Inkjet MFPs with Fax

Multifunction inkjet printers with fax

If you regularly need to send and receive hard-copy faxes, you'll want to look at an all-in-one printer with a built-in fax modem and keypad for dialing. These usually cost more, plus setup for faxing can be tricky. Unlike a standalone fax machine, most budget all-in-one printers with a built-in fax make use of the scanner for faxing, so you can only do one page at a time. Some larger, more expensive multifunction printers include an automatic document feeder so you can send multipage faxes more easily.

The HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309 (*Est. $250) tries to cram just about every function consumers might want into one machine. The Photosmart Premium Fax scans, prints, faxes and copies, and has a host of extra features. It can print directly from USB flash drives, Bluetooth, PictBridge-compatible cameras and memory cards, and it displays photo previews on an adjustable 2.4-inch LCD. There's a duplexer (for printing on both sides of the page) for both input and output, and an input tray for printing onto special CDs and DVDs. The HP all-in-one printer is also fully networkable, through either Ethernet or Wi-Fi. The downside to all this functionality is that the Photosmart Premium is rather bulky, measuring approximately 18 inches by 19 inches by 11 inches, yet it has a rather small input tray, which holds only 125 sheets.

M. David Stone at PCMag.com gives the HP Photosmart Premium Fax all-in-one printer an Editors' Choice award, citing good text quality and speed and excellent photo quality. Photo output speeds are faster than the Epson Artisan 800 (*Est. $300) and the Kodak ESP series of multifunction printers. Stone also gives the Photosmart Premium Fax a Greentech Approved designation, thanks to its Energy Star certification. IT Reviews also gives the Photosmart Premium Fax a Recommended seal, praising the all-in-one printer's looks as well as its unrivaled functionality, which even includes the ability to print directly from a Playstation 3. What's more, reviewers say, both photo quality and text quality are excellent for the price.

Still, there are a few minor criticisms. Justin Yu at CNET finds the price of black ink rather high, though Melissa Riofrio at PC World says the overall consumables cost is "average across the board." Simon Williams at TrustedReviews.com complains about sluggish print speeds on the HP all-in-one printer, especially when using the duplexer, but he reports that photo-printing speeds are better. Reviewers grumble that the price is high, so the Photosmart Premium Fax is best for those who will need its myriad features on a regular basis. Initial user reviews at Amazon.com are mostly favorable.

While the Photosmart Premium Fax is designed for home use, the HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 (*Est. $250), is aimed at the small office, with faster print speeds. PCMag.com's M. David Stone discovers that text speed and quality are good (comparable to a slow laser printer), and photo and graphics are even faster and better. While he gives this multifunction printer an Editors' Choice award, Stone points out that he's evaluating the OfficeJet Pro 8500 Wireless model (*Est. $250), which has a larger scanning bed than the base model and adds touch-screen controls. PC World Australia rates the 8500 highly, but reviewer James Hutchinson finds the consumables to be a better value than the printer itself, complaining about its annoying self-cleaning process. Britain's IT Reviews says HP's claim that the OfficeJet Pro 8500 is cheaper to run than a laser printer is mostly accurate, though it's slower than a laser printer. PC Advisor also finds running costs excellent next to other inkjets. The Officejet 8500 is bulkier than the Photosmart Premium, measuring a full 2 inches higher, and about an inch longer and wider. Both models have a 50-page ADF.

The more expensive Canon Pixma MX7600 (*Est. $400) is recommended in several reviews. This all-in-one printer-scanner-fax machine uses six inks and is praised in reviews as delivering more vibrant, richly featured photos. This MFP uses Canon's Pigment Reaction (PgR) technology. Robin Morris of the British magazine PC Advisor explains: "What PgR does is to coat ordinary printer paper with clear ink. This in effect turns plain into coated paper." Coated paper helps prevents smudges and offers a more professional look.

Reviewers apparently love this innovation, enthusing about the vibrancy of graphics and photo prints. They do point to a downside, however, in operating costs. On top of an already-steep purchase price, the more expensive ink leads reviewers to question whether the MX7600 is worth the cost. CNET's review summary states, "We have no problem recommending the MX7600," but PC Advisor magazine is more reserved, and PC Pro magazine's review declares outright that it's not worth the money. Eric Grevstad of HardwareCentral.com takes the middle road, bemoaning the price while impressed with the idea of doing away with the extra cost and trouble of purchasing special inkjet paper. User reviews are mixed. Most say output is great, but the printer itself is too noisy.

For those on a tight budget, we found good reviews for the less expensive Epson Workforce 600 (*Est. $200), a multifunction inkjet printer with fax, with an automatic document feeder and auto duplexing. Photo quality and text quality are excellent, and speeds are said to be very quick.

