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General discussion

All in one (AIO) printer for scanning photo prints

by acky74 Dec 2, 2009 12:33PM PST

Hi All, I posted this query previously on the Computer Peripherals forum and had no responses. Thought I'd give it a shot here...

I have neither a printer nor a photo scanner at this point. I am looking to purchase both but am curious if there are any AIO printers that have photo scanning capabilities equivalent to non-professional dedicated photo scanners.

I don't have the need to scann slides or negatives; just scanning prints.

I am not an amateur photographer. I just have years of old snapshots I'd like to scan into digital form.

To give you an idea of what I am looking at cost and quality-wise, If I get a dedicated scanner I have decided on the Epson V300 (about $100), and if I get an AIO printer I am probably going with the Canon PIXMA MP640 or MP990 ($100 to $150).

Will those All in one's "measure up" against the Epson scanner?

What am I losing or missing out on if I go the AIO route instead of a dedicated scanner?

Any other AIO suggestions that may have better scanning ability than the Canon's (preferably below $200).

Thanks!

Discussion is locked

3 Posts
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AIO Printers
by snapshot2 Forum moderator Dec 3, 2009 12:10AM PST

I have owned a Hewlet Packard (HP) AIO printer for about 5 years.
It has done everything that I wanted to do with printing and scanning.
My brother has a late model HP AIO that he bought for about $100.
It works fine for him.

I recently bought an Epson V500 stand alone scanner for one of my other computers. I already had a good printer on it and wanted a scanner that can handle the occasional slide or negative.

Other than the slides and negatives, I can't see that it has any advantage over my old HP AIO.

If you need a printer and a scanner, I see no reason to buy two separate units, when the AIO can do both.

..
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AIO scanner/printer
by Joliet Eddie Dec 3, 2009 1:15AM PST

For your use, I don't think that you can go wrong with an AIO device. I've had dedicated scanners for many years, but this fall my old HP inject printer died and I had a brand new Lexmark AIO that I got free when I bought a new laptop back in 2007. So I dug it out of the box figuring that it would do a mediocre job at best until I got a new printer. Anyway, I tried out its scanning feature and I was very, very impressed with the way that it handled simple scan jobs, including photos. The print quality is pretty decent, although the print cartridges are very expensive. (But I don't do a lot of printing at home anyway.) So if you do your research and buy an AIO by a reputable brand that has been reviewed and find it on sale, go for it.

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Thanks!
by acky74 Dec 3, 2009 5:17AM PST

Thanks to both for the response. You've confirmed what I was thinking, that as just a snapshot-capture-the-moment shooter an AIO will be fine for my needs.

Thanks!

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