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Printers / Scanners: Most Popular Articles

These articles are the most popular over the last month.
Photo Scanner Top Picks
For serious amateur photographers and pros on a tight budget, here's a list of great photo scanners to digitize negatives and slides.
Best All-in-One Printers
When you've got a small home office, an all-in-one printer, also known as a multifunction printer (MFP), is a great buy. All-in-one printers can print, scan, copy, and sometimes fax. All-in-one printers are also reasonably priced.
Best Wireless Printers
Wireless printers offer great convenience for small or home offices, or simply where desktop space is tight. Wireless printing is becoming more and more of a standard rather than an option. Here you'll find some of the best wireless printers I've tried.
Canon Pixma MP480
The Canon Pixma MP480 All-in-One Printer is inexpensive, small, and good looking, but it's missing some of the options that would make it a must-buy.
HP Deskjet F4280
This HP Deskjet printer is an entry-level all-in-one printer that does a remarkably good job.
Top 5 Photo Printers
Photo printers are a great buy. Nearly everyone has a digital camera, and while it’s easy to share digital photos online, there are still lots of good reasons to print out your photos. Photo printers are inexpensive (all the ones here are under $200, and some are under $100), easy to use, and do a great job at printing photos. Here are my choices for the Top Budget Photo Printers.
HP 6500 Printer
HP touts the HP 6500 All-in-One printer as "economical and eco-conscious," because it uses more energy than laser printers. Even better is that it's extremely inexpensive.
Epson V500 Photo Scanner
The Epson Perfection V500 Photo scanner does a great job at scanning photos and negatives.
HP 8500
The HP 8500 is a professional-level printer that, like the HP 6500, offers energy savings and, claims HP, a lower cost per page than laser printers.
Lexmark X204n
The Lexmark X204n is a monochrome laser printer that sells for well under $300. It's also networkable, fast, and has a fairly small footprint for a laser printer.
Brother MFC-7840W Printer
The Brother MFC-7840W all-in-one printer is a monochrome laser printer that features a fax, scanner, copier, and wired/wireless networking.
Types of Scanners
There are a few different kinds of scanners and, as with printers, the one that’s right for you depends on how you intend to use it. The most common types are flatbed scanners, sheetfed scanners, photo scanners, and portable scanners.
HP Officejet J4680 Printer
The HP Officejet J4680 is a compact all-in-one printer that is networkable across a wired or wireless network. It prints quickly and photos look great. It's a bit thirsty for ink, so you'll want the high-yield cartridges.
Canon MX860 Inkjet Printer
You'll pay twice as much for this Canon Pixma all-in-one as for the Pixma MX330 I recently reviewed. What do you get for the extra dough? A lot. Wireless / wired network printing. A built-in duplexer. Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi color printing. Truly outstanding colors. Is it worth it? While the cost of replacing five tanks can be huge, the quality is so good that I'd pay the extra money, since I tend to print a lot.
Brother MFC-6490
The Brother MFC-6490CW All-in-One Printer is is made for a small office and offers plenty of handy office features, including wireless.
Samsung CLX-6200
The Samsung CLX-6200FX all-in-one color laser printer offers everything a small office needs to be productive.
Epson NX415 Printer
The Epson Stylus NX415 is near the high end of the Epson Stylus NX family. For less than $100 it offers a large color LCD (Epson says it's the largest at this price) as well as multiple media-card slots.
Top Printers Under \$100
If you've got limited cash to burn but need an excellent printer, there's help for you here. This list of the best printers I've tested that are under (or almost under) $100 will give you some great options, even when money is tight.
Best Laser Printers
Laser printers are getting competitive with inkjet printers in terms of price--and in terms of quality, you get a lot more from a laser printer. Here are some of the best ones I've tried.
Brother MFC-5890
This Brother all-in-one printer connects easily to a network and prints and scans quickly. A better LCD and automatic duplexing would raise it a few notches higher.
HP 6380 All-in-One
The HP Photosmart C6380 does a great job with photos and is adequate for all other print jobs.
Print on a CD or DVD
Printing directly onto a CD or DVD using the Epson Stylus Photo RX680 inkjet printer couldn’t be easier, and the results are fantastic. This Step-By-Step guide will demonstrate how to do it. Note that you need to make sure the CD or DVD you’re using can be printed on; check the label before you buy. Also, make sure you have already burned to the disk; once you’ve put the label on, you can’t burn data to the disk.
