Printer

Multi function printer (MFP) or sometimes being referred as All-in-One (AIO) is an important device for the reason that this is needed to print past exam paper that I downloaded from the website. :-)

The answer I obtained asking around many people who have a printer at home about how often they use the printer is quite amazing. Those without kids seldom use their printer but those with kids use quite often, either printing kids photo anytime they like or print school exam paper.  Some people told me that they print the paper in office but I believe we should not do that. Strictly speaking, one doing that may be fired for mis-appropriating his/her employer's asset. :-)

I discovered the convenience of having own AIO printer at home when I obtained my free HP AIO color injet printer. Having an AIO at home is really convenient because I don't have to go out to get ID or documents photo-copied. I seldom print photos due to the cost.

One effective way to teach kids is by asking them to redo some papers. With AIO, what I usually do is to scan the worksheet first. Then I edit the soft-copy. Since I cannot edit the PDF file, usually I paste the scan copy into Word or Power Point, and I create empty box to hide the unwanted portion.

The printer that I have today is the fifth AIO in eight years. That's a lot because of my ignorance and my unwillingness to replace the ink. When one ink is low, usually I would wait. As I waited too long the print head may be damaged as cleaning using the ink cannot be done when the ink is low.  In addition, although most of the time I only print black and white document, the color ink dry up pretty fast due to the cleaning process. I have to basically replace the ink every 6-8 months even though I seldom use colour printing.

Here are my 2-cents experience for those of you considering a printer with similar usage.

(a) Go for AIO or MFP, the scanner is really convenient.

(b) Don't go for injet if you usage of color printing is low. Your ink may end up drying up or wasted to clean the print head only.

(c) Consider Laserjet Black and White if your use is only printing documents and test exam papers.  :-)

At the point of writing, my survey reveals that HP MFP425dw is among the best per my need. It has duplex printing, very fast printing time, auto feeder that scan stacks of document with one click. I bought this under Trade Show for less than SGD500 after all the goodies.

I think this is much more cost efficient compared to buying a full set of ink every 6-8 months for my colour injet which may cost about close to SGD100. Hopefully I am right this time. 


Here's the link from Amazon for those of you in US :