Panasonic KX-FHD331 Plain Paper Fax Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this item largely based on the two 5-star reviews on this site and of course its very low price. I'm now feeling a bit disappointed.
After setting the machine up, I discovered there are a couple of things I'm not crazy about. First, the unit uses thermal heat transfer, so you need to buy "ink film" instead of ink cartridges. An entire page worth of film gets used every time you receive a fax or make a copy, regarless of whether the page is BLANK or totally BLACK. This can add up to a lot of waste. Sometimes I like to make a copy of something that doesn't take up a whole page, like a shopping receipt, and I'm paying for a whole black page with this machine. (Faxes work out to about ten cents a copy, depending of course on what you pay for ink film refills.)
Second, the used ink film serves as a negative of every fax you've received and every copy you've made. If you receive anything confidential or sensitive, you're going to want to be careful about how you dispose of your used ink film because you can read every letter printed on the film.
Third, the page-feed mechanism used for scanning documents seems incapable of handling anything other than a regular sheet of paper. I have tried several times to copy a 3x5 inch shopping receipt with this unit, and so far I haven't succeeded. My old unit could handle that task easily.
I'm left to consider returning the unit for one that can handle smaller pieces of paper and that doesn't use the ink film technology.
In fairness, I should also point out the things I do like about the unit. An advantage of the ink film is that it is actually water-resistant, unlike the ink supplied in some cartridges (like the one my old machine used). The set-up for this machine, while not as simple as some units, was doable within a few minutes. Note however that I didn't like the fact that I had to enter a two digit code from the manual to set up some features -- I couldn't just flip through menus to get what I wanted. There are lots of options for setting up distinctive ring tone answering, and you can choose the number of rings before fax pick-up (between 1 and 3 rings, inclusive). It's a small machine which is nice for small workspaces. You can choose three different ring types (though they are all pretty similar) and you can alter volume both for rings and for the handset.
Bottom line: this affordable machine will be great for some users, but unfortunately I'm not one of them.

