optical resolution . In the photo scan , none of the MFPs wowed the jurors enough to bring in more than a Good rating . None of the scans were so far out of belt that a picayune tweaking could n’t aid , but none see as honest as the original . The HP was the clear victor , however , in the chart - scan test , with penetrative light detail visible in area that the Lexmark , for example , had a heavy clock time capturing .
Of the two scanner with built - in transparence adapters , the Canon fared better than the HP . Though both digitized our test slides , the Canon ’s scan had more - precise colors and captured more detail . If you have boxes full of slides or film that you ’d like to bring into the digital age , and you do n’t want to purchase a dedicated scanner , then the Canon is the MFP for you .
Our panel ofMacworldeditors also see at color copies of a magazine cover ( we have a few cartridge holder rest around the office ) and assess how well the copy match the original . The Canon and the Epson did the best caper of color - matching and accurately reproducing details . The HP and the Brother both scored safe evaluation , with just a little less item and color accu - racy , and the Lexmark again garner a Fair rating , because of the same faint horizontal lines across the image .
Macworld’s Buying Advice
An ink - jet MFP can be a great space saver and incorporate all of the ability of several gadget in a comparatively inexpensive software program . Which unit is right for you depend on how you design to utilise it . If printing photos is your principal focus , buy the Epson Stylus Photo RX580 . If you contrive to fax a quite a little , be certain to look at the Brother MFC-665CW . But if you ’re bet for a solid jack - of - all - trades , check out the HP Photosmart C7180 . We found that it had the right mix of features , speed , and quality.—James Galbraith
Color laser MFPs: Speedy, precise, and pricey
Your MFP choices used to be pretty simple : you opt a monochrome laser MFP for squeamish textual matter and copies but drill everything else ; or an ink - spurt MFP for a welcome splash of colour — but diminished speed and copy lineament . Ink - jet MFPs have proliferate , proffer some prissy advantages for a low price . Now that coloring material laser MFPs are usable for less than $ 1,000 , ink - jet MFPs have some serious — if pricey — competition .
Two of the three colour laser MFPs we test , Brother ’s MFC-9420CN and Epson ’s AcuLaser CX11NF , occupy the high end of the sub-$1,000 category , offering a fairly wide range of mark , scan , copy , and facsimile machine feature . HP ’s Color LaserJet CM1017 MFP costs the same but press a trivial less than these two ; it also lacks facsimile functionality but total some nice photo feature .
• Brother MFC-9420CN;• Epson AcuLaser CX11NF;• HP Color LaserJet CM1017 MFP ;
More for the Money
If you ’re shelling out roughly $ 700 for a color optical maser MFP ( compared with $ 200 to $ 400 for an ink - jet mannikin ) , you ’ll course gestate to get more for your money . We looked for fast mark times , crisper textbook , and corresponding graphics caliber ( ink - jet photos tend to look smooth than laser photos ) . We also expected scans and copies to appear better — ink - jet plane tend to exaggerate the flaws of lower - resolution effigy .
Here ’s what we found : With laser MFPs , you ’re emphatically getting more machine . set up to clear some space in your office for these taller , heavier units , and let in headway for raising the scanner cover , opening various access door , and letting melodic line die hard across the vents that cool off the oven - hot building block . The HP model involve some additional clearance to accommodate the yield tray that extend from its front .
Setting up the machine via USB is as simple as setting up any pressman : you set up the drivers from the compact disk and then punch the printer ’s USB cable into a gratis USB port on your Mac . The CD that we received with the HP did n’t process with Macs , so we had to download the drivers from HP ’s World Wide Web site . According to HP , this problem was detected before any units were ship to stores , and unit purchased today should include the proper software in the box .
Installing to an Ethernet web generally necessitate simply keep an eye on the way , but the process was a bit trickier in some cases . The Brother internet facility , for example , includes an automatize polling feature that arrange off alarms on our web .
Doing everything, succeeding sometimes
Epson ’s AcuLaser CX11NF is the right people of colour laser MFP we ’ve tested , combining strong speeding with good overall output quality and ease of exercise . While the Brother is sometimes faster , and the HP is sometimes easier to use , neither was as potent overall as the Epson .
