Printer advice

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by mrfrench, Jul 20, 2007.

  1. mrfrench

    mrfrench Private E-2

    I figure this is a good place to get advice on what printer to purchase.

    Currently, I have:
    - a Mac G4 running OS 9.0.2
    - a linux box running Redhat 8
    - a laptop running Windows 98
    - a MacBook Pro running OS 10.4.10
    - a Epson Color Stylus 850Ne printer

    The Epson printer was cheap when I got it 7 years ago. It did a decent job printing up to about 8 months ago. I was evicted from my home and it took over 8 months (and many court hearings and orders) to get my belongings, including the printer, out of my old apartment. During that time, the ink has probably clogged the nozzles since the printer won't print any more. Maybe the ink has just dried up but Epson doesn't think so since they say their ink won't dry up for a year or two. It'll probably cost more to fix the printer than a new one will cost - it'll cost me at least $50 just to find out what's wrong.

    So, it's time to buy a new printer. The Epson was a network printer. All of the machines could print to it, except the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro is my "main" machine at the moment.

    Most of the time, I'm just printing letters, web pages, manuals, and other text. I do not need color but I suppose it would be nice to have the option. The printer must be able to handle envelopes. And, if it can do duplex (2-sided) printing, that would be great. I'd prefer a networkable printer so I can connect it to all the machines without having to switch the wires around. If it has wireless, and I can talk to it wirelessly from my MacBook without a router inbetween, that'd be even better. At some point in the near future, I want to do scanning of all my financial records and get rid of all the paper. I also occasionally need to make copies of things and I figure if I have a copier/scanner/printer at home, it'll save me a trip to Staples. I hardly ever have to fax. There's a small chance that I might want to print out photos at some point but not likely. I probably will want to scan photos and negatives at some future date.

    I've heard that the all-in-ones don't do photos well. I've also heard that many of the scanners don't handle film negatives well. When I do get around to scanning photos, I'll need to do both of those things. So, I'm not sure I want to spend money on a good photo printer/scanner now.


    I'm trying to figure out what to buy though - there are too many options and combinations and I don't really like any of them. I cannot buy a laser printer because the wiring in my home won't support it. Therefore, I'm looking at inkjets. The all-in-ones are good because there is a small footprint, and it's cheaper to buy a printer/copier/scanner than separate devices. But the all-in-ones also include the fax which I don't need and that adds to their cost unnecessarily. Also, the resolution on them seems poorer than on the individual scanners. I've looked at several models and brands in the stores, and wasn't happy with any of them, especially since none of them seemed to do what I wanted.

    I was looking at the HP6980 which has wireless networking (along with USB, and wired networking) and will do duplex with an optional add-on from HP (at additional cost). But that's just a printer, not a scanner. I also don't know how good it is. I also don't know if it'll work on both wired and wireless Ethernet at the same time - that is connecting to the MacBook wirelessly but the older machines through wire. But that model seems to be the kind of thing I'm looking for if it was also a scanner/copier as well.

    Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I know this is complicated. But, the problem with buying in the stores is that the salespersons don't know anything, and can't tell me how good the unit is, or whether it will work in my environment seeamlessly, or any of the other details I need answered.

    So, I'm looking here for advice and recommendations.

    Any suggestions?
     

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