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Samsung CLX-3160FN Color Laser Multifunction Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)THE HUNT FOR THE PERFECT ALL-IN-ONE OFFICE MACHINE!
Like one of the other reviewers here, I am in real estate and needed a multifunction machine that used color laser printing instead of inkjet.
But the major consideration for me was a Scan-to-Email (PDF) functionality. When you are working on deals in multiple cities, scanning the large documents is much easier than Fedexing paper all over the place.
I couldn't find any comprehensive reviews on this product because of how new it was. Now that I've owned it for a couple of months, I figure I better post one myself to help out those who are looking at this machine.
After running the machine for a couple of months I am quite happy with it and it is running well. Basic setup of the machine out of the box was very simple with easy visual instructions and tabs. Out of the box I could do color copies, black and white copies, and faxing. Setting up the printer driver over the network was very simple too. Setting up the network scanning and scan-to-email functions involved a bit more pain.
PERFORMANCE BY FEATURE-
COPIES - It makes great black and white copies and decent color copies. Copying is simple, Green button for a color copy, Grey button for B/W copy. You can copy multiple pages via the document feeder or lift the lid and copy something odd sized on the flatbed. My only gripe is that you have to wait for the unit to warm up before hitting the copy button. It would be great if I could just put the document in the feeder, hit the button and walk away, instead of staring at it while it warms up. But it does warm up quickly. Sleep settings for the copier are selected in the web-based control panel.
FAX- Its a fax, I don't know what else to say. It works fine for me, but I don't use the fax function that much.
PRINTER- I can print from my wireless laptop, sweet! The printer setup on the network was relatively simple. I installed the driver, the software found the printer and configured itself and I was up and running. I found that print quality was too thin on the regular setting, I changed it to BEST quality in the printer driver and it looks great now.
My only gripe with the printer function is the additional Software Samsung installs. They included this program called Dr. Printer or something like that, supposed to troubleshoot printer problems. However, it doesn't support the network printing at all. I had the network printing setup perfectly, but I was curious what the Dr. Printer software did. So I ran it, it says "I found and fixed the problem". It had totally deleted all of my network printer settings and set the printer up as local USB connected printer. So I had to reinstall the whole network printing thing again. Damn my curiousity.
SCANNING- You can scan from the flatbed or the auto feeder in either legal or letter size. You can either send the document as an e-mail directly from the machine or send it directly to your computer. Sounds great, unfortunately it won't do all of these things without being set up first.
Scanning direct to e-mail on this machine is my favorite feature, but it was also the hardest damn thing to initially set up. The network scanning feature (scan to your computer instead of e-mail direct from the machine) was much easier to setup.
SCANNING, TWO DIFFERENT WAYS--
SCANNING TO YOUR COMPUTER VIA THE NETWORK- This function requires the installation of software and it also requires your computer to be on when you are scanning. I found this feature reasonably easy to setup. You push scan, network scan, and then select a destination for the scan on your computer... such as Adobe Acrobat, or particular folders you setup. The scan then magically launches the application on your computer and the document is right in front of you ready to be e-mailed or manipulated.
BUT, each network scan destination can only handle one setup. That means the paper size, resolution and color/BW settings are written in stone for each preset. Which drove me crazy because the only application I use is Acrobat. I got around this by setting up seperate preset folders for the type of scan I was doing, like "Color Legal" "B/W Letter". The good part about doing this is that I don't have to hunt for the file regardless of what folder it goes to because Acrobat automatically launches with the scan open on the screen. From there I usually e-mail or save it where I want it to go.
SCAN DIRECTLY TO E-MAIL FROM THE MACHINE- The direct "scan to e-mail" function was the hardest thing to setup. You have to have an actual POP e-mail address for your scanner, which is how it sends PDFs or JPGs of TIF files directly from the box. Getting an e-mail account setup is simple enough, but the control panel won't recognize the servers by name, for example standard pop mail server names list POP.GMAIL.COM. Instead you have to actually convert the server names into IP addresses (I found a website somewhere that did this) and insert that IP address into the control panel.
Once setup, the scan-to-email function works just as you'd expect. But it requires way too many key strokes on the machine to actually send the document. "Are you sure, Are you really sure, Are you really really sure?" (not exact quotes, but you get the idea)
I'm in my late-twenties with a background in the tech field, yet programming this direct-to-email function had me cussing and pulling my hair out. I imagine most people will setup the network scanning application and stop there. The network scanning application is actually a lot more versitile than the direct scan-to-email, even though it requires you to have your computer turned on. But using the network scanning the document just appears, then you can forward it to whatever e-mail you want via your computer (and keep your hair).OVERALL, I'll give it 4 stars. Revolutionary product, not quite all the bugs shaken out.
PROS:
Very quiet for a Color Laser- Color Laser machines generally sounds like jets taking off, but this unit isn't so bad. Its not silent, but not bad.
Easy setup out of the box for color laser copying and faxing.
Easy setup of printer drivers for printing through the network.
Only machine I found with color laser printing, an auto-document feeder and flatbed and robust scanning features.
CONS:
Small LCD Display with no backlight- No big deal if the room is well lit, but if its dark you can't see what you are doing.
Direct-to-Email Scanning feature is not worth the trouble it takes to configure. (Use the included Network Scanning software instead, you have to have your computer turned on but it is much easier!)One good firmware or software update would solve all of my cons, except the LCD display. But, overall I'm happy with my purchase.


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HP Officejet 7110 All-in-One Multifunction Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this machine in August along with an overnight replacement warranty (thank goodness). Since August I have had 3 different machines. Each one malfunctioned. (1) The automatic feeder did not work properly and the paper jammed. HP replaced the machine. (2) The print head connection was not making contact and the machine would not detect the print cartridges. HP replaced that machine. (3) It would only print in red and blue because the print cartridges were improperly distribting the ink. In addition, each time I replaced the machine I had to uninstall and reinstall the software, which should not have been necessary. Not to mention the hours spent on the phone with HP service and my IT person trying to get the machines to function properly. In one week I had two replacements. It is also noisy and slow. I begged my salesperson to take it back, which he did and I was happy to see it go.

