Multitalented Office Machines
We look at several inkjet and laser multifunction devices that can print, scan, copy, and fax.
Multifunction printers vary widely in ability. The Canon MP390 (left) can fax in color. The Brother MFC-8840DN makes two-sided prints.
Whether in the office or at home, we can all benefit from a little extra space on our desks. A multifunction printer reduces the number of separate pieces of equipment you need within reach by performing several tasks in one spot, and it could cost less than buying multiple devices. But to help you make sure your investment isn't squandered, we tested both inkjet and laser MFPs on a variety of tasks. We measured how quickly the models made prints, copies, and scans, and we judged the output quality of each function.
The average price of inkjet MFPs we've tested has dropped roughly $50 over the past year. For this story we tested seven inkjet MFPs, ranging from $100 to $200, most of which printed about as fast as the average stand-alone inkjet printer. The MFPs' photo print quality, however, still lags behind that of recent stand-alone inkjets we've seen.
We also tested six laser MFPs that cost from $350 to $1730. (We've never tested this many laser MFPs at once.) We found that, on average, these models printed text faster than small-office monochrome laser printers do, and printed graphics at about the same speed. For both text and graphics, their print quality scores were about equal to those of small-office lasers.
Scanning speeds for inkjet and laser MFPs, however, were a mixed bag: While half of the MFPs on the chart scanned a photo at low resolution in roughly 17 seconds (about 1 second faster than the average for SOHO scanners), the remaining models took anywhere from 28 seconds to 40 seconds to perform the same task.
Our pick for the best inkjet was the Canon MultiPass MP390, which combines extensive features with fairly good performance. At $200, it incorporates a media card reader and a fax machine. It printed text and photographs well, and it's speedy enough for light use.
Among the laser MFPs, we liked the Brother MFC-8840DN the best. Though its speeds were about average compared with other lasers, it earned high marks in all of our output quality tests. The scan function was the only disappointment, due to its stripped-down features.
Inkjet MFPs in the Office
The $130 Lexmark X5270 All-in-One produced attractive color scans, but was slow to make copies.
Inkjet MFPs offer a lot of handy features, and they don't skimp on print speed. This group of inkjet MFPs printed text at an average speed of 5.3 pages per minute, which is slightly faster than the average of 4.9 ppm for the inkjet printers we tested in the August issue. The speediest inkjet MFP, the Lexmark X5270 All-in-One, printed text at 7.7 ppm.
Although every inkjet MFP in our test group printed sharp text, even the best output wasn't as razor-sharp as that printed by the laser models. The Canon MP390 and the HP PSC 1315 All-in-One were the only inkjets to earn a Very Good score for their text quality and for glossy photos. The same two models also earned a Good mark for graphics quality on plain paper; most of the others received a Fair rating for their prints, which tended to have garish colors or to appear too dark for detail to show.
For our copying test we duplicated a text document. Most of the inkjet MFPs proved inferior to the laser models in this test; the Canon MP390 was the only inkjet whose score matched that of most of the laser MFPs, while some of the other inkjet units made copies that either had fuzzy text or looked too light.
Inkjet MFPs print color graphics just as fast as stand-alone inkjet printers do, at an average of 1.1 ppm, compared with the 1.2 ppm average of inkjet printers. The quickest inkjet MFP on the chart, the Epson Stylus CX6600, printed graphics at 1.4 ppm.
Making copies on an inkjet MFP isn't that quick; almost all of the models we tested took between 17 and 30 seconds to copy our one-page newsletter (versus 10 to 12 seconds for the laser MFPs). The HP PSC 1315 was the biggest disappointment, taking almost 2 minutes to make a copy that resembled an old mimeograph.
Unlike laser MFPs, inkjets tend not to have built-in faxes. The only exceptions were the Canon MP390 and the Brother MFC-3820CN; though we tested the latter, it didn't make the chart.
Inkjet MFPs and Photos
The $199 Epson CX6600 made great-looking scans, and has a media card reader.
Inkjet MFPs tend to look more like photo printers with flatbed scanners grafted onto them than they do typical office workhorses. The Canon MP390 and the Epson CX6600 have multiformat media card readers; the HP PSC 1315 has a front-mounted USB port that can receive photos from PictBridge-compatible digital cameras. All three can print photos without going through a PC.
Stand-alone inkjets generally print photos very well, but you can't expect quite the same quality from an MFP. None of the inkjet MFPs earned our top score of Outstanding for their glossy photos, although the Canon MP390 and the HP PSC 1315 did earn Very Good ratings. By comparison, 6 of 16 recently tested general-purpose inkjet printers received a score of Outstanding for their color photos.
