Looking for a photo printer/scanner that can do an excellent job - price point $200 or less. Any advice?
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Photo printer/scanner
- Thread starter sturner113
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Just five minutes ago I purchased the HP 6500
It got good ratings on Amazon and Apple's web site- is $199 (only $99 for me because I just purchased a MacBook Pro 15"!!
The other thing I liked about it was they sell XL in cartridges which provide more than 2.5 times the pages printed for only 50% more. Instead of $10, the XL cart. are about $15 and this one deos not use a grey ink cart- only has four cartridges.
I did quite a bit of research online on CNET, Consumer Reports, etc. and this was one of the best overall. There are problems with all printers- HP and Canon got the best ratings on Consumer Reports and lowest cost printing. The only reasons I didn't go with canon was the difficulty many have had with wireless printing (my mother-in-law included- It took a phone call to tech support to get it online and I am tech savy) The other problem with the Canon photo printers is that they use a grey and black ink. The grey ink is not available in stores for the most part, therefore quite expensive to ship an ink cart. with shipping cost and you can't print when this thing is empty (at least according to quite a few reviews I found online.
My two cents- but well backed up quite a bit by online resources.
note- there are two version of the 6500- one is wireless and one is not.
Unfortunatley I have to wait 6-8 weeks for my printer- but only 5 days for my MacBook.
It got good ratings on Amazon and Apple's web site- is $199 (only $99 for me because I just purchased a MacBook Pro 15"!!
The other thing I liked about it was they sell XL in cartridges which provide more than 2.5 times the pages printed for only 50% more. Instead of $10, the XL cart. are about $15 and this one deos not use a grey ink cart- only has four cartridges.
I did quite a bit of research online on CNET, Consumer Reports, etc. and this was one of the best overall. There are problems with all printers- HP and Canon got the best ratings on Consumer Reports and lowest cost printing. The only reasons I didn't go with canon was the difficulty many have had with wireless printing (my mother-in-law included- It took a phone call to tech support to get it online and I am tech savy) The other problem with the Canon photo printers is that they use a grey and black ink. The grey ink is not available in stores for the most part, therefore quite expensive to ship an ink cart. with shipping cost and you can't print when this thing is empty (at least according to quite a few reviews I found online.
My two cents- but well backed up quite a bit by online resources.
note- there are two version of the 6500- one is wireless and one is not.
Unfortunatley I have to wait 6-8 weeks for my printer- but only 5 days for my MacBook.
I'd go with the HP C6380. I've got it and love it. You can connect it to your router with ethernet or wirelessly, and the drivers are very easy to install for both Windows and OS X.
You might be more specific as to how you will be using the printer-
How many photos do you print? What size? Does double sided printing matter? What about printing to the edge and on what size? fax? PRinting straight from camera or memory card?
The 6500 does not include an LCD screen (which I like) as I never print straight from camera or memory stick and rarely print pics because I can print them cheaper at a photo web site or local store than any printer can print them. In addition the inks don't fade on pics from a photo finishing store/website vs. printer. So for me an lcd screen was unnecessary and I wanted automatic two sided printing (note- not all are automoatic two sided- some say two sided printing, but you need to manually re-feed the paper through the printer) The 6500 is automatic 2 sided printing and has a document feeder which is nice to have.
How many photos do you print? What size? Does double sided printing matter? What about printing to the edge and on what size? fax? PRinting straight from camera or memory card?
The 6500 does not include an LCD screen (which I like) as I never print straight from camera or memory stick and rarely print pics because I can print them cheaper at a photo web site or local store than any printer can print them. In addition the inks don't fade on pics from a photo finishing store/website vs. printer. So for me an lcd screen was unnecessary and I wanted automatic two sided printing (note- not all are automoatic two sided- some say two sided printing, but you need to manually re-feed the paper through the printer) The 6500 is automatic 2 sided printing and has a document feeder which is nice to have.