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Hewlett Packard OfficeJet 630 Multifunction Device Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently puchased and installed the HP 630 multi-function unit in my home office. The set-up went fine--with all set-up prompts clear and straight forward. However, I did have significant difficulty loading paper for the first time. The guides on the back are very tight and at first would not allow letter size paper to fit. It took about 10 minutes to figure out how to load paper by squeezing the guides to open them up which surprised me a little. The unit works great now though--I have printed checks from Quicken and other routine stuff without a hitch. One key thing: once you have it set up be sure to call the HP 800 number and they will send you a test fax right away--a great feature. All in all--looks like it will be a terrific machine for the price.

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The HP OfficeJet 600 series Printer/Fax/Copier/Scanner is a four-function, all-in-one peripheral for the home office market. The HP OfficeJet 600 series Printer/Fax/Copier/Scanner offers professional plain paper faxing, copying, color scanning, and thermal inkjet color printing in a compact and easy-to-use contemporary design. The automatic sheet feeder is capable of holding 150 sheets of 20-lb bond paper.Advantages over competing solutions for the home office include lower cost, smaller footprint, color scanning and printing, superior copy and scan quality, and elegant integration into the Windows PC environment.The HP OfficeJet 600 series Printer/Fax/Copier/Scanner is intended for use in part-time or full-time home offices and small businesses with five or fewer employees.

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Lexmark X5650 All-in-One Inkjet Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)The only pros are it will occasionally print and scan and copy. Usually this is after turning it on and off several times because the power quits, sometimes in the middle of a print job.
The fax has never worked correctly.
I am on my second model (5650). I took the first back thinking I had a lemon, but the 2nd wouldn't even cut on - out of the box. I call tech support (Lexmark does have very good support) and was instructed to use a pencil eraser on the power adapter (which worked, but this was a new machine!) I was instructed to unplug, pick up and shake my first model! LOL
Note: I have a five year old Lexmark copy/scan/fax machine which still works well to send faxes. The printer part quit when it was about 2 years old. I have a very inexpensive Lexmark printer in my house which has never given me a problem. Point: Lexmark does have good products, but the X5650 model is NOT one of them. Stay away.

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Brother MFC-5460cn Color Photo Inkjet All-in-One Flatbed with Networking Review

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(More customer reviews)I was looking to buy a printer and fax machine for some time. Our old fax m/c and the printer had reached the end of their lives. Recently Brother is having some great promotions with 2 year extended warranties. With the advertised low prices for these machines, I couldn't resist. After some research I decided to order the 5460 multi function all in one. Boy, am I delighted!
What I like:
============
- Setup was very easy. Hooking up the machine took me about 10 minutes. Installing the software, another 8-10.
- The print quality was great.
- The printer is network ready. It works with both wired and wireless networks. This feature alone is worth the price. No need for any wires from your computer or any computer on the network to the printer. If you don't have a network at home, don't worry. You can hook using a USB cable. The manufacturers don't include a USB printer cable usually as with this product. So don't discard the cable if you are throwing away your old printer - they cost around 35 bucks.
- You can receive the faxes onto your computer. You need to change the mode on the machine panel. The setup software opened up all the ports necessary. Now all the junk faxes goes to your PC and you don't have to waste paper! Even if your PC is off, the faxes are stored in the machine's memory so that you can later 'download' to your PC.
- You can send faxes right out of your PC using the provided software. Another cool thing. As I work from home remotely, this helps me a lot. Otherwise, I would have had to print out the documents before faxing. The software comes with an address book which can sync with your Outlook address book.
- The setup also enables your PC for internet faxing. i.e., even if you don't have your Brother fax machine connected, as long as you have an internet connection, you can fax documents using the internet. This is pretty cool though not a new feature. While I am at the airport, I can fax those last minute expense reports right from my laptop.
- I haven't tried the scan feature yet, that will be the least used feature for me.
- Given the print quality is good, I would believe the copier would be just great as well.
- The paper feeder sits within the footprint of the machine. This is another neat and space saving feature - no awkward paper supports hanging out.
- You also have digital media reader right in the front so that you can print directly from your media.
- The all-in-one is a space saver. It cleared much space off my work table. With all-in-ones, say, if the cartridge goes bust, all parts are affected though.
What could be better?
=====================
- The USB cable and the network cable slots are not on the outside of the machine. You have to lift up the top bed and wire these inside. This takes up about 10-20% of the cable length depending on where you position your PC/laptop relative to the machine.
- The Brother cartridges are always relatively expensive compared to, say, Canon. I have found that Brother's tend to be more durable than Canon. But for the higher end Canon's you do pay more. So it is a trade-off between up-front price/running cost (ink refills,cartridge) and reliability.
At this point I love the machine. For $99 after MIR and extended 2 yr warranty, it is a great holiday deal!

