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Home » Computers & Internet » Multifunction Printers

Cheap Multifunction Printers, Best Cheap All In One Printers

Related Guide: Laser Printers

When shopping for a cheap printer for the home or home office, many people quickly become intrigued with the idea of all-in-one, a.k.a. multifunction printers. These machines can copy, scan, and in some instances fax, as well as print, and don't cost much more than a stand-alone printer.

You can find cheap all-in-one printers priced between $40 and $100; all the cheap multifunction printers in this price range are inkjets, not lasers, and are compact enough to sit on a desk or small table. The relatively compact size of these cheap multifunction printers is another reason they appeal to home and small office users.

Of all their functions, multifunction printers should excel at printing, and many manufacturers have made them just as good as any budget photo printer. Users who frequently work with photos or other images will certainly want a good, high resolution scanner, and home office/small office users will want a cheap multifunction printer that can produce lively, accurate color copies of documents. Cheap multifunction printers are produced by printer heavyweights such as Brother, Canon, Lexmark, HP, Epson, and Kodak. Ricoh, Xerox, and Samsung concentrate on the pricier models intended for business use. Pricier all-in-one printers tend to have higher black print resolution, more built-in memory, and much larger paper capacity. Of course, these models are designed for heavier, more frequent use than a home user or home office would need.

To help you choose the best cheap all-in-one printer that fits your budget, we've assembled a list of features and performance attributes worth knowing about. We'll tell you why you should choose a cheap multifunction printer with a flatbed scanner rather than a sheet-fed one. We'll cover extra features such as wireless all-in-ones and tell you which cheap multifunction printers are the best for printing, scanning, and copying. We'll also fill you in on the extraneous low-cost multifunction printer features you can pass on.

Taking all these factors into account, our research identified several cheap multifunction printers that are worthy of your consideration. The Lexmark Impact S305 (starting at $63, Amazon) and the Canon PIXMA MP560 (starting at $90, Amazon) are our top picks -- the former because of its wireless capability and the high quality of text and photo prints and the latter because of its basket of features (including double-sided printing and wireless connectivity), ease of use, and print quality. In the good cheap all-in-one category we've put the Lexmark x4650 (starting at $71, Amazon) for its decent scans and print quality, especially for text, and the Epson WorkForce 520 (starting at $88, Amazon) for its speed and faxing capabilities. Given the number of good cheap multifunction printers on the market, we found two that you might want to pass on: the Epson NX415 (starting at $100, Amazon), which users say is an ink hog and is also at the end of its product life, and the Brother MFC-3360C (starting at $50, Amazon), which delivers low-quality output at slow speeds. Note, however, that even the best of the cheap all-in-one printers are not perfect in every dimension; at budget prices you have to accept some weaknesses in performance.

Printer Functionality.

One thing to remember about cheap multifunction printers is that not all have the same set of features. Yes, they all print, scan, and copy but not all fax. A few, like the Epson WorkForce 520 (starting at $88, Amazon), Brother MFC-3360C, $90 on Amazon, $45 on SDC (starting at $48, Amazon) or the Canon PIXMA MX330 (starting at $65, Amazon), do include fax capability, so if you need to fax an occasional document, it's worth looking for a cheap all-in-one with fax built in. A Best Buy customer, for example, thought s/he had no use for the fax but is surprised at how much it gets used. And because manufacturers struggle to differentiate themselves, perks for the consumer occasionally crop up on cheap multifunction printers. For example, we noticed several cheap MFDs that now include wireless connectivity, including the Lexmark Impact S305 (starting at $63, Amazon) and the Canon PIXMA MP560 (starting at $90, Amazon). The Canon PIXMA MP560 also has an impressive 2-inch LCD that makes it easy to navigate the device's settings.

Printer Resolution.