ScanSnap S510 Scanner
This review of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Scanner found it to be a hardworking little scanner that did a great job.
Epson WorkForce 600
The Epson WorkForce 600 All-in-One Printer is a great resource for "micro-businesses" though its ink tanks seem to empty fairly fast.
Epson Artisan 800 Printer
The Epson Artisan 800 is a fantastic all-in-one printer that works across a network (or via USB). Images, documents, photos, all looked great thanks to the Claria ink cartridges. Too bad it doesn't come with a duplexer.
Brother HL-5370 Laser Printer
Easy set up and built-in conveniences such as duplexing and networking are the only things that distinguish this fast printer from the pack.
HP LaserJet CM2320nf
The HP Color LaserJet CM2320nf All-in-One Laser Printer provides excellent color prints though it can be slow in printing jobs from large files.
Canon MX330 All-in-One Printer
An outstanding, low-end all-in-one printer from Canon--what else needs to be said? For about $100, you get all the features you could want, plus the quality and dependability of Canon.
Dell 968 All-in-One Printer
The Dell 968W All-in-One printer is a convenient and hard-working multifunction printer that's easy on the wallet.
Epson WorkForce 310
The Epson WorkForce 310 offers great quality photos and near-laser-quality text printing.
Printer Networking
Networking a printer allows multiple computers to access a single printer, a great convenience for home or small offices.
Printer Resolution
Inkjets have nozzles that spray tiny drops of ink, while laser printers melt dots of toner against the paper. The more dots you can squeeze into a square inch, the sharper the resulting image will be. Printer resolution refers to how many dots per inch a printer can put onto a piece of paper.
Brother MFC-6890 All-in-One
The Brother MFC-6490cdw is a color inkjet all-in-one wireless printer that is big and beefy but adds a lot of value to an office. Some slow over-the-network print speeds may take a few points away from it, but overall it's a best bet.
Print Directly on Fabric
You can print directly onto fabric using your inkjet printer. Here's how.
ScanSnap S1500 Scanner
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 is a lightning-fast document scanner with only a few issues with OCR.
iP4600 Photo Printer
The iP4600 Photo Inkjet Printer is big for a photo printer but does great work.
Epson NX515 Printer
The Epson Stylus NX515 is the at the high end of the Epson Stylus NX family. It's more expensive than the others but is fast (Epson calls it "the fastest printer in its class") and offers easy-to-set-up Wi-Fi (wireless) printing.
Canon Pixma MP610
The Canon Pixma MP610 all-in-one printer does a fine job at photo scanning and printing, though it left a little to be desired.
Remote Scan
Software from Remote Scan allows printers to share a single scanner across a wired or wireless network.
Wireless Networking
Wireless networking your printer or scanner may sound difficult, but newer machines are making it easier to do. Here's some advice from networking experts on how to do it.
All-in-One Printers
All-in-one printers, also known as multifunction printers (MFPs), are handy if you have a small office or frequently need to fax, copy, and scan. All in one printers are almost the same price as single-function printers.
Canon iP3600
The Canon Pixma iP3600 color photo printer is inexpensive and high quality; but for a few dollars more you can get the next in Canon's line.
Canon Selphy CP760
The Canon Selphy CP760 Compact Photo Printer uses dye-sublimation ink to print postcard-sized prints.
Clean Printheads
When printheads get clogged, image quality suffers. But cleaning printheads is a quick and simple process. Here's a step-by-step tutorial on cleaning printheads. Note: These instructions will work for users of Windows but not of other operating systems.
Samsung CLP-315 Laser Printer
The Samsung CLP-315 Color Laser Printer is not that fast, but it's quiet, good looking, and quite cheap. I found it a good deal for the money.
Choosing the Right Printer
Which printer is the right one for you? Inkjet? Laser? All in one? The answer depends on how you intend to use it. The first step is figuring out what you need.
Epson Perfection 30 Scanner
The Epson Perfection 30 scanner is a very fast, environmentally friendly scanner. Its zero warm-up time is a nice benefit as well. A minimalist unit yet stocked with all the features that scanners need (scan to e-mail and PDF, for example), it's a good buy--and it's well under a hundred bucks.
