Question Please help me choose a laser multifunction printer

[TheBardKSU]

I would like recommendations for a new multifunction color printer. We are soon going to be doing activities at home that require frequent printing as well as making copies of existing hard copy handouts, activity worksheets, etc. Below is a list of needs/wants:

Needs

• Color laser
• Ability to make good quality copies
  • I don’t want to worry about blurry copies
• Ability to do bulk pages copies
  • As in put multiple pages in the tray with stuff on both sides of the page and do duplex with color. Basically, easily make identical double-sided color copies.
• Reasonable cost for printing
  • It’s ok if the individual replacement cartridges are expensive so long as the per page cost is low. Also, ideally the printer company wouldn’t intentionally block sufficient lower cost options in order to lock you into their proprietary high-cost cartridges.
• Wireless
• Something reliable and that should last awhile
  • I very much dislike dealing with flaky technology or things that break or print issues like smearing or frequent lines through a page. I just want it to always work…

Wants (would like, but not required)

• Ability to program shortcuts to make frequent tasks easier
  • This way I don’t have to keep selecting the same options every time I do certain regular tasks
  • For example, I could stack 30 pages in the tray -> select a shortcut on the LCD screen -> it will then auto select high DPI scanning and high DPI printing and then do duplex color copies
• Something that can print decent photos
  • I know color lasers are not really considered "photo printers", but if something can print decent/ok photos that it's a plus. I won't be bummed if this can't happen, I can just do the Walmart / other company cheap photo printing.
• Cost: I’m willing to pay to meet the above criteria, especially for reliability. It seems though like something approaching $1000 would probably be more than what we need?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Aeacus]

You can start here: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-laser-printers#

Since what you are asking, is essentially enterprise level of a printer, i can't help you any further. My knowledge is on the consumer/home use side of things.

 

[thestryker]

From my experience Brother and Canon tend to have the best picture quality, but you're going to be inherently limited by laser printers. Duplexing scanners tend to add a fair bit of cost which will prevent more budget options from being viable.

The list above is a great starting point and what I used some years back when I got a color laser for home use. For my price range I ended up with Canon over Brother as they were about 15-20% cheaper for the same features.

 

[TheBardKSU]

You can start here: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-laser-printers#

Since what you are asking, is essentially enterprise level of a printer, i can't help you any further. My knowledge is on the consumer/home use side of things.

Thank you for the link. What specifically is causing you to think this would be enterprise level printing? If it's photos, then like I said in my post I don't really need this and if it can't do this that's fine.

 

[TheBardKSU]

From my experience Brother and Canon tend to have the best picture quality, but you're going to be inherently limited by laser printers. Duplexing scanners tend to add a fair bit of cost which will prevent more budget options from being viable.

The list above is a great starting point and what I used some years back when I got a color laser for home use. For my price range I ended up with Canon over Brother as they were about 15-20% cheaper for the same features.

Thank you for your thoughts. Regarding duplex scanning, it looks like the Brother MFC-L3780CDW has single-pass duplex scanning and would fit well within my price range (what I would consider for me a "budget option". Is there anything inherently bad about this type of scanning?

 

[Paperdoc]

I've had experience with two colour laser printers at the home consumer level and have been happy with both. I have used ones with a scanner included and with automatic 2-sided printing, but not with a multi-sheet feeder on the scanner. Current one is by Brother. Technically it i performs just like other laser printers, but it does not use a laser light source with scanning optics. It uses instead a set of fixed-position LED lights. So there are no moving parts for beam scanning. In large part I chose it because Brother does not appear to make it impossible to use third-party toner cartridges, although there is some debate on-line whether they have changed that. Brother says they have not. Just to be sure, I refuse to download an update the printer's firmware. You can find (as I have) on-line the process for resetting the copy counter in each toner cartridge to zero when you change it so it does not continue to tell you the cart is empty. I an using third-party toner carts sold under the Moustache name now because I used them in my previous colour laser and never had a problem. And they ARE cheaper than OEM but yield the same number of pages. Many people report good results with this printer and its siblings, and I agree. I like this one a lot, but it is now discontinued so I won't specify the model.

Some more general comments.

Names: a 3-in-1 printer can print,scan and copy. A 4-in-1 can do that plus send and receive FAXes. These days FAX ability may not be needed. If really needed that can be done with a FAX card added into a computer, and using the scanner of a 3-in-1 machine.

If you want to scan multiple sheets (whether single- or double-sided) and then print multiple copes of the entire stack (that would be called making collated copies), that probably will need lots of RAM included in the printer to store all those pages. So look closely for specs that tell you how many pages it can store and copy to make collated copies.

Of course, one way to do that type of job - many collated copies of a document of many two-sided sheets - is to create the whole document on your computer using suitable software, then print multiple collated copies using 2-sided printing. That would not require massive RAM in the printer because the whole doc is in the computer.

