Epson WorkForce 630

Epson Workforce 630 Overview:

At around $100 on-line and with free shipping (slower but free), the Epson Workforce 630 is a sexy machine. It came out in the summer of 2010, so while it’s getting old by printer standards, it still performs very well. Now for the stats. The Epson Workforce 630 has built-in Wi-Fi, wired ethernet and a USB connection and is advertised to well with both PC and Mac (more about possible Mac issues in the conclusion). It supports direct memory card input so you can print stuff without using your computer first, should you want to do so.

The Epson Workforce 630 All-In-One printer has a 2.5-inch tilting LCD screen and lots of buttons (buttons are fun). With this printer, Epson likes to brag about 2 things in particular. Those 2 things are: “World’s Fastest All-In-One printer”, and faxing as fast as 3 seconds per page.

“World’s Fastest” eh? So here’s how that works (in regards specifically to photos): you see, the folks at Epson design their printers to print photos at a lower resolution (that most people don’t care about or notice) so your photos pop out faster. If you’re OK with this, then so are we. The maximum print resolution of this Epson is 5760 x 1440 “optimized” dots per inch (dpi)…which is not the highest resolution out there. As far as what the “optimized” means, we have no idea. We chalk up this term to marketing fancy talk, which usually means jack squat. Most people (if you’re a pro photographer, you probably wouldn’t consider this printer) will probably be just fine with this resolution. In case you were wondering, the Epson Workforce 630 holds 4 individual ink cartridges: black, cyan, magenta, and yellow.

And as for the quick faxing; Isn’t e-mailing a bit more useful these days? Enough said. We don’t judge here at dontbuystupid.com (ok, fine–>We do judge…HP printers especially). This All-In-One can fax as fast as 3 seconds per page. This currently is a pretty standard speed for printer manufacturers.

The scanning resolution for the Epson Workforce 630 is 2400 dpi and you can scan directly to your computer, to a PDF document, to an e-mail, or to a memory card.

If you desire automatic 2-sided printing, this printer is not the one for you.

Epson Workforce 630 Key Points:

Epson Workforce 630 Manual and Installation:

-the install seems to go fine for most owners

-the manual is legible

Epson Workforce 630 User Interface:

-2.5” LCD tilting screen and buttons for your pushing delight

Epson Workforce 630 Paper Tray:

-there is a paper tray. You put paper there. 250 sheets of plain paper if you want.

-the auto-document feeder can hold 30 sheets of plain paper

 

-Epson does NOT include a USB cable in the box, but there is the telephone cord included for the fax capability

 

Epson Workforce 630 Ink:

4-color DURABrite® Ultra pigment ink

-Black: Epson DURABrite® Black ink T127120 ($27 before shipping)

-Color: Epson DURABrite® Ultra Ink – Color Multipack T127520 ($44 before shipping)

Epson Workforce 630 Operation:

-this printer is pretty quick at getting the job done, but the max resolution isn’t as high as some slower All-In-One printers

(If you desire a printer that prints at a higher resolution for a similar price, consider the Canon PIXMA MG5320)

-pretty fast at faxing (not faster than 3 seconds per page though)

Epson Workforce 630 Wireless networking:

-built in Wi-Fi and an Ethernet connection

Epson Workforce 630 Customer Reviews – The Good:

“…Overall, the 630 is a wonderful budget printer. The main capabilities that its
brother (635) has, the Epson WorkForce 630 has except the two-sided printing
and the 635 has bigger ink cartridges…” Dennis A. Amith (kndy) on Amazon.com

“…The price of this Epson is less than half of what I paid for my Canon, but it
lacks duplex printing with the automatic document feeder. In exchange you
get really fast printing wirelessly. Overall, this is a quality printer at a really
reasonable price. ” Kay Hayes “knitting ninja” on Amazon.com

“I have to say – I am pleasantly stunned by how easy it was to get this thing
going. I took it out of the box, followed the little brochure details and put the
CD in my computer. I was SURE that it wasn’t going to be able to print over
the network or scan over the network or SOMETHING. But it was super easy.
Fantastic.” Former ER Doc on Amazon.com

“…I am thoroughly impressed with this Epson printer. It can do everything my
Brother does and then some. My loyalties have been tested and I am now an
Epson fan.” Noname on Amazon.com

Epson Workforce 630 Customer Reviews – The Bad:

“If you have a Mac, you will find that the wireless function will not work unless you constantly reset the IPS address, which is very time-consuming. If you’re fine with attaching a cable every time you want to print, then this is not a bad printer. But I specifically bought it because of the wireless function. I also have a PC, and the wireless function works fine for it.” pmyeic on Amazon.com

“I have the Epson Workforce 630 and it will not allow me to fax directly from Pages or Word, only from the glass which sucks! I have spent over $50.00 calling Epson Tech who don’t have a clue about Apple Snow Leopard etc. Hence, i cannot fax from the document…” Z Miller on Amazon.com

Epson Workforce 630 Conclusion:

Most owners are very satisfied with the Epson Workforce 630 printer…about 81% actually. Here at dontbuystupid.com, we recommend this printer (which is kind of a big deal since we’re so critical in our reviews). We also recommend purchasing it on-line, because in local stores you’ll pay $20 – $30 more, including sales tax. Even though we recommend it, it won’t be for everybody. Some Mac users report wireless connectivity issues. Some others report ink cartridges cleaning issues that result in wasted money. If you ever have to deal with Epson’s customer support (which is not likely with this printer in most situations), we feel sorry for you. So, please consider these points before buying:

1) Mac users with wireless networks might end up beating the printer
2) Epson’s customer service sucks. So do the customer service departments of
most manufacturers we’ve dealt with.
3) Only about 18% – 19% of actual owners report having problems with this printer.