Which printer should I buy?

[foodfiend]

My current printer is on the fritz. My brother gave it to me, and it's time to get a new one. What I know about printers could fill...nothing. Except that it doesn't have to be colour (I don't have a digital camera), and I can't afford a laser printer. I'm thinking of going to Staples to get one. Any suggestions?

[slknight]

We got the Canon i550 at Staples recently and have been very happy with it.

[lonetree1353]

Printers are getting quite reasonable now. Depending on what you want to pay...my advice would be to check out the cost of new ink cartridges. They vary in price and depending on how much you use your printer the cost of replacement cartridges could be a deciding factor.

[sneezles]

Even with taking into consideration all of HP's faults, I think they still make the best printers. I will never ever buy another HP pc but I will continue to buy their printers as needed, JMHO!

[lonetree1353]

sneezles...I have to agree with you. Our last two printers have been HP deskjets.

[little_bopeep]

I bought an HP laserjet on eBay and have been sooooo happy with it! My toner cartridge lasted almost 2 years with my using it 3-4 times a week, sometimes with large projects.

[gabbyh]

Another vote for HP...my husband won't buy any other brand...

[HejazSunKat]

I have an HP Deskjet 970cxi and it's fine except that it's pretty slow. It is a color printer but even if I shut the color off it's still slow. I mention this only because the print speed might be a point you want to take into consideration when you're looking at different models.

[jmarie]

New, inexpensive inkjets print color superbly. And they do it faster than ever. Laser printers excel at printing black-and-white text.

Inkjet printers are now the standard for home-computer output. They do an excellent job with color--turning out color photos nearly indistinguishable from photographic prints, along with banners, stickers, transparencies, T-shirt transfers, and greeting cards. Many produce excellent black-and-white text. With some very good models going for less than $200, the vast majority of printers sold for home use are inkjets.

Laser printers still have their place in home offices. If you print reams of black-and-white text documents, you probably need the speed and low per-copy cost of a laser printer.

Printers use a computer's microprocessor and memory to process data. The latest models are so fast partly because computers themselves have become more powerful and contain much more memory than before. Unlike the computers they serve, most home printers can't be upgraded--except for adding memory to laser printers. Most people usually get faster or more-detailed output by buying a new printer.


WHAT'S AVAILABLE

The printer market is dominated by a handful of well-established brands. Hewlett-Packard is the market leader. Other brands are Brother, Canon, Epson, Lexmark, and Samsung.

The type of computer a printer can serve depends on its ports. A Universal Serial Bus (USB) port lets a printer connect to Windows or Macintosh computers. Some models have a parallel port, which lets the printer work with older Windows computers. All these printers lack a serial port, which means they won't work with older Macs.

Inkjet printers. Inkjets use droplets of ink to form letters, graphics, and photos. Some printers have one cartridge that holds the cyan (greenish-blue), magenta, and yellow inks, and a second cartridge for the black ink. Others have an individual cartridge for each ink. For photos, many inkjets also have additional cartridges that contain lighter shades of cyan and magenta inks. Most inkjets print at 2 1/2 to 9 1/2 pages per minute (ppm) for black-and-white text, but are much slower for color photos, taking 2 to 18 minutes to print a single 8x10. The cost of printing a black-and-white page with an inkjet varies considerably from model to model--ranging from 3 to 9 cents. The cost of printing a color photo can range from 70 cents to $1.10.

Price range: $50 to $700.

Laser printers. These work much like plain-paper copiers, forming images by transferring toner (powdered ink) to paper passing over an electrically charged drum. The process yields sharp black-and-white text and graphics. Laser printers usually outrun inkjets, cranking out black-and-white text at a rate of 9 to 15 ppm. Black-and-white laser printers generally cost about as much as high-end inkjets, but they're cheaper to operate. Color laser printers are also available. Laser cartridges, about $100, often contain both the toner and the drum and can print thousands of black-and-white pages for a per-page cost of 2 to 4 cents.

Price range: $200 to $1,000 (black-and-white); $700 and up (color).


HOW TO CHOOSE

Performance differences. When it comes to producing graphics and photos, many inkjets do excellent work. The best in Consumer Reports tests print graphics that are crisp, clean, and vibrant-looking. Photos rival the output of a photofinishing lab, with smooth gradations and deep blacks. The worst inkjets turn out graphics that are dull, grainy, or banded. Photos may suffer from over-inked dark areas, textures that make skin seem pebbled, and grainy or dull colors. In recent tests, laser printers had the advantage when it came to producing excellent-quality black-and-white text, though more than half of the inkjets we tested rivaled them. Page for page, laser models are cheaper to operate.

