The reports of the printer's death have been greatly exaggerated. True, both business and home users are printing less nowadays, but there are still many situations where a paper copy is needed. Businesses in particular often have requirements where a hard copy must be kept. Not to mention, All-in-One variants are even more useful, as scanning and copying are great values too.
While it isn't easy to get me excited about an All-in-One printer/scanner/copier, Epson has managed to do just that. How? With a name. The company is calling the Expression Home XP-420 a Small-in-One. Get it? "Small" instead of "all"? I found the name to be quite clever, as it takes up very little room. Upon further investigation, I was impressed with the low cost and features of this wireless printer.
"The Expression Home XP-420 offers a large, high-resolution 2.5-inch color LCD and touch panel, plus built-in memory card slots, for easy PC-free photo and document printing, scanning and copying. The Expression XP-420 also enables users to edit, scan and share photos directly to Facebook or other popular cloud services all in one single workflow", says Epson America, Inc.
Carrie Brown, Group Product Manager, Consumer Ink Jets, Epson America, Inc. explains, "designed with a new suite of features and mobile functionality, the Expression Home XP-420 printer caters to a range of printing, scanning, copying and creative needs for today’s connected homes, as well as individuals on-the-go. With such a compact footprint, the XP-420 makes a great addition for families and individuals who require a high-quality, affordable printing solution to fit within smaller environments such as a home office, wall shelving, living room or a dorm room".
Epson lists the following specs.
Printing Technology: 4-color (CMYK) drop-on-demand MicroPiezo inkjet technology
Minimum Ink Droplet Size: 3 picoliters
Maximum Print Resolution: 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi
ISO Print Speed:
- Black: 9.0 ISO ppm
- Color: 4.5 ISO ppm
Copy Quality:
- Color
- Black / White
- Draft
- Normal
Copy Quantity: 1 - 99 (PC-free)
Maximum Copy Size: 8.5 inch x 11 inch
Scanner Type: Color flatbed
Photoelectric Device: Color CIS line sensor
Optical Resolution: 1200 dpi
Hardware Resolution: 2400 dpi
Maximum Resolution: 10,200 x 14,040 dpi interpolated
Scanner Bit Depth: 48-bit color / 24-bit output
Ink Type: DURABrite Ultra pigment ink (smudge, fade, and water resistant)
Ink Palette: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black
Ink Cartridge Configuration: 4 individual ink cartridges
Fade Resistance / Print Longevity: Up to 118 years
Replacement Ink Cartridges:
- 220 Standard-capacity Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
(Yield, ISO pages — Black: 175, Color: 165) - 220XL High-capacity Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
(Yield, ISO pages — Black: 500 Color: 450)
Standard Connectivity:
- Hi-Speed USB 2.0
- Wireless Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n )
- Wi-Fi Direct
Operating Systems:
- Windows 8.x (32-bit, 64-bit)
- Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit)
- Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit)
- Windows XP SP3 or higher (32-bit)
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Mac OS X 10.6.8 - 10.10.x
The Epson Expression Home XP-420 Small-in-One printer retails for $99.99, but is available from Epson here for $79.99 with free shipping. Quite frankly, you are getting a lot of bang for your buck. It supports Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print out of the box, meaning you can print from an iPhone, iPad, or Chromebook. You can even print from Android devices, including Amazon's Kindle Fire.
If you do not print often, but have the occasional need, this looks like a smart buy for a home user, small business or student. If you have a cramped workspace (dorm room or home office), and need an All-in-One, you should definitely take notice too.
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