Shopping for a new injet printer. SO confused!

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We would like a new quality printer for under $200. It needs to print great text and Photo's. After looking at Consumer Reports and all the sites online, I am left confused ! My brain cannot take in all this info. We want low cost to run and print too. It used to be HP was THE brand, but now I see Canon and Epson up there in rankings. HELP ! Any advice will be fine. I did a search here and WAY to many pages to leaf through!
Thanks !

 

[d.kurz]

They are all so close in quality these days that I'd base my decision on the price of the ink refills!!!

 

[Kermit]

We buy HP printers. There are good Canons and Epsons out there, but DH and I have been computer nerds for a long time, and both of us have consistantly been happier with HPs. The main problem with them is that the ink isn't quite as cheap as it can be with a Canon. On the Canons, there are 3 different colored cartridges and one black. When you run out of one color, you replace that one color. When you run out of yellow on an HP, you replace the whole colored cartridge since there are only 2 cartridges. The cost of 3 colored Canon cartridges is generally higher than 1 colored HP cartridge, but over time you'll get your money's worth with the Canons.

As long as you buy a name brand (I'd stick to Canon or HP), you probably won't be disappointed. There may be some aspects of the other brand that you'd have liked better, but you'll have a good printer that will probably last longer than you'll need it to. If you can, I'd spend as close to $200 as you can. Right now, that seems where the most value seems to be, provided that you don't really <i>need</i> one of the more expensive printers.

I'd also recommend making sure that you get a photo printer. Even if you don't have a digital camera yet, you probably will. Printers that aren't photo printers will print photos, but there are advantages to the photo printers. My favorite is being able to use 4X6 photo paper and printing to the edge on it. With a non-photo printer, you'll generally have to print on a full sheet of photo paper and trim the individual photos.

 

[Ricola]

Just as an alternate opinion, I have always preferred Epson color printers. I find that I get better results, and the drivers work better with my computers than other brands.

If you are going to be printing photos, I would consider a 6-color printer.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Thanks for the replies!
We had always had HP as my DH insisted they were the best. But I have read so much good about others now. We also have a Canon that came free with our Dell computer 2 years ago. We DO have a digital camera so printing is very important. How do I know it is a "photo printer"? All of them I looked at say they print photos, what else am I looking for it to say??Is 6 colors better for photos?
DH is the computer nerd here, but I think he is behind in the latest on printers ! He wants ME to decide !

 

[WebmasterAlex]

I have always been an HP lover myself. I decided I needed a laser printer for the house as most of what I print is black and white and they are SO much cheaper to run it's incredible. The studies I have seen show a cost for lasers of .03 per page vs. .08-.15 cents per page for an inkjet!
When I went to look at cheap lasers, the QMS (minolta) was a WAY better deal than the HP's so I am going to expand my horizon's.

 

[SuiteDisney]

I'm a big HP fan. We got one Canon and it broke down within a few months. I'm sticking to HP.

 

[hercamore]

We have 3 HP's. All less than 4 year old including l brand new one.

Buy ink refills at Sam's


Herc.

 

[Crissup]

Everytime I've strayed from HP, I've regretted it. I now have an HP all in one here (Color Scanner, Color Copier, Color Printer in one unit) for general printing and scanning. Then, I bought an Epson 6-color photo printer for printing photos. The photos look phenominal!! Expensive to replace ink cartridges and I have had a lot of problems with the cartridges clogging up. I finally learned from Epson that I have to keep the printer powered off unless I am going to print to it, or I have to ensure I print at least once a week. I never power off my HP.

Also, a couple weeks after I got the Epson, someone closed the little cover for the output tray. The printer jammed up and it has been smearing ink all over the backs of my photos ever since. This is only a problem if you look at the back, but it means my post cards have smears on the print side. Epson says the printer can not be taken apart far enough to clean it.

So, while I think the Epson gives *great* looking printouts, it has already been more bother to me in one year than my HP's have been in 10 years. However, when this one goes bad, I will purchase another Epson for photos (They're cheap enough that I am considering them throw aways) and I will continue to purchase HP's for general printing needs.

 

[BethR]

We are not printing photos yet, so I am not thinking of how well printers do THAT. I just know that whatever printer we get next had BETTER have better life on their ink cartridges.
We have an Epson Stylus 600 - almost 5 years old. It has worked very well for us - not very fast, kind of noisy too - but is has done the job. But I just know that we have spent a small fortune on cartridges. We replace cartridges every 3 or 4 months at $25 or so a pop - about $55 total.
I THINK that the next time that we buy a printer, it will be an HP - I have heard that their cartridges last a long time - and are only slightly more expensive than the Epsons.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

That is why I am switching to a laser for most stuff Beth. You can get a good one for under 200 dollars and your consumable cost goes WAY down.

 

[BethR]

But that is for soley B/W, Alex? We would like to have color too since the kids do print things for reports for school, etc. After having color, I don't know that I could just go to B/W - even for the $$$ savings.

 

[Michelle]

Laser printer is the ONLY way to go for documents. I've had an NEC SuperScript for two years and aside from having to buy toner twice there is NO expense. I'm sure they are way cheaper now, as Alex said, but this one was about $340 when I got it.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Thanks for the advice, lots to think about. I think we will look at the ads in the paper tomorrow and start our search. We HAVE to have color, so I will start with the HP's since ours has been so great! My Mom has a b/w laser Alex, and LOVES it!

 

[WebmasterAlex]

I think it still works out cheaper to have both.. if you need really GREAT photo quality it's 200 bucks as everyone has been saying. If you just need color for reports I have seen Ink Jet's for 50 bucks.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

You are probably right about that Alex! My kids sure go through the ink in these things. When they are at their Grandma's she makes them use the laser since it is cheaper! Perhaps both, in the long run, is best!

 

[BethR]

Definately food for thought Alex and Michelle. But there is no printer in our future anytime soon. I would be happy to someday just have a working computer!

 

[WillR]

My HP LaserJet III just died - after 14 years
I don't know what to replace it with - any one have a favorite laser printer they would suggest? This one was pretty expensive way back when I bought it.

I also have an HP 820Cse DeskJet that is okay - it's a little tempermental but generally does a good job and I don't go through too many cartridges.

I had an HP all in one once and it died rather quickly so I wouldn't go that route again.

I aslo had an HP scanner that died at 3 years old - just stopped working and that was that.

So - my HP results are great and annoying - and I'm still shopping for a new laser printer.....

 

[tar heel]

Another two printer person here -- b & w laser and color inkjet, both HP.

WillR -- My LaserJet IIP died almost two years ago after more than ten years, and I replaced it with a LaserJet 2100. I had to have one that feeds the paper flat like my old IIP b/c I don't find the ones where the paper sticks up on top (no idea what to call it) to feed the paper precisely enough for my desktop publishing jobs. I use that kind (something L) at work, though, and it's perfectly adquate for letters and reports. The one I got was more expensive (about $600), but less than my old IIP and I didn't have to buy extra memory like you used to. It runs very well, is fast, and gets about 3,000 pages per cartridge.

For color, we have a HP 932C. We haven't had any trouble with it and the quality is good. I have no illusions that it will last 10 years, though.

 

[WillR]

Tar heel

Thanks for the suggestion. It sounds like our needs are very similiar - I also need the printer for desktop publishing jobs. I print a lot and wouldn't want to do everything on a color inkjet so I really need to replace my laser printer.

I'll go see if the HP 2100 is still available - you said 2 years ago so there could already be a new model.

Thanks