Printing results were sometimes better for one side of the paper than the other. Some brands of paper indicate on the package which side to use.

Recommendations. An inkjet printer is the more versatile choice, and it's inexpensive for both color and black-and-white output. If you plan on printing color graphics and photos, an inkjet printer is the way to go. Buy a laser printer if you need to turn out a large amount of high-quality black-and-white text.

Depending on the printer and the ports available, you have several connection options. Most printers now support USB connectivity. If you have a parallel port, you should use an IEEE 1284-compliant printer cable. However, most laser printers now offer a built-in Network Interface Card (NIC) option, for a high-speed Ethernet connection over an office Local Area Network (LAN) or even a home network, allowing multiple users to share a single printer.

[Beth]

We had an HP a while back and were happy with it, until an ink cartridge refill leaked and ruined it. We had to have a printer that day, so we bought an inexpensive Epson -- all wehad to do was get a charity project -- all text, out the door. Over 2 years later, we still have that printer and a newer Epson. I think my sister's new printer is also an Epson, so I'd be comfortable with Epson as well as HP.

We have a Canon scanner, but I don't know much about their printers. My knowledge of Lexmark is limited to the laser printers in the last office I worked in and one that came in a PC bundle. Neither was worth anything. Ours couldn't print a picture to save its life, l;iterally, and the office printers had constant problems -- very tempermental. I've avoided them ever since.

[mcraig13]

I have an HP Officejet 6110. It is a color copier, fax, scanner, printer. I think it was about $300 at Staples. There are printers that do the same thing,but cost a little less. DH thinks that the cartridges do not run out as fast if you spend a little more on the printer. I got a good deal on cartridges recently at Staples also---two in a pack--I can't remember how much but a lot less that buying two separately.

[TeriK]

I have an HP LaserJet 2100 NT and have never had a single problem with it. the cartridges are not cheap (something like $70 or $80), but they last a really long time. I use my printer daily and can go over a year without replacing the cartridge.
Good luck!

[jmarie]

Their TOP PICKS(Consumer Reports)

1. Canon Photo Printer i860 CR $150.00 Best Buy Text speed 9--Text cost 2.7

2.Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart 7760 $200.00Text speed 5.9 Text cost 5.9

3.Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 995c $250.00 speed-5.4 cost-4.3

4.Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart 7960 $300.00 speed 5.8 cost 5.9

5.Deskjet 3820 CR 80.00 Best Buy speed 4.9 cost 6

hope this helps!

[fci5767]

I'm bumping up this thread from last year. I need to buy a new printer in the next few days and thought I'd ask here for any suggestions. I would like it to be inkjet and able to print letter, legal and photos.

Thanks in advance.


Beth

[leightx]

I'm slightly biased since I'm a contractor for Epson...

That said, Epson has about 70% of the professional photographer market. If you're mainly interested in printing text and other business applications, and speed is a high priority, I'd say go with HP. For photos, Epson usually wins hands down among photography groups and digital camera magazines.

Here's a review of my favorite consumer-level photo printer: Epson R800 (http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Epson_Stylus_Photo_R800/4505-3162_16-30608012.html?tag=pdtl-list) I have the wide-format version of this printer (the R1800, which prints 13x19), and it is fabulous. It has separate ink cartridges and pigment inks, which are highly water-resistant and fade-resistant.

[fci5767]

Thanks Leigh. I'm sorry I didn't see your response sooner. I've been sick and dealing with the aftermath of a flood so I didn't know that you answered.

I'm going to go looking in the stores tomorrow. I will do a combination of types of printing so I really need to decide what to do. I may end up getting a separate photo printer. Thanks for the link. I'll take a look at that one as well. Speed isn't an issue since I won't do any heavy duty printing.


Beth

[MISSINDI]

I have an HP1300 that a Staples rep recommended last year. I think it was $400 or so. No problems at all. I love HP products -- don't think you can really go wrong with them.

[mbrogier]

We got an HP Laser on Ebay 4 years ago and it is still going strong. We've only bought one toner cartridge for it. We love it. You just have to read all the feedback on the seller.

HP and Compac merged last year, so all HPs computers are now compacs. Their quality has improved drastically.