Lookin For a new printer

[SanAznMan]

hey peoples

i was looking to get a new printer and was wondering if anyone could suggest one. i want something that can print high quality pictures because i am an avid photographer and also for use with printing up papers for college. i have had problems in the past with ink drying up. sometimes i dont print anything for 2 months at a time because i use the schools computers. im am looking to spend up to 250.

thanks for any suggestions

 

[Alphanos]

I don't have a whole lot of printer experience, but I just ordered an HP PSC 2175 printer. HP's PSC (printer/scanner/copier) line is all pretty good. Hp has been known for a long time for making good printers. I chose the 2175 instead of the 2110 because the scanner is of much better quality (I think 4x the resolution). Additionally the 2175 has integrated slots for inserting memory cards to print from directly if you're doing digital photography. Both of the two models mentioned support optional 6-colour photo ink and up to 4800dpi on high-quality photo paper (neither of which I plan on using immediately, but which could be important to you). I ordered my PSC 2175 for $290 Canadian, which I think is about $220 US with the current exchange rate. Hope this helps.

 

[Peter]

Canon all the way. Everything else will cost you an arm and a leg on ink.
$250 should buy you a six-color model; 4800 dpi AND - unlike HP - 2-picoliter ink drop size give truly excellent photo printing, with zero margin if you like. Over 3000 nozzles make for very good print speed even at highest quality.

i950 is the pick of the day in that price segment.

 

[NumbaJuan]

Originally posted by: Peter
Canon all the way. Everything else will cost you an arm and a leg on ink.
$250 should buy you a six-color model; 4800 dpi AND - unlike HP - 2-picoliter ink drop size give truly excellent photo printing, with zero margin if you like. Over 3000 nozzles make for very good print speed even at highest quality.

i950 is the pick of the day in that price segment.

another vote for canon

 

[Retro2001]

I love my i950, and if you hit up ink suppliers on the net you can get the cartridges for around $2 ea, making it cheaper to run than a lot of laser printers.

 

[Zepper]

I also like the Canon line, but you really should print something a couple times a week that exercizes all the nozzles.
. If nothing else, run a couple of test pages a week.
.bh.

 

[netjack]

i want a fast printer w/ little startup and print time

Dell A940

Printer Type


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All-in-One, inkjet, color



Max Resolution (B&W)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4800 x 1200 dpi



Max Resolution (Color)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4800 x 1200 dpi




Interpolated Resolution


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19200 x 19200 dpi



Printer Output


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up to 17 ppm black, 12ppm color



Sample Max Color Depth


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

48-bit color



Scan Depth Resolution


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

48-bit color, 600 x 2400 dpi

 

[Pauli]

I hear great things about the Canon i950, but I also want to put in a word for Epson Photo printers. I have the Stylus Photo 890 and can print some remarkable photos with it. The key to great photos is the paper. So far, I am happiest with the Epson "Premium Glossy Photo Paper" (as opposed to the regular "Glossy Photo Paper", which is not very good). The Epson "Colorlife Photo Paper" and "Semi-gloss Luster Paper" are also very good.

Consensus is that the Epson photo printers have a very slight edge in photo quality over the Canons, but I might get some disagreement here. The Epson ink cartridges are pretty pricey, though, so that might be your determining factor if what Retro2001 says is true about the Canon ink cost. It is important to use inkjet printers at least once every 10 days or so to prevent clogging.

 

[Zepper]

Dell is Lexmark - very expensive ink carts.
.bh.

 

[Aardy]

Canon i950

It'll save you some on a bit of ink and quality is absolutely great. I'll be grabbing one myself soon.

You can also look into the Canon i850 which goes better for college students' budgets. Doesn't print as gorgeously as the i950 but more than adequate for most stuff.


Pauli, you can try some of the Kodak's glossy papers. I think they're better than the Epson's.

 

[Pauli]

Originally posted by: Aardy
...Pauli, you can try some of the Kodak's glossy papers. I think they're better than the Epson's.

Well, at least for my Epson 890, the Kodak "Premium Glossy Paper" is terrible (and I bought a 100-pack!). I need to bump all the quality settings on the print driver to the highest in order to get even halfway decent output, and even then does not come close to the Epson Premium Glossy (plus, it uses hella lot of ink). I haven't tried the Kodak "Ultima" paper yet, but I'm thinking that I should not even bother, since I am getting incredible results with the Epson paper.

