I am looking for a printer/copier/scanner to replace my HP PSC 1401 that recently failed. I prefer to purchase new rather than used or refurbished; just personal preference. I need a scanner with a lid top, not one you feed the item to be scanned into. I use the print and scan features the most, and so far have never tried printing photos, greeting cards, etc. It is for home use on a WIN XP desktop. Price point, definitely under $100.00, the further the better. I am not looking at Lexmark. Every store I have checked, and sites where I've read about them (customer reviews, etc.) say the ink cost is high, and quickly makes up for the low purchase price of some of their printers. I was tempted to purchase the first HP I found at a nice price, but decided to check out the other options first. I keep seeing the commercials for the new Kodak printers that supposedly cost much less in ink usage than the other leading brand printers. Has anyone tried a Kodak; found it to be true/not? (I realize it partially depends upon amount of printing done, of course). Amazon ratings for many of the HPs I looked at were very low, said "stay away", "do not buy HP", etc. If anyone has the HP F2210 or one of the Canons listed, please give me your opinions on their printing and scanning quality, and ink use/costs. I'm finding the Canon ink types/numbers really confusing, along with trying to find them in a store here (Target, WalMart, Staples, Meijer). That is one plus with HP; I can find the ink here. Any help - particularly on these models - performance quality, and ink issues is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The HP PSC 1401 - the one being replaced

HP Deskjet F2210 - the possible front-runner replacement

Canon PIXMA MP480

Canon PIXMA MP240

HP OfficeJet J3680

Seems to me the F2210 must be a great choice for low cost entry level since it has great ratings on WM.com. AIO Printers at that price point are hard to find.

If you don't need color output, I would strongly recommend getting a laser AIO instead of an inkjet. It may cost you a little more up front, but toner seems to cost less than ink. Toner cartridges are more expensive, but they last a *lot* longer than ink cartridges.

There seem to be a few choices around $100.


Canon ImageClass MF3240 All-In-One Laser, $99.99


Okidata B2500 Laser Copier, Printer, Scanner, $79.99

Cheapo inkjets are cash cows for companies like HP and Canon. They sell these printers using the Gillette razor sales model (ie. the manufacturers sell the printers at below cost in hopes of recouping their investment many times over selling vastly overpriced ink cartridges).

I've used the F2210 (I bought one for my nieces last Black Friday as a Christmas gift) -- it is a cheapo model that HP created solely for sale at Walmart. The output quality is good, but the build quality is very cheap. I don't see it holding up over the long term under even moderate use. I haven't used either of the Canons, but I have used a multitude of other PIXMA-based Canon printers. They all tend to produce better than average output, but again the cheaper models are subsidized by more expensive inks. Canon (like HP before it) has also begun since mid/late 2008 to sell newer models using smaller capacity but more expensive cartridges, and also to use chips to prevent cartridge refilling.

Garsh is right -- if you don't need color, get a laser multifunction.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions, so far. What is a thermal inkjet printer? I've seen a few with that in their description. Example. I do want a color/b&w printer; sorry if that wasn't clear.

It's just the technology that's used to transfer the ink to the paper.
here's more info than you want to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkjet_printer

I've purchased a couple of the HP Deskjet F4280 models and people have been happy with them & I have a HP Photosmart C4480 that's been working well.

I purchased the C4480 when my color laser ran out of toner - just went to the store & bought what was on sale (toner for the laser costs a fortune). Actually got the printer for my wife as I don't do much printing these days. Print quality isn't as good as the laser, but it's fine for what she prints.

Two more you can add to your list to compare with:

• HP Officejet J3680 Color Sheetfed All-In-One $49.99 at Office Depot
• Brother MFC-790CW Inkjet All-in-One $129.99 at OfficeMax (Plus $30 Visa Debit Card)

edit: actually one, but the price at office depot is a lot cheaper for the J3680

Take the numbers on the following website with a grain of salt -- they were commissioned by Kodak, after all, and Kodak picked the "competing models" that were tested:

Consumer Desktop Inkjet Cost of Ink per Page

Princessd: "I need a scanner with a lid top, not one you feed the item to be scanned into." ... so the sheetfed or autofeed machines are out.

I am still finding it hard to find the ink here, for the Canons I was looking at. Plus a reviewer discussed the expiration dates on the individual ink cartridges; it stops the printer's use until they are replaced, empty or not. So even with some overall good ratings, Canon may also be out. It might likely be down to Kodak or HP, now.

Edit to add: Whoa, after many bad reviews (on mixed sites) of the Kodak printers, it is looking more and more like I'm back to my first instinct, the HP F2210. Maybe the Kodaks will improve in time, and branded ink prices will drop. Well, I can hope.

Something to keep in mind is how many pages each ink refill prints and the corresponding cost per page.

Each manufacturer varies in the amount of ink they put in the cartridge. It's a real headache to figure out because they don't make the information available too easily. It's important to figure out if you plan on printing a lot.

True, cron. One fortunate thing, if I do get the F2210; it uses the same inks as my current HP, so I already have a good idea how long those cartridges last. I think I may try out the HP XL cartridges sometime, too.

If there's ink left over in the old printer, you could probably move the cartridges over since you're saying they are the same one's.

The one nice thing is at that price point, the printer doesn't really have to last too long. If you get two years use out of it, i'd say it did it's job.

cron: "If there's ink left over in the old printer, you could probably move the cartridges over since you're saying they are the same one's."

Yep, that's already my plan; too expensive to just toss them.