What Is An All-in-One Printer, and Do You Need One?

Quick Answer: An all-in-one printer prints, scans and copies in one machine. Small and home offices can benefit from features such as automatic document feeders, automatic two-sided printing and larger ink capacities. Brother's Work Smart 1360, INKvestment 1365 and INKvestment 4355 are wireless all-in-ones with these features (plus more) and are all sold at Best Buy .

The all-in-one printer, scanner and copier machine is a fixture of large offices everywhere, but now they're small and cost-effective enough for any size workplace. Taking up the same footprint as a standalone home printer, modern all-in-one printers offer the same features as large-scale machines, such as automatic document feeding and two-sided duplex printing.

Brother's INKvestment line of all-in-one printers at Best Buy , including the Work Smart 1360 and INKvestment 1365 , offers both features and more. Whether you have a small business location or a home office, an all-in-one printer can save on time and money.

Here's what you need to know about all-in-one printers and how to shop for one.

What is an all-in-one printer?

An all-in-one printer combines color and grayscale printing capabilities with a scanner and a copier, all in a single device with a desktop footprint no bigger than a standalone home office printer .

These machines are ideal for small offices of all kinds that print and scan forms, contracts, receipts, shipping labels or any multipage documents. An all-in-one machine is both a space- and cost-saving investment, taking the place of a standalone scanner, copier and printer.

Do I really need a printer that scans and copies?

It's hard to imagine any office, even a small home office, where scanning a document or making an extra copy isn't helpful in a pinch, especially if the alternative is a trip to the copy shop. And since most reliable all-in-one machines are often close in price to conventional budget printers, the added luxury of scanning and copying is a bonus, not a burden.

Have all-in-one machines improved since the fax machine days?

Modern all-in-one machines have evolved quite a bit since the first models. In the early era of all-in-one printer/scanner/copiers, sheet-feeding capabilities were limited, unreliable or nonexistent, and fax machine features added a lot of physical bulk.

With automatic document feeders (ADF) and automatic duplexing (printing on both sides without re-inserting the paper), today's all-in-one machines are much more professional, reliable and streamlined.

Can the sheet-fed scanner save directly to my cloud storage?

Yes, Brother's all-in-one machines offer direct connectivity with most major cloud storage services, including Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive, combining scanning and archiving into a single workflow.

What is a Brother INKvestment, and is it a tank printer?

Designed for home or small professional offices, Brother's INKvestment line of all-in-one printers significantly reduce daily printing costs by storing larger quantities of ink, whether in cartridges (INKvestment) or in reservoirs (INKvestment Tank).

Typical all-in-one machines has enough ink capacity for around 200 grayscale pages, whereas Brother's INKvestment 1365 can print 1,200 and the INKvestment 4355 can print 1,800. That's up to nine times more ink capacity than other all-in-ones.

Does Brother offer ink cartridge services or subscriptions?

Yes, Brother's Refresh subscription monitors the black and color ink levels and usage in eligible all-in-one printer models and mails new cartridges when needed to prevent any unwanted interruptions.

Which Brother all-in-one printer fits your home office?

While Brother's Work Smart 1360 , INKvestment 1365 and INKvestment 4355 machines are all perfect fits for a small or home office, the right machine for you might come down to print speed or ink capacity. Also consider how much you'll need to print in greyscale versus color (cyan, magenta and yellow, or CMY), as each machine has different ink capacities. Here's how they line up:

Brother all-in-one printers at a glance

Each printer model mentioned here is virtually the same size as the other, so they'll all have about the same footprint in your space. Just note that the INKvestment 4355 is two inches wider and weighs three pounds more than both the INKvestment 1365 and the Work Smart 1360.

Where's the best place to buy a Brother all-in-one printer?

For the best price on all Brother inkjet printers, head to your local Best Buy or check out BestBuy.com. There you can find the Work Smart 1360 , the INKvestment 1365 , the INKvestment 4355 and the rest of the available Brother printer models .

FAQ

What's an ADF and do you need one?

An automatic document feeder (ADF) pulls a stack of pages through the scanner in sequence, allowing you to scan or copy a multipage document without lifting the lid and replacing every page. If you regularly scan stacks of contracts, tax forms or receipts, it can save you a lot of time. Brother's Work Smart 1360, INKvestment 1365 and INKvestment 4355 all have a 20-sheet capacity single-sided ADF.

What does duplex printing mean?

In printer parlance, duplex just means printing on both sides of the page. With automatic duplex capability, the printer flips the sheet for you, so you don't have to reorder and reload pages by hand, nor risk the printing errors that come with manual loading. All three Brother all-in-ones available at Best Buy print two-sided automatically, which can cut your paper costs in half.

How much ink comes in the box with a printer?

It depends on the model. For grayscale pages (using only the black ink cartridge), Brother ships the Work Smart 1360 with starter ink rated for about 200 pages, while the INKvestment 1365 and INKvestment 4355 have enough black ink for 1,200 and 1,800 respectively.

Since they mix different cartridges, color yields are a little harder to measure, but the Work Smart 1360 ships with enough ink to tackle about 200 pages in color, also called CMY. The INKvestment 1365 ships with a 500-page CMY capacity and the INKvestment 4355 ships with a 750-page color-printing capacity.

Do you need an ink subscription for a Brother printer?

No, you do not need an ink subscription to use a Brother all-in-one printer. While Brother's optional Refresh service monitors each individual cartridge's ink level and ships replacements automatically, each black or color cartridge is also available as a standalone item that you can buy at your discretion. Every Brother all-in-one available at Best Buy is eligible for a Refresh subscription.

Is an all-in-one printer worth it for working from home?

For most people who print, scan or copy at home a few times a month, yes. A single all-in-one machine replaces a separate printer and scanner, taking up less desk space. When shopping, look for wireless printing capability, auto duplex for easy two-sided printing and an ADF for scanning or copying multipage documents.

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