All-In-One Printer...?

[dolphin]

QUOTE(Mayo @ Apr 12 2007, 02:25 AM) [snapback]124335[/snapback]

Are there any Brother color all-in-one units?  All I have found are B&W...

The Brother MFC665CW I mentioned is color!

[Parker]

I don't have a canon all-in-one, but i must say that i LOVE my Canon i80 on my MacBook. I also just recently purchased an HP OfficeJet Pro L7680 (as mayo mentioned before) and it's the best printer i've ever bought! It has two-sided scanning AUTOMATICALLY for two sided scans, faxes, and photocopies, AUTOMATIC TWO-SIDED PRINTING (a feature not commonly seen in the past on many printers without having to buy the expensive extras). Print speeds are pretty fast as well: faster than the average printer.

Many HP OfficeJet printers come conveniently with built-in ethernet print servers, and are compatible with HP Wireless print servers. You can also connect a wireless ethernet bridge, also known as 'Game Adapters' because they plug into the ethernet port of video game consoles to make them wireless.

Ok... back on topic:
I highly recommend the HP OfficeJet Printers. The all-in-one printer applications for the computer are pretty easy to use, and most of the HP printers are already "Network Ready; Just add a CAT5 cable"!
Oh wait... they include one of those.

Here's a link to a pretty good wireless ethernet bridge, if interested in making a printer wireless:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=1594

[sandbox]

Although they call them "all-in-ones" without a fax they are something else. In the US we have laws against fax spam, the fines are steep.

Frances… FYI

From your broadband or an independent provider of Voice technology you would acquire an account and a Analog Telephone Adaptor like this. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/gat...008007cd72.html

The cable, for example would plug into a broadband modem, then into a ATA, then into a fax-AIO-MFC whatever they want to call them. Out of the fax the phone line would go to your caller ID- answering machine -telephone- in that order.

When the fax comes in the answering machine picks it up and if it’s a fax, it’s sends it back to the fax machine to answer. The setting on the fax under receiving would be "TAD" instead of "do not answer" or "answer manually".

[bellbram]

I have an all-in-one Epson Photo RX420 which I have found perfectly OK for all three options.   There was an occasion about a year ago when I had a problem with my first one when it was well out of guarantee, called Epson and they offered a brand new one at half price (free delivery).   On asking if they wanted the old one back, the answer was 'Bin it'.  I took up their offer.  

[sandbox]

Bellbram I have the upgrade from that epson here. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epson-Stylus-Photo...9318&sr=1-3
Like yours it has no modem so it can't receive faxes. You can use smart panels to send one though, and receive faxes on your Mac if you have Panther or Tiger, if you set it up under your control panels. It's a very good printer and scanner, though it has no auto feed so you can't scan 14 inch legal documents.

We use this as a back-up to the brother and for high quality prints. It has 6 ink cartridges so the cost per page seems a bit steep, though they claim that it's more economical?

[bellbram]

Sandbox:  That looks very nice, and maybe next time I need to change.....
I think it has more bells and whistles than I need, but thanks for pointing it out.

[Mayo]

I hadn't considered using the Mac as a fax machine... Not requiring a fax function might make narrowing-down the field somewhat easier.

The person this printer is for is not very handy with computers.  Would it be simple enough for her to use the Mac to send and receive faxes?  How about hard-copy faxes?  Do you scan the copy and then fax it?

I guess that I need to poke my nose into the "Missing Manual" section on faxing using a Mac...

[Jack W]

Mayo,

If you only have printed material you want to FAX, then you have to scan it first.

However, if you have a document already on the computer, then it's real easy to FAX it directly by issuing the print command, then click on the "PDF" button on the lower left and scroll down to "FAX as PDF".

You have to have a Mac with a built-in modem or an external modem. (hooked up to your phone line)

Receiving FAen gets a little more complicated. You need to use the print dialog> Fax Preferences in System Preferences to set up initially. Don't set it up to answer all incoming calls because it will! and the legitimate telephone caller will get that nasy whistle in their ear. I leave mine in Idle mode, then select the preferences from the Fax icon in the menu bar to "Receive Faxes on this computer", then select "Answer".

You also have to tell the comp where to store the incoming Faxes. I have made a folder on my BigOne partition called Faxes Received.

The Missing Manual probably explains these procedures much better than I. So check it out. Also there is help in the Help Menu.

- Jack

[sandbox]

Mayo, the fax option in Panther/Tiger is real primitive, no TAD. You can buy FaxSTF for $69.00 and it's built into their software package, but the Apple modem doesn't have the option on it's own. I've looked into Pagesender http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/14537 but it doesn't have a TAD options either. TAD is a must if your using one phone line for fax & Phone.

I have a PB5300 that runs OS 8.6 and MacComCenter that I put online when I expect a fax marathon or when I’m away for a while. Pulling a additional phoneline off the VoIP is as simple as 1,2,3.

More & more we try to use PDF’s but the folks on the other end would need to be hip, and faxes do have time stamps and proofs that some laws require. Sometimes I’m require to prove a fax was sent and so I have the Brother’s print the “Record”, the record is a legal document. Believe it or not this faxing business gets very complicated and using email instead of fax, in some instances, is not legally acceptable, though the tides are turning.

Most folk’s requirements do not reach our level of medical or legal scrutiny, but just for future reference, if you need a verifiable legal document a PDF may not suffice.

[Parker]

Can you use the modem on your AirPort Extreme to send and receive faxes? If so, how could i go about setting that up?

[Mayo]

Hmmm... using the Mac to fax seems like more trouble than it is worth, especially if the user isn't computer-savvy.

My friend purchased an HP OfficeJet J5750 at Costco yesterday, so we'll see how it does... At least Good Ol' Costco has a 90-day return policy!

[sandbox]

QUOTE(Parker @ Apr 13 2007, 08:31 AM) [snapback]124436[/snapback]

Can you use the modem on your AirPort Extreme to send and receive faxes? If so, how could i go about setting that up?

here's a good thread on airport faxes:
http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?t=1691

[Parker]

QUOTE

My friend purchased an HP OfficeJet J5750 at Costco yesterday, so we'll see how it does... At least Good Ol' Costco has a 90-day return policy!

that's what i love about costco!