Comparative Test: Eleven multifunction printers

von Florian Heise

übersetzt von Ulrich Junker

In this test DC evaluates eleven AIO´s in a price range from 90 to 300 Euros. Differences in layout, speed of print, and, most of all, cost of print are huge. DC assists in choosing the appropriate AIO.

Erschienen am 27. November 2009 bei Druckerchannel.de, 19 Seite(n)

https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=2669

...and the winners are...

The AIO´s have been classified in three groups: Upper, middle, and basic. Each group has one or more winners.

Winners upper class: Canon Pixma MP640 and Epson Stylus Office BX610FW

DC´s rigorous tests reveal: The AIO´s Pixma MP640 (Canon) and Office BX610FW (Epson) reside on the same high level of performance.

If you decide for one of the winners, you should not do that at random. There are definite differences in performance, layout, and quality. The table below reveals this.

Canon Pixma MP640: High print quality, easy handling, somewhat slow.

Epson Stylus Office BX610FW: Low printing cost, fast, meager print quality, laborious handling.

A major advantage of Epson´s winner is the low cost of print due to high capacity ink cartridges. Canon´s AIO prints for a moderate price, but Epson´s good price level is beyond it´s reach.

Epson´s AIO can score with printing speed as well, on a pretty high noise level, however. Canon´s printer works considerably more quiet, even when printing fast. Check that in our video on page 9. We apologize, but all videos in this test are in German only.

The layout of both opponents is quite different. Canon´s Pixma MP640 can print on CDs/DVDs and has a duplexer for automatic both-sided printing. Both features are not available with Epson´s Stylus Office BX610FW. Instead of that it sports a fax and an automatic document feeder (ADF).

Winner middle class: Canon Pixma MP560

Canon Pixma MP560: Winner middle class.

If you want to spend a little less for an AIO, you should choose one of the middle class. Canon´s Pixma MP560 reaches the highest score there. Cost of text print is fairly high (about five Cents a sheet), but cost of color print is reasonable in comparison to the rest of the competitors. Printing speed is rather slow, but quality of print is first-class. Handling via operation panel with a scroll-wheel and display is very smooth.

Pros

• easy handling
• very good quality of print
• duplexer
• fair cost of color print
• prints paper up to 300 g/m²
• two paper trays
• wireless LAN
• low noise level

Cons

• no automatic document feed (ADF)
• high cost of text print
• no CD/DVD-print
• no RJ45-interface (Wlan only)
• no smear resistant prints

Winner low budget: Lexmark S305

Lexmark S305: Winner low budget

For about 100 Euros you can buy a low budget AIO. Here you must be aware that low prices and fancy equipment or low cost of print do not match. Winner in this group is Lexmark´s S305. For years no Lexmark printer made it to a podium position in our tests. With their new-generation ink-AIO´s, Lexmark is in again. The S305 has no preview screen for pictures on a memory card. And you might miss a duplexer and an ADF.

But for approximately 100 Euros you get a brisk machine with good quality of print and easy handling. Cost of print is fairly high, but in the low budget area you will hardly find a better AIO. Except for Kodak´s ESP3, which is not in this test but can be found here.

Pros

• very easy handling
• good quality of print
• high print speed
• wireless LAN

Cons

• patronizing with "return program ink cartridges "
• no automatic document feeder (ADF)
• pretty high cost of print
• no CD/DVD-print
• no RJ45-interface (Wlan only)
• no smear resistant prints
• no duplexer