The Brother was often the riotous in our timed trial , but the output signal it produced was not always the good . It churned out a ten - page Word document in just 33 seconds and a 22 megabit Photoshop image in 38 seconds — noticeably quicker than the Epson . But while it managed to print plain text very well , its photographs and other effigy lacked sharpness and color chroma . Its scan fastness ( 62 seconds to print an 8 - by-10 - inch photo at 600 dpi , and 91 seconds to glance over a 4 - by-6 - inch photo at 1,200 dpi ) lagged behind the Epson ’s , but the prints generally looked every bit good . go the same trial via Ethernet really made the social unit slower , because the printer divides its available remembering among all the functions instead of devoting it all to the task at handwriting .
The HP machine ’s output quality is as good as or good than its Brother competitor ’s , but it ’s so slow that it might as well be an ink - jet . It comes with an 8 - ppm ( page per minute ) locomotive engine , compared with 31 ppm for the Brother and 25 ppm for the Epson . Not surprisingly , the HP needed 93 seconds to impress our ten - page Word document and over three minutes to publish our 22 MB Photoshop image . The HP ’s scan times followed suit of clothes , taking up to three times as long — and in the case of our 1,200 - dpi scan , an torturesome 6 minutes and 42 seconds . Printing and scan the same documents via Ethernet took less time , but the HP was still the obtuse laser MFP overall . That ’s too unfit , because its photographic print timbre is nearly as beneficial as that of the Epson .
Copy ’til you drop
Everyone wish color copies . All the coloration MFPs we examine declare oneself the usual host of features and simulate jolly well ( though copy were fairly foggy and off color compared with the pilot ) ; the big divergence lies in how they treat the documents . Both the Brother and the Epson have automatonlike papers feeders ( ADFs ) with their own scanner heads , so you may imitate multipage documents and even legal - size ones . Those two models could easily handle the demand of a busy post . The HP has no ADF , only a letter - size of it scanner platen ( which the Brother and the Epson also have ) , so it ’s modified to occasional , very clear - book copying .
former MFPs evolved from fax machines . Even though tocopherol - mail and the Internet have supplanted faxing to a large degree , both the Brother and Epson unit still offer a full regalia of fax feature of speech ( although we care their restraint jury were better mastermind ) . Both offer 33.6 - Kbps modems . The Brother offers a broader raiment of fax lineament than most people will utilise , including 216 speed - dials ( compared with 60 for the Epson ) and 64 MB of storage blank ( the Epson has just 8 MB ) . It also offers scheduling , batch , and forward alternative and a rudimentary automobile - yield screening sheet . Both pop the question support for color faxing to another compatible ( color ) machine . you’re able to also fax straightaway from your Mac , as well as from the machine itself .
More functions, less confusion
Whether you enjoy using an MFP often boils down to the repose of using its software and hardware dominance . Brother ’s ControlCenter2 software and HP ’s Director software both let you launch scan from your computer via presets or customizable buttons . Both turn well , although their scanning feature were limited . Their ascendance panels demonstrate the importance of careful design : on the Brother , selecting one of the prominent clit label Scan , Fax , or Copy is easy ; finding the correct buttons to go further is less obvious because they are scattered across the panel . The Epson has the same job . The HP has the veracious idea : segregate the buttons for each function , and offer a large , insolent - up color LCD to make version menu choices easier . It even makes photo processing easy , offering two expansion slot for memory cards and control - panel features for preview and choosing image to print .
Macworld’s buying advice
coloring material laser MFPs represent the future , merging the brittleness and upper of the laser with the semblance capacity previously available only on an ink - jet . In the end , the auto that full balance all these prospect is the Epson AcuLaser CX11NF . It ’s fast , it produces the best output overall , and it ’s generally wanton to employ . The Brother MFC-9420CN costs the same but come short in output tone . I wish I could recommend the HP Color LaserJet CM1017 MFP as a fax - free option , because it ’s so easy to use and its output is dependable , but it ’s too slow.—Melissa Riofrio
[ James Galbraith isMacworld ’s research lab manager . Melissa Riofrio is a freelance writer specialize in printer and MFPs . ]
