Printer buying help!

Uki Chick

Uki Chick

New Member
Ok, so I'm looking for a new printer. :confused: One of these all in one jobs that I can scan, print, copy, blah, blah, blah. I don't want something overly expensive since it's for home use more than anything. I want a printer that will give me good quality pictures if I want to print them at home, but at the same time be able to print up the regular documents that I need. I've been checking out different models, makes etc. It's hard to tell what's better. Some rave about certain printers while others trash them. :shrug: Any ideas from the pro's here? What do you recommend? I also don't want something that is gonna cost an arm and a leg to replace cartridges. Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
Luis G

Luis G

<i><b>Problemator</b></i>
Staff member
From my experience all all-in-one are crap. Perhaps recent models have improved, but I doubt it.
 
Nixy

Nixy

Elimi-nistrator
Staff member
I enjoy my Lexmark all in one, it's a X5250 but Lexmark Cartridges are very expensive to replace.
 
HomeLAN

HomeLAN

New Member
I second the thumbs down on all-in-ones. They tend to not do anything particularly well.

For straight out photo and text printing, I've been pretty impressed with what Canon's putting out these days.
 
chcr

chcr

Too cute for words
I have a Canon all-in-one and a Canon printer. I like them both fine, and the ink is reasonable. I've got a Dell (Lexmark) AIO at work, I could probably replace it for the price of a three pack of ink. I've also got a Brother AIO laser @ work. It's excellent but it only prints black and white so you need another printer for color. If you're planning on printing a lot of photos, Epson is supposed to be tops, but only the six color ones, which are high. I've got a Samsung laser at home for printing text and correspondence. It's just so much crisper than an inkjet. I haven't had the trouble with either AIO that everyone else describes though.

I generally recommend Canon to friends. They've gotten away from individual ink tanks though, which I really like. I've always had good luck with them.
 
alex

alex

Well-Known Member
My HP psc 2510 all-in-one (network ready) is a pretty good printer hardware wise and seems to do very well....haven't had any problems out of it....hardware wise. But the software absolutely sucks. Very user unfriendly, slowed down my computer, took over my computer. I uninstalled the software once (reinstalled drivers only) and all the problems went away. Two days after I uninstalled the software, a popup came out of nowhere wanting me to participate in some HP survey (can you say spyware?).....I wish I had now, I was too pissed at the time. Worse part about it is, if you only have the drivers installed (not the whole software package), you can't use the scan or fax functions.

You can see my original rant here.

Steer clear of HP ;)
 
HomeLAN

HomeLAN

New Member
6 individual inktanks in my iP6600D. That was a major selling point for me, too.

There was a time when HP and Epson were all I'd recommend. Epson's still OK, I guess, but they're not what they were as far as cost to run the damned things. As far as HP goes, their software sucks rocks and their user support is worse. Not on your fucking life.
 
Gato_Solo

Gato_Solo

Out-freaking-standing OTC member
I'd never own an AIO, no matter how nice. Reason being is, that if one thing needs to be fixed, you're out all three. Buy a seperate flatbed scanner and a nice inkjet (I'm on the Canon bandwagon here, too). You can copy from the scanner directly to the printer with most scanner software, anyway, and a good scanner and a good inkjet cost about the same together as a good AIO costs, so you won't be losing on price...plus you can get what you want, instead of what they want you to have. ;)
 
Uki Chick

Uki Chick

New Member
I presently have a scanner and and old Lexmark Z43 printer. I was hoping to get something to replace them with an all in one, but from the sounds of it, I guess I am better getting a printer seperately and replace the scanner if I want to.

Thanks for the help!
 
Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
Devil's advocate here. What it really boils down to is, what do you really want/need, balanced against the cost. I had a fantastic Canon all in one here. Did colour photocopies, fax, everything. Only cost $12,000. Maybe a little much for the home user.

Inkjets are the low end for colour. But you either pay extra for paper that doesn't wrinkle up when it gets too wet, or you keep your printing under 5% of the page. Lasers cost more, but are usually much more efficient where toner's concerned, and they don't saturate the paper. Plate scanners take up space. Lots of space. And they don't sheet feed either, usually. A nice all-in one, office quality will. Home version usually uses similar tech, but won't have the sheet feeder.

Then you run into the inks. The tanks on epsons and canons are much cheaper, because they're nothing more than a bottle of ink. The print head is part of the printer. HP's and Lexmark's (high end) have the print head as part of the cartridge. Costs more, but every time you change the cartridge, you pretty much get a new printer. Three-in-one cartridges are the most wasteful. If you run out of blue, you waste whatever's left in the other two tanks.

You have to balance cost, space, convienience and practicality. On the missus's choice, I bought a 25" TV, with the VCR built in. I didn't like it, but that was the one she wanted, so that's what we got. When the VCR in it died, it didn't get fixed. I went to CT and got a $35 cheapo special. When the TV started going wonky, it didnt' get fixed either, since that would have implicated fixing the old VCD too. The whole lot went to the curb, and I bought the one I wanted.
 
Uki Chick

Uki Chick

New Member
So, I'll go shopping, look around, ask around and check out prices. I definitely want something that will give me nice picture quality when I want to print pics, but I need something that will also print documents properly as well. The scanner is rarely used, except if I want to scan some old photos that I have lying around.
 
Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
What size photos? Honestly, for photos 4x6, you'd be far better getting on of those small photo printers. They're not that expensive, for the quality, and you're not wasting photo ink on daily documents.
 
Uki Chick

Uki Chick

New Member
I'd like to be able to print up to 8x10 really. most pics I would print would be from 4x6 to 8x10. I don't see myself printing all that many 8x10's but I'd like to have the option.
 
Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
Uki Chick said:
I'd like to be able to print up to 8x10 really. most pics I would print would be from 4x6 to 8x10. I don't see myself printing all that many 8x10's but I'd like to have the option.
Click to expand...

And that's why generic opinions are usually worth what you pay for them.

Few all-in-ones can manage photo quality. The ones that can, you're gonna pay through the nose for.
 
Uki Chick

Uki Chick

New Member
That's why I'm reconsidering the all in one thing. At this point, I just want something that can print both photos as well as documents.
 
Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
Well, my humble opinion, is cost, quality, utility ... in that order. How much does it cost, per page. The initial price is irrelevant. My first inkjet cost me $200, and still costs me $110 to refill. Quality ... everyone's already thrashed that out. Utility; how much space, how fast,

Don't buy a box. Ask for a demonstration. (insist, in fact) I like to take a photo and a text file on diskette and have them print that. See it print, know how long it takes, and hear how much noise it makes. Do not be afraid to boss them about. You're the customer. Make them make you happy, or walk out.
 
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