AIO printers vs. dedicated printer

Joined
Aug 14, 2015
Messages
2,431
Location
CA, USA
I have never owned an AIO printer/scanner/copier before. The HP laserjet I've had for 6.5 years now needs repair. I want to get a replacement quickly if the repair is going to be as much as a new printer. I am looking at an HP Laserjet M29w. The drum is included in the toner ink (which is a must for me), and I can get good aftermarket toner for it for a reasonable price (also a must). I would probably buy it now, w/o bothering to take my old printer in for a repair estimate, except that it is an AIO. We already have a scanner, and only would use it for a printer. But my concern is that I'd rather not have the scanner/copier function go out on me after a few years, just to find that I can't print with it either. I've heard that AIO units are designed for offices that don't mind replacing them every so often, so longevity & reliability isn't as much a priority as something that can do everything in a confined space, for a few years.

So my questions:
1. do people with all in ones find that the scanner/copier parts go out quickly, after a few years? My current laserjet is 6.5 years old, the one I had that was still working when I sold it on amazon at 7 years old. So I want my printers to last more than just 2-4 years.

2. Even if the scanner/copier parts go out, can the laser printer part keep working? I guess I could call HP customer service, and very well might, but I'm not sure if they would know, or if that is the sort of info that shows up in the manuals that they have.
 
The scanner/copier parts are fairly simple from a mechanical perspective. They should last longer than the printer parts, but I guess it all depends on your specific usage patterns.

What can get messed up is ADF, if the particular AIO has one. That's what's misbehaving on our 7-year-old HP 8600 Pro AIO.
 
Unless it is just much quicker than our epson scanner, we probably wouldn't ever use the scanner/copier parts.

Now how long has ADF been misbehaving? And if you dont mind, what exactly has gone wrong--it won't spew the pages out, or constant jams, or???? Oh wait--ADF is only when you want to scan or copy, correct?

The scanner/copier parts are fairly simple from a mechanical perspective. They should last longer than the printer parts, but I guess it all depends on your specific usage patterns.

What can get messed up is ADF, if the particular AIO has one. That's what's misbehaving on our 7-year-old HP 8600 Pro AIO.
 
I have been using Canon MF (AIO) B/W Laser for more than 10 years and have been good without issue.
Toner is cheap since the reman toner ($10-$20) works fine in this printer.
 
Unless it is just much quicker than our epson scanner, we probably wouldn't ever use the scanner/copier parts.

Now how long has ADF been misbehaving? And if you dont mind, what exactly has gone wrong--it won't spew the pages out, or constant jams, or???? Oh wait--ADF is only when you want to scan or copy, correct?
ADF is used to scan/copy multiple pages in one go.

Ours just stopped picking up paper via ADF tray, about 3 years ago.
 
One option for me, that I might want to take advantage of is a 4 year Best Buy warranty for an additional 35 bucks. That's not bad at all, and I know from personal experience that BB is very good about honoring that warranty (did it once with a microwave, they took it in and issued the refund without even taking the microwave out of the box). So I could do take advantage of buying it on bestbuy if I wanted to. In case something goes south I could rely on that, at least in teh first 4 years.
 
OK, I see that buying drums won't bankrupt me. But I can get an AIO for only $10 more than the laserjet I'm thinking of, and then not have to worry about buying or inserting drums at all.

I've never had a printer that required a separate drum to be installed. Is there something that I'm not seeing about this? Or is your point, that it just isn't that huge a deal over the life of a printer?


I'd get a brother all in one.

the drum thing is over rated.. aftermarket is available for 20$ after 15000pages or whatever the drum duty cycle is for that model.
 
I only have experience with B&W laser printers from Brother, AIO from Canon / Epson, and ancient HP Deskjet (600 series).

The AIO I had was inkjet and they tends to have problem with the printing head or ink level sensors locking out my printing part of the AIO, the scanner seems to be fine, but they are the one page at a time on glass scanner (flat bed) rather than the automatic feeder. So far I have thrown away 2 AIO because the printer part crap out and I still need the color printer once in a while, and I don't want 3 printers / scanners (1 scanner, 1 color printer, and 1 B&W laser).

Brother seems to be very durable, so durable that I will not buy any other brand. It seems to be an honest design without weird ways to lock you out and into their own toner business non sense. I cannot say the same about HP or Lexmark, their printer businesses deserve to die.
 
I've been using a Brother laser AIO that I bought cheap in 2012, since it was a display model. The only thing I've ever done is feed it toner cartridges, but granted, I'm not a heavy user. Still using the original drum.

I don't use the scanner ADF, and can't even say if it works, but do use the flatbed scanner most often, and those functions have no bearing on the function of the printer portion.

