binary driver required

i'm trying to understand the binary plugin requirement before i purchase a new printer.

for example, i'm looking at an m277dw. i'm running ubuntu 14.04 with hplip 3.14.3.
am i not going to be able to do anything with the printer without the binary plugin? or am i only going to loose some
advanced features?

another example -- can i simply give cups the ip address and tell it the printer is an hp 4/4p or 4000n or some other older
hp pcl printer and the printer will put letters on the page?

will scanimage be able to access the scanner without the plugin?

thanks in advance for any response. while i've been working with hp printers for a long time on various operating systems
(unix, vms) i have never had to work with this plugin driver.