If you plan to use the cheap multifunction printer's scanner for photos or other documents, pay close attention to the scanner's resolution, measured in dots per inch, or dpi. This is usually displayed as a pair of numbers, such as 1200x2400. The first number is the most critical because it indicates the actual resolution of the scan; the higher the resolution, the sharper the scanned image will appear. (Keep in mind that images scanned with a high resolution have more detail and produce larger files that take longer to prepare and print out.) The scanners in cheap all-in-one printers let you choose among several resolutions for scanning a document or image. Lower resolutions, such as 600dpi, are fine for text or web images. A higher resolutions of, say, 1200dpi or 2400dpi is better for pictures where image quality is a must. Most scanners on cheap multifunction printers like the Lexmark Impact S305 and Epson WorkForce 520 have a maximum resolution of 1200x2400dpi, which should be sufficient for most home tasks. If you work with a lot of graphics or photos and need higher resolution scans, you can opt for a cheap all-in-one with a resolution of 2400x4800dpi, such as the Canon PIXMA MP560.

Printer Speed.

One of the numbers that multifunction printer manufacturers like to fudge the most is the number of pages per minute, or ppm, the printer can spit out. Manufacturers usually display the ppm for a printout at the lowest quality setting (draft quality) using only black ink; it's not uncommon to find cheap all-in-one printers that claim to print at 20ppm or more. But if you use higher quality print settings or print in color, that number quickly plunges to about 5ppm to 10ppm. Both the Lexmark Impact S305 and Lexmark x4650 claim optimistic print speeds of 25ppm to 33ppm -- in draft quality using black ink. The Canon PIXMA MP560 posts a more realistic speed of 9.2ppm when printing in black ink and normal quality.

Printer Size.

Cheap all-in-one printers are usually bulkier than plain stand-alone printers thanks to the additional functionalities. Compared with its peers, the Canon PIXMA MX330, with its large footprint (18.1 x 16.2 x 7.8) and heavy weight (20 pounds), stands out. Indeed, several Canon PIXMA MX330 users, writing all-in-one printer reviewers on Amazon.com make note of its bulk and weight. The Lexmark X4650 (starting at $71, Amazon), on the other hand, measures 6.98 x 18.07 x 13.03 and weighs 11.6 pounds.

Printer Design.

Multifunction printers are either sheet-fed or flatbed. A flatbed design lets you open the lid and lay flat whatever you want to copy or scan, like a photo, book or magazine page, or driver's license or other ID. Flatbed multifunction printers are far more common in the budget category. Cheap flatbed printers include the Lexmark x4650, Epson NX415 (Note: this one is $80 on SDC but $110 on Amazon) (starting at $60, Amazon), and Canon PIXMA MX560.

Sheet-fed multifunction printers, like the Brother MFC-3360C, are functionally more limited by their upright design. Commenting about the Brother MFC-3360C on Staples.com, multifunction printer reviews by users note the frustrations (and sometimes the impossibility) of trying to scan bulky, plastic, inflexible, and small items.

Hybrid printers, such as the HP Officejet J6480 (starting at $124, Amazon), are both sheet-fed and flatbed and best suited for the office. Experts reviewers at CNET like how much functionality is crammed into the Officejet for less than $200 but wonder how it will hold up to the daily grind.

Wireless Capability.

Wireless capability is a treat that usually requires spending more than $100 to enjoy. However, a few cheap multifunction printers feature wireless capability, including the Canon PIXMA MP495 (starting at $66, Amazon), Canon PIXMA MP560, Lexmark Impact S305, and Lexmark x4650. Wireless is particularly useful if your household has more than one computer so that everyone in the family can share the cheap multifunction device, as this all-in-one printers review of the Epson WorkForce 520 on Staples.com cheerfully reports.

Is the wireless hard to hook up? That depends. Several Lexmark S305 reviews posted on B&H.com, reviews of the Lexmark x4650 posted on Buy.com, and reviews of the Canon PIXMA MP560 posted on NewEgg say these devices are quick and easy to install. On the other hand, an Amazon shopper reports some difficulty with the initial wireless set-up for the Canon PIXMA MP495.

A few printers include Bluetooth, which is optional on the Canon PIXMA MP560. A short-range wireless technology, Bluetooth is useful for eliminating wires strung all over your desk. The range is about 10 feet so you can't wander from room to room and stay connected with a Bluetooth device as you can with 802.11 wireless products.

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Lexmark x4650
HP Photosmart C5580
Kodak ESP-3
Canon Pixma MX330
Epson NX415
Brother MFC-3360C
Lexmark x4650
Epson WorkForce 520
Lexmark Impact S305
Canon Pixma MP560

 

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