Need New Printer
OK guys, give me some suggestions for what i should get to replace the old '98 model epson I've been using.
1. Needs to produce high quality black ink text. (In school, writing tons of papers right now)
2. Above average photo printing too.
Thanks,
-R-
1. Needs to produce high quality black ink text. (In school, writing tons of papers right now)
2. Above average photo printing too.
Thanks,
-R-
0
Comments
But if you're set on an inkjet I'd recommend Canon if price / cost of ink is a key factor and HP if you don't mind spending a lot more on ink and if photos are more important than text. I've bought (for myself or my family in the last 6 months) the Canon I860, I450, I550 and an I250. All of them are accomplished printers with the I860 being very very good for photos and quite nice on text as well. The others are 'average' low-mid range printers that are still acceptable on photos and are all above average on black. In terms of print quality the I250, I450 and I550 are nearly indistinguishable. I'm not sure quite why the price difference is there.
Tomshardware, while they have 'issues' in many other areas has greater printer roundups. You can find most of them here: http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/index.html.
Absolutely stay away from Lexmark (bad printers, can't refill ink cartridges, expensive cartridges etc etc). And be careful if you get an Epson as some of their models are less than quality.
So if you can spare the money and have the room for for the laser get a cheap laser and a cheap canon printer for the photos. Else I'd recommend going with one of the higher end Canons like the I860 as their monochrome quality is superior to the cheap canon's. I'd do some scannage for you but my scanner died a couple weeks ago D:.
Barring that particular HP, get a Canon.
So, as a user of Lexmark printers for many years now I have to disagree and say the photo printing quality is quite good. Maybe not the most economical for text tho, and as for "non refillable cartridges", that's just bad practice, I used to work at OfficeMax and heard nothing but bad things from people who used them when I would ask if they wanted the original or the 'alternative' or the 'refill kit', they junked up the heads and nozzles, that stuff is no good.
Samsung Laser, for cheaper cartridges and reasonable up-front costs. Typically bottom end Samsungs run to 600x600, next grade up is 1200x600, then they have 1200x1200 which is magazine (the mags that do not use glossy pages) quality. I use the Samsung I have for research, web printing, in economy mode until cartrdige gets low, then turn off economy mode and get another 200 pages. I have a 1210, the 1220 and 1250 are still on the market. In the US, check at techonweb.com for Samsung lasers and cartridges. They still buy the cartridges for the 1210\1220 series, and have most of the other Samsung cartridges. The 1210 will happily print on copier paper for work drafts and for thigns I do not need for archives, and DOES. Toner, developer, and drum are all in the cartridge. I have run 3000 pages in one month through the thing (average is much lower-- but have dumped 15,297 pages through it and it barely skipped 10 bad feeds of more than one page of even the cheapest zerographic paper), it is more than a year into its life here at my house, and it is a champ of a workhorse for a single or even a double-occupancy room worth of students.
For the photo stuff, color brochures, and other color work I use an Epson C84. It is the followup to the C82 and C80 and it rocks. It cost about $100.00 when intro'd after rebate, should be market of about $140.00 right now and worth every penny. It has five print quality modes, and can use a double-size and ink quantity cartridge. For photos, it used LESS ink than the C80 it replaced, s it can do 2 picoliter droplets in highest quality mode whihc is amultipass mode for each color on color, 2 colors at a time (four cartridge printer, can handle a normal sized black cartridge and three colors or a double-sized black and same three color cartridges. If you have a scanner, and it is an epson, would get an Epson C84. If you have a Canon scanner or camera, get a Canon printer-- the one thing about the Canon, if you do not use it in three-four months, you might have to declog it, the C84 has a cap system for the print head when it is turned off and mine has never clogged,unlike the C80 which did need frequent head cleaning if not used for a while. The Epson gets along with my Camedia 4000 digital camera fine, I can put color corrected stuff out of the Camedia software, print, it comes out good on photo paper or very bright white paper (94 bright to 108 bright works for things you do not need on glossy paper and for proof prints for finer color changes if you are a perfectionist). HP uses different color matching technology, so if you have an HP scanner you might want an HP color printer that is higher grade than average. The cheaper ones, a round of HP ink can cost about 1.3 times the cost of the printer-- avoid the 3000 series as a series, with HP branded printers.
John D.
Trev