Printers plays a vital role. It is used for office purpose and also for personal use. The development of printers today is achieving towards printers with multi function capability. Multifunction Printers are able to operate as a scanner, document copier and also as a fax (besides the main job which is printing documents!).

In this hub, I am going to compare 6 different multifunction inkjet printers. The comparison is based on performance (the speed in producing output) and the quality of the output. The product brands reviewed in this comparison are printers from Brother, Canon, Epson and Hewlett-Packard.

In this review we tested the Brother MFC -490CW. This multifunction printer uses an inkjet with CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) ink type. This type of inkjet is used to create printing quality with color photo standards. As a multifunction printer, this machine also functions as a fax, scanner, and a copier.  For faxing purposes, this printer has a 33,6 Kbps modem.

Talking about connectivity with other devices, this printer is equipped with USB 2.0, integrated card reader and even wireless device. This printer also has a PicBridge feature to help photography lovers create photo quality prints straight from their camera.

Talking about performance, overall the quality of this product is great.  We benchmarked the warming up time, and the bundled drivers are quite easy to use for installation. Installing ink cartridge is also easy to do.

This printer also has a Widescreen 3,3” LCD for manual control of the printer.

The next product tested is also from Brother. Like the MFC-490CW, this printer also uses the CMYK ink system. The MFC-6490 CW is also a multifunction product with the ability of fax, scan and copier. For the faxing ability, this printer is equipped with a 33.6 Kbps integrated modem. Connectivity of this printer is also the same as the previous one. It has USB 2.0, RJ-11, RJ-45 (LAN) and also Wireless (Wi-Fi). This printer could also be used as a printer server.  

PicBridge is also available so you could command to print photos straight from a digital camera with PicBridge support. Card reader is also integrated. The unique thing about this printer is when you want to connect to USB or RJ-456, you have to open the cover first because both o these ports are hidden inside the printer.

Talking about performance, overall score is great, but the speed of photo printing is a little bit slower compared to the other printers. The real speed is around 98,89 seconds.

This printer is also equipped with a 3,3” widescreen LCD. You can command your multifunction printer without touching your PC. Another feature that is useful is the Secure Function Lock where you can limit access to faxing, printing, scanning and copying. What differ this product from the previous one is that this product has 2 different tray to accommodate 2 different paper size.

Canon PIXMA MX 7600 is a complete multifunction printer. This printer has a fax, copier and scanning ability. The ink systems used are 6 individual inks which are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, 2 Black and Clear.

Because it’s a fax machine, this printer is equipped with 33.6 Kbps integrated modem. The connectivity is supported by USB 2.0 high speed, card slots and Ethernet port. This printer could be used as a printer server.

The performance of this product is great. But the scanning is quite slow, taking 77,8 seconds. For the print quality, I think it’s excellent, that goes the same for the photo copy.

One downside of this product is the installation time that takes a lot of time. This product is quite expensive compared to the other printers, but sadly it is not equipped with Wi-Fi.

Here are the benchmark results:

Warming up time 100%

Print Text A4 Time 41%

Print Graphic A4 Time (high Res 600 dpi) 100%

Scanning Text A4 Time (300 dpi) 26%

Scanning Graphic A4 Time (300 dpi) 100%

Printed Text Quality 85%

Printed Graphic Quality 90%

Quality of Scan Result 90%

Total Performance 76%

Ergonomic and Functionality 82%

Overall Results 100%

This multifunction printer has a feature of a scan and copier minus faxing ability. This printer uses the CMYK ink system. Available connectivity feature are only USB 2.0 and card reader.

There aren’t any additional features. There are only 2 buttons which are Print Photo and Index Sheet. This printer has a colored 1,5” LCD, to manually control your printer function.

Overall performance of this product is great with excellent print, scan and copy quality. The downside of this product is probably the speed.

The installation of this printer is quite easy where you can easily auto-install the drivers. In the CD driver you can also get Epson Easy Photo Print, Epson Web-To-Page and Online Guide. The ink cartridge is also easy to install.

Here are the benchmark results:

Warming up time 26%

Print Text A4 Time 80%

Print Graphic A4 Time (high Res 600 dpi) 11%

Scanning Text A4 Time (300 dpi) 24%

Scanning Graphic A4 Time (300 dpi) 19%

Printed Text Quality 95%

Printed Graphic Quality 100%

Quality of Scan Result 90%

Total Performance 65%

Ergonomic and Functionality 88%

Overall Results 71%

In this review we welcome a printer from Hewlett-Packard. HP F735 a multifunction printer with a print, scan and copy ability. The ink system used was the standard ink system which was 1 black ink and 1 colored ink.

This printer has standard connectivity feature. It is only equipped with USB 2.0. The overall performance is great in terms for the print quality. The speed couldn’t be compared with other printers because this printer is quite slow.

Software and ink installation is easy but this product isn’t equipped with a LCD screen.

Here are the benchmark results:

Warming up time 26%

Print Text A4 Time 61%

Print Graphic A4 Time (high Res 600 dpi) 16%

Scanning Text A4 Time (300 dpi) 41%

Scanning Graphic A4 Time (300 dpi) 37%

Printed Text Quality 85%

Printed Graphic Quality 75%

Quality of Scan Result 70%

Total Performance 57%

Ergonomic and Functionality 88%

Overall Results 64%

The HP OfficeJet 8500 has much better features compared to the previous ones. The ink system used is the CMYK system.

This printer has a fax, scan and a copier function. This printer is equipped with an integrated modem. The connectivity supported are USB 2.0, RJ-45 (Ethernet), Card Reader and RJ-11. This printer is also equipped with wireless connection (Wi-Fi). We could use this printer as a print server. Additional feature such as PicBridge is also available.

The performance of this product is great but the warming up time is rather slow. After I observed, the warming up time also include the head cleaning process which is done automatically.

Overall installation is quite easy although reading the manual will of course, help you.

Here are the benchmark results:

Warming up time 6%

Print Text A4 Time 79%

Print Graphic A4 Time (high Res 600 dpi) 30%

Scanning Text A4 Time (300 dpi) 97%

Scanning Graphic A4 Time (300 dpi) 100%

Printed Text Quality 85%

Printed Graphic Quality 90%

Quality of Scan Result 95%

Total Performance 79%

Ergonomic and Functionality 100%

Overall Results 86%

For the conclusion, I guess you can purchase a multifunction printer based on what you really need. Don’t’ forget the price factor is also important but I think the quality and speed of printers should be reasoned first.

Thank you!