Like the HP Photosmart Premium Fax, the Epson Workforce 600 includes Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking. However, the Workforce printer has a smaller input tray (100 sheets) than the HP all-in-one, and a smaller-capacity automatic document feed of 30 pages (compared with 50 pages for the HP). As a result, the Epson MFP is a bit smaller -- measuring about 18 inches by 14 inches by 12 inches compared with 19 inches by 18 inches by 11 inches for the HP Photosmart Premium Fax C309. The Workforce printer also weighs less -- 18 pounds compared with 23 pounds.

In a review of the Epson Workforce 600 all-in-one printer for TestFreaks.com, Kristopher Brozio finds "virtually no flaws" and likes that you can do some neat tricks, like print graphed paper or ruled paper. Eric Grevstad at HardwareCentral.com notes a slight skew in the paper feeding, but feels this is isolated to his test unit; otherwise, he says that the Workforce 600 is "the best mix of bargain price and high performance" he's seen. In his review for Macworld, Chris Holt says the Workforce printer is stylish and generally works well. He has some trouble getting scans to work and says that copy quality is the only major weak point in output. Photos are prone to glare. M. David Stone of PCMag.com likes output quality but notes a few annoying limitations with faxing and scanning, and he doesn't like the low paper capacity. PC World's Melissa Riofrio is impressed with the Workforce 600's speeds but finds everything else average. And another reviewer, About.com's Peter Piazza, says that while photos look great and are waterproof, they scratch very easily.

User reviews at Amazon.com for the Epson Workforce 600 are favorable, with half giving the model five out of five stars. There are some complaints about fast ink usage (a full set of replacement inks cost about $53), along with some reports of paper jams and tricky setup. Still, the Epson all-in-one printer-scanner-fax costs about $50 less than the HP Photosmart Premium.

If you want an integrated fax but need a more photo-centric MFP, the Epson Artisan 800 (*Est. $300) gets good reviews for this purpose. Features are similar to the Workforce 600, with photo-editing and fun extras (like making graph paper and greeting cards) built in. This printer has Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking. Paper capacity is just 120 sheets plus a small extra tray for snapshot photos, so the Artisan 800 isn't ideal for an office setting. Photo output is uniformly excellent in reviews and is the major strength of this printer. Otherwise, we saw some quibbles. CNET's Rich Brown finds build quality to be lacking, with too many fragile plastic parts. He also calls the bundled software "buggy."

User reviews are mixed. About two-thirds of posters at Amazon.com like the Epson Artisan 800 a lot, but the rest complain about receiving dead printers, or about installation and setup headaches. PCMag.com's M. David Stone praises the printer's speed and terrific touchpad. But he notes that text printing is a bit weak. This and the small paper capacity keep him from giving it an Editors' Choice award. James Galbraith at PC Advisor agrees, citing the touchpad as a strength, and stressing that its not-so-sharp text quality is suitable only for personal use rather than for important business documents. The Epson Artisan is about the same physical size as the Epson Workforce, but it weighs about 5 pounds more than the Workforce.

The HP Officejet J4680 (*Est. $125) is the cheapest MFP with an integrated fax modem. It gets a good review from Macworld's James Galbraith, who writes that although it's slow, its prints, scans and copies are of decent quality. James Hutchinson at PC World Australia agrees, citing slow speed as a problem, and adding that photo printing isn't its strength; otherwise, the HP J4680 multifunction printer is adequate. CNET's Justin Yu, however, has far more complaints. In addition to "painfully" slow speeds, paper handling is unsatisfactory and features are sparse. Also, Yu points out that the price and size of ink cartridges mean that operating costs are much higher on the OfficeJet J4680 than on HP's Photosmart Premium Fax.

The HP multifunction printer boasts Wi-Fi connectivity, but about half of the owners posting reviews to Amazon.com report trouble with this feature. The Officejet J4680 gets more low ratings than it does high scores, with owners complaining that the software conflicts with other programs on their computers. They also complain of troublesome wireless setup, phantom paper jams and a scanner that works intermittently.

Tabloid MFP

The Brother MFC-6490cw (*Est. $325) is expensive but gets excellent reviews, particularly from PCMag.com, PC Pro and IT Reviews. Furthermore, this model can print tabloid-size pages (11 inches by 17 inches) -- the right size for folded flyers, menus, newsletters and bulletins. There's also a 50-page automatic document feeder and two paper drawers -- one holding 150 sheets and a second that can hold 250 sheets, so small offices won't run out of paper constantly. The Brother MFP can be networked wired or wirelessly; it has memory card slots, a USB port and PictBridge compatibility for printing from cameras.

Photo and text output are very good, say critics, as are copies and scans. The main complaint is that this printer is slow, which may put it out of contention for small offices that print a lot. There's also no automatic duplexer. Still, for those who need larger tabloid-sized printing, this model costs a lot less than some rivals.