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General discussion

Need Help on Best Scanner or All-In-One Scan/Fax/Print/Copy

Nov 7, 2004 11:53PM PST

I am torn between buying a scanner separately or an all-in-one. My concern is whether I would be able to restore some old photos with an all-in-one. I'm not into photography, but when I saw that scanners could restore old photos, I have the idea of taking all family photos that are deteriorating & saving them to CD. I'm willing to spent $200 or more, but I'm also thinking how handy it would be to have the ability to fax & copy also. Any advice? Thanks so much.

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Re: Need Help on Best Scanner or All-In-One Scan/Fax/Print/C
Nov 9, 2004 12:32AM PST

I have had a refurbished Hewlett Packer all-in-one Scanner/Printer/Copier for over 3 years and it is still running clear on all sides. I have had to make no repairs just changing the cartridges. I paid like $139 - 159 and I have been exceptional happy with it.

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Re: Need Help on Best Scanner or All-In-One Scan/Fax/Print/C
Nov 9, 2004 2:18AM PST

HP has gathered some negative comments in some communities as a result of multifunction units that have been failing just out of warranty. Make a search for "cartridge jam" and HP and you'll get the flavor of it. I happen to have two multifunction HP's (print,copy,scan,fax)and had been happy with both until one of them developed the cartridge jam problem (a problem for which there is no fix because the fibre part that fails is not stocked as a replacement on those machines. I would recomment that if you are going to get a multifunction with a scanner, that you make it a flatbed. This lets you copy pages from books, but more importantly, flatbeds let you scan SMALL things that you may need to copy. That situation can be a real problem with sheet feed scanners. I'm currently looking at the HP 2610 which I have been informed does not have the same fibre piece that was failing on earlier models. In general, HP is a great manufacturer of printers.r

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Re: Need Help on Best Scanner or All-In-One Scan/Fax/Print/C
Nov 11, 2004 12:29AM PST

Thank you, but I still need an answer to my question of whether I am going to get the best quality scanner for restoring old photos if I buy an all-in-one vs. just the scanner.

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scanner choice
Jan 17, 2005 6:02PM PST

Get a UMAX scanmaker 6800. The ICE technology for fixing scratched or similarly damaged photos is great. The technology is amazing. The all-in-ones don't really do any one thing really well. And if you have XP you can fax as easily as if you are printing. The scanner makes copies easily too. This model's features are just as good as those costing at least $100 more. I bought this scanner to fix really old family photos for a family event. Read the reviews, That's how I chose this one. I also recommend some version of Photoshop or a similar program. You will need to fix the colors on faded photos and these programs will do it quickly.