Comparative Test: 9 ink All-in-Ones up to 200 Euros

Devices for printing only are becoming obsolete. Multifunctionals are booming, since they enable you to print, scan, copy, and fax with just one machine. DC takes a close look at nine AIOs, price range 120 to 200 Euros.

Erschienen am 20. Mai 2011 bei Druckerchannel.de, 18 Seite(n)

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Scanners: Drivers, speed, quality, depth of field

Technical data and scanner funtions

All nine AIOs have a CIS-Scanner (advantages and disadvantages: Look at paragraph "Depth of field" below). And all have a Twain-driver to scan directly from a program like Photoshop.

Scanner data
	max. resolution	Scan via network	OCR- Software	Scan to USB-Stick/Card-Reader (from AIO)
Brother DCP-J515W	1.200 dpi	yes	Scansoft PaperPort 11	yes
Brother MFC-J615W	1.200 dpi	yes	Scansoft PaperPort 11	yes
Canon Pixma MG5150	1.200 dpi	no network	MP Navigator EX	yes
Canon Pixma MG5250	2.400 dpi	yes	MP Navigator EX	yes
Epson Stylus Office BX525WD	2.400 dpi	yes	Presto Pagemanager 9	no
Epson Stylus SX620FW	2.400 dpi	yes	ABBYY FineReader 9 Sprint	yes
HP Officejet 6500A E710a	4.800 dpi	yes	I.R.I.S.	yes
HP Photosmart Plus B210a	1.200 dpi	yes	I.R.I.S.	yes
Lexmark Prospect Pro205	1.200 dpi	yes	ABBYY Fine Reader Sprint	yes
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Canon Pixma MG5150 and MG5250: With scan-to-memory card.

Epson Stylus Office BX525WD: No scan-to-memory card.

Epson Stylus SX620FW: With scan-to-memory card.

HP Officejet 6500A E710a: With scan-to-memory card.

HP Photosmart Plus B210a: With scan-to-memory card.

Lexmark Prospect Pro205: With scan-to-memory card.

Test: Depth of field

All AIO´s in this test are equipped with CIS-scanners (Contact image sensor). They are space-saving and have a low power consumption. Heating phase is short. Disadvantage: Depth of field is very small. A technology with larger depth of field is called CCD (Charged coupled device).

To test depth of field, the lab scans a clock-face, situated a couple of millimeters off the scanners´ glass surface. CCD-scanners are able to scan the clock-face in high definition, CIS-scanner depict objects in high definition only, when they rest directly on the scanner glass. So all pictures are blurred.

Scan-quality: Photos and graphics

Scan quality is tested with an A4-photo developed by a photo lab (picture left side). A special testtarget for scanner tests permits conclusions on color fidelity and resolution.

Our lab scans clippings of the banana with 300 dpi, the test picture (colored squares) with 200 dpi.

Scan-testphoto: Areas marked in red are evaluated.

Scan-testphoto: To evaluate colors and resolution.

Not one of the AIOs in our test is suited for high-class photo scans. Brothers AIOs meet only low demands. HPs have a minor tint.

Scan quality: Text

Scanners are often used to scan text. Not all of them do that in a satisfactory way. For text recognition (OCR) the characters need sufficient contrast and excellent sharpness.

Our lab tests quality of text scans with the cutout word "auf", which is scanned in black and white with 600 dpi.

The reference scan (first photo left side) was generated by an Epson Perfection 4870 photo scanner.

Test: Scanning speeds

Scanning speeds are determined for previews and text:

Scan preview: If you scan texts or pictures, as a rule you start a preview. We note the time it takes the scanner to display a preview.
Text scan: We measure the time it takes a scanner to read an A4-page of text with 200 dpi.

Scan speed (measured)
	Preview	A4-text scan

Epson Stylus SX620FW	9 sec.	18 sec.
Epson Stylus Office BX525WD	9 sec.	21 sec.
Canon Pixma MG5250	10 sec.	20 sec.
Canon Pixma MG5150	10 sec.	23 sec.
Lexmark Prospect Pro205	15 sec.	32 sec.
Brother MFC-J615W	17 sec.	22 sec.
Brother DCP-J515W	18 sec.	22 sec.
HP Officejet 6500A E710a	20 sec.	23 sec.
HP Photosmart Plus B210a	28 sec.	30 sec.
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