The software packages that come with inkjet MFPs tend to have more photo editing features than do the application bundles of their laser counterparts. The driver usually includes controls for adjusting color, brightness, and contrast. The Epson CX6600 has a particularly extensive software bundle that includes ArcSoft's Photo Impression 5 for image editing.
Scanning and Waiting
All of the inkjet MFPs we tested have a convenient one-touch scan button on their control panel, so you don't have to use your PC to initiate scans. The inkjet MFPs' average speed for previewing and then scanning a 4-by-5-inch photo at 100 dpi was about 26 seconds, versus 18 seconds for recently tested small-office scanners. Two of the inkjet MFPs, however, scanned more quickly than the average for small-office scanners. The Dell 922 turned in the fastest speed on this test, 15 seconds; but it also earned a Poor rating for its color scan quality. By contrast, the Lexmark X5270, though it turned in nearly the same time on that test, still earned a Very Good score for the quality of its color scans. The HP PSC 1315 took a very slow 37 seconds to scan a photo at 100 dpi, but it was the fastest MFP (including the laser models) in our 600-dpi scan test. Similarly, the Canon MP390 scanned at a roughly average speed in the 100 dpi test, but it was the second-fastest model at 600 dpi. (For more detailed test results, see the chart).
Laser MFPs: Workplace Workhorses
A laser MFP is the better choice for a workgroup. For one thing, you can put the device on your network. For another, a laser MFP typically prints professional-quality text, and it does so much more quickly than an inkjet model does. (We have yet to see a multifunction laser that prints in color, however.) For this story, PC World pitted laser MFPs against one another for the first time, and overall these models held up well.
All but one of our test models printed text quickly--between 15 and 17 pages per minute--with sharp lettering even at very small sizes. Most of the lasers also did well with the narrow lines and intricate graphics of our line art document, something inkjets rarely do. The only laser MFP that disappointed us on these tests was the Sharp AL-1661CS, which missed the chart in part because of its slow text speed--just 11.8 ppm--and fuzzy lettering. One plus, however: The AL-1661CS produced the most attractive scans of all the laser models.
The $1596 IBM 1410 printed and scanned quickly, but it lacks a scan button.
Unfortunately, our tests showed mixed results on grayscale graphics. Among the six laser models we reviewed, the Brother MFC-8840DN produced the best full-page grayscale graphics, with smooth transitions, good contrast, and fine details. At 6.5 ppm, though, the Brother was not the fastest unit at printing graphics; the IBM Infoprint 1410 MFP and Lexmark X422 MFP printed graphics at 8.5 and 8.0 ppm, respectively--but they also cost more than twice as much as the $650 Brother device. Of the laser units on the chart, the Dell Multifunction Laser Printer 1600n and the HP LaserJet 3380 earned the lowest scores for their graphics prints; the Dell's prints looked faded, with slight banding, while the HP's output appeared too dark, with exaggerated contrast. The Dell 1600n, while being the most affordable laser model we tested, also was the slowest MFP in this group at printing graphics, going at a poky 2.4 ppm.
Copy, Yes; Scan, Maybe
The $399 Dell 1600n made copies swiftly, though scan quality was low.
Most of the laser MFPs we tested made copies of text that were quite sharp. The Brother MFC-8840DN won out again, with very accurate copies. On the other hand, the Dell 1600n's copies didn't look quite as sharp, resembling the copies of an inkjet MFP. Making a copy was quick and easy, however; every model performed the task in 13 seconds or less.
Though most laser MFPs have a one-touch scan button as the inkjet MFPs do, the IBM Infoprint 1410 and the Lexmark X422 don't, requiring you to scan documents through software on a PC. Still, all of the laser MFPs we tested allow you to scan to a variety of locations, such as an e-mail message, a file folder, or an OCR application. Though they print only in monochrome, laser MFPs do scan in color, and the color scans from our test models looked slightly better on average than scans from inkjet MFPs. But only one laser MFP received an Outstanding score for scan quality: the Sharp AL-1661CS, whose overall performance nevertheless kept it off the chart.
The scanning speeds of laser MFPs vary as widely as those of inkjet models. A few of the laser MFPs we tested scanned at roughly the average speed for small-office scanners. With a time of 18 seconds, the Dell 1600n was the quickest laser unit to scan a 4-by-5-inch color photo at 100 dpi; the slowest model, the Sharp AL-1661CS, took 40 seconds. The differences were similar at higher resolution: The Dell 1600n scanned a 2-by-2-inch color photo at 600 dpi in 26 seconds; the HP LaserJet 3380 took 1 minute, 47 seconds. (The IBM Infoprint 1410 and the Lexmark X422 can scan only up to 300 dpi in color, and so did not complete this test.)
