<p>Is it better to have a regular printer (with a small footprint), or an all-in-one printer (that can also scan & copy)? My son will be in a dorm room (read: small), and although I can see the obvious benefits of the all-in-one, I wonder if those benefits out weigh the additional space it will take up.</p>
<p>Also, do roommates tend to share printers, or does each have his own?</p>
<p>Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>Sharing printers depends on what has been negotiated. It’s a big hassle to have to divvy up the money and decide who gets what at the end, but it does save space.</p>
<p>All-in-one! I went to boarding school and my suitemate had an all-in-one which I always used hehe. I had to scan things !so! many times. You can put it under the table while it’s not being used (that’s what suitemate did)</p>
<p>Ideally, sharing the printer is the way to go. Also, having the ability to copy and scan can be critical for last minute projects. The all-in-one compacts don’t take up much more room than a stand alone. You’d probably want it to be wireless. We bought the one below. There are many models around the same price range. Buy.com, Amazon, or Newegg.com seem to have the best prices. I highly recommend Brother printers. Read reviews on almost any model.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Brother MFC-7840W Laser Multifunction Center with Wireless and Ethernet Network Interfaces: Electronics](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0016ZQ566?tag=studentreaders-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B0016ZQ566&adid=0THKGJA31H71HAVW2CYZ&]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0016ZQ566?tag=studentreaders-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B0016ZQ566&adid=0THKGJA31H71HAVW2CYZ&)</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback.</p>
<p>I will be buying my son an HP laptop (tablet), and it comes with an HP Deskjet D4360 (regular printer) for free, or for $32 we can get an HP Deskjet F4280 (all-in-one (P,S,C), but not wireless). So I am trying to decide between those two printers.</p>
<p>check the cost of ink for the two.</p>
<p>i dont know if they still do this, but they used to sell low end printers super cheap that required special cartages that were expensive.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, many all-in-ones aren’t even that large these days.</p>
<p>I’m going to be bringing an all-in-one to my dorm.</p>
<p>I haven’t had great experiences with low end printers, especially HP. I agree with aforautumn-see if it is really saving you that much money. The Brother non-wireless version of the printer I mentioned is like $170 or so. Read the reviews on the free HPs and see what people think.</p>
<p>I just visited my local Staples to compare the size of the 2 printers. The all-in-one is only a little bigger than the printer. I did also check the ink cost, in both cases the prices were pretty typical.</p>
<p>The reviews on the 2 printers were ok, not great. In the “you get what you pay for” vein.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure we’ll go with the all-in-one, given that it isn’t much bigger, and the price is right.</p>
<p>We’ve had good luck with Canon All-in-one printers. We have 3 of them (one for home, one for each college kid). I think we only paid about $80 for each one. We chose a printer/scanner/copier combo (didn’t need a FAX) model.</p>
<p>Lots of folks will list printers as an unnecessary item for a college student. it know it was for my daughter. There was access to printing all over the place. You pint from you laptop, then pick it up not too many steps away.Space was way harder to come by. I love my Cannon all-in-one, though.</p>