Top 10 Best Touch-Screen Printers

Move over, tablets and smart phones. A growing number of printers sporting touch screens have hit the scene. We give you the top 10 best touch-screen printers on the market today.

Touch screens have become commonplace on smart phones and they're a necessity for tablets; even some desktop all-in-one PCs sport one. Now, touch screens have migrated to printers as well. A touch-based interface is particularly good for multi-function printers (MFPs), whose users may have to quickly switch between tasks.

HP and Lexmark have been at the forefront of the move to bring Web-enabled printers to consumers and businesses. Touch screens are natural interfaces for running Web apps. In part because of this, HP and Lexmark have brought more touch-screen printers to market than other manufacturers.

Both HP and Lexmark have a combination of business- and consumer-oriented Web apps. HP's Web apps, featured in printers like the HP Photosmart eStation (which has a touch panel that doubles as a basic tablet/ereader) and HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One, tend to be more consumer-friendly; the screens of these photo-centric printers are also great for previewing photos.

Lexmark's apps tend to be geared more to business, and are featured in small-office machines like the snazzy Lexmark Genesis S816. The Epson WorkForce 840 All-in-One, also a small-office MFP, doesn't have print apps, but it comes equipped a lovely touch screen.

In office multi-function printers (MFPs) like the Lexmark c792de, Lexmark X548dte, HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw, and HP Laserjet Enterprise M4555h MFP, touch screens are used primarily for easy access to the printer's multi-function features (scanning, copying, and faxing). That's also the case with the Dell 2355dn and Brother MFC-9970CDW.

Not every printer needs a touch screen, but including one makes the user experience easier and more pleasant. Touch-screen printers tend to be more expensive than non-touch models, but the screen is added value and for many that is worth the boost in price. More and more printer manufacturers are adding a distinctive, attractive, and user-friendly touch (pun intended) to their products. Web-enabled printers need touch screens to run apps, so as more manufacturers introduce such models, we'll see a boom in printers with screens that respond to the touch of a finger.

Featured in this Roundup

Brother MFC-9970CDW
$700 street

The Brother MFC-9970CDW's output quality is a little disappointing for graphics and photos, but the color laser multifunction printer offers fast speed, high quality text, and lots of features.

Dell 2355dn Multifunction Mono Laser Printer
$599.99 direct

The Dell 2355dn Multifunction Mono Laser Printer delivers acceptable speed, output quality, and paper handling paired with an exceptional wealth of features.

Epson WorkForce 840 All-in-One
$300 street

The Epson WorkForce 840 All-in-One provides a good set of all-in-one functions and superior paper capacity for a small-office MFP, at a decent price.

HP Laserjet Enterprise M4555h MFP
$2,799 direct

With a 120GB built-in hard drive, the HP LaserJet Enterprise M4555h MFP is a capable network mono laser MFP for an office with huge printing demands and equally deep pockets.

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw
$449 direct

The HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw color MFP is unusually easy to use, thanks largely to its color touch screen control panel.

HP Photosmart eStation
$399 direct

The HP PhotoSmart eStation's 7-inch touch screen is detachable and doubles as a basic tablet and eReader.

HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One
$149 direct

The HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One is an MFP geared largely to home use and particularly photo printing, at which it excels.

Lexmark c792de
$1,599 direct

The Lexmark C792de laser printer has the paper capacity and speed to handle color printing in a busy workgroup.

Lexmark Genesis S816
$399 list

The Lexmark Genesis S816 offers impressive speed and ample paper handling for a small to medium-size office or workgroup, but lacks paper handling options for heavy-duty printing.

Lexmark X548dte
$1,749 direct

The Lexmark X548dte delivers fast speed, unusually high-quality graphics and photos, acceptable text, and an easy to use front-panel touch screen.

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HP, Condé Nast Team Up to Offer Content Piped to Printers

Forget tablets—Hewlett-Packard clearly has—could the future of putting content in front of eyeballs be all about paper and ink? Roughly two months after killing off its webOS-based TouchPad tablet, HP on Wednesday touted a new partnership with Condé Nast "to explore a new digital content distribution medium that merges rich content and digital-to-print service" called HP Instant Ink.

The collaboration kicks off with a pilot subscription service that delivers replacement ink to HP printer owners in their homes or workplaces while another linked service pipes Condé Nast-branded digital content to be printed out on said Web-connected printers.