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The Brother MFC-5460cn is a powerful color multi-function center with networking capabilities, making it a great addition to your home or small business office.
Color Printer With the MFC-5460cn you'll enjoy up to 30 ppm black and 25 ppm color print speed, as well as photo quality printing up to 6000 x 1200 dpi. With a droplet size as small as 1.5 picoliters you can be assured of fine details and color accuracy. The unit's front loading paper tray holds up to 100 sheets. Borderless photo printing is possible, and USB and ethernet interfaces are included. The printer works with Windows and Mac operating systems.
Color Fax When it comes time to send a fax, you can choose black and white or color faxing using the ITU-T30E standard. A 35-page auto document feeder makes big faxing jobs a snap, while the 33.6 Kbps Super G3 high-speed fax modem delivers your documents quickly. No PC is required for faxing, and you can take advantage of 100-station auto dialing, and 32 MB of total memory means you can store up to 480 pages.
Color Copier The MFC-5460cn offers easy copying in color or black and white. No PC is required for copying, and you'll enjoy up to 22 cpm black and 20 cpm color copy speeds. The copier also offers up to 1200 x 600 dpi resolution, as well as multi-copying for up to 99 copies. Reduce or enlarge your copies from 25 percent to 400 percent, in 1 percent increments.
Color Scanner Use the MFC-5460cn for 48-bit flatbed color scanning at up to 19,200 dpi (interpolated) resolution, and up to 600 x 2400 dpi (optical) resolution. The flatbed design also enables scanning from bound documents. The unit includes award-winning ScanSoft PaperPort SE with OCR Software for Windows and Presto! PageManager for Mac.
Photo Capture Center Use the MFC-5460cn to print images or even an index--all without a computer. The MFC-5460cn features convenient digital camera media card slots for high quality photo printing (Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, xD-Picture Card Type M/Type H, CompactFlash, Secure Digital, and MultiMediaCard). The memory card system also works as a removable disk drive, and there's also a PictBridge interface to print photos directly from your PictBridge-enabled camera.
PC Fax The MFC-5460cn comes with the Brother PC Fax Driver for sending and receiving faxes from your computer. The software supports fax broadcasting from your PC, as well as network PC fax send and receive. PC fax functionality works with Windows and Mac operating systems.

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HP 3180 Fax Machine Review

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(More customer reviews)Very happy with this machine, works great. But you should get the high capacity black ink cartridge (54) because the small one does not last very long.

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Brother IntelliFax 2820 Laser Fax Machine and Copier Review

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(More customer reviews)If you're in the market for a fax machine this is the one. I also owned the Brother 2800. This is the new and revised version of the 2800. Apparently Brother does improve upon their faults. You can see my review on the 2800 and the downfalls. For a re-cap:
1. 2800 had paper jams when using old paper. The 2820 has a paper feeder like their printers which greatly reduces jams. (I also own brothers laser printer) Now I can use recycled (one-side already printed) paper and not have to deal with jams. Also 2820 holds much more paper in its tray, so you wont have to worry about running out.
2. 2820 has a new feed system which reduces jams when faxing out. I had problems faxing 20+ pages with the 2800, now none with 2820. However they say there is a limit to 20 pages (just add more pages as they feed through).
3. The only downfall is the toner is slightly more expensive. It does print more pages, but does cost a bit more. Fax machine is more expensive also.
Overall, if you don't want to deal with the 2800 problems then pay the extra money for the 2820 and feel confident with its performance. If money is an issue, get the 2800. Personally the few extra bucks is worth it over aggravation when trying to fax/receive.
Another added bonus feature: This fax can also connect to the computer through USB allowing to work as a printer. I currently have this set-up and works very well. Have no issues priting with this fax machine. Great feature if you don't want to buy a printer. (2800 does not have this feature)

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Monochrome Copier - 15 cpm - Laser - Group 3 - Fax/Copier

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Xerox Fax centre F110MB Mono Laser Printer/Scanner/Fax Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great machine - sends, receives just fine, print quality excellent, very fast - even with graphics. Good wide margins...Highly recommend.

