New Printer Advice

[Grasbak]

My HP Deskjet just died so am looking for a new printer. Looking for advice.

Am looking for a printer/copier/scanner all in one. Want to be able to print photos (although will print more text than photos). Budget - under £200 - ideally around £100.

I dont have spare USB ports on my mac but have an airport express connected to netgear wireless router.

Was considering a HP - perhaps photosmart C6180 which will work over the wireless - although I have seen some posts that suggest you cant scan over wireless? Otherwise the photosmart c5180

One question - do all printers work over the airport express? Will all the functions work?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

 

[jsw]

I have a Canon PIXMA MP810 and love it.

As far as the AirPort USB port: it works for printing, but, as far as I can tell, not for scanning. You can get a USB hub very cheaply to add more USB devices, and that's probably what would work better for you with a multifunction device.

 

[Grasbak]

Thanks JSW.

I did have a USB hub but it seemed to be the cause of kernel panics on my mac so i ditched it. Do you know how I can figure out what the problem is with the kernel panics (i assume thats what they are, when removing USB keys from the hub - a belkin that supports macs - the screen would go grey and tell me to hold down power to restart. Ended up happening quite often - now I use the USB keys direct into the mac and have no problems.)

 

[3nm]

i can't really say much about printers for printing photos cos i only print papers for school. but when i did my research on hp's PSC+airport express two years ago, i found that most PSCs tend to print via airport express seamlessly w/ foomatic. however, none of the PSCs could scan via airport. you can find which printers are fully/partially supported by foomatic here.

 

[portent]

Avoid anything from Lexmark; there are huge driver issues with Leopard. (Search Google or the forums for "lexmark leopard.")

 

[da2005pizimp]

i'd say stay with HP, they are good printers and the ink isn't that bad on most of them. I agree do not buy a lexmark, the ink is crazy expansive. the other day at my local staples they had a lexmark for something real cheap like 20 bucks and when you look for the ink it was like 40 bucks just for black.

 

[jvette]

I just got a Canon mp610 and it works great and was just plug and play. It's a little on the large size but got great reviews.

 

[Soschil]

I'm _very_ happy with my Canon MP600. It does good photo prints, scanning is a snap etc. It does take up a USB port, but it has built-in USB and card reader on the front. Don't know what speed the USB is, though; I haven't really used it ;-).
Besides, AFAIK Canon printers are generally cheap when it comes to printing costs.

 

[poopyhead]

I have the c6180
it is the best printer I have ever had
the ink is cheap and so far after printing over 1000 documents and large (8.5/11) pictures I have only had to replace the yellow and cyan ink cartridges the black cartridge is still going strong

all of the functions do work over airport express
and
you can scan over wireless

 

[timestamp]

I am gonna have to disagree with the Lexmark comments. The wireless isn't working, but there is a workaround for it. And wireless works with the beta drivers as well.

Also, the black ink for my X6570 is not $40. That is a bunch of FUD. It is $20 and cheaper if you shop around. The high yield black is $25.00.

I like the print quality and overall build quality of the Lexmark personally. I tried an Epson and a Canon, but performance and quality in relation to price for me was in the Lexmark

i got the X6570 on sale for $99.

 

[dirtleg]

This may possibly draw flames, but I am going to ask anyway.

What does anyone know about the Kodak all in one printer on the market, 5300 or some such designation. I spotted one at Sam's the other day and the price was in line with other printers that perform the same functions. Their big selling point is the cost of ink, about half the cost of other cartridges. And they apparently use a different kind of ink. Pigment based rather than dye based.


Anyone have any thoughts or opinions?

 

[Grasbak]

Wow - really does seem like a minefield! I am really interested in using a printer over wireless, either through my airport express or built into the printer. Canon seems to be getting a lot of votes and which.co.uk gave canons great scores.

Anyone here use the Canon Pixma MP600R over wireless, scanning & printing?

 

[WhiteNoiseMaker]

I was looking to get the Canon MP600R for the Wi-Fi printing. However I went for the MP610 as you can just stick a standard USB Bluetooth adapter into the pictbridge port, so I can then use the Bluetooth on my MacBook to print. Its a great all-in-one printer if you've got the space for it, I highly recommend it.