Epson WorkForce 840 Color Ink Jet Wireless All-in-One with Fax (C11CA97201)

Epson WorkForce 840 Color Ink Jet Wireless All-in-One with Fax (C11CA97201) From Epson List Price: $299.99 Price: $189.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Ships from and sold by PCNation 32 new or used available from $159.99 Average customer review: (182 customer reviews)

Product Description

Epson WorkForce 840 Color Ink Jet All-in-One |Print|Copy|Scan|Fax|Wi-Fi

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Product Details

• Color: Black
• Brand: Epson
• Model: C11CA97201
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 11.80" h x 17.60" w x 14.50" l, 22.00 pounds

Features

• World's Fastest All-in-One - save time with the world's fastest two-sided print speeds
• Speed through critical documents - ISO print speeds of 15 ISO ppm (black) and 9.3 ISO ppm (color)
• High-speed faxing in black and color - as fast as 3 sec per page; speed dial storage up to 60 numbers; fax
• Latest generation Wi-Fi CERTIFIED built-in Easy Epson Wi-Fi makes wireless setup, networking and printing fast and easy

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Editorial Reviews

From the Manufacturer

WorkForce^® 840 All-in-One

The World’s Fastest All-in-One¹

WHY BUY? Superior Performance World's fastest two-sided printing All-in-One¹. Packed with intelligent and resource-saving features such as two-sided printing, scanning, copying and faxing, 500-sheet paper capacity, and easy wireless network connectivity. When you're on the go, print directly from smartphones and other mobile devices.

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FUNCTIONS

Print

Copy

Scan

Fax

Wi-Fi®

ADF

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What the press is saying:

	“Speed, user friendly features, instantly drying ink, wireless capabilities all in one affordable machine made the [WorkForce] 840 by Epson our top pick. Its ability to work like it was designed for a mid-sized company coupled with a price and size that’s suitable for a home office ensured that the [WorkForce] 840 earned every bit of our praise.” L.D. Ray, Bestcovery, (April 28, 2011)
	Epson WorkForce 840 Receives Editor's Choice and 4 out of 5 Rating from CNET "The Epson WorkForce 840 produces outstanding print quality in record time and offers an abundance of workhorse features, including autoduplexing, wireless networking, support for mobile printing, and easy setup for both USB and network connections." CNET 04/19/2011
	“I like this AIO. It is fast, reliable, easy to use, and affordable, coming in at $200 less than the [HP DeskJet Pro 8500 Premiere]*. We heartily recommend the Epson WorkForce 840 as a suitable all-in-one device, and we are awarding it the SmallBizWindows Superstar award.” John Obeto, AbsolutelyWindows, (April 11, 2011).
	"[The WorkForce 840 is] fast, offers two paper trays, an automatic document feeder and duplex printing, and a fax, scanner, and copier. Wi-Fi b/g/n networking is built in, and multiple memory-card slots are located on the front of the machine. It's a good step up from the WorkForce 635 as it offers multiple paper trays..." About.com, (January 2011).
	“The WorkForce 840 produces great-looking prints, scans, and copies without a lot of time-consuming tweaking. It has all the features that busy small offices and workgroups need to produce high-quality documents, and it performs most functions as fast as, or faster than, most of its competitors.” Computer Shopper, (February 2011).
	"The new Epson WorkForce 840 is a step up from previous Epson all-in-ones, including higher paper capacity, higher ink cartridge capacity, and faster automatic duplexing speed. The ISO (laser quality) print speed is 9.3ppm in color and 15ppm in black. Its duplex printing speeds are 7.4ppm and 5.4ppm in black and color, respectively. Those are fast print speeds for a small office." Better Buys for Business, (January 2011).

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PERFORMANCE

World's fastest all-in-one!¹ One-sided — 15 ISO ppm (black), 9.3 ISO ppm (color)† Two-sided — 7.4 ISO ppm (black), 5.4 ISO ppm (color)†

Print up to 1000 pages Built-in 500-sheet paper capacity; print up to 1000 pages two-sided without reloading paper³

Automatic, two-sided copies Easily copy, scan and fax stacks of two-sided documents with the built-in Auto Document Feeder

Extra High-capacity inks! Get up to 2x more prints², which means you can print more and replace cartridges less often

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QUALITY

Laser quality black text Print professional quality proposals and brochures with crisp, sharp text

Instant-dry inks, water resistant prints Don’t wait for ink to dry — DURABrite® Ultra Ink is ideal for fast, two-sided printing because the ink dries instantly and is smudge and water resistant

WiFi CERTIFIED™ n4 Can deliver up to 2.5 times the performance of the previous 802.11g

High quality, color graphics Rich, vibrant colors for professional looking brochures, reports and documents

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^†What is ISO ppm? ISO ppm is based on the new international standard for measuring print speed. Black and color print speeds are determined in default, single-side mode in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Black and color two-sided print speeds are determined in two-sided mode in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Actual print times will vary based on system configuration, software, and page complexity. See www.epson.com/printspeed for details, including complete ISO reports.

