New Printer Recommendations

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

I'm in the need of a new printer. I would prefer one with a scanner. But I need one that's cheap on the ink. Right now I have a Lexmark x3430. It's only one cartridge and it cost 25.00.

Any recommendations....

 

[EclecticWAHM]

I'm in the need of a new printer. I would prefer one with a scanner. But I need one that's cheap on the ink. Right now I have a Lexmark x3430. It's only one cartridge and it cost 25.00.

Any recommendations....

I don't know of any good printers with really cheap ink. That's just where they get you. One thing I do is set my printer preferences to always print in black & white unless I specify otherwise. No need to use color ink unless it's necessary. That does help since the black ink is usually cheaper.

We recently got the Lexmark Pro 205 and I'm REALLY happy with it. It's got WiFi, it was easy to set up. It's got a flatbed scanner and it prints, copies, and faxes. It wasn't terribly expensive and it's been just great.

 

[FireDancer]

If you want to minimize ink cost and don't need color I would look at a laser printer instead of an ink printer. They will cost a little bit more off the top but they will save you a fortune in ink which will recover the cost in very little time.

For what it is worth, we have Brother DCP series scanner/printers at some of our branch locations and they work pretty well and are not too expensive on the ink. We have the 7040 model.

 

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

Thanks for the replies. I do need color so I guess that type of printer wouldn't help me.

 

[MommaSnowwhite]

We have a Dell color laser printer. We purchased it 2.5 years ago for about $350 refurbished. It doesn't have a scanner or fax but it does wireless printing. I have yet to purchase toner for it and we print in color alot! It has been the least expensive printer we have ever owned - we have owned lexmark, HP, Canon before.

 

[jessrose18]

Researched printers all weekend. Went to bb one day bought an epson on site. Went home did some research and realized it takes 4 ink cartridges and people in reviews said it sucked the ink fast. Researched on Amazon /HP website/and bb for reviews. Ended up buying an HP photosmart w/ wireless from BB. It has a scanner/fax/and can take a photocard directly was 79.99 on sale this week. Pretty good deal, works great so far, have only messed w/ it one day though. Good luck! Oh and the ink was really cheap 13.99 for black and 15.99 for color, i bought an duo pack for 20 bucks on sale for both. Takes HP 60 ink, good deals on Amazon for this as well.

 

[SarahKate]

I've had an HP OfficeJet 6500 for about 6 months and LOVE it. Granted, I don't print pictures and am not using it for heavy duty purposes but I've gone all this time w/o having to replace the ink....just in the last week has it asked for a black cartridge and the other 3 are still going strong!!!!

I did a lot of research, and this one was a great value as far as the cost of printing - the cartridges last are known to last a long time, but they're also reasonably priced as well.

 

[nomolos]

I tend to do alot of printing at my house so we use an HP all in one type that has the scanner and everything attached, as well as a cheap black and white laser printer. We were going through a black ink cartridge about every month to 6 weeks so the laser printer paid for itself in very little time. Yes the cartriges for a laser are more expensive but they last forever. Unfortunately I still need the color inkjet for photos, school projects, and similar things. If you look around and wait for a sale you can find a black and white laser printer for around $100 and it will pay for itself by the time you print about 2-3 pack of paper.

 

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

I tend to do alot of printing at my house so we use an HP all in one type that has the scanner and everything attached, as well as a cheap black and white laser printer. We were going through a black ink cartridge about every month to 6 weeks so the laser printer paid for itself in very little time. Yes the cartriges for a laser are more expensive but they last forever. Unfortunately I still need the color inkjet for photos, school projects, and similar things. If you look around and wait for a sale you can find a black and white laser printer for around $100 and it will pay for itself by the time you print about 2-3 pack of paper.

I have a dumb question for you then. I know NOTHING about laser printers. Can you get them in color too? I was wanting to do away with having several printers. Thanks

 

[sherry7]

I have a Brother all-in-one (wireless, printer, fax, copier, scanner) that I've had for a couple of years. I buy generic ink cartridges online (abacus.com) for about $2.50 each. It has 4 different colors of cartridges, and I'd estimate that I change them about 2 times a year. I probably change my black ink about 3 times a year. They don't all have to be changed at the same time, just when they get empty.

Brother is the only brand of printer that I'm aware of that doesn't put a computer chip in their cartridges...and that is why the generics are available so cheap. Before you buy a particular printer, look up the model number on abacus.com and see how much the cartridges are.

Some people don't like generic ink because they think it isn't as stable as name brand ink. IMO, the only thing that would really matter for is photos. I very seldom print a photo at home, since it is much less expensive to just do it at Walmart, etc. (Photo paper is expensive!) I do have a few pictures that I printed out when I first got the printer though, and they still look fine.

If you don't want to go the generic ink route, I've heard good thing about Kodak printers. I think they charge around $15 each for ink cartridges.

 

[VAN]

I also have a Brother DCP laser printer. It uses toner so you don't have the problem of the ink cartridge drying out. I don't know why I waited so long to switch to laser !!!!

I also have mine set on the economy printing setting, so am stretching the toner even longer.

I'd never, ever recommend an ink jet again!

 

[seashoreCM]

A combination printer-scanner takes up less space than separate units and also (usually) performs as an easily used (push one button) photocopier.

But it may be difficult to find a unit that has all the scanner features you want and also all the printer features you want. And if something breaks and you have to send it out for repair you are out both functions until you get it back. Some combination printer scanners don't scan if the ink cartridges are empty.

The current state of the art has ink jet printers giving sharper color photographs than laser printers when you use photo grade paper. Figure that a 4x6 ink jet print corresponds to an 8x10 laser print of the same subject in terms of picture detail. (Most people won't notice unless they look at the print really closely, and casually taken snapshots from a run of the mill camera don't have that much fine detail.)

For ink jet printers you should make a color photo at least 2x2 inches or a full page graph or chart that uses all the colors at least twice a month, to keep the printer innards from drying out. This does mean that ink cartridges, once installed, have a finite life in months regardless of how few pages you print.

I ended up getting an HP color laser combo (model 1312). It is convenient to use and gives great prints and copies but the scanner is very primitive by today's standards, only 300 dpi (it advertises 1200 dpi).