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Best printer? PLEASE HELP!

D

DodgerMetC

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 25, 2009
6
0
I have the new 13 inch Macbook (the $999 one) and am a newbie to Macs.

I am a college student on a budget, but also not looking to buy a printer that is going to fail me. I need a dependable printer,copier,scanner.

So what are the best all in one printers at reasonable prices ($100-$300)

PLEASE HELP!
 
Thanks for the awful advice :) About to graduate, and need a home printer, especially with a scanner.
 
Why would I come here looking for advice like that on a campus printer :)

Link?
 
DodgerMetC said:
Why would I come here looking for advice like that on a campus printer :)
Click to expand...

You asked for

a dependable printer,copier,scanner.
Click to expand...

You further stated

I am a college student on a budget
Click to expand...

...for probably 80% of students, paying $50 for credit on your ID card to use campus printing is cheaper than buying even a $70 laser printer when you won't even use up the $50 credit. Simple math. You asked for the economical solution, and I gave it.

Link?
Click to expand...

google.com
 
I did not ask for an economical solution. I asked for suggestions on an all in one printer. Thanks for the advice smarty.
 
B/W or color?

You can buy anything you want, just cause you have a Mac doesnt mean you cant buy whatever you want.

I prefer Canon myself.
 
I am looking for color and all in one. Do Canons work well with macs? I have heard certain printers do not work well. Any suggestions at say Best Buy or something?

I know how to use Google everyone, but you may or may not know of certain websites or places to get things at a better price than just googling the product. Please stop with the smart-ness and offer up good suggestions.
 
Hi Dodger!

Welcome to the Forum.

I have a preference for Canon printers. They seem the most well-rounded to me.

I've always had poor luck with Epson's Ink Cost and reliability.

HP printers are OK but the software is really bad.

Anyhow, miles0110 didn't seem to be trying to provoke you. I feel that maybe you took a well-meant suggestion the wrong way.


Good Luck,
Keri
 
The dirty little secret of printer ink is that it often evaporates over time even if you don't use it. For that reason, I'd suggest going with a laser printer because they use toner (dry ink powder).

Since you're on a budget, you'd end up saving a lot of money in the long run on ink. I don't remember the per-page price points, but last time I calculated, I spend about 3 cents per page with toner and would spend 3-8 cents per page with ink (not including wasted ink from evaporation, which is where the cost piles up).

The only downside is that you'd probably be giving up color at this price point. For me that wasn't an issue.

I bought a Samsung SCX-4100 for about $100, and have been using it for about 6 years now. Only replaced the toner cartridge once.
 
If you don't need to print in color, then I prefer B&W laser. For printing only, I previously used a Samsung ML-2010 which was superb, and now I have a Samsung 4725 all-in-one fax/copier/scanner. The only downside is that if you use it wirelessly (which I'm doing through my Airport Express), then the scanning doesn't work well.

Still, it's a very nice device & has been greatly reliable for me thus far.

Good luck!
 
I'll second the Brother recommendation. I just got a little Brother MFC-210C, and it's working great. Cost me $69. If you want fancier stuff, they have higher end models too with wireless, photo-quality prints, etc, but this one's been working perfectly. I haven't yet seen a printer that was easier to work with, software-wise, on the Mac either. Canon's drivers are a pain to install, HP's are notoriously bad (RAM and processor hungry), and Epson's have never worked well for me. I'd go with a Brother any day.

Now, if you're considering laser, add Samsung as an option. I've understood you can't really beat them for budget laser printers.

jW
 
the thing is, with cheap ass printers, that they cost more in the long run. reasons:

1:the color cartridges are often combined in one cartridge, meaning, when you're out of blue, u will have to replace the cartridge, and with that u will also replace the red end yellow although there is plenty of that ink left in the cartridge. printers that cost a little bit more usually have separated colors.

2: they usually use more ink to print the same thing.

what I wouldn't do:

first of all, I wouldn't buy a brother. My girlfriend has one, and you have to replace the cartridge as soon as it runs out. problem: say I realy need to print a document urgently , and say i'm all out of red. the damn thing won't print because red is empty, although I only need black. I don't know if every brother has this problem though. what bugs me even more is the fact that this actually happened in real life; but the red ink wasn't even empty! the cartridges have this chip that says how much ink should be left, but this is by no means accurate.

what I would do:

I bought myself a canon. they use little ink and even the cheaper models have decent print quality.

my two cents.


Sorry if my sentences are a bit hard to understand, I'm dutch natively.
 
If you want the best quality prints and the longest lasting ink, a Brother laser all in one will be perfect for you. (MFC series)
 
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