Network pritner/scanner?

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Deleted member 12106

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I need at least 1 printer/scanner for our remote office. The operation and maintenance of the unit needs to be simple and straight forward.

What it needs to have:
Web managed interface
Ability to indicate how much paper is in it
Ability to indicate how much toner is left
Ability to be managed as if you where in front of it from a web ui
Top-feed scanner
scan to email or scan to network
Full duplexing
Terminal server environment friendly(print and scan)

Nice to have:
dual paper trays
color

The environment this is going to be used in is a warehouse-type location. There will be dust, and people that may not be too savy on troubleshooting printer problems so reliability and web management are key.

My budget is open, I'd like to keep it at or under a grand.

Unit's I am looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828113431
Brother MFC-8890dw

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828104532
HP LaserJet M3035

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828112158
Samsung SCX-5835FN

I'm more interested in user reviews from the network admin point of view in terms of any issues and networking.

The environment is going to be like this:
Servers are hosted at main site, site a
Printer will be at site b
Site and and b are connected with openvpn
Printer/scanner mapped to terminal server for scanning/printing
Docs dumped to terminal server or network share, may be network share at site b end

One of the issues I have now is that the samsung scx we have comes with software that needs to be installed on a pc to scan to it, you cannot setup a traditional network folder for the scans. The software tells it where to put it.

In the terminal server environment, it corrupts the print driver and doesn't work, so I had to install the drivers/scanner software on an old server and then map the printer to the terminal server then set the software to dump the scans to a network drive. This has been working.

We have a ricoh copy/scanner where you can tell it dump files here and it requires no software to be installed anywhere, no drivers to do this, it rips to pdf and dumps it. This is what I am after.
 
Well having deployed eleventy-billion HP printers in the past (all sizes and types) they will always get a recommendation from me. Almost all the printers now have web GUIs that you can perform maintenance from.

I've had the same LaserJet 1000 on my desk for the last 7 years or so and it still works as well as the day I unpacked it.
 
elleana said:
Why is the brother model one third the price of the HP?
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Prob because it is a POS or the cartridges are expensive.

mattjw916 said:
Well having deployed eleventy-billion HP printers in the past (all sizes and types) they will always get a recommendation from me. Almost all the printers now have web GUIs that you can perform maintenance from.

I've had the same LaserJet 1000 on my desk for the last 7 years or so and it still works as well as the day I unpacked it.
Click to expand...

Any with scanners or a heads up on the level of the paper tray?
 
I use brother models exclusively it seems. Put 2 mfc-8480dn at and office. Scan to ftp, and driver install. Works good.

Should work for you. They have been dead reliable. Toner is 100 bucks msrp, 6000 pages. No issues uet, have sold a lot of the mfc and hl line thid year, will no next year reliability of them.

For the price can't beat. HP will be more money, some need the software loaded to scan need to verify if it can scan to ftp or share. Samsung meh, skip
 
sc0tty8 said:
Any with scanners or a heads up on the level of the paper tray?
Click to expand...
Huh? Your users can't figure out if it's out of paper or not without an SNMP trap being sent to an admin so their hands can be held? I don't know of any that warn in advance of running out of paper but then again I never looked for that feature. I set up some that had scanners but I never solicited feedback on their performance.
 
mattjw916 said:
Huh? Your users can't figure out if it's out of paper or not without an SNMP trap being sent to an admin so their hands can be held? I don't know of any that warn in advance of running out of paper but then again I never looked for that feature. I set up some that had scanners but I never solicited feedback on their performance.
Click to expand...

If I am diagnosing why a printer doesn't work and I am 6 hours away, I want to know if the unit has paper. Right now one of our operations is 4 hours away and yes, I have to remind them to put paper in the printer.
 
I installed a Brother DCP-8080dn for a client on this past Friday. Nice unit. It has almost all of the features you want, except the "how much paper is in it". The web interface can only do diagnostics and configuration of the "copier", not initiate scans, prints, or copies. I say "copier" because that is what Brother calls it. The DCP line seems to get more Printed Pages Per Toner, than the MFC line. MFC line is good if you do 1,500pgs to 3,000 a month. DCP is cheaper in the long term if you do more printing than the MFC per month (using standard toner cartridges).