The tree is dead, long live the dead tree? HP is pushing "potential cost savings" on those oh-so-costly ink cartridges as the big deal-sweetener with HP Instant Ink. And just what do subscribers get?

"Users may receive up to 50 percent annual savings on ink cartridge purchases for one low monthly fee," according to HP. "Subscriptions for HP Instant Ink will be available from $5.99 to $10.99 per month depending on the product line, plus all cartridge shipping is included."

Meanwhile, Condé Nast On-Demand Content lets subscribers schedule the delivery of content to their personal and work printers from such Condé Nast-owned titles as Allure, Details, Epicurious, Glamour, Golf Digest, Self, and Wired, according to HP.

"This project is one of the many ways Condé Nast is using emerging technology to engage consumers," said Julie Michalowski, a senior vice president in Condé Nast's Consumer Business Development unit, in a statement. "With this new HP pilot program, consumers will be able to have their favorite Condé Nast content at their fingertips."

HP is hoping HP Instant Ink and the pilot program with Condé Nast, which will initially be conducted through select retailers in the northeastern U.S., will show content publishers that pushing content to Web-connected printers is a good way to "reach readers more frequently than with print magazines and more tangibly than via email."

"Our work with Condé Nast creates a new channel for customers to access the content they want from some of their favorite publications," said Stephen Nigro, a senior vice president with the Inkjet and Web Solutions unit in HP's Imaging and Printing Group. "And, when coupled with our scheduled delivery service, allows customers to get the content they want, whenever they want it."

The two programs will be offered to consumers as trial services later this fall, HP said.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

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What to Expect in Printers in 2012

No matter how clearly our world of online photo albums, Google Docs, and e-cards may seem--yet again--to ring the death knell for anything on paper, sometimes you still want to print.

But these days, you want to print from whatever device you happen to be using--not just from a PC. The year 2012 will bring more options for mobile printing via a wireless connection to a local device, and for cloud printing--using email as the backbone for printing documents to a local or remote printer with its own email address (and an Internet connection).

Mobile and Cloud Printing in a Nutshell

Mobile printing at the consumer level started with phone apps that let users send photos directly to a nearby printer via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Those simple utilities still exist, but a year or so ago, Apple, Google, HP, and Lexmark began introducing further innovations, bringing us to where we are today.

Apple's AirPrint, which debuted a year ago, lets you use Wi-Fi to send a wide range of print jobs directly from an iOS device to a nearby AirPrint-compatible printer. Initially, those printers were limited to a handful of HP models, but the growing list now also includes printers from Brother, Canon, Epson, Kodak, and Lexmark. For more information, check Apple's list of Airprint-compatible printers.

Google's Cloud Print app, available in what seems to be perpetual beta form, lets users print via email on any printer connected to a computer that has Internet access. New printers designated as Cloud Ready from Epson, HP, and Kodak can receive jobs without the PC middleman (though they still need an Internet connection).

HP and Lexmark: Printer Pioneers

In late 2010, HP unveiled Web-based Print Apps for printing everything from maps and movie tickets to puzzle pages for kids. It also launched the consumer version of ePrint, which lets users email a print job from anywhere to an ePrint-compatible HP printer.

The year 2012 will bring more apps and more compatible printers. Also, HP has relaxed the ePrint process a bit, making it a little more user-friendly and resolving some difficulties associated with printing from certain phones or platforms.

Around the same time, Lexmark's SmartSolutions--a growing collection of productivity apps available with certain Lexmark small-office printers--added apps that let users display RSS news feeds or the weather report on a printer's color LCD. Since then, the SmartSolutions collection has grown to include ways to access a number of popular online services, from Facebook and Twitter to Box.net and Evernote. In addition, Lexmark recently launched mobile printing apps for Android, Apple iOS, Google Docs, and Google Cloud Print.

In 2012, More Printers, More Choices

In 2012, vendors that are playing catch-up will give you more choices.

Canon Pixma MG6220 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-OneCanon's fall 2011 lineup included two printers (the Pixma MG6220 and Pixma MG8220) with a number of advanced mobile capabilities: the Easy-PhotoPrint mobile app, for printing photos from compatible Android and Apple smartphones and tablets; Pixma Cloud Link, for printing Google Docs and Gmail attachments from a mobile device; and (for registered users of Canon iMage Gateway or Picasa Web Albums) access to photo albums and printing templates for stationery, calendars, and other pieces.