Office Features
Laser multifunctions typically have fax capability, ethernet connections, and more memory than inkjet MFPs.
All of the laser MFPs we tested can send faxes, store a considerable list of speed-dial numbers, broadcast faxes to numerous numbers at once, poll other machines to automatically receive faxes, and track accounts with a billing number or PIN. Also, the Brother MFC-8840DN and the Dell 1600n can send color faxes.
The Bottom Line
For busy offices, choosing a laser MFP over an inkjet model is a no-brainer, in part because of a laser's extensive paper-handling features. All the laser MFPs we tested had an automatic document feeder. The Brother MFC-8840DN, the IBM Infoprint 1410, and the Lexmark X422 include a duplexer for double-sided printing.
The real question is whether to spend the extra money on an expensive model that can handle high paper volumes. The $1596 IBM Infoprint 1410 and $1479 Lexmark X422 can be expanded to hold up to 850 sheets. If you don't plan to clear forests quite as fast, the $650 Brother MFC-8840DN can expand to hold 500 sheets.
Inkjet MFPs differ significantly in print and scan quality. But if those scores aren't enough to sway you, some have unique features to consider. For example, the Canon MP390 and Epson Stylus CX6600 have a media card reader. The Canon MP390 and the HP PSC 1315 can print onto legal-size paper, but only the Dell 922 and Lexmark X5270 can print on extra-long banner paper. And if you want to fax your documents in color, you have only one choice: the Canon MP390.
MFP Profile: The Oddball Office Inkjet
The HP 9130 has many office features, but isn't fast.
The HP Officejet 9130 isn't a typical inkjet MFP: It's designed for office workgroups. At $999, it's by far the most expensive inkjet MFP we looked at, and it includes office-oriented features, such as a network adapter, an internal print server, automatic duplexing, 128MB of internal memory, and the ability to accept an optional paper tray (for a maximum of 650 sheets). It also offers a media card reader. Its most compelling feature, however, is a 3-by-8-inch pull-out QWERTY keyboard. With it you can type e-mail addresses and subject headers and send a document to an e-mail address without going through a PC. You can also enter speed-dial information quickly, rather than typing names on a cumbersome number pad.
But you pay a premium for color printing. At its price, you'd expect the Officejet 9130 to outperform inexpensive inkjet MFPs, and though it printed text at a respectable 5.4 pages per minute, it was slower than either the Dell 922 or the Lexmark X5270. It did, however, print color graphics faster than any inkjet MFP, at 2.2 ppm.
At 18 seconds for a text page, the 9130 made copies much faster than many other inkjet MFPs, but the $200 Canon MP390 and $100 Lexmark X2250 beat it. Scanning speed was the biggest letdown: The 9130 was the slowest inkjet MFP, taking 40 seconds to scan a 4-by-5-inch photo at 100 dpi. Two laser MFPs, though, were even slower: the Sharp AL-1661CS and the HP LaserJet 3380.
The HP Officejet 9130 had an edge over other inkjet MFPs on text quality, however. It printed sharp lines and clean type that even rivaled some lower-end lasers in quality. And while not stellar, its graphics prints showed realistic color as well as much fine detail.
If your cramped office needs a space-saving MFP, and if your work requires color prints, the Officejet 9130 is one of your only options. But the 9130 is slow on most functions. If you have the room and the budget, you may be better served by buying a laser MFP and putting an inkjet printer on your network for color printing.
Inkjet Multifunction Printers: Best and Worst Prints
Though none of the inkjet MFPs earned an Outstanding score for their glossy photos, a couple of models came close. One, the HP PSC 1315, got a Very Good rating, producing photos with realistic textures and natural-looking skin tones. Photo prints from the Lexmark X5270 earned a Good score. Though they had sharp details, textures were grainy and skin tones looked unnaturally yellow.
Because monochrome laser printers typically print sharp line art, we expected laser MFPs to do the same, which they did. Inkjet printers usually print sloppier lines, and so did the inkjet MFPs. A couple of laser MFPs earned a Very Good mark for their prints of line art, but none of the inkjet MFPs did. However, one inkjet MFP, the Canon MP390, received a Good for its line art. It printed fine lines with few blobs. Three models earned a Poor, including the Dell 922; its prints showed obvious banding, and parallel lines often overlapped.
