Printers/Scanners

While the scanning element of a multifunction device works fine for many tasks. Sometimes you need the greater functionality provided by s standalone product.

It was just over twelve months ago that Epson turned its approach to the printer inkjet market on its head. This change was brought about by the company’s EcoTank technology.

This is of course larger than an A4 unit but not by as much as you may think. It has tanks – five – that are filled by bottles of ink that reduces the cost per page. You can see the actual ink levels of each colour by looking at the side of the machine.

At the start of December I told you about a portable page scanner from IRIS and mentioned there were other such devices that could read information from a book or magazine without the need for it to be torn out. Here is such a device.

Adding to its range of consumer multifunction devices, Brother has introduced its DCP-J562DW model.

This inkjet unit can print, scan, copy and fax. It is suitable for the home or SOHO user. Unusually it has three paper inputs within its normal sized form. So what exactly can this latest offering from Brother bring to the market.

For a very long time people have talked about a paperless office, and yes we all still seem to be drowning in paper. Utility companies and banks want you to go paperless but there is not normally a great incentive to do so.

This is a large unit so my advice is make sure its place is clear before you unpack it. It can be Wi-Fi or USB. I assume TNT’s couriers are a lot stronger than me as it journey to its review position once delivered was by pushing its box along my hall.

Continuing my look at various Brother devices, it is the turn of a colour laser All-in-One model.

This is a multi-function device which means it not only prints, scans and copies but for those who still use or need it the unit also has fax. It is quite small and light and runs with two cartridges, it is black but here that’s OK as this is an office product.

As part of the latest refresh of its Business Printer line up, Brother has released the MFC-L2700DN model. This All-in-One device combines a mono laser printer with copy, scan and Fax capabilities. The letters “DN”, forming part of the product’s model number, indicate that Duplex printing and Network connectivity are part of this unit’s feature set.

This is an ‘All in One’ unit, meaning it prints, scans and copies. However as with most recent units the selling point is the ability to print from all your mobile devices. It can still be a Windows unit with connection either by USB lead or Wi-Fi.

While standalone flatbed and All-in-One devices can cope with many scanning tasks, sometimes you need a more specialised piece of equipment to handle this aspect of your document management needs.

This is a multi-function unit which means, print, copy, scan and for those who still want/need it fax. However this unit has something extra the ability to print up to A3 and while it is a good deal wider than most A4 units it is not that much deeper or taller.

The Ricoh SP 3600DN product is a mono laser printer. This particular unit has been developed to replace the Ricoh SP3500N, SP364510DN and SP4100NL models. As such Ricoh believes this product would be best suited for use in a small office or home office environment where it could service the printing needs of between 2 and 5 users.

This mono laser can print, scan and copy. It is a quite small unit so would easily fit into a cupboard or even onto a strong shelf, being black or perhaps more accurately very dark grey it is unlikely to pass the tests imposed by the ‘lounge police’.

A four in one unit as it has fax as well as printing, scanning and copying ability. This is quite a sleek unit but as its black it is unlikely to pass the lounge police so having Wi-Fi as well as USB could be a benefit as it could sit behind the sofa.

As part of its new range of inkjet printer models, Brother has released the DCP-J4120DW. This particular model is an All-in-One device that includes A3 print capability and automatic 2-sided printing along with its basic print, scan and copy functionality.

In the past I have checked out numerous All-in-One, Multifunction and standalone printers, either of the inkjet or laser variety, from various manufacturers. On this occasion, however, the printer under the microscope is the first printer product that I have had the opportunity to check out from Ricoh. The product in question is the Aficio SG2100N model which offers colour print facilities.

This is an Inkjet All In One offering but not the basic two cartridge offering as this has no less than x inks. So this has to be something to consider if the printing output is more important than basic mono or quick print output to you.

I confess the Canon i-Sensys MF4730 left me scratching my head for some time. It is a small mono laser All In One unit capable of connection by USB or Network. The reason for my head scratching is that it seems to only work on 32bit systems.

Rather than a range of print facilities, this next product concentrates its functionality on the production of labels.

While ink jet printers are still dominant in the colour market lasers can now offer much more and with less of a premium, printing speeds are better and perhaps most important the quality of the printed output is now excellent.

When a Brother product arrives for review, usually its main function is that of a printer whether of the monochrome or colour variety. However printers are not the only type of device that is associated with Brother. The company also manufactures scanners either as a standalone unit or combines with a printer to make a multifunction device. In the former category is the Brother ADS-2100e which has been developed for use in a medium sized office environment.

I saw this unit at the BETT (Education Show) at the end of January and the quality of its output was the reason I requested it. I knew it would be big and expected the normal review place in my cramped office not to be enough, I was wrong.

Newly arrived from Brother is the MFC1910W which is a multifunction laser device with options that include ADF and Wi-Fi.

I have been using this unit for several months. Mainly because of the claim that the ink tanks should last up to two years. A bold claim but when you examine the minute amount of ink normally supplied in cartridges 70ml is a lot.

While London has its Gherkin, Brussels has its Egg which was the location for the annual IRISLink event where a new portable scanner was launched.

I understand that Epson claim this to be their smallest printer ever. It runs either on a solid internal battery or by mains power. It can receive data via Wi-Fi, eMail or USB. So will this mobile offering be in place in every sales person’s car?

On the one hand there is continued talk regarding the possible myth of the paperless office while developers continue to come up with technology to increase the use of printers and I am not just referring to recent initiatives regarding ink use.