What Printer Should I Buy?

OK, so I know this isn't printerreview.com, but I've found the site pretty helpful so far and I'm sure most of you print stuff. So I thought I'd ask on advice for printers.

General Questions

1) What is your budget?
Up to about $120 max, $100 preferred; less is better

2) What size printer would you prefer?

The smaller the footprint, the better. Basically I want something that'll fit in a college room without taking up too much space.

3) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in.

United States (don't see the flag options in this forum)

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

I've had bad luck with Canons, otherwise pretty much open to anything. But keep it mainstream!

5) What tasks will you be performing with the printer?

Printing and scanning. So I'd much prefer one that can do both. Faxing is not necessary; if I ever need that I'll use the university machines.

6) Will you be taking the printer with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?

Will stay on the desk at college except during the summer.

7) Will you be printing in color on this printer; if so, what colors?

I'm sure at some point I'll have to print color, so it is necessary. Photo cartridge isn't necessary; I can print pictures while I'm home on break. I'll be printing the standard 65,536 colors.

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Zero.

9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?

I'd prefer it to be something I could see in a store if I wanted to. Shipping costs must be kept reasonable if I were to buy online.

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Must be Windows compatible.

11) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?

Widescreen, which happens to match perfectly the dimensions of paper. Ideally it would be able to scan a whole page at once; I'd assume even with the smaller models this is standard.

12) What scanning and printing resolutions would you prefer?

Don't really care on scanning; the resolution of my 1999 scanner works just fine for me right now so I don't think it's too important.

Never been able to tell a difference on printing with what I've used. Just has to be consistently clear to read; I won't be printing off any masterpieces of artwork.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective surface or a matte/non-glossy surface?

Don't really care; primary goal is that it works well (see also #14).

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the printer's looks and stylishness important to you?

Nope, just has to be relatively compact and work well.

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?

I was thinking of buying it with my laptop, but now I'm thinking I might as well wait until I get roommate assignments in 3.5 weeks.

Ideally it would last all four years of college, but if it doesn't it's not a huge deal. It's not like I'm going to buy an extended warranty in case it doesn't.

16) How much memory card read-ability do you want?

Don't need any; laptop appears to be able to handle all that just fine.

17) What do you need in terms of ink cartridges?

Ink usage has to be reasonable - doesn't have to be the best but I don't want it wasting ink like crazy, either. Ink cartridge replacements have to be easy to get at your local Best Buy equivalent (if you can specify the type your recommended model would need, that'd be great).

Thanks for recommendations! I realize this isn't everyone's area of expertise, but especially the collegians here will have more experience than me!

 

Have a look at the HP All-in-one.
It's a little big (well I'd say average size for a printer) but I think it's a great printer/scanner.
Have a look here.

 

Thanks; looks good. *adds to list* Sorry about getting the wrong forum; I saw Hardware and thought it looked good, forgetting about Accessories.

 

HP Photosmart C4180 Q8110A Up to 30 ppm Up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi Thermal Inkjet MFC / All-In-One Color Printer - Retail
Month End Blowout Deal, ends 6/30.......you have a lil more than 2 hours
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828104495

Original Price: $149.99
You Save: $30.00
$119.99

 

Printers are a waste of money if you are printing photos or graphic art.

You can print 8x10s or 8x12s at costco for like $2.00

and that's with nice photo glossy paper. Thing is, companys like costco, walgreens, wolf camera, ext. don't use those crapy all-in-one printers. They use $50,000+ printers, so you can expect only high quality prints.

but if printing text is your thing, then get a laserjet.

 

I'd go with an HP, just whatever HP fits you, I've worked with alot of them and only 1 of them has ever given me any trouble, and that was in a high school class room that wasn't maintained or watched, so it was an abused printer, and I was still able to get it to work whenever I needed it to.... just no one else could. lol

 

If you read his first post you'll see this:

I think it's safe to assume that he'll be using the printer to print his class notes and other school related things.
Since he only wants to spend about 100$ ont he printer I don't think he's expecting to print high quality pictures or anything like that.