Best Printer for Mac?

[thewhitehart]

I'm currently looking for a new printer and I'm open to suggestions. I would like one with a scanner and copier unit that can copy irregardless of the mac being on. What are some of the best mac compatible printers out there?

Unfortunately, I had an epson CX5400 that just crapped out on me. The horrible bit is I only ever used the first set of ink cartridges that came with it - as soon as I installed new cartridges, the printer started printing poorly, and now only prints out blank pages. I've checked the nozzles and cleaned the heads dozens of times. Subsequently I found out that there is a common defect where the wasted ink tubes get clogged, and that owners of this particular model have had to take apart the printer entirely to get at the hoses, use syringes full of cleaning fluid to unblock ink, etc., which I don't have the time to do. It is appauling that epson knows about this and never recalled the printer. Apparently because I'm an infrequent printer user and I've had this for over a year they refuse to fix it or replace it. What kind of company sells a printer that breaks after one change of an ink cartridge? I took very good care of this printer - their hardware standards and company ethics are embarrassing to say the least.

</rant>

 

[Jimmieboy]

I'd suggest going with a canon. I have a canon IP5200R. It's the best printer I've ever owned. It does copy or scan so it isnt for you. Take a look at the MP800 or the MP830. Both are reasonably priced for what you get and canon is an excellent brand. Good luck!

 

[Saluki Alex]

I'm going to recommend HP, my family has had four HP printers, and all have performed flawlessly. Currently, my parents have an all-in-one (I'm not sure which model) and I have a Deskjet 6940. If you're wondering what happened to the other two printers, the first one went with my brother to college back in 2001, which prompted my parents to by a new printer, which was later given to me when they bought the all-in-one. Since the printer they gave me only connected via a serial port, I could no longer use it when I switched and got my MacBook Pro. Thus explaining the 6940 which I picked up last weekend.

If I were you, I'd look at the HP PSC1610 or HP PSC4180.

 

[Artful Dodger]

I will go with Canon and do since the ink tanks are seperate. I have the ip6600D and really like it. Before that I had a Canon i960 and an Epson R300, which I still have for dvd printing. I like the Canon for printing out color the best and as for text it prints just fine for papers.

 

[EricNau]

I love HP printers, but I hate their new Vivera Ink. Even after completely dry, the ink will smear just from the oil on your fingers. (I often joke that the ink smears itself, because it sure seems that way.)

...So buy a HP that does not feature Vivera Ink.

 

[ryannel2003]

I'm also going to vote for HP. We currently have 3 HP Inkjet's in my house (PSC 1210v, Photosmart 7450, Deskjet 5740) and all have performed flawlessly since my family purchased them. The PSC is going on 3 years old and still performs great, the Deskjet was free with my eMac and is probably the best printer I've ever used, and my Photosmart is an excellent printer as well (slower than Deskjet and prints pictures about the same). Either way, HP is my absolute favorite. Never owned or used a Canon, but I've read great things about them as well. I stay away from Lexmark and Epson though.

 

[steamboat26]

I have an HP Photosmart 2575 All-in-one. It is a great printer, and it even has memory card readers built in. It also has built in networking. It does cost $200, but i got mine for $100 because i bought it with my mini and got a rebate.

 

[Saluki Alex]

I love HP printers, but I hate their new Vivera Ink. Even after completely dry, the ink will smear just from the oil on your fingers. (I often joke that the ink smears itself, because it sure seems that way.)

...So buy a HP that does not feature Vivera Ink.

My 6940 uses Vivera Ink and I've yet to have any problems from it, although when I tested the "smearability" that you stated, I was using a document that I printed a few days ago.

I have an HP Photosmart 2575 All-in-one. It is a great printer, and it even has memory card readers built in. It also has built in networking. It does cost $200, but i got mine for $100 because i bought it with my mini and got a rebate.

My cousin picked up the 2575 after I suggested she look at HP's, and she loves it. To the OP: if the price of the 2575 doesn't bother you, I'd take a look at one.

 

[Makosuke]

My experience says Canon, all the way--quality prints, quality printers, totally reasonable ink practices compared to Epson and HP. They also have better Mac drivers, in my experience, than HP and Epson.

That said, I haven't used any of their AIO units, so I can't speak for the quality of those, but the Canon scanner I have is quite nice (and again, good Mac drivers) and the Canon printer I have is nice, so I have no reason to believe that a Canon AIO wouldn't be nice, too.

 

[Dmac77]

Hp C5180

I would recommend a HP C5180, I've had this printer for nearly two years, and I've never had a problem with it. The HP Drivers for it suck, but there are drivers bundled with Leopard for it. I really like the Viera ink, it doesn't smear (at least for me) as the previous poster stated. But what is really nice about it, is that there is a separate ink for each color (6 or 7 cartridges in total) so if you run out of one color you don't have to toss a cartridge that still is full on the other colors. It scans, copies, and has a 4 slot flash card reader. The only thing that I don't like about the C5180, is that it isn't wireless, but it does have a ethernet connection. I think that the C5380 has wifi and a built in cd/dvd burner also.

Don