Brother 790CW
The Brother MFC-790 all-in-one wireless printer is an affordable multifunction printer that will work best for home and small-office users.
Epson NX400
The Epson Stylus NX400 all-in-one offers a low price and decent printing features.
Brother PT-1230 Label Maker
The P-touch PT-1230 PC is a handy and compact label printer that works with a PC. It has a limited range of functions, but for a label printer, it did everything I needed it to do--print labels in a variety of sizes and fonts. I appreciate that it didn't require administrative privileges to get it working, and I'm sure many home users will feel the same way. For basic labeling purposes, the PT-1230 is a great choice.
Brother PT-2430 Label Maker
The P-touch PT-2430 adds a few small but important conveniences to the lower-end versions of the P-touch line, such as an included AC cord and automatic trimming of the labels. These may not sound so important, but if you plan on making a lot of labels, they'll save a ton of time. And if you do use it a lot, I think it's worth the extra $30 or so (street price is around $79) to get this unit rather than the 1230.
Polaroid PoGo
The PoGo is a very portable photo printer that doesn't use ink. The prints are small but it's a lot of fun to use, it's fast, and it fits in your back pocket.
Samsung ML-2851
This Samsung printer is a monochrome laser printer that can be connected to over a wired network. The ML-2851 is made for small businesses and is a good entry-level monochrome laser printer.
Selphy CP780 Photo Printer
Excellent print quality at a low price makes the Canon Selphy CP780 a best buy.
Canon MX7600 All-in-One
The Canon Pixma MX7600 all-in-one printer includes a new clear-ink technology that helps create better color and monochrome prints. It's a large printer but it does its job well.
draft_mode
Changing print quality to Draft Mode can speed up printing and save ink.
Sony DPP-FP97 Photo Printer
Gorgeous prints and lots of on-board editing options on this Sony photo printer are its strongest points.
The IF Statement
The Javascript if statement.How to code and use it.
Epson Workforce 30 Printer
The Epson Workforce 30 is limited in functionality--you won't get a fax or scanner or copier in this almost-full-size unit--but it what it does, it does very well. In particular, photos look fantastic, in large measure thanks to the DuraBrite ink that Epson uses, but you won't sacrifice basic black-and-white quality either. For well under a hundred bucks, this is a pretty good deal.
Samsung ML-1630W Laser Printer
The Samsung ML-1630w Monochrome Laser Printer is a networkable printer that is fast, quiet, and quite good looking. But it didn't seem like a lot of printer for the money.
NeatDesk Document Scanner
The NeatDesk Document Scanner is a great help in clearing out cluttered drawers and filing cabinets, allowing scans to be exported to useful programs such as Outlook and Turbo Tax. Business cards gave the scanner some problems, however.
Kodak ESP 5
The Kodak ESP 5 all-in-one printer is a low-cost multifunction printer that has excellent print quality but is not the most convenient all-in-one out there for this price.
Samsung SCX-4500 Laser Printer
The Samsung SCX-4500 Monochrome Laser Printer is a cool-looking printer that is fast and extremely quiet. But it's missing a few conveniences.
Passing Parameters
Functions can process different variables each time when you call them using parameters.
Using OCR Software
If you are scanning documents, you may wish that you could convert them to Word documents rather than PDFs or image files so they'd be easier to search and edit. But if you’re like me, you’d rather not have to buy new (and expensive) software. Microsoft Office Document Imaging software can convert the text in a scanned image to a Word document, and it's built into Office. Here’s how to find and use it.
Xerox Phaser 3100
A review of the Xerox Phaser 3100MFP laser printer shows that it needs more work to compete in this price range.
Printers / Scanners - GuideReviews
An index of GuideReviews for the Printers / Scanners guide site.
Print Speed
Print speed depends on what kind of document you're printing and how your printer's preferences are set.
Laser Printers
Laser printers are great for printing black-and-white text and graphics. They're more expensive to buy than inkjet printers but are cheaper to run. Color laser printers are getting cheaper as well.
Canon Pixma MP530
The Canon Pixma MP530 is a multifunction printer that is a dependable workhorse for home offices.
Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers are the most common type of printer available today. They’re very affordable and are excellent printers for almost any task, from printing shopping lists to making copies of photographs.
