[iBook] All in one printer/fax/copier for Mac?

[Geoffrey Rosenberg]

on 3/17/2006 8:28 PM, ibook-request at listserver.themacintoshguy.com at
ibook-request at listserver.themacintoshguy.com wrote:

> Re: [iBook] All in one printer/fax/copier for Mac?

I have been thru the ringer on this one lately.

I had an HP 3330MFP, which was a good laser engine printer for the Mac and
also a good fax, plus a capable utility copier - cost around $500-700 new.
The recent version was the 3380MFP, and was little changed.

These units come with a lot of half-baked HP software that does not properly
work with OS X. Maybe with OS9, but not with OS X.

Good news is that all-around drivers for it are a part of the OS X load, but
not for the scanner functions, I don't believe. I had it in use for 2 and a
half years, or around 3500 pages when it went flaky. The scan unit couldn't
find its stop point and so wandered constantly. There was no off switch, so
pulling the plug restarts, but does not reset the situation. Finally, I
found out that the problem is small amounts of dust or toner seeping into
the mirror unit for the scanner, causing it to be unable to read its stops.
There is a long instruction dissertation on an HP forum to repair it.

In the mean time, I needed to resolve my lack of a fax and print tool. Here
is what I found - Do not buy a Canon, because the support is missing for a
Mac. Do not give HP any more revenue, because the situation with the 3330MFP
is inexcusable and HP ignored me - in fact, they wanted $30 just to talk to
them!! Wouldn't listen to anything without a credit card to molest...

Ultimately I went to a company I had not bought from before - Brother!

I bought a Brother MFC-8840D laser multi-function which copies, faxes at
33.6K, and prints duplex to both sides automatically... That last is a great
feature usually reserved for much more expensive machines. My Apple
LaserWriter 8500 was a $3000 device in 1998, yet it didn't duplex unless you
bought an attachment for hundreds of dollars more. Great machine I still
own, but it doesn't fax.

I would highly recommend the Brother MFC-8840D duplexing machine which costs
around $450 complete with a full cartridge, not a starter cartridge like HP
does. I haven't had a problem once with it in 6 months. I would recommend
considering a service plan that makes sense and is fairly priced.

I am not going to be surprised again like I was with the HP, out of
commission at 2.5 years of age.

Regards,

Geoff