i'm interested in a new printer.

what's up guys? haven't posted much lately, but definitely lurk here and there. i'm looking to get an all in one printer, meaning prints, scanner, fax, wireless ability etc.

the most important features are printing black and white, scanning and hooking up wirelessly through my linksys router. color prints and fax and whatever else features are low priority. i am not looking for the best quality color printer either since it is low priority. i'd rather it be able to print double side if within my price range. but black and white decent quality is a must. btw, i don't mind inkjet because it's cheaper than a color laser upfront.

anyways, i've researched the last month or so, and i just keep bouncing around on what to get. my budget is ~$100 but i am willing to spend up to ~$150 if necessary, and maybe up to $200 if justified.

what i also want from this printer is reasonably priced ink, with higher capacity blacks. i don't care what brand, but longevity and the ink issues are a must. lexmark is absolutely out of the question. their low end printers are not worth the paper they are able to print on.

any specific models highly recommended? or any websites with good reviews? i've been looking @ a couple of epson's and canon's but am still unsure. help please.

 

I don't know if you'd be interested, since it's way up at the high end, but Newegg has a sale on the Brother MFC-7840W for $199 with free shipping right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828113303

 

Are you sure they are even able to print on that paper? They are worthless, those things.

 

not interested. i'd like color printing, but it doesn't have to be high quality. this printer is monochrome. thanks, anyways.

 

Ah, ok. I thought you said that black and white printing was important, but you didn't need color.

 

bumpity bum bum bump bump.

 

I like the quality I get from printers that use the HP cartridges 56 (black) and 57 (multicolor). There are a lot of printers out there that use those carts.

My main home printers are a pair of HP 5850 machines approx 3 years old. The are both on the home network (wired) but also have wireless capabilities.

Some months they don't print a page, other months they print 2 or 3 reams (500 pages to a ream) of 'stuff' depending on whether or not the wife is working from home. Never a paper jam, never a clogged printhead, etc, etc.

I do use genuine HP ink carts. The three packs from Costco are so cheap it's not worth the potential hassle to get third party refills.

The black carts, in 'fast normal' print mode for the wife, deliver around 1000 prints per cart. I only use the color carts for some basic proofing of things like excel charts, etc. I probably use two of the color carts in a year.

My main color printers are Canon i960 and i9900. Both are a little expensive/complex for casual home printing. I have them for the photo work I do on the side so using them as my personal color printers is easy.

Since I require more capable scanning than an all-in-one can deliver, I have separate printers & scanners.

I use my page scanner and a slide/neg scanner (again, from the photo business) when necessary for personal stuff. Like the printers, some months I don't scan a page, others it's 50-100 sheets. The neg/slide scanner probably gets 500 scans a month as I capture decades of conventional film to digital.

Fax? I subscribe to faxaway.com for $10- a year. That includes a couple of hundred send/receive fax pages and a dedicated number. It's all handled by email.

As far as your application goes, and if you really want a combined appliance, HP makes all-in-one printer/scanners that use the 56/57/58 carts.

 

I have a Brother laser w/wifi and it works fantastic.

It was like $100. It doesn't do color or have a scanner - just the basics which I wanted (quick, nice, black and white prints).

Ink costs a lot more than toner, so keep that in mind.

 

Ink cartridges are a PITA!
They are expensive and don't last nearly as long as they should, IMO.

Anyway I saw a comercial on TV about Kodak printers, and that their ink is a reasonable price.
I don't like HP's printers because they are so freaking finicky, at least the ones I've used, the either don't work at all or they are SLOW. It's possible HP has improved on their new printers, but IDK.

I would probably go with Kodak, Canon, or maybe Epson because they are more reliable.

There are soo freaking many printers that I don't know what model to recommend
You could just find a possibiltiy then google it for reviews.
Good luck.

EDIT: You can refill ink cartridges yourself, but for me it's inconvienient. But it does cost less.

 

Laser printers are a pita in terms of their energy consumption and that you shouldn't (can't?) run them via a UPS or surge-strip.

In field camps, I've seen inkjet printers run from battery packs and USB ports.

An upside of HP officejet printers is that you get a new printhead with every new cartridge.

 

i haven't researched hp thoroughly yet. cartridges with heads on them cost more than just a regular refill from what i've looked at.

anyhow, how are hp's all in one[s?

 

yes, cost more. yes, ensures constant new-build print quality.

My canon color printers use separate ink carts and print head.
My HP officejets use integrated ink carts/print head units.

My canon color printers gum up every once in a while.

I've never had a clogged print head on my HP office jets.

 

i understand that from what i've researched already. i understand it's possibly alot less frustration if you have no idea how a printer works. i'm also under the impression if i start getting less than stellar prints, ink head is probably jammed. i could go either way, but preferably reasonably price ink is priority because i hate the gouging on the back end, just like razor companies do with razors. 90% of my printing will probably just be receipts, paper back ups, documents i might need hard copy of, or just some info i'd like to have easy reference to. so, cartridges with heads built in aren't that big a deal. i'm fairly handy with stuff like this, so when i start narrowing my search i will look at that issue and also issue of printer having swappable ink heads. some printers won't let you do that, and that will definitely get crossed off my list.

 

it's nearly impossible to properly clean print heads at home. Many people who try it quit after one or two 'experiences'.

But by all means, knock yourself out.

 

wow, you will have to let us know how it turns out... seriously I have a great epson, but the reviews of the new ones scare me, that I don't plan to update untill the printer outright dies! 4.5years going strong!

 

not worried about cleaning heads. just want to make sure i have the option of ink with heads, or a printer that allows the user to swap out new heads. cleaning is tedious and i don't want that option.

 

hp ones are nice and my school uses them... nver had any problems with them except for once when a really old one jammed on some paper... cannon is nice but way more expensive... Hp is more than enough for a normal person...