Help me choose among these Printers.

[charlesdayton]

I am looking for a new muti function printer for occasional use. My budget is under $150. I am undecided among these 3 printers:

Epson Stylus NX430

PIXMA MG5320

HP Photosmart 5510


My main concerns are, photo and scanner picture quality, Drivers and UI on the Mac, WiFi setup and Airprint.

Thanks.

 

[LFMNX]

I am looking for a new muti function printer for occasional use. My budget is under $150. I am undecided among these 3 printers:

Epson Stylus NX430

PIXMA MG5320

HP Photosmart 5510


My main concerns are, photo and scanner picture quality, Drivers and UI on the Mac, WiFi setup and Airprint.

Thanks.

I would recommend that you get a printer with native AirPrint capability so there are no apps or configuration for IOS devices. The HP photosmart ones are great photo quality and support AirPrint.

 

[David085]

The HP 7510 is on sale on amazon.com for $137.67 free 2nd shipping for Amazon Prime Members

It his e-Print, and Air Print
Amazon HP 7510 Printer - Click Here

 

[mantic]

I have the Epson Stylus NX430. It seems to work well. I can print from all of my devices computer, iphone, ipad. black ink goes quick.

 

[Macman45]

I have the Epson model below the N...The SXW535...Same drivers and software, totally wire free, email in etc.

It was on special here in the UK...But has since gone up in price. I'd go with the Epson.

 

[charlesdayton]

I would recommend that you get a printer with native AirPrint capability so there are no apps or configuration for IOS devices. The HP photosmart ones are great photo quality and support AirPrint.

Thanks, the ones I listed have native Airprint support.


I was cheking reviews of the Epson and the recomended HP 7510, but I can't find any site that compares print quality.

 

[John T]

There's only one way to check print quality and that is to go to your local store and look at actual examples.

The printers you have quoted are all basic entry level machines and are no doubt fit for their purpose. However, you state that you are particularly interested in photo quality. Obviously it all depends on what you mean by "quality". You are hardly ever going to achieve true photo quality from a multi-function printer. Personally, I have had superb results with Epson Stylus Photo printers. However, unfortunately, they are all out of your budget range.

 

[charlesdayton]

There's only one way to check print quality and that is to go to your local store and look at actual examples.

The printers you have quoted are all basic entry level machines and are no doubt fit for their purpose. However, you state that you are particularly interested in photo quality. Obviously it all depends on what you mean by "quality". You are hardly ever going to achieve true photo quality from a multi-function printer. Personally, I have had superb results with Epson Stylus Photo printers. However, unfortunately, they are all out of your budget range.

Thanks. By quality I mean acceptable for the price. I read a lot about the Epson Photo ones. But I only print quick snapshots, so magazine like quality is ok.

 

[njaremka]

i have the canon, and have been pleased with its performance. out of the box, it might need a firmware update to support airprint, but it was a breeze to set up. there is a small program that needs to be loaded to your mac to support wireless scanning, but it is simple to use.

 

[MonkeySee....]

I have a canon Pixma. Forget what model it is but looks similar to the one you mentioned.

It prints really sharp photos but doesn't seem to reflect the same colouring you have on the screen. Photos will come out darker.

2 other points are that the printer is huge and the inks do not last long at all.

 

[John T]

. . . . . . but doesn't seem to reflect the same colouring you have on the screen. Photos will come out darker

This is quite normal and can be largely (or completely) corrected by adjusting the computer's screen gamma and colour space etc together with the printers profile.

 

[MonkeySee....]

This is quite normal and can be largely (or completely) corrected by adjusting the computer's screen gamma and colour space etc together with the printers profile.

Can't I just get my printer to print as per the screen?

 

[John T]

Can't I just get my printer to print as per the screen?

In a word "no"!

In order to produce prints that match that those taken by the camera, the camera, printer and computer all have to be set up correctly. Obviously your printer has no idea how your computer screen is set up. Neither does it know to which Colour Space (RGB or sRGB) or Colour Temperature your camera is set. Most printers are set to reproduce an "average" setting but some tweaking is usually required to get near-perfect results.

You say your printer is producing darker prints. If this is your only problem, the usual solution is to adjust the default settings on the printers driver software.

 

[MonkeySee....]

In a word "no"!

In order to produce prints that match that those taken by the camera, the camera, printer and computer all have to be set up correctly. Obviously your printer has no idea how your computer screen is set up. Neither does it know to which Colour Space (RGB or sRGB) or Colour Temperature your camera is set. Most printers are set to reproduce an "average" setting but some tweaking is usually required to get near-perfect results.

You say your printer is producing darker prints. If this is your only problem, the usual solution is to adjust the default settings on the printers driver software.

mmm, i'll take another look at my printer settings then. I certainly don't want my screen to replicate the prints.

I had this issue on my windows machine too but with a different printer.

Thanks for the info