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Sharp UX-B800SE Broadband Fax Machine Review

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(More customer reviews)This is one slick piece of kit. Quite easy to to setup with a bit of network basics under your belt. Plug in phone line to a spare jack and then a CAT5 cable to a spare router port. I then manually entered static IP information into FAX machine (even easier if you use DHDP) and then setup options on FAX how I wanted it. To add, edit or delete email addresses, etc I then went to internet explorer, typed http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, which is the FAX machine's IP and used the internet based configuration page. Up and running in less than 10 minutes. I use PDF as the format and get pretty darn good quality documents. I used PDF because every computer should have adobe reader installed these days. Admittedly a bit more effort is involved to setup options specific to how you want to use it but I found it very, very easy to install and setup. No harder than any other FAX machine really.
I only FAX a few pages once or twice a week. For large business usage you may need to think twice on a larger more expensive make/model.
Pro : cheap price, duplexing, scans quickly, good scan memory size, relatively easy setup (maybe not so for a novice but instructions are clear and concise), don't have to use the somewhat expensive ink cartridges on the fax but have them go straight to email and then I print them on my laser printer ... the list of good points goes on and on and on ...
Cons : None so far

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Premium Imaging Panasonic KX-FA93 Black Remanufactured Fax Cartridges (Box of 2) for the Panasonic KX-FHD331, 332, 351 Printers Review

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(More customer reviews)Great quality product for less than it costs at the local office supply stores! Will order again!

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Sharp UX-B750 Inkjet Fax Review

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(More customer reviews)I've used this machine basically for faxing items out. I didn't need anything too fancy or too complicated. This unit actually has more involved functions that I don't need but I purchased it cause the price was right. So far so good, setup was simple, it is extremely lightweight (I kind of worried about this as my past fax was at least 3times heavier). Uses standard copier paper (thank goodness), fax is very quiet and scans pages quickly. It also has a hand-set if you need to make a regular phone call from it. I haven't received incoming faxes on it yet but if a problem arises, I will be sure to post additional feedback.