The scan to e-mail feature, I haven't used. I did do the Scan-to-Computer and it worked fine for my client's needs. I installed the scan software on the one of the client computers and that's how I used it. So I am not sure if it requires that software to be installed in order to dump the file where ever you want.

I downloaded and installed Win2003 drivers and set up shared printers from the server. Worked like a charm. As for scanning from the server, I didn't set that up. I suppose it should work however in a Terminal Server.

As for reliability, I've installed several Brother printers and Multi-function printers and have had zero problems with them. Do your research though. I made the mistake of getting an MFC instead of a DCP for a client. He goes through toner like crazy. I forgot to ask him how many pages he printed per month on average :(
 
Have 3 8480dn's in service at 2 offices for the past year. One of them hit 25k pages with no issues.

I love them over HP's because the features, price, and driver install is painless.
 
I have never used any of those multi function devices, but I would recommend HP.

My HP Color Laserjet 4500DN which we bought in 1999 has a nifty web interface that shows the front panel.
jetadmin.jpg
 
hawk82 said:
The DCP line seems to get more Printed Pages Per Toner, than the MFC line. MFC line is good if you do 1,500pgs to 3,000 a month. DCP is cheaper in the long term if you do more printing than the MFC per month (using standard toner cartridges).

I made the mistake of getting an MFC instead of a DCP for a client. He goes through toner like crazy. I forgot to ask him how many pages he printed per month on average :(
Click to expand...

Interesting.

According to Brother's website, the only difference between these two machines is fax modem integration.

They both take the exact same cartridges, have the exact same hardware specs, are the exact same size [design].

Perhaps that one client is just printing more. Or printing at a higher quality setting (1200dpi instead of 600dpi.. ink saver turned off rather than on).
 
Just to add another multifunction to the list we use toshiba E-studios and they are pretty reliable although ours have full maintenance contracts.

How's your print spooling performance? That has been an issue for us spooling on the print server that is a long distance away.
 
timberdoodle said:
Just to add another multifunction to the list we use toshiba E-studios and they are pretty reliable although ours have full maintenance contracts.

How's your print spooling performance? That has been an issue for us spooling on the print server that is a long distance away.
Click to expand...

With our operation 4 hours away it has been about a 1 or 2 second lag.Not a BFD.
 
Just to tell hawk and to.bring up again. Some of the model do scan to ftp, which I would recommend. I hate installing software on multiple machines if I doing have to. Normally make a SCANS directory in the redirected my docs and create shortcut on the redirected desktop.

Easy on me the admin, and just a phone call saying hit scan to ftp and hit ur name or whatever I created the scan profile as. Those are created on web gui.

Mfc has fax, dcp does not
 
marley1 said:
Just to tell hawk and to.bring up again. Some of the model do scan to ftp, which I would recommend. I hate installing software on multiple machines if I doing have to. Normally make a SCANS directory in the redirected my docs and create shortcut on the redirected desktop.

Easy on me the admin, and just a phone call saying hit scan to ftp and hit ur name or whatever I created the scan profile as. Those are created on web gui.

Mfc has fax, dcp does not
Click to expand...

There's no FTP service that needs to be running locally? A network share is all you need? I might order one of those brothers today.
 
you can scan to a network share (smb) or to ftp. I always do FTP as it seems easier to setup and administer. would need a ftp server running on the server/machine that will get the scans. but its local so it doesn';t have to be open to the world.
 
I take back what I said about the MFC vs DCP series. The client I have that uses a ton of toner has a Color Brother Laser *Printer*, without all of the multifunction stuff. Completely separate deal.
 
How durable are the brother's? We would be doing 10-100 scans a day of oily/dirty paper to send it to the home office for review.

It seems for a scanner/copier/printer form HP that is at least $1500, the brother is under $400. IS this one of those things that comes down to "you get what you are paying for?"

This is going to be used in a warehouse type environment.
 
I havn't put a brother MFC through 100 scans per day, but in normal office use they hold up really well. Having deployed quite a few myself and not one has broken yet.
 
