Multifunction Printer Review

All-in-one or standard printer?

Multifunction printers (MFPs) -- also called multifunction devices and all-in-one (AIO) printers -- are inkjet or laser printers that, in addition to printing, can scan, copy and, in some cases, send and receive faxes. If you don't think you really need to scan or fax, you can save money by going with a standard inkjet printer. MFPs also generally take up a lot more desk space, so if you don't have a lot of room to spare, you'll want to look for a more compact model or go with a standard printer instead. ConsumerSearch covers inkjet printers in a separate report.

PCMag.com reports on many all-in-one models, and its editors outline their testing procedures and provide standardized speed testing for accurate comparison. CNET's reviews aren't as thorough, but the site covers more multifunction printers than just about anyone else. ConsumerReports.org has significant gaps in its coverage, and its reviews lack details, but its latest report does include more than two dozen multifunction printers; it also includes several discontinued models.

Consumers should note that the cost of a basic multifunction printer without a built-in fax modem is comparable to that of a regular inkjet printer. For instance, the printer-only Canon Pixma iP4700 (*Est. $100) and the all-in-one Canon Pixma MX330 (*Est. $100) sell for about the same price. While MFPs promise to be do-everything devices, reviews show that they are not equally adept at printing, scanning, copying and faxing. Often, a model that excels in one aspect falls short on others. However, if you only occasionally need to fax, copy or scan in addition to printing, a multifunction machine can save you having to buy two or three separate devices, particularly if you don't need the very best output quality.

Though you can find budget all-in-one printer-scanner-fax machines for around $100, not all budget MFPs are created equally, according to reviews. One example is the Brother MFC-3360C (*Est. $100), which CNET's Justin Yu bemoans as a design throwback to the early 1990s. Not only is this multifunction printer aesthetically unpleasing, Yu says it's also agonizingly slow. It "comes in last place compared with others in the same price range, but the MFC-3360C wins biggest loser by a landslide with one measly page of text per minute, most of which was spent preparing itself to receive the document from the computer." The 3360C also gets a lot of negative reviews on Amazon.com -- about half of those contributing reviews give it just one star out of five. Complaints center around the flimsy paper tray and inaccurate "empty cartridge" alerts.