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Recommendations for an Printer

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applekid

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 3, 2003
2,097
0
My Epson Stylus Photo 820 went kaput today. It was working okay, I guess. But, the rollers got so dirty with ink, I had lines appearing often. And the heads were acting up to leaving lines randomly. My dad disassembled it once to clean it, and it stayed cleaned for a short period of time.

I've lost some faith in Epson. I switched back to my old Epson Stylus 440. It has been reliable in the sense it doesn't leave random marks. But, I'm relying on GIMP drivers (which have been okay). And, I've got a small stock of 2 year old ink for it, so I'm hoping it won't all dry up on me soon.

Anyways, I would like to get a nice printer that can print photos (on glossy paper), graphics, and text adequately. I'm not looking for the latest and greatest high resolution printer. No, a simple printer for the home computer will suffice. Printing photos is preferable because I do print photos once in a while and still have plenty of glossy paper left. And, most importantly, I need a printer that's reliable. Nothing that requires disassembly for me to thoroughly clean. It's annoying when people complain about a little text print out or color print of school work because of some lines beyond my control.

Heck, if there's an affordable color laser printer that can do it all, that would be great, too.

I don't really have a price range. Anything under $300 is good.

Thanks.
 
sw1tcher

sw1tcher

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
5,385
18,401
Well, you can pick up a inexpensive color laser for about $300 now. Usually after a rebate or two. But they're in no way comparable in print quality, for photos at least, to an inkjet printer. The resolutions are just not high enough (600 x 600 or 1200 x 600).

I think you'd be very happy with a Canon inkjet. I have an old Canon i850 (and an old Apple LaserWriter Select 360 for the heavy work) and I have not had one problem with it yet. Works great with both Canon and Epson photo paper too. The individual ink tanks help a lot since I always seem to run out of magenta first.

A new Canon just came out too the other day. It's the Canon iP 4200. It's got a print resolution of up to 9600 x 2400 and with its 1,856-nozzle print head with droplets as small as 1 picoliter you'll get amazing print quality and speed.

It also uses Canon's new ChromaLife100 ink cartridges which means that photos will last up to 100 years when stored in an archival quality photo album.

I'm tempted to upgrade myself since the photos on my frig that I printed with my Canon fade really fast. Oh, other features of the printer include built-in 2-sided printing and 2 paper trays.

Retails for about $130. Inks are about $10 for the 3 color carts and the black photo cart, and about $13 for the black cart used for printing text.
 
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rockandrule

macrumors 6502
Aug 3, 2004
448
0
Jacksonville, FL
Go for a Canon iP5000 or iP6000D for photos. You can get the iP6000D for a good deal at Circuit City right now, at least in my area, it's $130 after rebates. If you want even better photos, jump up to an iP8000 series, these use 8 cartridges rather than the six of the iP6000D and the five of the iP5000. Great all around printers.
 
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Prelude2Tragedy

macrumors regular
Apr 9, 2005
150
0
New Jersey
rockandrule said:
Go for a Canon iP5000 or iP6000D for photos. You can get the iP6000D for a good deal at Circuit City right now, at least in my area, it's $130 after rebates. If you want even better photos, jump up to an iP8000 series, these use 8 cartridges rather than the six of the iP6000D and the five of the iP5000. Great all around printers.
Click to expand...

Did you go with canon to replace that HP of yours in the other thread?
 
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rockandrule

macrumors 6502
Aug 3, 2004
448
0
Jacksonville, FL
Well, to go along side my 2610, yes. I went with the iP4000, because it was cheaper on ink than the iP4200. Not by much, but I didn't need the new technology. I get good enough photos off of my 2610.
 
A

applekid

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 3, 2003
2,097
0
Well, the iP4200 might be worth the extra couple of bucks on Amazon over the iP4000. No need to get a model of a higher quality.

Any good words for Canon printers as far as staying clean and having good utilities?
 
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