Another new Canon model, the Pixma MG4120, is partially compatible with Pixma Cloud Link--but only in connection with its photo-oriented features, not with its broader document printing features.

Epson has collected its new mobile and cloud printing services under the umbrella brand of Epson Connect. Email Print lets you send an email message from a mobile device to an enabled Epson printer, which can then print the message or its attachment. Epson iPrint permits direct printing via Wi-Fi to compatible iOS and Android devices. A handful of new Epson printers are also Cloud Ready. A full list of Epson printers with mobile and cloud printing capabilities is available on the vendor's website.

Kodak is embracing mobile and cloud printing enthusiastically. Most of its new models are Cloud Ready, and all of its printers can use Kodak's own Email Print to email print jobs as attachments. Kodak is also trying to one-up HP ePrint by accepting larger email messages and email attachments than HP does.

The year 2012 will be a good one for printers. Though the underlying technology hasn't changed much, the addition of mobile printing via Wi-Fi and of cloud printing via email now allows printers to follow their users onto their smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

Senior Editor Melissa Riofrio covers printers for PCWorld.

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HP LaserJet Printers Vulnerable to Attacks, Researchers Warn

Millions of Hewlett Packard Co.'s LaserJet printers contain a security weakness that could allow attackers to take control of the systems, steal data from them and issue commands that could cause the devices to overheat and catch fire, according to two researchers from Columbia University.

Printers from other vendors likely have the same issue, leaving users of those devices exposed to similar threats, the researchers said.

The security researchers findings was first published by MSNBC.com earlier today.

In response, HP today downplayed the researchers' claims, labeling them "sensational and inaccurate."

"While HP has identified a potential security vulnerability with some HP LaserJet printers, no customer has reported unauthorized access," the company said.

It disputed media reports that the flaw would let hackers set LaserJet printers on fire and said that safety mechanisms built into the printers precluded that from happening.

The flaw in HP's LaserJet printers was discovered by Professor Salvatore Stolfo of the Computer Science Department at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science and fellow security researcher Ang Cui.

The vulnerability exists in the LaserJet printer's Remote Firmware Update process. Because of weak authentication measures, the printers can be fooled into accepting arbitrarily modified firmware by anyone with logical access to the device, Stolfo said in an interview.

The LaserJet printers that were tested do not require firmware updates to be digitally signed, allowing anyone to essentially instruct the printer to erase its existing operating software and overwrite it with a malicious one.

Attackers could gain total control of the printer and rewrite its software so that it would be impossible to reset it, he said. "It is a pretty bad security flaw," Stolfo said.

Stolfo said that he and Cui investigated three popular LaserJet models and discovered the same weakness in all three. The researchers have not disclosed the specific model numbers.

All that was required to compromise the printers was a maliciously crafted print job, either sent by someone with access to the printer or by someone remotely if the printer is connected directly to the Internet, according to Stolfo.

The flaw allows attackers to steal documents from a compromised printer, or to use the device as a launch pad for attacking computers attached to it. The vulnerability also allows attackers to issue a command that could cause the printer's fuser, which is used to dry ink, to start heating up. Theoretically at least, that could cause the printing paper to catch fire.

According to Stolfo, during a demonstration, he was able to get the fuser on a LaserJet printer hot enough to cause the printer paper to brown and start smoking. But a safety mechanism built into the printer caused it to fail in a safe manner before it could catch on fire.

It is unclear whether the same sort of safety mechanism exists on printers from other vendors, he added.

Stolfo said that Cui and he discovered the LaserJet vulnerability when doing research on vulnerabilities in single-purpose embedded devices such as printers, routers, VoIP phones and digital thermostats. The two researchers plan to release a formal paper describing their findings after HP has had a chance to mitigate the issue, he said.

HP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its statement, HP said it is working on a firmware update for the issue. However, it downplayed the threat.

"The specific vulnerability exists for some HP LaserJet devices if placed on a public internet without a firewall," the company said. "In a private network, some printers may be vulnerable if a malicious effort is made to modify the firmware of the device by a trusted party on the network."

