It was time to replace my aging 3-year old Kodak ESP 7 printer. Its ability to print photos was always strong, but I never really liked the way it printed business documents. It was slow, especially when printing a ‘first’ page.
But the bigger problem was its scanner. The unit would randomly lose its USB connection to my Mac Pro.
My troubleshooting routine would be: power the ESP off, then power it back on; pull its USB cable out and then plug it back in. Just hoping to reestablish a connection. Frustrating!
Perhaps the Mac OS X upgrades over the last few years introduced subtle incompatibilities; the scanning software just didn’t keep up — I can’t be sure. Kodak’s demise as a company didn’t give me much hope for future support. It was time to upgrade.
My evolving printing needs
- Like most people, I don’t print nearly as many pages as I used to. Nearly all my business documents — invoices, reports, spreadsheets, checks, and photos — are created in digital form and usually stay as digital documents. There’s almost no need to print on paper. Almost.
- I email all correspondence, proposals and invoices as PDFs.
- I used to print and mail checks (in printed envelopes) to pay my bills — but now pay nearly all bills online.
- As a side benefit, my postage expenses are way down, too!
After careful evaluation of all the multipurpose printers on the market — and there are many — I decided to purchase an Epson WorkForce 845 All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer .
What I like about the Epson WorkForce 845
- Business document printing is very fast.
- The quality is very good.
- It’s quiet.
- I do occasionally print 4×6 and 5×7 photographs. Although not quite as good as the excellent photo-quality of the Kodak ESP 7, the Epson Workforce 845 produces very good photo prints.
- In addition to USB, it has both wired Ethernet and WiFi networking capability.
- It has a duplex option (printing on both sides of a piece of paper).
- There are two paper trays for holding different types of paper stock.
- There’s a document feeder for scanning a stack of pages in one automated session.
- It ships with Extra High-capacity ink cartridges, not the low-volume starter cartridges you get with many inkjet printers.
What I don’t like:
- The sheet feeder scanner will only work if you’re connected via USB. It will not work for Ethernet or WiFi.
- Only the top paper tray has adjustable guides for different sized paper. It’s a bit inconvenient to swap out 8.5 x 11 paper for envelopes or 4×6 photo paper.
Related Product Links:
- Epson WorkForce 845 All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer
- Epson Bright White Paper (8.5×11 inches, 500 sheets)
- Epson DURABrite T127120-D2 Ultra 127 Extra High-capacity Inkjet Cartridge
- Epson DURABrite T127520 Ultra 127 Extra High-capacity Inkjet Cartridge Color Multipack-Cyan/Magenta/Yellow
Note: I’m using DevonTHINK Pro Office for document archiving and indexing. It works great!