I am planning on buying my wife a color printer for XMAS. I don't want a cheap $50 one but would pay up to about $150 to get a better one. Usage would be 70% B&W printing, 20% color and 10% color photo. I guess a 1200 x 2400 would be in order.

Print speed is not a high priority.
Large batch printing is not required.
Size would be an issue due to desk space.
Ink cartridge replacement cost would be a factor.
(I see some have four ink cartridges)

I would be interested in your suggestions and reasons to purchase a given brand and model.

Thanks,
DF

 

I have the HP 960c, it's fast with high Res, but a little expensive. I would probably go with the HP PSC 500 or 750, its a copyier, scanner, printer all in one, it is a little bit bigger though.

 

The Canon S600 is a great buy, but about $50 more than your price range. However, it uses the individual tanks and you would recoup that $50 dollars after 2 or 3 replacement cartridges.

 

SVT - thanks for your input. I don't think we need the copier and scanner, but it might be nice. What price are we looking at for the 500 and 750?

Rapier - The S600 might work. I am not locked at $150, it could go higher. I agree on the tank replacement idea. Thanks.

Any other comments?

 

TTT

 

Well I ended up with the Canon S600 - bought it for $149 at Best Buy. Consumer Reports did a good review of printers and this one seemed to fit my needs. Thanks to all for the help.

 

Anybody try one of those $50 printers? Are they any good? It's almost to the point where the printer is free with purchase of a set of ink cartridges.

 

The HP PSC750 is $299 at Best Buy or Circuit City, myself, I am waiting until the new year to purchase the PSC950, it is the same as the PSC750, printer, copier, scanner, fax, but also has slots for all three types of digital camera media. Basically a traveling darkroom (power converter in the Screw).... $399.

Just remember, the major expense for printers is ink cartridges, not purchase price. There is a major difference in ink use efficiency of printers. HP is typically top of the line for ink efficiency. I have seen comparisons in which HP printers can print twice as many pages as other brands with the same amount of ink. At $30 plus a cartridge, it adds up quickly....

 

The Canon S600 has four separate ink tanks. Black and color cost $11.99 each. This is one reason I picked this printer. Consumer Reports shows it as one of the lowest cost per page printed in B&W and color both.

 

Canon and HP are definitly the "FORDS" of the printing world. The lastest of the Canon models are quite impressive. As before mentioned the ability to change individual ink tanks is a wonderful idea that one wonders why wasn't thought of earlier. The black text is relativly crisp for an ink jet. Used with the photo cartridges and specific papers, the later Canons do produce quite stunning images. A Scanner cartridge may even be purchased for the printer, although it is limited in ability. Another great thing about the Canon is that the print head is not part of the unit; meaning that if by chance it fails, you are not out of a printer, you simply buy another.

The Hp's are also wonderful. The new HP's are a massive step up from the older models which had a tendancy to produce false colors for some users. The resolution makes photo print outs quite stunning. The HP's like the Canon also offers a print head on a cartridge, not on the unit. Although, the ink replacement is not as convientant as the Canon models.

As for Epson printers, I've not been impressed. I know of problems with them, but it may just be the ones I was around. I have seen pages printed out on Epsons that were impressive. On earlier models the print head was part of the main unit, not sure if it is the same on the newer ones, but I would wager that it is. Company's usually stick with the same concept to differentiate themselves.

Lexmark is another printer that is less than satisfactory. Compare the results of a printout to that of an HP or Canon and you'll see. Text is usually less than impressive, and photo printouts are laced with obvious lines or dots. Even on the Kodak printer(actually a Lexmark) and digital camera combo, the photo prinout's are not quite right.


Some great Canon model under $160 - S300, S400, S450, and the S500

Some great HP's for under $160 - 940c, and 842 c

The best thing to do is to go to Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Max, etc, and try them out for yourselves. (Ignore the salesman, sometimes they shouldn't be allowed to speak). Hope this helps some!

 

I just got lucky, had to stand in line for three hours, then stand waiting for a cart to tote my bounty off in. Yesterday IBM had a warehouse sale here in RTP, NC. Here's what I got:

1 Pent III 933Mhz 64MB 30G NetVista ($280)
2 Celeron 766Mhz 64MB 20G Netvista ($150 each)
1 64M PIMM ($10- only one left)
1 Speaker system with sub-woofer ($15)
1 HP 648C color printer ($40)
1 HP 970Cxi color printer ($75 - duplexes)
3 P76 17" IBM (Sony Trinitron) Monitors ($75 each)

Three full systems, two printers for less that $1000..... I can have my own little network now.....