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Printer recommendations?

7on

7on

macrumors 601
Original poster
Nov 9, 2003
4,939
0
Dress Rosa
hmmm, I need a new printer. Hated HP support so I got rid of the 2110 that was causing me problems (gave it to my Mom ;P). I was looking towards a Canon due to other reviews from this board. However I cannot decide on a i560 or i860. Of course I'm open to other suggestions. HP excluded though.
 
My grandmother has the i860 and I think that it is a really nice printer. Each of the colors is a different cartridge so that saves $$$.
 
Canon, Canon, Canon. I can't stress enough the incredible quality of these printers. DON'T BUY A LEXMARK. THe i860 is amazing, a little faster than the i560. I used to work in a Best Buy and gained enormous respect for Canon printers. Their prints always looked 10x better and cleaner than other printers, they are MUCH faster, look generally better, and are even a lot quieter than most printers. You can't go wrong with either the i560 or the i860.
 
My Epson 880 just crapped out on me last week and I am also in the market of a new printer. I am low on funds, being a college student and all, so what would be the recommendation for a $100 budget? BTW, isn't it ironic how to get replacement ink on printers these days costs about $60 for black ink and $50 for color ink for a total of around $110-120, but yet, you can get a brand new printer for less than that?
 
Powerbook G5 said:
My Epson 880 just crapped out on me last week and I am also in the market of a new printer. I am low on funds, being a college student and all, so what would be the recommendation for a $100 budget? BTW, isn't it ironic how to get replacement ink on printers these days costs abotu $60 for black ink and $50 for color ink for a total of around $110-120, but yet, you can get a brand new printer for less than that?
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Ask and you shall receive.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...02402-5946427?v=glance&s=electronics&n=172646

And the best part is...black ink for this printer costs $13, color ink tanks cost $12 per color or $35 for a three pack, and they last twice as long as most ink tanks. I replace the ink in my Canon printer once every 4-5 months, and I do a LOT of printing including photo. It also comes with FULL tanks of ink, not half or starter tanks like other companies ship with their printers.
 
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i'd go with a konika 8031 with digital finisher and all options... it's what i have at work (along with a limping savin 410). Great print quality and speed (30ppm color, the 50 was more than i wanted to spend), handles nearly all types of media, and can produce stitched booklets. MSRP around $26,000, does not include maintenance contracts.

If you can't afford that, definitely stay away from lexmark, and i'm not fond of epson. epson is the one (i think) that got in trouble for printers refusing to print long before the cartridge was spent. Lexmark are just crap. I actually like HP very much for inkjet printing, i've had nothing but the best luck with them, and very nice results. ink is a bit pricey tho. Looks like canon is the clear winner for that... i'd put them as the clear winner all around, keeping HP out of the picture.

paul
 
Either Epson or Canon but don't go too cheap. Anything $100 and over should be respectable and the Epson print cartridges seem to go the distance at those prices. ;)

I like Epson all-in-ones for simplicity and completeness, but I like the smaller Canon printers for the dedicated photo paper slot and the USB link.
 
OkiData 5300N

If you want a 4-Color Laser LED printer with great output (photo quality on plain paper) 15 PPM B/W & C, 1500 Sheets@5% on the starter pack for around $1000.00 minus a rebate of $100.00, this is a great little printer. MUCH better than an HP (CATCHES FIRE!) or Minolta 2350 (Slow and only good quality on Plain Paper). Its well made, solid and replacement toner cost is comparable to competitors, around $350.00 minus coupon for 15% off first order. MAC/PC, Ethernet, 64MB Mem. Check www.okidata.com for specs.

I just got mine [my Apple LaserPrinter 630 (great machine; lasted 10 years!) started messing up with jams]. Interestingly, it compares in quality of print to wax printers (Phasers) costings 3x more.

I was very impressed. Saw the lessor model 5100 at CompUSA but was not MAC compatible but they carry the supplies.

Rooster
 
7on said:
hmmm, I need a new printer. Hated HP support so I got rid of the 2110 that was causing me problems (gave it to my Mom ;P). I was looking towards a Canon due to other reviews from this board. However I cannot decide on a i560 or i860. Of course I'm open to other suggestions. HP excluded though.
Click to expand...

As a rule, inkjet printers have a very high TCO. Not to mention running out of ink at the worst possible moment and not being able to find one in stock.

Do you need a color printer? If not, I'd highly recommend the new HP LaserJet 1012. I picked one up at CompUSAauctions.com for $63. New ones are $199.
 
rooster1725 said:
Interestingly, it compares in quality of print to wax printers (Phasers) costings 3x more.

Rooster
Click to expand...

I have a couple Phasers, one wax and one laser, and while I love the quality of the output, the wax is pretty expensive to operate. The laser is cheaper, of course, but the wax looks better. (Not enough better to justify the cost, though, for 90% of what I print)

I was glad to see, though, that someone was recommending something besides yet another inkjet. There's a good reason why no one repairs inkjets.. they're disposable.