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ADDITIONAL FEATURES/BENEFITS Save paper — save up to 50% of your paper supply with automatic, two-sided printing 7.8" smart touch panel — lights up only the buttons you need; includes a 3.5" LCD Sharp documents — laser-quality black text delivers crisp, high quality proposals and brochures Individual ink cartridges — replace only the color you need 30-page Auto Document Feeder — quickly copy, scan and fax one or two-sided originals PC-Fax — fax documents directly from your computer7 Front USB port — insert thumb drive and upload files directly to your PC High-speed faxing in black and color — as fast as 3 sec per page; speed dial storage up to 60 numbers; fax memory up to 180 pages Instant-dry inks — smudge, fade and water resistant prints; documents rival those from a laser printer Save energy — uses up to 70% less power than laser printers8 Packaging Specifications (W x D x H) — Dimensions: Printing 17.6" x 22.3" x 12.0", Storage 17.6" x 14.5" x 11.8" and Weight 22.0 lb.

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WHAT'S IN THE BOX WorkForce 840 All-in-One Printer Instruction manual CD-ROM with drivers and bonus software Free sample paper pack Power cord Telephone cord DURABrite Ultra Ink cartridges: Four 127-series Extra High-capacity ink cartridges: Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow

EPSON INK SUPPLIES 127 DURABrite Ultra Black ink cartridge, Extra High-capacity (T127120) 127 DURABrite Ultra Black ink cartridge (Dual Pack) Extra High-capacity (T127120-D2) 127 DURABrite Ultra Cyan ink cartridge, Extra High-capacity (T127220) 127 DURABrite Ultra Magenta ink cartridge Extra High-capacity (T127320) 127 DURABrite Ultra Yellow ink cartridge, Extra High-capacity (T127420) 127 DURABrite Ultra Color MultiPack, Extra High-capacity (T127520)

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ECO FEATURES

Uses up to 70% less power than laser printers8 Save up to 50% on paper with automatic, two-sided printing/copying/faxing ENERGY STAR® qualified Designed to be recycled9 Epson America, Inc. is a SmartWaySM Transport partner10

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^† ISO/IEC 24734 is a new international standard for measuring print speed. Black and color print speeds are determined in default, single-side mode in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Black and color two-sided print speeds are determined in two-sided mode in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Actual print times will vary based on system configuration, software, and page complexity. See www.epson.com/printspeed for details, including complete ISO reports.
¹ Fastest in its class; printing black text in default, two-sided mode, in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Compared to ink jet all-in-ones priced at $299 or less, as of August 2010, based on independent testing.
² Get about two times more prints per cartridge compared with Epson’s 126 Black ink cartridge.
³ Print up to 1000 sides of paper (500 pages – double-sided), using the double-sided print feature.
⁴ Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n certified; level of performance subject to the range of the router being used. Visit www.wi-fi.org/files/11nbasics_glossary.pdf for more information.
⁷ For sending faxes only.
⁸ Compared to the best-selling monochrome and color multifunction laser printers available for $499 or less as of January 1, 2009. Actual power savings will vary by product model and usage.
⁹ See our website for convenient and reasonable recycling options at www.epson.com/recycle
¹⁰ SmartWay is an innovative partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that reduces greenhouse gases and other air pollutants and improves fuel efficiency.

Epson and Better Products for a Better Future are registered trademarks, and Epson Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark of Seiko Epson Corporation. DURABrite and WorkForce are registered trademarks of Epson America, Inc. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2010 Epson America, Inc. 10/10

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
102 of 105 people found the following review helpful.
Good for Windows users. Not so good for Mac users.
By Kevin Nicholls
For the sake of comparison, I have a Canon PIXMA MX870 multifunction inkjet with wireless connectivity that I'm using as a benchmark on the Epson WorkForce 840, since they're competitive products in the same segment.

While Epson touts how much space you save on your desk with the 840, the space hasn't disappeared, it's simply gone up. The 840 is surprisingly tall. So much so that using it in an enclosed space may be difficult. Out of the box, I noticed that the unit itself felt a bit flimsy. With the exception of the flatbed scanner, everything from the ADF tray down to the paper trays felt as though they'd snap without much force.

Setup was quite simple, and it's unlikely that experienced buyers would need to look at the setup poster to get started. Take the tape off, drop your cartridges in, and turn it on. The menu system is fairly logical, and getting the printer on my wireless network took about a minute. A minor quibble on this one: the 840 wants to spend upwards to five minutes calibrating itself when you first turn it on, and locks out the menu in the process.

