Good Printer?????

[Twende]

I need ideas for a good reliable printer for our home computer.

I normally print coupons and letters on it. Once in a while I do a few color things like iron ons for shirts or photos to share with family. They do
not have to be professional grade. Just good.

Our DS says to look at various models and find the one with the cheapest refill cartridges and go with that one. He says to stick to name brands. That sounds reasonable but I am looking for more information.


So Dis Board experts. What do you say? What is your favorite printer these days and what price range is it in. I would like to stay under $100.

 

[oogieboogie]

My personal preference are the Canon printers. They can do photo quality printouts as well as the regular black and whites. The ink cartridges are fairly cheap and cheaper if you buy online.

Next to that I would go with Epson or Brother. Those are good quality and again, the ink is fairly cheap. Brother has some great all-in-ones (print/scan/fax/copy).

I'd stay away from Lexmark. The printer may be cheap but they'll get you with the ink. HP is also another brand that although the printer is good, the ink is expensive!

 

[Harvest02]

We had to get a new printer a few months ago because our other one finally went on us! We got an HP Deskjet 3940. I picked it up at Target for under $35.00. It prints really nice and only has 2 cartridges(one for black, one for color). I would highly recommend this one!

 

[Twende]

Thanks for the ideas. We looked at a few last night but I think we only confused ourselves more.

We saw one that was a Lexmark that only had one cartridge. I don't think that is such a great idea because we use much more black than colors.

DH says he would like it to scan and print. I thought most printers did this but I guess not.

So anyone else have any input here?

 

[oogieboogie]

If you're looking for the all-in-ones that can print/scan/fax/copy, again look to the Canon, Epson, Brother or HP. Those brands have been proven time and time again to be the best in inkjet printers for the mass market.

Try to find one that has separate ink cartridges for black and color inks. The best ones are the ones where the color inks are separated as well - cyan, magenta, yellow. This lets you replace only one tank instead of the whole thing. However, you do end up paying more for the inks because now you have to buy 4 tanks of ink instead of 2.

For the scanner part, look for ones with higher DPI. I would look for one with a minimum of 1200x1200 dpi. That's good enough for scanning photos, documents, etc. Go for the flatbed scanners instead of the pass-through. You'll love it more.