I don't have any recent experience with HP's current products, but some of their consumer grade stuff from a little father back was a far cry from their stuff in the 90s, when Canon supplied their print engines. Printers aren't made to those standard now, regardless of brand, but even though Brother can also be lumped into that group on the surface, their printers have a deserved reputation for durability. And, despite efforts to discourage third party consumables, they remain readily available.

On principle alone, I'd think twice about the brands that have been aggressive in trying to prevent non-OEM consumables (looking at you, Lexmark).
 
Have been using a brother inkjet AIO for about 7 years. Was using another brother AIO prior to this one. The old one did not break down. The only reason I upgraded was because I needed a printer that printed double sided. The old one did not have this function but it was still working after about 8 years when I replaced it. Brother printers are great plus not picky with ink. I have always used discount third party cartridges. Had Lexmark and canon printers before that crapped out after about 2 years.
 
Seems like the AIOs can go the distance. OK I should find out today if I need to order a new printer or not. Thanks to you all for replying, I think I feel better about ordering an AIO if I need to.

I see that Brother has gotten a very good reputation. I was looking at their models last night, but saw that they all needed a dedicated drum. If I were to go that route, I'd probably stick with an HP. I am not a big fan of their "HP only ink" policy on some printers, but I have successfully navigated around that by buying HP printers that have good aftermarket support, so I'll stick with the devil I know. :)
 
you are badly over overthinking the drum thing. (not trying to be mean. just empathize my point)

the toner cartridge just snaps on top of it. takes like .25seconds to change a drum every 10 years.. I'm still on my org. drum after 9 years.

Basically you are worrying over nothing its like not buying a GREAT car because the tires might not go 100000 miles.
 
you are badly over overthinking the drum thing. (not trying to be mean. just empathize my point)

the toner cartridge just snaps on top of it. takes like .25seconds to change a drum every 10 years.. I'm still on my org. drum after 9 years.

Basically you are worrying over nothing its like not buying a GREAT car because the tires might not go 100000 miles.
Agreed, Brother uses their version of a drum.
Never had to change a drum and have had a few Brothers over the decades.
 
I realize you aren't being mean. This sort of feedback is why I posted my question. OK OK three of you are saying I'm overthinking the drum here. If you can correct me on my thinking about drums, bear with me and let me know what I'm missing. o_O

It is my understanding that drums only last a given number of pages. I print over 10K pages a year (85K pages on my current laser that is 6.5 years old). Most drums are listed on HP pages as lasting about 20K pages. That tells me that if I needed to replace the drum on this one, I would have paid some $80 if I used aftermarket toner @ $20 each. Or do drums not wear out with pages? I have thought that they do…. So its not that I absolutely cannot use a printer with a drum, just that it makes more financial sense for me to avoid one, when the HP M29 that I'm looking at is only $10 more than a printer that requires drum replacement.


you are badly over overthinking the drum thing. (not trying to be mean. just empathize my point)

the toner cartridge just snaps on top of it. takes like .25seconds to change a drum every 10 years.. I'm still on my org. drum after 9 years.

Basically you are worrying over nothing its like not buying a GREAT car because the tires might not go 100000 miles.
 
how much is your toner for the m29?

brother toner is about 8$-10$ aftermarket.

my personal dcp-7065dn
22$ for 2.. its cheaper if you buy ahead when on sale.

22$ for a drum

of course you need to make sure the model you get has cheap drum and toner available.
 
My solution is a brother laser printer, mine was about 89 dollars 10 years ago.

I have replaced two drums in it (about 10 bucks each), and feed it aftermarket toner whenever (usually once every 18 months).

Wife purchased an inkjet canon all in one wireless scanner that doesn't do any printing duty, and sits in another room.

It does scanning over the network. This was a 30 dollar printer FYI.

Also have the Brother printer plugged in via USB to my DDWRT equipped router, so any of the clients can print "wirelessly" to the printer. Pretty neat solution.
 
OK well the repair guy I trust locally doesn't want to work on it, he doesn't repair printers. He said there is one guy in town who does, but he charges 80 for a diagnostic. OK get ready for a redneck repair. He suggested I just tape the door shut (which was my problem that made me think I might need a new one) which I did, and it seems to work. If it doesn't last, then I'll just buy a new one.

As far as the HP laser drum goes, I found aftermarket for $18 for the laserjet M102w, which is rated for 12,000 pages. So in the 85K pages that I've printed up on my current laserjet, I would have bought $136 worth of drums for that printer. Another model, the m118dw, has aftermarket drums for $25-30 on amazon, which is rated for 23K pages. If I had that printer, I would be just finishing up a drum, having spent $100-120 on drums up till now.
 
I've been using Brother DCP-L2550DW for the past 3 years and am happy with it, printed about 6K pages or so and use scanner Auto Feeder all the time. Aftermarket toner is cheap and works great, aftermarket drums are available and cheap, Got another same AIO for my daughter when she started working from home.
 
Back
Top