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The GREATEST Printers!

M

modit

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 8, 2008
340
37
Canada
I'm buying a Mac and was wondering what is the best home printer I could get with there $100 rebate.

Here's the link http://store.apple.com/ca_edu_366005/browse/home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/printers?mco=MTM3NzA2MjI

I'm looking for a brand that doesn't kill your wallet when replacing ink. Example, some brands won't let you print if your out of 1 colour

(Canadians spell color like that :p).

Canon...Lexmark...Epson...which one? I'm sure a wireless printer is really useful as well.

Thanks for your advice!
 
Hellhammer said:
http://store.apple.com/ca_edu_366005/product/TV384VC/A?fnode=MTY1NDA1MQ&mco=MTA4NjEyOTY
http://store.apple.com/ca_edu_366005/product/TX319VC/A?fnode=MTY1NDA1MQ&mco=MTMzODk2NjA

Those are the only ones that you can get for free due to the 100$ rebate. If I had to choose, I would get the Epson as it has better reviews and also looks better.

If you're ready to pay some more $ as well, then this seems to be the best. It has LCD and wireless printing etc.
Click to expand...

The $100 Epson has it's share of strikes against it.

A review:
This is a wonderful printer. I got it free after rebate when I bought my Macbook Pro and it hasn't failed me yet. It prints color documents very quickly and clearly. I have even experimented with glossy photography paper and the printer is simply fantastic! However, besides its big size, there is another drawback to the Epson Artisan 50 InkJet Printer and that is the small size of its ink cartridges. In the past, I knew this is how printers made their money; sell a free printer, but sell ink cartridges at an unreasonably high cost. Ink is necessary, and this printer does not offer a lot of it until you need to go out and buy more of it. I estimate about 250-500 prints before one needs to replace the cartridges, which can cost at least $100. I don't know about you, but I have a family and 500 pages will go pretty quickly before the ink needs to be replaced. One more thing: even if one of the six cartridges does not have any ink left, you cannot print (even in black and white). You must get some more ink, which can be very bothersome. My final thoughts on this printer: it is worth it, but only if you can fork over $100 occasionally.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for one that's wireless, fast, and from a brand that doesn't try to screw you on ink. Photos and other fluff is not important :)

Looks are important :p

EDIT: Never mind...I'll just save my money and buy a printer when I can calculate the cost per page below 10 cents and has good wireless connectivity. Maybe in the LightPeak or USB 3 era :p
 
Get whichever printer you want and use cartridge refill services such as from Costco or OfficeMax. I've had really bad luck with buying refurbished cartridges, but the refill services work fine for me.
 
I have the Epson 610. It scans and prints wirelessly from both my macs and I have sent and received faxes. No problems to report. I haven't yet needed to replace ink; I think I've had the printer since April so that's about seven months worth of printing. Hmmmm that doesn't seem right now that I think about it. Has anyone else gotten that much use out of printer ink. My wife is a teacher and does a decent amount of color printing.
 
If photos aren't important, then color probably isn't too important either. In that case, I'd absolutely get a small monochrome laser printer for the bulk of what you'll need a printer for.

Pros: Laser toner doesn't dry out if you don't use it very often, cost per page is WAY lower than most inkjet printers, don't need to buy special paper to help control inkjet costs. Text quality is generally much better and sharper than an inkjet can produce (and the inkjets that can do "laser quality" use more ink when they do print that way.)

Cons: Laser printers tend to cost a little more when you first purchase them, toners can be around $60+ (but remember that you'll go through nearly 5x or more pages before you need to change it, as compared to an average (and definitely a cheap) inkjet printer.) Black and white only (color lasers are WAY more expensive, and for the most part you don't get the same photo quality if you do want the occasional print.)

I have a Samsung 2525W - been very happy with Samsung quality and price, although Brother also makes a good mono laser.

Hope this helps!
 