The display panel was surprisingly crisp, though the touch-sensitive areas didn't consistently register input. On both sides of the color LCD, you have a series of touch-sensitive "buttons" that light up when they're relevant to the menu context. Although this was fine for most things, some of the icons were a bit cryptic in context. Overall, I found the interface to be a bit on the gimmicky side, and would have preferred a few softkeys instead.

Printing is everything you'd come to expect from Epson. Text was very sharp, bordering on "cheap laser" quality, and pictures looked almost impossibly good on "cheapest you can get me" copy paper. Without question, the 840 kicks out sharp black text faster than any printer I've used. But... mixed content isn't nearly as fast. A good example here is the built-in ability to print out ruled paper and graph paper. The function is kind of cool, but a single ruled page takes an excruciating amount of time.

One serious oddity is the way Epson chose to deal with paper. They tout the top cartridge being versatile enough to handle any paper or envelope smaller than 11 x 17 you can imagine, and that the bottom cartridge holds an entire ream of paper. That's great. Problem is, the 840 expects letter paper in the top cartridge, and there's no way to set it to use the bottom cartridge globally. Yes, you can set it to use Cartridge 2 in the driver... unless you're using a Mac. If you're using a Mac, some applications allow you to hit the Paper Handling settings (and pick Cartridge 2 every time), but some applications don't. On Windows, if you're using this in a workgroup, every computer has to have the driver configured to use the "big" cartridge.

If you've got a Mac, that's not where the pain ends. Scanning is reasonably fast for an all-in-one, and the quality's pretty average, too. Want to put a stack of paper in the document feeder and have them scanned to your computer? No problem. Hit "Scan", "Scan to PC", and pick your computer from the network. Unless you're using a Mac. While Canon multifunction printers have been able to do this for years, Epson can't seem to do network scanning to Macs running Snow Leopard. Just to be certain, I downloaded the latest drivers from Epson's site, to no avail.

For Windows users, the Workforce 840 is a solid multifunction inkjet. The materials are too flimsy for sustained workgroup use, but it's definitely nice for a hone office user who likes the distinct look of Epson printing. For Mac users though, I can't really recommend this. The drivers aren't good at all, and you're going to lose functionality out of the box.
190 of 201 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent all-in-one printer!
By memoiai
Upon opening the package I was a bit taken aback at how big and heavy this printer is. Compared to my (now relatively) small Canon Pixma ip6000d (which I love).

But this printer has filled a big void that the Canon could not: all in one printing AND instantaneous two-sided printing.

Installation: The installation and set-up is very easy. Just follow the instructions, install the drivers, and software, and you're ready to go. Don't forget, however, to readjust your settings in Control Panel--> Printers and Faxes (right click for properties) to a permanent model (i.e. I always have it set to two sided printing, minimal ink use, and print last page first) so that I get everything the way I want to, right away. If you don't do that, then you'll be stuck having to switch it manually every time you print it out of Word; which gets annoying real fast.

Design: This is a very sleek looking machine that looks very professional. The touch screen is really a smart-screen. Meaning: when I'm trying to choose options manually on the printer it only lets me choose those that are actually available based on all the previous steps I have taken to get to the current screen. However, I will not be using the touch screen a lot, if ever, as I can do everything right from my computer with the software provided, which is much easier and more convenient (both of the other printers I've had I've also avoided the more primitive screens).

Printing Speed: This is a very fast printer (it's obviously not as fast as the monstrous and expensive ($25,000) laser printer at my former place of work), but it's certainly the fastest inkjet I've encountered (a claim they boldly state). I print two sided pages all of the time, 1000's of them, and I can't tell you what and incredible relief it is to be able to have a double sided page come right out, instead of waiting for the odd pages to print, then sticking back the pages in the right order into the cassette in my Canon, and waiting for the even pages to print on the other side. If however, you print high quality pictures, I can't say that this is that much faster than my Canon, maybe just a bit, but it is certainly better quality.

Scanner: I can't say that the scanner is anything special here, it's like anything else. The quality is top notch at the highest settings, but, as with any scanner, you might as well brew a pot of coffee while you get that high quality image saved to a hard drive that can hopefully sustain it (especially if you've got lots of images to scan); I see no reason to scan at the highest quality setting for most every-day page-text; and in this scenario it's lightning fast. The biggest advantage of this printer versus a traditional lift-lid-scan printer is that, thanks to the feeder, you can actually go ahead and brew that coffee and do something else while the printer (without glitches so far) scans and the faxes and/or downloads to the computer and/or copies the paper/pictures/etc for you, without you having to sit there and manually input every single **** ****....bad memories...

Fax: The fax is just like any printer with a fax option; you simply enter in all of your information and away you go. A test fax was received and sent very easily, but without any additional flair. Did you seriously expect the scanner and fax options in an all-in-one printer to somehow be revolutionized in the span of the last 5 years (when I had my last all-in-one printer)? NOTE: A phone cable is included, BUT if you use DSL, make sure you have an extra filter, or get one from your ISP.