LaserJet printers in some Linux or Mac environments could be compromised by someone sending the device a corrupt print job, the company said.

"Speculation regarding potential for devices to catch fire due to a firmware change is false," HP noted. A hardware element known as a thermal breaker prevents LaserJet printers from overheating or causing a fire. "It cannot be overcome by a firmware change or this proposed vulnerability," HP said.

Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed . His e-mail address is jvijayan@computerworld.com .

Read more about security in Computerworld's Security Topic Center.

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright © 2011 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.

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Top 10 Best Touch-Screen Printers

Move over, tablets and smart phones. A growing number of printers sporting touch screens have hit the scene. We give you the top 10 best touch-screen printers on the market today.

Touch screens have become commonplace on smart phones and they're a necessity for tablets; even some desktop all-in-one PCs sport one. Now, touch screens have migrated to printers as well. A touch-based interface is particularly good for multi-function printers (MFPs), whose users may have to quickly switch between tasks.

HP and Lexmark have been at the forefront of the move to bring Web-enabled printers to consumers and businesses. Touch screens are natural interfaces for running Web apps. In part because of this, HP and Lexmark have brought more touch-screen printers to market than other manufacturers.

Both HP and Lexmark have a combination of business- and consumer-oriented Web apps. HP's Web apps, featured in printers like the HP Photosmart eStation (which has a touch panel that doubles as a basic tablet/ereader) and HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One, tend to be more consumer-friendly; the screens of these photo-centric printers are also great for previewing photos.

Lexmark's apps tend to be geared more to business, and are featured in small-office machines like the snazzy Lexmark Genesis S816. The Epson WorkForce 840 All-in-One, also a small-office MFP, doesn't have print apps, but it comes equipped a lovely touch screen.

In office multi-function printers (MFPs) like the Lexmark c792de, Lexmark X548dte, HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw, and HP Laserjet Enterprise M4555h MFP, touch screens are used primarily for easy access to the printer's multi-function features (scanning, copying, and faxing). That's also the case with the Dell 2355dn and Brother MFC-9970CDW.

Not every printer needs a touch screen, but including one makes the user experience easier and more pleasant. Touch-screen printers tend to be more expensive than non-touch models, but the screen is added value and for many that is worth the boost in price. More and more printer manufacturers are adding a distinctive, attractive, and user-friendly touch (pun intended) to their products. Web-enabled printers need touch screens to run apps, so as more manufacturers introduce such models, we'll see a boom in printers with screens that respond to the touch of a finger.

Featured in this Roundup

Brother MFC-9970CDW
$700 street

The Brother MFC-9970CDW's output quality is a little disappointing for graphics and photos, but the color laser multifunction printer offers fast speed, high quality text, and lots of features.

Dell 2355dn Multifunction Mono Laser Printer
$599.99 direct

The Dell 2355dn Multifunction Mono Laser Printer delivers acceptable speed, output quality, and paper handling paired with an exceptional wealth of features.

Epson WorkForce 840 All-in-One
$300 street

The Epson WorkForce 840 All-in-One provides a good set of all-in-one functions and superior paper capacity for a small-office MFP, at a decent price.

HP Laserjet Enterprise M4555h MFP
$2,799 direct

With a 120GB built-in hard drive, the HP LaserJet Enterprise M4555h MFP is a capable network mono laser MFP for an office with huge printing demands and equally deep pockets.

HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw
$449 direct

The HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw color MFP is unusually easy to use, thanks largely to its color touch screen control panel.

HP Photosmart eStation
$399 direct

The HP PhotoSmart eStation's 7-inch touch screen is detachable and doubles as a basic tablet and eReader.

HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One
$149 direct

The HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One is an MFP geared largely to home use and particularly photo printing, at which it excels.

Lexmark c792de
$1,599 direct

The Lexmark C792de laser printer has the paper capacity and speed to handle color printing in a busy workgroup.

Lexmark Genesis S816
$399 list

The Lexmark Genesis S816 offers impressive speed and ample paper handling for a small to medium-size office or workgroup, but lacks paper handling options for heavy-duty printing.

Lexmark X548dte
$1,749 direct

The Lexmark X548dte delivers fast speed, unusually high-quality graphics and photos, acceptable text, and an easy to use front-panel touch screen.

View the original article here