Decent wireless inkjet AIO

GordonR on 31/08/2012 - 22:44

Looking for an inkjet for printing a few photos, and kids projects in colour etc. (I use a mono laser which does me fine but no good for photos etc.)

Googling has left me very confused with various printers getting great reviews from journalists but then crap ones from users.

I'm looking for

  • moderate consumable costs
  • decent print and photo quality
  • wireless with AirPrint ( Mac, IPad household )
  • scanner, copier
  • smallish size

Don't care about printing speed, FAX capability, SD card slots, duplexing or high capacity paper bins as it is a low use home environment ( not home office ).

Anyone had any good ones? Or ones to avoid?

Cheers

Find Me A Bargain

Comments

  • GordonR on 02/09/2012 - 17:22

    Hmm, does that mean that there are NO DECENT wireless inkjet all-in-ones?

  • kryptoz on 02/09/2012 - 23:47

    I have had dozens over the years, I find the price of ink replacement so high, it costs almost the same to buy a new printer as buying new ink! (admittedly I feel a little guilt for the eco-wastage, and the cheap models don't have all the best features).

    my experience with the current models:
    - Canon makes the best AIO scanners, and they're good if you need a multipage document feeder (although not all models include one);
    - Epson does brillant photo quality especially if you have good paper, original ink and not a cheap-ass model, but one with full range of cartridges;
    - Hewlett-Packard has a more economical range which is they claim is 50% cheaper per page than laser printers — well worth a look if you do a lot of printing and are not a on tight budget for the initial cost;
    - Brother has the most bells and whistles, even a full A3 all-in-one for a very reasonable price, but their printers are slow, the quality is mediocre and the interface on the printer is horrible to use, even setting up wifi on them is a royal pain; worse still, if you run out of one ink cartridge the Brother won't let you print anything else until you replace it (eg no B&W when one of your colours runs out); other brand such as Canon don't have this problem, although you will get lots of warnings about it.

    also, if you don't do much photo printing, and want to cut costs, you can buy Calidad ink from Officeworks/BigW/etc for less than half the price of the original branded and it works flawlessly. better still if you do a lot of printing, you can buy Continuous Ink Supply Systems for $100-150 for a kit that cuts your usage costs by 90% or more (eg Rihac).

    the newer models have a touchscreen on top/front which is easier to use than finding the right button and makes printing from phones/memory cards/wifi much easier to use.

    • GordonR on 03/09/2012 - 22:09

      Thanks for that… v. useful.

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