RacerXPhoto wrote:
If you wait for sales you can get both for $150 mark

That's what I did (sorta, my all-in-one was the inkjet) a couple of years ago.

I got a cheap all-in-one Epson Stylus SX415, with the built in scanner.  Great for just doing quick scans and running off proofs (I only use it with Epson ink & Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl - which I have a custom ICC profile for).

For general printing, I have an HP LaserJet Pro P1102w wireless laser printer.

The Epson cost me about £40 (and, for comparison, a set of inks for it also costs about £40 - which is why I don't use it for general stuff).

The HP cost me about £65.  Toner cartridges for it cost me about £60, and I get a good 2-3000 sheets of mostly plain text out of each (official spec says 1600 sheets per cartridge, but I always get more).

For events I use the dye-subs, and for proper photo prints, I have a couple of companies that I use.

fullmetalphotographer wrote:
I don't recommend all in ones they are waste of money and time.

That really depends on what you need it to do for you.

Kaouthia wrote:

That really depends on what you need it to do for you.

This is Sooo true.. It would have been a real pain in the butt to not have one for my work.  It's saved me HOURS of time and frustration.

Aaron Lewis Photography wrote:
All in Ones suck, plain and simple.
If you're rarely going to use it you definitely don't want ink jet or every time you do want to use it the ink will be dried up.

So that brings us to laser. My suggestion is a nice workgroup laser in whatever class you desire weather it be B&W or color. They're cheap enough now to do this.

If you want a photo printer they can be had pretty reasonable but the fact still remains that if you don't use it regularly, the ink will dry up.

Get a decent scanner is you need to scan. Something about $100 will provide much better images than an AIO device.

Do you really need a FAX machine?

Spend the money and save yourself a world of headaches.

Even the most expensive color lazers don't come close to the image quality of an inexpensive inkjet.

A better, non inkjet solution would be a thermal dye / dye sub printer, however practically any manufacturer that produced a  sub $300 unit that can do an 8"x10" went out of business quickly.

photoimager wrote:
'All in one', as in printer, scanner, fax and also able to give quality, saleable prints.

The two are very unlikely to co-exist.

Not true.
Canon's MX 892 (and many of the previous versions of it) uses the exact same engine and nozzles as they do in their photo inkjet printers.  In other words, it's the same printer with a different cover (the fax and other controls are built into the lid, not the printer body).

Kaouthia wrote:

That really depends on what you need it to do for you.

Exactly, I've got quite an extensive IT career path and a $100 AIO would do exactly what I need it to do.  Sure, ink costs a bunch but what print cartridge or laser toner doesn't?

SayCheeZ!  wrote:
Even the most expensive color lazers don't come close to the image quality of an inexpensive inkjet.

What?

Maybe you made an honest mistake when you said that.

Just one inexpensive example.

http://www.shop.xerox.com/shop/office-e … rqube-8570

GCobb Photography wrote:
What?

Maybe you made an honest mistake when you said that.

Just one inexpensive example.

http://www.shop.xerox.com/shop/office-e … rqube-8570

A company that I worked for owned and used that same wax based printer and the toner version of that printer.  They're good for business graphics (such as pie charts and things like that).  They're OK with photos too, but far from exceptional.

We couldn't use the wax version here in the desert because if someone left the printed item in their car the wax would melt and smudge if it was touched.

Most decent photo inkjets are at least double the 2400dpi of the Xerox box.  Although dye subs are @ 300dpi, it's a continuous tone process so the effective resolution is much higher and not the same that you'd see on a 300dpi inkjet or lazer print.

The other problem with lazer printers... especially those wax ones... is that the printed part may/will have a shine to it, and the parts image that isn't printed (the white areas) will be matte.  There are some glossy papers made specially for laser printers, but if you're printing on matte paper the mismatch of shiny and matte on the same image kinda makes photos look weird .

I stand by what I said before.

AspirationImages wrote:
Unless you are talking about printing CDs or need a fax machine you are wasting your money. IMHO if you want to print photographic prints then send them to a lab or be prepared to pay $1000+ for a pigment ink printer.

Some of this misinformation amazes me.
Really!

AspirationImages wrote:
Unless you are talking about printing CDs or need a fax machine you are wasting your money. IMHO if you want to print photographic prints then send them to a lab or be prepared to pay $1000+ for a pigment ink printer.

At first I thought this was baloney. Then I looked up the printer I just bought for $579 US shipping included.

$1,499.00 in AUS $.

Ouch.

In Balance Photography wrote:
At first I thought this was baloney. Then I looked up the printer I just bought for $579 US shipping included.

$1,499.00 in AUS $.

Ouch.

No, In AUD at a current exchange rate of 1AUD = 1.04USD it would be about $556.
Unfortunately vendors screw us. 3880 cartridges cost $100 each but I can buy them from the US including postage for about $50.

Also to the previous poster, we have this thing called freedom of speech. It sort of allows you to express an opinion and hopefully not be ridiculed. My opinion is based on experience of several multifunctions. They are only A4 (and who buys that), the output is crap and varies, the cartridges are only about 13mL and cost a bomb and the prints are unsaleable because they fade after a couple of years. To those that disagree, please keep doing what you are doing. Bye.

AspirationImages wrote:

No, In AUD at a current exchange rate of 1AUD = 1.04USD it would be about $556.
Unfortunately vendors screw us. 3880 cartridges cost $100 each but I can buy them from the US including postage for about $50.

Also to the previous poster, we have this thing called freedom of speech. It sort of allows you to express an opinion and hopefully not be ridiculed. My opinion is based on experience of several multifunctions. They are only A4 (and who buys that), the output is crap and varies, the cartridges are only about 13mL and cost a bomb and the prints are unsaleable because they fade after a couple of years. To those that disagree, please keep doing what you are doing. Bye.

GST I suppose...?

http://www.epson.com.au/products/inkjet … or3000.asp

Jim Lafferty wrote:
Recommend a printer?

Here's two: mpix.com, adorama.com

Will they do receipts and invoices too?

Kaouthia wrote:
Will they do receipts and invoices too?

Yeah.
$10 for an 8x10

Kaouthia wrote:

Will they do receipts and invoices too?

There's always Staples and Kinkos/FedEx.

Jim Lafferty wrote:
There's always Staples and Kinkos/FedEx.

Or, I could buy a cheap all-in-one printer, and not have the associated hassles and delays of waiting for it to arrive or having to go and pick it up.

And, in this country at least, there's also the minor issue of the Data Protection Act.