The difference in price is shown right on the front page. Duty cycle HP: 75000 vs Brother: 30000 pages monthly. While mileage may very the HP should provide less maintenance issues.
 
sc0tty8 said:
How durable are the brother's? We would be doing 10-100 scans a day of oily/dirty paper to send it to the home office for review.

It seems for a scanner/copier/printer form HP that is at least $1500, the brother is under $400. IS this one of those things that comes down to "you get what you are paying for?"

This is going to be used in a warehouse type environment.
Click to expand...

we have one at a waste company in the trailer, the guys use it for printing, fax, scanning, in a very dusty/dirty environment no issues.

i never understood why hte HP had the higher premium. I would suggest to go with it. You have a 1 year warranty with it, same with other. Duty cycle is for printed pages. I think its a good unit.

Other option would be a dedicated network scanner (scansnap or somethign). but you will be up there in price
 
In my experience, the HP units are easier/cheaper to repair if and when they break. All of the Brother units I have supported worked as advertised, and they certainly were cheaper, but when something went wrong with them, it was something that couldn't be replaced short of getting an entire new unit. When I calculated our TCO, the HP stuff always came out ahead. The benefit of HP paper eaters is that parts are easy to come by, and everyone in the world knows how to fix them. But if you're not going to be pushing the duty cycles to the absolute limit every day for years and years, then the Brother equipment will probably work for you - just know that you'll probably always be looking at replacement vs. repair on them - and maybe that's not a bad thing. I have some HP stuff from 1999 that's on its 5th or 6th cycle of replaced parts that I would love to get rid of, while the Xerox and Brother stuff doesn't live as long and we end up with newer models every few years.

Xerox also makes some good MFC's (like the Phaser 6180MFC) that can do what was outlined in the OP, their cost is (probably, maybe?) comparable to the Brother MFC's, and they have a few more replaceable parts than the Brothers do.
 
we are (mostly) strictly an HP shop.

I currently support a couple of the M4345's, along with numerous other HP MFP models.

The scan to network and scan to email functions have always performed flawlessly (sans network issues, of course).

I, personally, would recommend an HP unit. They are SIMPLE to setup. Unlike a Konica-Minolta I had to fart with for literally hours, only to find out it simply will not communicate with our LDAP; not once had that issue with any HP. Then a couple more hours spent just trying to figure out how to configure the damn thing from the horrible horrible web interface.

On the 4345 anyway, the web interface will tell you if a tray has paper, or is out.

Code: 
Media 
Input/Output Status Capacity Size Type 
Tray 1   Empty 100 Sheets Any Size Any Type 
Tray 2   OK 500 Sheets Letter Plain 
Left output bin   OK N/A N/A
 
Ditto

HP = slightly higer initial cost, bullet proof in comparison to most, and cheaper/easier to repair. As an example, I still have a few LJ4+/5's (1997) scattered around. Some have 500 and 600k pages on them and still kickin'... Cax6ton mentioned that HP really hasn't gotten the hang of planned obsolesence yet. Very true. Take that as you will.
 
Interesting. In a warehouse environment, whatever machine you put in there will probably die quickly due to dust. Maybe see if there is an office or closet you can put it in to keep it out of the dirty environment.
 
sc0tty8 said:
Due to budget reasons I decided to pull the trigger and get a Brother. When it fails I'll look at an HP or a more full-blown copy/scanner from a local photocopy company.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828113434

That's the beast.
Click to expand...

Let us know how you like it.

That is the same model I am looking at. Full Duplex - printing + scanning :).

I am waiting until after Black Friday. Never know if these things will go on sale.
 
been deploying brother MFCs as of late too... i got a STEAL on 10-11 big DELL mfcs (built by xerox) but that dried up, so moving on to the brothers now... the price difference really seems like HP doesn't have any competitive printers in the laser MFC market... brother has like 8 different models... HP's cost 3x as much...

i just don't think they're competing in that market.... color laser printer-only applications i find myself seriously considering the HPs, but not in the MFC part
 
Gotta jump in the thread to pimp Canon imageRunners....I have lots of clients with those, easy for me to setup, Good web management, they even have agents that notify you with updates of status of things on it.
 
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