GoKyu said:
If photos aren't important, then color probably isn't too important either. In that case, I'd absolutely get a small monochrome laser printer for the bulk of what you'll need a printer for.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%

I am in my third year in college and if I can say first hand that as long as you have access to some sort of color printer for the rare occasion that you might need to print in color a monochrome laser printer is an ideal solution. I made the mistake of buying one of the $100 (free) all in ones and yeah, its a fine printer, but its got so many gimmicks that i never use. My roommate on the other hand bought a laser printer, and it prints quickly, and reliably. Plus the toner lasts forever!!

Best of Luck!
 
Brother Laser

Apple-Man23 said:
I agree 100%

I am in my third year in college and if I can say first hand that as long as you have access to some sort of color printer for the rare occasion that you might need to print in color a monochrome laser printer is an ideal solution. I made the mistake of buying one of the $100 (free) all in ones and yeah, its a fine printer, but its got so many gimmicks that i never use. My roommate on the other hand bought a laser printer, and it prints quickly, and reliably. Plus the toner lasts forever!!

Best of Luck!
Click to expand...

I could not agree more, I just got a brother 2470 mono laser and it's great and wireless.
 
I haven't had an ink jet printer in my house for about 5 years now, and most of what I can say is "WOOO HOOO!"

I'll second (or 3rd or 4th) what's already been said. If you can live without color, get a B&W laser printer. The print jets don't clog. It's pretty fast, and you can't beat the quality. The cartridges last a looong time.

After awhile, we decided we needed color. So we got an inexpensive color laser printer too. Something similar to this Samsung for $150. Now, it's not good for photos mind you, the ink jets beat the pants off of it, but it'll do in a pinch. It's great for charts and school projects that require a bit of color. It doesn't jam or clog jets either, but the refills are a bit more, and don't seem to last that long. I'm not sure I'd recommend this printer as a sole option, but it works well to supplement the B&W one.

I just bought some color replacement cartridges from monoprice (!) [I didn't know they sold em til recently], but they're not yet installed. Hopefully, they'll work well, and this will be an economical approach.

-Dan​
 
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I got a refurbed Konica Minola 2430DL color laser about 4 years ago and, even with heavy printing of DVD covers (for legal reasons, thank you) and such, I still have yet to go through the set of colo(u)r cartridges the printer came with.

I had several ink jet printers previously and they would always clog, jam, or just plain dry up. I have made my money back several-fold on this color laser.

-Aaron-
 
I must've gone through about 10 inkjet printers in my lifetime and don't have a good thing to say about them. I agree with the others, go with a laser.
 
The GREATEST printer is the one that can do refillable system or bulk ink system, continuous ink system. more and more AIO are unable to equip the CIS :(
 
I don't know how important color is to you, but you should get a $60 HP BW laser.

Inkjets are a joke imo. Way too expensive to run and they break all the time.

I am not sure if HP still sells the P1005/P1006 models. I have had this printer for over 2 years now, still going solid.
 
I agree; Laser for the win. Except I'm partial to Brother printers, as opposed to HP. Not saying HP printers are bad, just never used HP laser printers.
 
i'm gonna support the other helpful people here...

Laser printers are much more smarter than inkjets, page/cost per cartridge, reliability, etc. I got hundreds of extra pages by simply taping the sensor...Inkjet printers should be done away with, they are so obsolete tech. Greedy companies playin us for the $$$.!!!

I'd go refurbished and get a nice laser (B+W or Colour). Brother's are nice (that's what I have),...had it for almost four years now....but they are power hungry and make lights flicker, don't know about the recent ones...WIFI feature sound nice...
 
I have had a nightmare with an old Epson inkjet, and was going to get a laser. But bought my laptop a couple of years back and got the basic HP printer with the £60 rebate. It has been a revelation, works great. Ink lasts a decent time and I bought refills for cheap on ebay. Has a scanner also which is just as good as my dedicated Epson (fair few years old) flatbed.
To be fair I do not print that often but photos are good, and the kids school work is great. I am sure a laser would be great though - maybe next time.

Just my 2p worth.
James
 
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