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HP LaserJet 3055 All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)Note added October 15, 2008: Amazon still won't let me change my rating, which now would be 1 star (the lowest) based on horrendous quality control. I bought two of these and both had hardware failures within a year or two, of course outside of warranty. The one I bought for my daughter had its network card fail. She can still use it via USB, but not over the network. The one I bought for myself recently failed to scan, fax or copy when using the document feeder, which uses a separate sensing window from flatbed copying and scanning. As a flatbed copier or scanner, it still works. But when using the document feeder, the copies or scans come out blank. And, yes, I've put the paper in the right side up. I suspect that there's a separate sensor or light for that window and it's broken. On top of the horrible QC this seems to imply, my email to HP took them eight days to answer and then all they said was "this case is a hardware issue so our recommendation for you is to call 800-HP-INVENT (800-474-6836) so you can talk with a Hardware technical agent that can guide you through some trouble shooting steps to determine the cause of this problem and also give you the best solution." OK, I call and after over a significant wait time, I learn that they can help trouble shoot by phone for a fee, offer me a trade-in on a new model, or repair this one. No way am I going to waste more money on this disaster. While maybe I've just had a bad run of luck, this does not appear to be the HP I used to know, where quality was top notch.
Note added March 19 2007: Amazon won't let me change my rating from 4 to 3 stars, but I would do so if I could due to networking problems that resurfaced. I suspect that this is an issue with networked printers in general, not HP, but the time it took to solve the problem makes me wonder whether I would have bought this printer if I knew then what I know now. When the network access works, it's great, but if your network undergoes a change (I had to replace a Linksys router that went bad), be prepared to do some work. It took me several hours to get things working again. Before I had this problem, I bought one of these as a gift for my adult daughter, living in another state. She had to get the "geek squad" in to solve her similar problems, at a cost of roughly $200. The problem seems to be changes in the IP addresses in the network, and the manual didn't make it easy to figure out how to even find out the IP address that the printer currently is using. (Hint: Print a Configuration Report from the printer's front panel, using the menu. The manual does tell you how to do that, and the IP address is part of that report.) Once you have the IP address, I think getting the printer back up would be a lot easier -- but I'm not about to bring it down and find out! Hoping this helps.
I have several Macs and one Windows machine and had been using two separate printers for the two "tribes." I also had a fax machine, an old flat bed scanner, and a copier -- all taking lots of real estate. When the Samsung ML1430 that I was using on an Airport Extreme USB printer sharing system broke after three years, I decided to go with a networked printer that could be shared between the Macs and the PC. I wanted a major printer brand, and HP was at the top of that list. Why? Because Samsung had stopped supporting the Mac and, as I upgraded my OS, I had had difficulties keeping the printer working. The old driver didn't work with some OS upgrades. I hoped that a networked printer would make sharing among the Macs and the PC easy -- and to a large extent it has.
I did have minor problems getting the printer to work with the PC since I had to turn off all firewalls during the installation and Dell had two. After about an hour of on-line research and fiddling, I got it to work. Getting the Macs to recognize the printer was a snap -- sorry Redmond, Apple's ads seem on target here, though part of the problem may have been with Dell putting two firewalls on the PC.
After the initial hassle with the PC, which has nothing to do with the 3055 per se, I am very happy with all functions -- with one minor caveat below. As a printer or copier, it's fast (almost 20 pages a minute and less than 10 seconds to first page). The automatic document feeder has worked flawlessly so far -- often the Achilles heel in my experience. Some other reviews (elsewhere, not here at Amazon) noted that half-tone copies weren't the greatest and I'd agree. The pictures come out a bit dark.Some of those reviews noted that changing the default setting from text to picture (or whatever HP calls it) helps, but I haven't tried that yet which is a sign that it's not a huge problem.
I haven't used the scanner much yet, but did a few test scans which looked good. On color photos, the 300 dpi scan was poor, but setting it to 600 dpi did a nice job. The level of JPEG encoding changed from 300 to 600 dpi, with the 600 dpi scan being a much larger file, so it's not clear how much of the poor quality at 300 was due to the scanner and how much to the JPEG encoding. I also have a Fujitsu ScanSnap and will keep it since it is much faster than the HP -- but it cost as much as the HP and just does scanning, so that's not an indictment of the HP. The ScanSnap is intended only for sheet scans, not books or other flatbed material, but is excellent at what it does.
The fax features work well too, and I got rid of my fax machine, freeing up space. I haven't yet gotten rid of the copier, but might. The 3055 will enlarge and reduce by up to a factor of four -- a nice feature. Having only one toner cartridge to keep track of, instead of the three I had before (printer, copier and fax), would be nice. HP toner is about 3 cents per page, a bit more than some laser printers, but much less than ink jets and OK in my book.
The 3055 is also good on energy usage. I hooked up a power and energy meter and, after about 180 continuous hours of light use (only two of use it and we're not heavy printers), it averaged only 8 watts. When the laser engine is working, of course the power peaks up to about 500 watts, but HP has been good about making sure it doesn't use too much power when idle, while still allowing it to start up fairly quickly. I've seen the idle power drop down as low as 6 watts at times.
I'm not sure if I should have given four or five stars to this unit, with the one star loss being mostly due to my networking problems mentioned above. As I said, that's not an HP problem. So if you're looking for a networked all-in-one, consider this five stars within that category.
Note added February 22, 2008: My network did come down again, and this time I set up a static IP address for the machine. With what I'd learned in the interim, it wasn't such a big deal to do and has been working well for months. Now, I'm not worried about the network coming down and causing major problems. But you need to learn what static IP addresses work with your router (it varies!), how to set it (from the Menu on the console on the HP 3055 and choose Network Configuration, TCP/IP, Manual), and then how to tell your computer to find the device (hint: Intel Macs need the newer HP Setup Assistant and will not work with the one I had; accessible from HP's support site). On the negative side, the one I bought for my daughter seems to have a bad network card now. That cost her another $200 geek squad visit to figure out, plus now we have to figure out if it's worth fixing. My rating would now be 3-4 stars (depending if her bad card is unusual or not) if you understand networking really well or can rope a friend with that knowledge into helping you, but no stars otherwise.

