Printer recommendations?

[Stravo]

OK, I had a HP 750 scanner/printer/copier at home that came with my prior system over 4 years ago. The scanner portion is failing, the rest of it is fine so I'm not in a hurry to replace it but would like to get recommendations for a replacement.

Here are my requirements:

I like all-in-one systems, needs to have the scanner/copier portion but am thinking of adding a fax function.

I'm also considering switching from an inkjet to a laser for printing quality but not totally sold since being able to print things in color has turned out to be quite useful especially when making copies but if you can recommend one way or another please let me know your experiences.

Price range is anything below $600 but my comfort area is up to $350 as I think any more than that is retarded for a simple home printer. I don't do much document intensive printing but lots of copying, scanning, etc.

I'm extremely partial to HP machines and leery of Lexmark because of bad experiences from other friends who owned them.

Otherwise I think that's it. Thanks for any help/suggestions you can provide.

[Beowulf]

I have no experience with printers of late, but: HP Color LaserJet CM1015 MFP appears to fit your needs.

Scanner, Color Laser, and made by HP.

Cons: looks large, no fax capability, and it's $450.

[Glocksman]

If you see Vista in your future, I'd make sure that the machine you wind up with has full featured Vista drivers available, as HP isn't making Vista drivers available for some of their more recent, but not currently shipping, products.

It'd suck to buy one hell of a bargain and find that that it was last year's model and the manufacturer has no plans to make vista drivers.

That said, I know you're partial to all in ones, but Canon makes several nice compact stand alone scanners that are powered through the USB cable.
This means no wall wart.

Also if you do a lot of printing, check into how much ink carts are and whether or not the printer has separate color tanks, so you're not throwing a $40 cartridge away when one of the 3 colors goes dry.

[Uraniun235]

I'm also considering switching from an inkjet to a laser for printing quality but not totally sold since being able to print things in color has turned out to be quite useful especially when making copies but if you can recommend one way or another please let me know your experiences.

Laser's biggest advantage over inkjet is toner cost. Each individual toner cartridge is indeed more expensive, but you get many more pages for your dollar than you likely will with ink. Further, if for whatever reason you go for a month without printing anything, a laser won't dry out and gum up like some inkjets will.

[Pu-239]

The CM1015 beowulf posted seems to have seperate toner carts, and has vista compatibility

I dislike Canon's stuff, poor Linux support, though that's not an issue for you. Not a big fan of all in ones either (poor quality scanning, printing, if one functionality breaks... etc)

[Enigma]

Stick to HP. If not then go for Brother. My father has a Brother HL-1020 laser printer and it is still going strong despite being 3-5 years old with it's original drum (He should have had it replaced at least two to three times but the original drum is still good).

When I got my first all-in-one printer I bought a Brother MFC-210 bought it malfunctioned six months later (I could have gotten a replacement but I lost my receipt). Mind you I do not think it was defective because when I replaced it with an HP PSC 1401 for half the price of the Brother printer (I paid about $70 for the all in one HP printer) it was showing early signs of the same malfunction until I bought a $50 power bar and my HP works just fine.


But if I were to go and buy another printer I'd first go for an HP and if I am not satisfied with the selection then I'd go for a Brother printer.