On the other hand, the "single pass duplex scan and copy" feature of the Brother unit cited above MAY be all you need. In that process a SINGLE two-sided original can be scanned to produce MANY copies of that one sheet.

You did not specify maximum paper size. Mine (and many) work with common "letter size" (8½" x 11") and smaller. Some can work with legal size (8½" x 14") and cost more. Even larger sizes are hard to find and very expensive.

Look for a spec of NATIVE resolution - that is the max dots-per-inch (dpi) of the printing and scanning parts. (Commonly the scanner WILL have the same resolution as the printer part, but check.) 300 dpi is pretty good and makes clear text and images. 600 dpi is somewhat better but not necessary for many jobs. Higher is NOT needed unless you are doing real pro-level graphics work. But MANY will tell you their MAX Resolution with higher numbers like 1200 of 2400, etc that really are done by software manipulation of images, even if the scanned image is at 600 dpi.

Both the colour lasers I have had do colour photos quite well - the detail is sharp at 600 dpi, and the colour accuracy is good. They can NOT print on high-gloss Photo Paper intended for ink jets printers. I tried once and the toner just brushed off the finished page - it could not bind to that surface. But a matte photo (on plain paper) looks good. I have put several in frames with glass fronts and you can hardly tell.

I have had a FEW jobs using very stiff paper (e.g., posters) that cannot go though the tight turns in the paper path of many printers. But SOME have an option to open a back side door and let the SINGLE-SIDED printed sheet exit straight out (you may have to catch it). My current Brother has this.

IF you will need to print a lot of envelopes, look carefully how that is done. On my two there was a general-purpose paper feed tray that could be used to feed any common envelope, but usually only one at a time, so it was like a manual feed system. Perfectly fine for a few envelopes on occasion. One printer I had before could do this with a SMALL stack of 10 or so "Commercial 10" envelopes. Unless you need to do lots at a time, that is sufficient. Some "Enterprise Level" printers have two major paper input trays that are handy for users that use different papers often, and these may also accommodate large numbers of envelopes in one feed tray.

I have not found a laser printer that can print an exceptionally-long continuous image like a 10-foot banner. They are fundamentally page printers. In the past when I did a few banners I used a particular ink jet printer that had that ability using older Z-fold paper.

 

[Aeacus]

What specifically is causing you to think this would be enterprise level printing? If it's photos, then like I said in my post I don't really need this and if it can't do this that's fine.

This:

Ability to do bulk pages copies

• As in put multiple pages in the tray with stuff on both sides of the page and do duplex with color. Basically, easily make identical double-sided color copies.

Consumer use printers don't have this kind of feature. Enterprise (office) ones do.

I too have an all-in-one printer, but mine is inkjet. Namely, i have Canon PIXMA TS8352,
specs: https://www.canon-europe.com/printers/pixma-ts8350-series/specifications/

It is essentially a photo printer that also has regular print, copy and scan function. It's wireless too, either using 2.4G or 5G wi-fi (which you can define).
But it can not do duplex copies en masse. Instead for a copy, i need to manually put the original onto the scanner, which then scans only one side. Afterwards, i need to flip the page over to scan 2nd side.

Main purpose of my printer is to print photos and portraits. And with those, it does a stellar job. That is, if you use proper photo paper.
(I'm using semi-gloss Pro Luster photo paper and it prints up to the size of A4.)

All-in-all, inkjet printers are best to print images/photos. Laser printers are best to print text.

 

[thestryker]

Is there anything inherently bad about this type of scanning?

As far as I'm aware that just means it scans the page in one go rather than having to be flipped and processed again. It does look like that model halves the DPI (from 1200 to 600) when scanning that way as opposed to flatbed if that matters.

 

[Paperdoc]

I agree that the Brother printer OP linked to does limit the resolution of the SCAN of documents to 600 dpi if you use the Automatic Document Feed system to make copies. And that IS how you would scan automatically a TWO-sided sheet to make multiple copies of it. However, I believe that 600 dpi is a very good resolution for such a job and will create clear sharp copies.

The specs for that printer say it can scan at up to 1200 dpi natively, but can process that to a much higher apparent resolution by interpolation. That is not "real" high resolution and rarely needed. It also shows the max PRINT resolution as 2400 x 600 dpi, although how the 2400 way is done is not specified.

By the way, HOW that unit can scan both sides actually involves scanning the sides individually, with a document feed mechanism that turns the sheet over between scans. Not a problem and this works well. The only issue for that is you cannot do it if the original is on a very stiff paper that cannot be turned over mechanically. For those rare cases you would need to scan each side manually without using the Automatic Document Feed system, using it as a flatbed scanner, into your computer. Then arrange to print the copies as two-sided pages. (FYI, most scanners with Auto Doc Feed are made as flatbed scanners with an ADF system mounted over the top on hinges so you can lift it and use the flatbed method.)