New home printer help?

I know, that's a loaded title. rolleyes

My current printer is an old Deskjet 842c, but it's time for a new one. I've been doing research for the past few weeks but am having one heck of a time nailing down results... It feels like a game of one person saying HP's good while another says their stuff is too expensive, then someone else chimes in that Canon's the best, oh wait no you have to go with so-and-so company, etc. etc. It feels like no printer's ever "right" and I'm at my wit's end at trying to make sense of it all.

Here's a rough checklist of what I'm looking for:

• Needs to connect to one desktop via cable but also be accessible wirelessly by a laptop (even if the desktop isn't on). Both systems run XP SP3.
  
  
• Its workload will be printing photo-quality color documents like custom CD album artwork and photos as well as "low-impact" regular b&w stuff like a page of directions, a recipe, and so on. We don't print huge documents and don't have much volume: maybe CD artwork once every few weeks and few b&w pages each week; pretty light stuff I guess.
  
  
• Needs to be able to handle both regular paper and glossy photo-quality paper. The capability to handle sizes larger than 8.5x11 would be a nice feature (legal or tabloid) but isn't a requirement.
  
  
• Ideally would be under $100 and/or available from Amazon (I have some credit w/ them I'd like to use).
  
  
• Our 842c replacement inks average around $35/ea now; with the amount we use it, color usually gets replaced once a year, b&w maybe every 9 months. I'd definitely prefer less expensive (but still good) inks if possible-- I hear HP tends to have cheaper printer hardware but jacks up ink cost, which I'm not too keen on continuing.
  
  
• A built-in scanner/copier would be nice, but isn't a requirement.
  
  
• I don't have any brand loyalty so long as it's a good machine and hits the requirements above.

I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm hoping you guys can help with suggestions or at least whittle down the options so I don't feel like I'm floundering in choices.

Thanks very much,
m19

 

Greetings, Morgan19.

I know the Epson Artisan 725 is a few $ more than what you specified, but a friend of mine just picked one up recently, and it seems to be a fine machine. Specs here.

 

Thanks! That actually looks pretty good; I'd never thought about it before but I really like that it has the option to print CDs and DVDs directly (so long, labels!).

I want to look into this particular item some more, but the one thing that I'm a bit wary of is having so many individual inks. In my mind that means more cost, but a quick bit of research will solve if that's just my mind playing tricks on me.

m19

 

Morgan19, I'd suggest visiting your local cartridge re-filler (if you have one, or more) and asking them for their opinions based on your requirements.

Also, they might actually sell printers. :-D
I'd also think seriously about the make/model of printers they sell (if they do).
If they sell them, then that's a pretty good recommendation.

Check out Ink saver 2
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Business/Printer_Tools/InkSaver.htmlSoftware

A couple of extra links:
http://www.inksaver.com/
http://www.inksaver.com/overview/index.html

I did trial InkSaver a couple of years ago. It worked well for me.
I liked the options of printer percentages to choose from.

Bazza

 

Personally, I have an HP Photosmart Premium C309. The only thing about it is the paper out tray has a slider with a little pull-up part that broke weeks after I got it, due to my children grabbing it (it was within reach). It works fine without the little stickup on the slider.

However, as I've learned (unfortunately after I bought this printer), HP printers are not for people that like to refill ink cartridges, as their circuitry is designed to reject cartridges that are older than a certain date of manufacture. I only print letter size and have printed a few photos on it, but again it requires special photo paper in order for the photos to be water resistant (also found that out the hard way, and last I checked, I couldn't find the water-resistant photo paper for this printer).

Long story short, the Epson looks like a better printer! The one thing I like about this HP is that it has complete wireless network connectivity (haven't looked at the Epson, it might as well), as in it connects as a device to my wireless router and I can print from any computer in my home. This is definitely a feature you'll want, I think.

 

Hey guys,

After months and months of back-and-forthing, I've narrowed down the likely candidates to two. Online reviews are generally good. Does anyone own either of these and can attest to their quality?

• Canon Pixma MX870

• HP Photosmart D110A

m19

 

Sorry if I prolong your "back-and-forthing" but did you look at any Brother printers? I've had a Brother MFC-790CW for about two years and have been quite satisfied with it. Here's a later Brother model I saw on Amazon.com that I'd put high on a shopping list if I were shopping for a printer now: http://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFCJ6...canner/dp/B003UAJBTS/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

As said, HP is a bummer for the cartridges, they keep blocking so you have to measure a drop of spirit/benzene and syringe it down inside near the very heart of the cartridge, then you scrape the heart and that cartridge is gone!! Still cartridge will print photos with streaks after that, only good for text docs. After three months of hard labour the whole insides of printer are full of spilled ink and you have to get two litres of benzene to do the dirty work with. Real bummer, but bluetooth consolation.

Get the canon laser its cleaner work & blue-tooth but more expe. I'ld grab the Epson with the refilling drums outside printer with pipes leading in, you never get to remove the cartridges thus dont get to mess with them, and never breaks down. But no blue-tooth. Ensure to grab the one with six colors. And a wireless card / USB's for the desktop going to host it.

Edit: DO NOT grab the Brother printer, or you'll be goin "Oh brother!" in due time.