Paper (free sample comes included, yay!): This isn't about actually the paper you use, but rather, the really awesome cassette system in this printer! There's two cassettes! That's one more than I had before and it made me feel giddy inside! Then, I realized, I only use one type of paper. Oh well, at least for some of you this will be important. I used to send a lot of mail and hated switching out the paper and envelopes, a printer like this would've solved that hassle. Again, so far, no glitches or jams; but this is actually the least you should expect as modern printers rarely glitch if they're any good.

Ink (B/W and color included right away): Epson claims instant dry inks. So what? My experience with printers isn't vast, but the two other inkjet printers I have (Canon's ink only costing $2-$5 for a cartridge the same size as Epson's), print dry as well as long as you use the right paper. And, too touch base on the whole cost of ink issue, Epson loses me here big time. I have been spoiled by my Canon, which has cost me over the last several years a grand total of $50 in ink ($25 of which is still sitting on a shelf, unused); and I print literally thousands upon thousands of pages every year. Roughly the same capacity ink cartridge ($2-B/W and $4-5- Color in Canon) runs you a whopping $28 for B/W (the B/W Epson cartridge is twice as large but the color one is the same)!!! I obviously haven't printed as many pages with this printer yet, but I sure as heck hope that cartridge lasts for several years, even though, based on size, it doesn't really look like it. Regardless, I just wait and pray for OEM cartridges that will be much cheaper sometime in the future. If anyone reading this knows of any, please comment.

Wireless: No more cords! Ah, I can't tell you how many times my cords from the printer knocked my speakers off of the desk! You have to install the software on every computer that will be using the printer wirelessly. This is really not a hassle and a much better option to have in an office and multi-computer household than a printer for every computer or having to walk over to a computer with a printer and kick your relative off of the computer because you need to print something really fast. The set-up of the wireless network is really easy; just follow the on-screen instructions, I had no hassle.

MAC USERS: I use a PC (please don't rate me negatively because of it :-), but anything Mac-exception related in the instructions was covered well by Epson, and I read over those parts and there didn't seem to be anything major or important to note other than you having to follow a slightly different set of instructions every now and then to set everything up.

Overall: I rate this product a 5, because, despite the cost of ink, it really is easy to use, hassle free, and saves me a lot of trouble and time that I had experience with other printers before.

Who this printer is for: Office or home office users who need a helping hand from a machine to speed things along, automatize, and network certain processes so you can focus on other things after giving your command. Also, those unconcerned with the potential large costs of ink; if you print a lot.

Who this printer is not for: If all you need is to print paper (no reason to scan or fax, or not very often), and can handle the "rigors" of having to switch paper in and out when doing double sided printing, then don't waste your dime here. Get something cheaper in cost and cheaper in ink.
68 of 71 people found the following review helpful.
Epson Workforce 840 Best Printer ever!!
By Rodolfo Farinas Jr.
I own this printer, i bought it from the manufacturer's site directly since it wasn't available at amazon at the time i wanted it.

This printer is awesome in every imaginable way you can think of. And it can help you save a lot of money of you really want the all in one capabilty. Read on and i'll explain how an why.
First things first, the printer is way smaller than the HP Laserjet 2840 i own too, it's not heavy at all, and it looks great. The text printing on this Epson truly looks like a laser printer. The color is fantastic to, i even print photos on glossy photo paper and they look amazing. The scanner is fast and very good too. It allows you to scan and print both sides of docs at once, no manual interference needed.
I was looking for a printer that would give me great photo printouts as well as it could be used as a work printer since i do print lots of documents as well. I also wanted to buy a Fujitsu Scansnap 1500 for fast double sided multisize document scanning capabilities, Well this epson gives me all that and much more, and for less than half what the scansnap costs. I use adobe acrobat pro to scan docs to PDF directly from the epson scanner(could not do this with the scansnap) and all that is done wirelessly, i can also fax any document right from my computer just like i print them.
Bottom line, for $200 you're getting a very fast high quality printer scanner fax and both-sides copy machine as well as the card readers and a lot more, the ink seems to last, and this printer comes with the highest capacity cartridges, which seem to yield a lot. So now i solved my scanning, pc faxing and photo printing needs all in one small very good a nice machine. And i saved whatever a photo printer costs, plus the $430 for the scansnap s1500, and i get laser quality text as well as (N) wireless conectivity from my printer. What else could i ask for?

Note: My comparison with the scansnap s1500 are not based on web reviews, i actually bought a scansnap which i later returned since i get the same if not better results with this printer.
Also, i've owned canon photo printers and i still have a huge HP color laserjet 2840. So my comparisons and references are based on actual usage of all equipment mentioned.
My recommendation, buy this one and you'll be very pleased.
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