Suggestions for a consumer-level printer that will scan to USB without a PC connection?
in [Printers]
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From: davidd31415 on 7 Oct 2008 21:22 Hi, I'm looking for a printer that will scan to a USB drive without a PC connection. I would like this because I've found printer drivers to be unusually bloated. I install them on an old PC which does little more than print. Opening a remote desktop connection and waiting for the old PC to respond is never fun and I usually end up taking pictures instead of scanning. I'm looking for inexpensive. The HP C6180 is the least expensive I've found so far, at $300. I'm not quite sure if it will scan without PC connection yet but I do know it will scan to USB drive. David
From: davidd31415 on 7 Oct 2008 21:43 On Oct 7, 9:22 pm, davidd31415 <davidd31...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm looking for a printer that will scan to a USB drive without a PC > connection. > > I would like this because I've found printer drivers to be unusually > bloated. I install them on an old PC which does little more than > print. Opening a remote desktop connection and waiting for the old PC > to respond is never fun and I usually end up taking pictures instead > of scanning. > > I'm looking for inexpensive. The HP C6180 is the least expensive I've > found so far, at $300. I'm not quite sure if it will scan without PC > connection yet but I do know it will scan to USB drive. > > David Thinking about this a bit more... Since I started off hoping to buy an inexpensive printer for less than $100, if anyone can recommend a color inkjet that has scanning functionality and a very lightweight driver, I will consider purchasing that as well. An option I would be interested in paying a bit more for, at any stage, is a document feeder. I would be surprised to find something like this in the sub-$300 range though.
From: Arthur Entlich on 8 Oct 2008 03:52 I'm not really sure such a driver exists. Scans are a file format (usually jpegs) but most use a TWAIN of similar driver that involves the computer memory for temporary storage, and then it can be written to disk via the TWAIN or other intelligent software. I don't know that any scanner will make and store a file and then directly communicate to and write to hard drive, or any other simple memory devise, like a USB thumb drive. I'm quite willing to be proven wrong, however. Art If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste, I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog: http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/ davidd31415 wrote: > Hi, > > I'm looking for a printer that will scan to a USB drive without a PC > connection. > > I would like this because I've found printer drivers to be unusually > bloated. I install them on an old PC which does little more than > print. Opening a remote desktop connection and waiting for the old PC > to respond is never fun and I usually end up taking pictures instead > of scanning. > > I'm looking for inexpensive. The HP C6180 is the least expensive I've > found so far, at $300. I'm not quite sure if it will scan without PC > connection yet but I do know it will scan to USB drive. > > David >
From: IntergalacticExpandingPanda on 8 Oct 2008 06:08 On Oct 8, 12:52 am, Arthur Entlich <e-printerh...(a)mvps.org> wrote: > I don't know that any scanner will make and store a file and then > directly communicate to and write to hard drive, or any other simple > memory devise, like a USB thumb drive. > > I'm quite willing to be proven wrong, however. In order to do as the OP suggested, a AIO printer would need to have support for networking, and be able to understand how to access a shared folder, which I would agree, I'm not aware of any that exists. The closest thing is what you suggest, I think Epson has scanners which will scan to flash cards, and as such be accessible on the local PC as a local drive, it just happens to be the scanner's local drive as well.
From: IntergalacticExpandingPanda on 8 Oct 2008 06:47
On Oct 7, 6:43 pm, davidd31415 <davidd31...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > An option I would be interested in paying a bit more for, at any > stage, is a document feeder. I would be surprised to find something > like this in the sub-$300 range though. I just bought an extra canon mp830 with document feeder for $155 from buy.com, but they appear to be out of those. They do have the mp530 for $105 shipped http://www.buy.com/prod/canon-mp530-advanced-all-in-one-color-inkjet-printer-canon-pixma-mp530/q/loc/101/202866378.html It only has a 30 page document feeder, but it is a document feeder. Canon closes out all their old models in September to make way for the new models, which may or may not be improvements on the old one. The usual problem with the sub $100 AIO units is the fact that companies tend to use smaller more expensive per page cartridges on the cheaper units, and standard sized on the larger ones. This is not the case with the mp530, black is like $16 and 500-525 pages or about 3.2c/page @ 5% coverage. But near as I'm aware it won't scan to a usb drive, or memory card on the canons. I wasn't presented with the option. If you're near a frys you might want to check out there deals. http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/BuyEpson/ccHome.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes The Epson clearance store has a many solutions one with a sheet feeder for under $100. CX9400Fax -$65 shipped refurbished, $75 new from epson.com The T068120 13ml black cartridge costs $20 with an estimated 245-370 page yield, I'd guess 6c/page or so which is to be expected on a sub $100 unit. I don't know if it supports scanning to memory cards. The RX500/RX595 were the first Epson unit that I'm aware of that offered scanning to memory cards termed "Scan to Card" technology. ----------------------- Kodak 5300, a unit I've never seen or used, reports to have scan to card ability, and I presume by extension the 5500 would have it, which is $200 with autodoc feeder. The price for consumables on the Kodak are reasonable, a $10 black @ about 2.5c/page. Color I don't know about. ------------------- HP PhotoSmart C7250 also reports to be able to scan to USB card. |