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X2670 All-in-one Printer Review

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(More customer reviews)After having experienced numerous problems with previous printers (computer not being able to recognize printer, printer not being able to handle multiple print jobs at once, printer not being compatible with more than the initial computer hooked up to, printer necessitating color cartridge even to print colorless documents), I am pleased to say that this model so far shows no sign of these issues. However, I must point out that I've usually exprerienced the aforementioned issues farther down the line, which means I am prepared for the worst. The difference in this scenario (that is, from my previous purchases of printers) is that I contacted Lexmark (the manufacturer) BEFORE I purchased the item, (an idea I must say should have occurred to me long ago), to find out whether or not the printer will need a color cartridge replacement often, even if I just want to print in black. The good news is that as long as you print a color document from this printer once every two weeks, (according to the Lexmark representative I spoke with), the color cartridge should last up to four months and this will allow printing primarily in black for that interim. That's all I wanted out of this product.

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HP Officejet 6500A e-All-in-One (CN555A#B1H) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used only Hewlett-Packard printers since I bought my computer a decade ago, in 2001. My choice was simple, as these printers earn high ratings year after year. I print out a lot of photography for both family photos and magazine photos, and also regular printing. I also write and print an abundance of family history pages and articles for a collectibles magazine. I use my printers heavy duty and I am on my second printer since 2001. My HP printers have a life span of around 5 years, which is unheard of, as the average printers lifespan is around 2 years. My printers have always been the HP Ink Jet Photosmart models as they give me the best quality photographs, both color and black and white, on my favorite HP soft gloss paper. Laser ink doesn't come close in comparison to the rich saturated colors of Inkjet ink. Photographs, Art and Pictures come to life with an Inkjet printer. The only thing the average person should know is that inkjet ink runs if it gets wet, so for shipping labels always cover them in clear tape. For more permanently protected photos, go to an arts/crafts store and buy a can of photo protectant spray. The extra covering gives you a lifetime of protected treasures.

This is the first time I have tried a non-photo printer, using this HP Officejet 6500A All In One model. If you are wondering what the difference is between a photo printer and an office printer- it's the colors. With my Photosmart, I have 2 extra light ink colors- cyan (blue) and magenta (pink) shades. These 2 extra ink shades give you a full array of even the slightest color variations. Working in art and photography, I noticed a slight color difference in certain shades. For a professional artist making photographs or great color prints, this is not the printer for you. For the average office or home use, non-professional photo prints or just needing a regular printer, this printer is superb.

This HP Officejet 6500A All In One machine includes 4 devices- a printer, copier, scanner and fax machine. What you get for the money is one great machine. This machine has earned the Energy Star, which means it will save you money, since it met the Energy Star program's test method criteria. Energy Star's savings rating on this machine, states you will use 40% less energy than on any comparable laser machine. I look for Energy Star's ratings whenever I buy any appliance, as saving energy means saving both fuel and money. Another big money saver is buying the HP inks in the XL sizes. I've been doing this since HP came out with these extra large ink sizes with my HP Photosmart, and it is a huge money saver.

I've been using this machine every day for a while and I will rate each of it's 4 devices separately so the consumer can see if this fits his/her needs. To begin with, this machine works with the supporting operating systems of Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP (with SP2) ,Mac OSX v 10.5, 10.6 and Linox. The machine itself measures 18.75 inches x 16.11 inches x 10.13 inches. It weighs almost 18 pounds. Inside the box is your 4 in one Officejet machine, the power cord, phone cord, booklet and cd software and all 4 ink jet cartridges- black, yellow, cyan and magenta. Not included is the USB cable. Installation took mere minutes with the cd software on my Windows XP. As with all their printers, HP includes a limited 1 year warranty. Now I will rate the 4 devices.