Unless price is far and away your biggest concern, buy a laser. And if price is no object, buy a wax. In fact, even IF price is your biggest concern, still buy a laser. Toner lasts forever and TCO is way lower. Bigger initial investment, though. (Kind of like owning a Mac)
 
I have the canon i860, and it is a great priner. Its the best printer that I've ever had. Its very quiet compared to a lot of other printers, and the five individual ink tanks are really a plus. It also prints very quickly. A page of black and white text takes around five seconds. I would definitely reccomend the i860.
 
I'm a "switcher"

Powerbook G5 said:
Wow, I didn't realize Cannon printer ink was that cheap. I've been ripped off for all these years by Epson. :mad:
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I switched from Epson to Canon about a year ago. I have the i850, and the difference in ink costs is amazing. $12 per cartridge, for real, and they last *longer* than the Epson cartridges. Not only that, but I've had WAY fewer printing problems.
 
wordmunger said:
I switched from Epson to Canon about a year ago. I have the i850, and the difference in ink costs is amazing. $12 per cartridge, for real, and they last *longer* than the Epson cartridges. Not only that, but I've had WAY fewer printing problems.
Click to expand...

Let me chime in on this thread. I've had the i850 for about 15 months now and it's fast, quiet, and prints great photos.
Also, you can buy a 2 pack of the black ink cartridges at CostCo for $21.49.
Not bad, if you are close to a warehouse.
 
If you only want to print text, and you're printing any kind of reasonable volume, do yourself a favor and just get a laser printer--it'll pay for itself after a few hundred pages and the text'll look better anyway. I rather like the Brother 5000 series--inexpensive, VERY fast, solid Mac support.

If you want an color, though, I'm yet another voice screaming and jumping up and down that Canon is the only brand of inkjet to consider at this point. The color quality of an Epson with dirt cheap (relatively speaking) ink--I've done photos on an i860 that're nearly indistinguishable from photos, and my old i750 is chugging along printing quite nice photos as well. HP's ink is a fortune, Epson is about as bad and they clog, and Lexmark's just suck in build quality.

Canon, Canon, Canon, Canon!
 
I agree with what's been said re: the Canons.
And also re: the HP LaserJet 1012. Good stuff all around, with low operation costs.
 
I have been very happy with the customer service that epson has but been frustrated with how much ink costs. I am thinking of getting a new printer but am not sure if I want to since mine still works. For some reason my printer refuses to use the blank ink, I have the setting in the computer to black but my color ink always runs out. -n
 
me update

Hey, went and got the i860. Downloaded the drivers from canon (2.3.2 vs. 2.1 on cd -I think-) and I was ready to go. Can't tell if it's using the 3eBK ink, dunno if that's automatic or what. Didn't even install the software, which is excellent. One of the reasons I hated the HP, because the software was required to use the scanner. Oh well it worked out (got my mom's old scanner since I gave her the aio, which works with VueScan) and I got a spiffy photo printer. Dunno how jipped I was on ink, because the salesman insisted that I buy an extra set of cartridges too. Which I did... Although he did fail to mention the USB cable, that I forgot to get for it º~º oh well... Prints great and directly from iPhoto onto those little borderless 4x6's too.

Oh yeah, what I am planning on printing (since most of you seemed to be curious) will be things like emails, photos, and some graphics that will later be printed on a laser printer down in a lab. Sometimes I like to print my assignments out first to see if everything "looks" right before walking to the art lab to print on the laser printers. Which can take 5-10minutes to print...
 
awesome. That's a great printer. I'm actually thinking of getting one myself to replace my Canon S750 that I've beaten the crap out of printing a load of photos over the past 2 and a half years, but I'm debating between the i860 and the i960. Oh well.
 
I might get the i560 today. I am thinking about going to Staples after school today to check out what they have. I've been "borrowing" my roommate's Lexmark all week (more like sneaking my PowerBook to his desk and hijacking the USB cable from his laptop and plugging it into mine to print) and I have to say that it is the slowest, most painful to use printer ever. How does a printer from the 2000's take a full minute to print two pages black text and make it look all pixelated?
 
Yesterday I bought the Canon i560 and I have to give thanks to everyone who recommended it to me. It really is a wonderful printer and I am really glad I picked it over the Epson C84. I was really torn between the two, but seeing that black ink was nearly half the price with the Canon, I chose the i560. Once I got home and looked up the tech specs of both printers, I was absolutely amazed by how much better the Canon really was. It has nearly three times more nozzles than the Epson, smaller/finer ink droplets, it is smaller, lighter, less noisy, has larger printer output capacity, better ink management, and the list goes on. I am really glad I decided to try a Canon printer since I have always used Epson and my parents always used HP. I had to get used to paying ridiculous amounts for ink and having to buy it every few months and now this $13 price tag makes cost per print a incredible savings. I will already have made up the cost of the printer by the next time I refill the ink. It also prints really well, extremely fast, and amazingly quiet. If anyone is looking for a $80-100 printer that functions like one in the $200+ range and has a great cost per print ratio, look no further than this i560.
 
Ha, nice PowerbookG5. I just bought the Canon i960 today to replace my workhorse Canon S750. This thing is amazing, and printing from my Digital Rebel directly to the printer is REALLY nice. The thing is sexy, fast, quiet, and has the best print quality I've ever seen. I love Canon stuff.
 
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