Well, ever since our Brother printer gave up the ghost with a software boot loop, we’ve been limping along with an HP Laser Printer and it has worked well. The problem is that we’ve really missed the automatic document feader (ADF) and scanner since there are still lots of documents we’d like to scan automatically. You can use your phone but it’s a pain. This is also good for quick duplications of those same 20th century artifacts.
It’s pretty clear that getting a high quality printer matters (RIP Brother), so looking that the HP line the sweet spot seems to be the small business printer. They seem to cost an outlandish amount of $820 or so, but a single set will give you 2-4,000 color printouts rather than constantly having ink that dries out. So off to try this one.
Rtings like Brother and Canon because of their performance, but they don’t count reliability. Tom’s Guide like the Brothers as well and the low-end HP. Wirecutter only reviews printers only, but like the HP-2xx line. Great Sounds reviews more business oriented ones and the HP M479fdw seems to fit the bill. As usual, the code name tells alot if you can read it. The ‘M’ means multi function, then the 4xx line are the mid-range compared with the 2xx range. Finally, the suffixes provide features which are f for full color, d for double sided and w for WiFi for $820 at Amazon. Or you can go higher end with the HP M480f but you have to buy the other features as this is an enterprise printer. Expert Photography also rates the low-end systems and recommends the HP as well. Digital Trends also likes the M479fdw.
Buying one during Black Friday: $819 down nearly 25%!
This is actually quite a trick, but it helps to have both the Rakuten and the Honey browser plug ins. On Office Depot, they offered a 2000 points on PayPal Rewards that converts to $20. Also, I had $10 rewards that was about to expire. Finally, Honey offered 15% off of $200 gift cards. Overall a great deal, since I used the remaining amount with the American Express card, so the two year warranty gets expanded by a year. Woohoo!
