All-in-one printers lead popularity contest

Have you ever been to a computer exhibition such as the recent Mega Bazaar at Jakarta Convention Center? If you did, you must have noticed that there were perhaps more multifunction devices or multifunction printers than the single-purpose printers on display.

It seems that the top printer makers -- Canon, Epson and Hewlett-Packard -- have placed more emphasis on multifunction printers because of their increasing popularity.

These multifunction printers are not new, of course. HP began to market its multifunction products many years ago. They already had the products even when color multifunction devices were still not allowed to enter the Indonesian market. If you recall, the reason for the ban at that time was because these multifunction printers could print fake bank notes very easily. Of course, the reason did not make sense at all, as people have been able to print fake bank notes with scanners and color printers since they were introduced here in the mid-1990s.

Today, you can get inkjet as well as laser printer-based multifunction devices. As usual, if you print a lot of documents in black and white, a laser printer will save you a lot of money.

However, many of the inkjet multifunction printers can now print high-quality photos -- which can cause a serious problem as it is now even more difficult for you to distinguish the bank notes printed by our secure printing and minting corporation or those printed by the illicit home industry.

What can a multifunction device do? For sure, it can scan text and images because it has a flatbed scanner. And, because it has both a scanner and a printer, the device can also function as a personal copier. Of course, you are not advised to print reams of documents with it as it is not a low-cost photocopier.

On the subject of copiers, some high-end models such as Canon Multipass MP730 Multifunction and HP OfficeJet 6110 All-in-one have automatic document feeders, so you can scan or copy multiple pages without having to manually place the sheets one by one on the scanner's glass top.

Adding a fax function is just a matter of adding some sort of modem to the device. Not all multifunction printers have the fax machines, as some people still believe that a dedicated fax machine is the better choice for the office or home.

Besides, a lot of people are still concerned over whether combining so many functions would quickly turn the multifunction printer into a malfunctioning device. Actually, it should not be a cause for concern. Keep in mind that what makes multifunction printers so attractive is the space saving from combining three or more devices into one, and the ease of installation as you will need to install one single driver on your computer for all these functions.

Lately, as digital cameras increase in popularity and the ability to print quality photos on par with professional photo labs without leaving home, some of the multifunction printers even have a multiple format memory card reader and a small LCD screen to let you preview the photos before you print them. Two of the top-rated printers are the Canon Multipass MP730 and Epson Stylus Photo RX600 All-in-one.

What do you have to check when choosing a multifunction printer? First, determine whether you will need only black and white or full color printing? If you work with black and white documents, again, a laser printer-based multifunction printer such as HP LaserJet 3015 may be a better choice. If you plan to print photos, perhaps the inkjet models are the better choice. In this case, make sure the printer already supports the PictBridge standard, which will allow you to print from any PictBridge digital camera.

Almost all of today's multifunction printers use USB connections. We are still waiting for the printer vendors to add Bluetooth to the features and make it a standard so that we can, for example, print photos directly from our cellular phones.

In general, the scanner on these printers is quite capable for everyday use. Some, however, can even scan with an optical resolution of up to 1200 x 2400 and a 48-bit color depth. This feature will come at a premium, of course. And, finally, do not forget to check the printing speed. Five color pages per minute should be considered the very minimum these days. --- Zatni Arbi

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