Buying guide: All in one printer, scanner, copier and fax

An all in one device can help save room on your computer table. A scanner, copier, fax, and printer are built into one device that is slightly larger than a regular printer. There are some features to look for when buying an all in one printer, scanner, copier, and fax machine.

All in one printers

Printers with all in one features are convenient, but multifunction printers are only a good value if all of the features work as well as they would individually.
Example For example, if you want to print photos, you would want your all in one printer to have the same quality as a single photo printer machine. If you are using 3 in one printers in an office, you will want the copy function to match the quality of a colour laser copier. An all in one printer with laser printing will be more expensive than 4 in one printers that are designed for home use. Comparison To make sure that the all in one meets your specification, compare the all in one's ability to the individual devices. For example, check the copy speeds of an all in one to the speeds of stand alone copier printers and laser printers.
Price You should also look at the cost of ink for a multifunction printer, as the heat of the device can cause the solvents in the ink to evaporate more quickly. Ink for printers, even inkjet, are expensive, so using the multifunction as a scanner or fax daily could make the colour ink disappear more quickly. In that case, buy a printer to stand alone that you can turn off when you are scanning or faxing.

Wired or wireless features

Wireless If you are sharing a multifunction printer between computers, you will want a wireless printer. These are good printers for laptops, because the computer does not need to be attached to the printer by a USB cord. Wireless printers communicate with computers over the building's WI-FI network. HP all in one printers have wireless options, but they also have USB wires so that you can print even if the wireless connection is broken.
Wired A USB wired printer works like a traditional printer. It is attached to a computer. All of the computers accessing the printer/scanner/copier/fax machines will have to have software installed, even to access the device over the WI-FI network.