Scanner Resolution
Resolution refers to the amount of information, calculated in dots per inch, that the scanner can read.
DocuPen Portable Scanner
A review of the DocuPen Portable Scanner, a handheld scanner that works quickly and easily.
Holiday Best Buys
With the holiday season arriving, here are some Best Buys for the gadgeteer in the family
HP H470 Mobile Printer
The HP Officejet H470 could be really convenient if you need a nearly full-size printer that can run off a battery and connect wirelessly or via Bluetooth. But since I'm having trouble identifying when precisely you'd need that combination, and since the printer is slow, expensive, and seems error prone, I'd spend the same amount of money that doesn't offer battery power and a nifty vinyl case but gives faster, better prints.
Photosmart A626
The HP Photosmart A626 printer is lightweight and portable, though its colors aren't perfect.
HP LaserJet CP2025dn Profile
This is a product profile of the HP color laser printer, HP Color Laserjet CP2025dn.
USB Connectors
Printers and scanners usually connect to computers with a USB connector.
Brother PT-1280 Label Maker
The new Brother PT-1280 P-touch Electronic Labeling System is no little toy; it's a seriously useful piece of office (or home) automation. It's not big (you could probably get four of them into a shoe box) but it has a large, easy-to-use keyboard and a 15-character LCD display. The printer can create vertical or horizontal labels on four sizes of tape, using dozens of symbols and in nine different type styles (bold, shadow, italic, and so on).
Fujitsu ScanSnap S300
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 is an excellent duplex scanner that won't take up any room on your desk.
Clean the Printer / Scanner
Wipe the platen glass with a clean, white, lint-free cloth moistened with water.
Epson Photo RX680
The Epson Stylus Photo RX680 isn't the multifunction you need to keep your office running, but it does a great job with photo printing and other tasks.
Phaser 3250
The Xerox Phaser 3250 Laser Printer only does one thing--print in monochrome--but it does it exceptionally well.
PictBridge
PictBridge allows you to connect your digital camera directly to your printer.
Extended Warranties
When you buy a new printer or scanner, the salesperson will try to convince you to buy an extended warranty. It's not worth the money.
Finding the Best Deals
You can find great deals on printers and scanners online and in brick-and-mortar shops. I'll help you find the best deals
Mandatory Fields
Validating that something other than blanks is entered into a mandatory form field.
TWAIN
TWAIN is a software protocol that goes between your computer and your camera, scanner, or whatever imaging device you're using. It helps ensure that your computer can understand and display the data being sent by the imaging device.
Variable Scope
Determining the scope of variables. In what part of the program does a given variable exist.
Alphabetic and Numeric Validations
Validating that a field is alphabetic or numeric.
KeyScan Scanner
The KeyScan Integrated Document Scanner is a convenient scanner built into a keyboard.
Installing New Ink Tanks
Installing ink tanks into an inkjet printer is a quick and painless process (except for the price you’ll pay for those ink tanks, of course). Here’s a step-by-step look at getting those cartridges into your printer. I’ll demonstrate using a Canon Pixma MP530, but the process should be pretty similar in all inkjet printers.
Dell Wasabi Photo Printer
The Dell Wasabi is an ultra-mobile printer for instant photo printing that works with inkless ZINK printing paper. It allows instant prints via Bluetooth-enabled phones, digital cameras, and mobile PCs, and prints on 2x3 sticky-backed paper.
Recycle Inkjet Cartridges
When your inkjet cartridges run out, don't throw them away. The US Post Office offers free mailers to send them to a recycler.
Printers / Scanners - FullReviews
An index of FullReviews for the Printers / Scanners guide site.
Unjam Paper Jams
Paper jams can happen for a number of reasons. The most common reasons are that the paper tray is overloaded or the edge of the paper is curled or folded. Paper typically jams between the sheet feeder and the output tray, or inside the machine. Here are step-by-step directions to clearing up both kinds of paper jams.
Green Printing
Green printing is a great way to help recycle and save resources; it's also a good way to keep some extra money in your pocket.
Clean Inside the Pixma
Load the paper into the auto-sheet feeder.
Functions
Creating functions in Javascript.
Printers / Scanners - Profiles
An index of Profiles for the Printers / Scanners guide site.
Printers / Scanners - Articles
An index of articles for the Printers / Scanners guide site.

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