PRINTER- 5 Stars- You can print anywhere with this machine using your computer, mobile phone, laptop or mobile device. The tray supported paper sizes are letter, legal, statement, executive, 3 x 5, 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 5 x 8, 4 x 10, 4 x 11, 4 x 12, 8 x 10, envelopes no. 10, monarch and envelopes DL. The input tray takes up to 250 sheets with a duty cycle of up to 7000 pages. Maximum printing speeds are up to 32 pages per minute with black ink and up to 31 for color- speeds equivalent to laser printers. This does not have duplex printing features (2 sided). It does have borderless printing options. You can use your memory cards for direct photo printing. You can by-pass your PC by inserting a memory card in one of the slots and use the 2.36 inch touch screen to print. The memory cards supported are secure digital- also high capacity, multimedia and secure multimedia card, reduced size multimedia card, mmc mobile and mmc micro mini (adapter not included), memory stick and memory stick duo and pro. The 4 inks used are the HP 920 cartridges and you can definitely save when you buy the XL sizes. With the regular HP 920 Black ink cartridge, you get approximately 420 pages. With an XL black ink cartridge you get up to 1200 pages. With all the XL color cartridges of yellow, cyan and magenta, you can get up to 700 pages. The cartridges are recyclable. This is not a wireless machine. When printing in color from your computer, using a good brand of paper, you will get the best resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi. You can get up to 600 from black ink. The printer, although not as good as my Photosmart when it comes to endless color variation, is extremely superb in printing both pages and photos.

COPIER- 4 1/2 Stars- You can copy in color up to 31 cpm and in black up to 32 cpm. The maximum number of copies is up to 100. The copy scaling is from 25 to 100%. The copier is quite good and rates above average.

SCANNER- 4 1/2 Stars- I am quite spoiled with always owning an Epson Perfection Photo Scanner for the last 10 years. So I am comparing a truly perfect scanner with this HP one that is included in this All In One machine. This Scanner type is a Flatbed 8.5 x 11.7 and also an ADF 8.5 x 14. These are good maximum document sizes for general use and office use scanning. It does have real life technologies with a 48 bit scanner depth. The scanner resolution for optical is up to 4800 dpi. This scans above average, but not quite as sharp as my Epson Perfection scanner. I notice tiny minute details from spending decades fixing old photos from the late 1800's, so the average person might call this scanner excellent, where I consider this above average as I am used to much more pixel detail I get from my Epson Perfection.

FAX MACHINE- 5 STARS- This Fax Machine has a transmission speed of 3 seconds per page. The Fax resolution is up to 300 x 300 dpi. The incoming fax memory is up to 100 pages, with fax speed dials up to 100 numbers. You can fax fast at up to 33.6 kpbs. The connectivity is a standard built in ethernet with a USB 2.0. There is no wireless capability. You can quickly fax or scan to a PC or Email. With this built in ethernet, you can stay connected and share resources. The speed and smoothness on this efficient fax machine give it a high 5 star rating with me.

Overall, this HP Officejet 6500A All In One gets a 4.75 STAR rating from me, with it's usual great printer, super fast fax, and better than average copier and scanner. Many of my friends have some of the latest All In One Machines that I have heard complaints about, from the bugs and how non smoothly they run. This machine is unbelievably smooth and fast and when more people use and review it, it will definitely rank high on the Hewlett Packard website. It is actually better than some of their other models I've heard about, and may prove to be their best model to date. Add to this Hewlett Packard's great support and web site that helps you with any problems, downloads, drivers and manuals, and you have a great 4 in one printer, copier, scanner and fax machine for the money.


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Print professional color business materials for the lowest cost per page vs. in-class inkjet all-in-ones with the HP Officejet 6500A e-All-in-One, which delivers maximum prints speeds of 32 pages per minute black and 31 ppm color. Print, fax, copy, scan-this Ethernet-ready all-in-one does it all and saves you money with individual inks and high-capacity cartridges and by using up to 40% less energy than comparable laser products. WHY BUY?

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