Aardy -- which printer have you gotten good results from the Kodak paper with? Did you use the Premium or Ultima Kodak paper?

 

[netjack]

any recommendations for fast printers w/ just good b&w specs?

 

[Drakkon]

any recommendations for fast printers w/ just good b&w specs?

Go laser...any of hp's line even smaller models produce pretty decent quality b&w

 

[borgmang]

Originally posted by: SanAznMan
hey peoples

i was looking to get a new printer and was wondering if anyone could suggest one. i want something that can print high quality pictures because i am an avid photographer and also for use with printing up papers for college. i have had problems in the past with ink drying up. sometimes i dont print anything for 2 months at a time because i use the schools computers. im am looking to spend up to 250.

thanks for any suggestions

I would stick with Canon or Epson for photos - although the cost for ink cartridges and paper will kill you. Might want to consider Ofoto for your photo prints, and buy a B&W laser. I have an all in one Brother fax/copier/laser printer that cost about $200 and it works great. You could always have Kinkos do any color output you need for school.

 

[Wigwam]

all you canon owners - i also want a printer mainly for b/w text docs but for the wife it will be nothing more than a photo printer!
what is the b/w quality like on the canon i550/i850/i950?

most reviews i have read say it is good but some give "caution" worries about the text printing so want your experiences

 

[Retro2001]

all you canon owners - i also want a printer mainly for b/w text docs but for the wife it will be nothing more than a photo printer!
what is the b/w quality like on the canon i550/i850/i950?
most reviews i have read say it is good but some give "caution" worries about the text printing so want your experiences

This is comming from a Canon i950 owner. In terms of raw text quality (inkjet), nothing can touch an HP...However, the Canon i850/i950 will both be cheaper to operate (on black text) by something on the order of 50% or more.

Peace,
will

 

[Wigwam]

even if it is not upto HP, is it still "presentation" quality
i would need it mainly to print reports so need to make sure it is upto that job

 

[apac]

Hmm don't mind if I jump in and get some advice too .

I need a small printer to take to college for primarily text and b/w printing. The most important thing to me is size, since the dorm rooms are tiny, so any recommendations? I've been looking at some of the less expensive canon models, like the i850, but since I don't have a digital camera all the photo printing extras aren't worth the extra $.

 

[LED]

I use the Canon and Alps for Phota printing whereas I have a dedicated Samsung Laser ML-1430 for B&W. Small Footprint and the newer versions (ML1650?) are even quieter You can find them for appx.$130US

 

[Peter]

What? Excuse me, the 4- or 2-picoliter pixel Canons run circles around HP's text quality. If you're about text mostly, an i250, 350 or 450 will do - 3-in-1 color cartridge, separate black ink. If you're printing more photos, get an i850 or i950, all-separate 4- or 6-ink-tank models. All of those are the most recent generation with 2-picoliter dots.

Office quality comparison here: http://www17.tomshardware.com/consumer/20030509/i950-06.html

And ink cost aren't getting any lower than with Canons either. Their ink carts are just that - ink in a plastic container. On the higher models, you get separate containers for each color.

 

[AngryKid]

Originally posted by: netjack
any recommendations for fast printers w/ just good b&w specs?

I'd definitely go laser. They have some pretty decent Samsung laser printers at Best Buy. They're cheaper than the HPs, visually appear to have equal quality, and I think the toners are a tad cheaper too. I did a test print and I was impressed with both models they had. I've seen good luck with the HP business printers (like 4x and 5x) but my brother has had nothing but problems with his HP 1000 (more of a consumer model).

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Pauli
Consensus is that the Epson photo printers have a very slight edge in photo quality over the Canons, but I might get some disagreement here. The Epson ink cartridges are pretty pricey, though, so that might be your determining factor if what Retro2001 says is true about the Canon ink cost. It is important to use inkjet printers at least once every 10 days or so to prevent clogging.

My Epson Stylus Color 880 gets surprisingly good results with its 4 color ink system on generic "premium glossy photo paper" (though it does take almost 12 minutes at 2880x720 to get those results, on 8.5x11 paper). To put it simply, a few professional photographers who have seen some of my printouts framed (so they can't see that it's photo paper) have been mistaken into thinking that the prints were film enlargements. Of course, these few may have just never seen what a modern non-webcam digital camera plus a decent printer can do. Still, I can't imagine how good a true Epson or Canon Photo printer looks.

 

[TheWart]

my recs for photo printer: Canon S900 ~$290
b&w laser: Samsung ML-1710 ~$150