Looking for a good printer for college <$100

[DarkKnight]

I'm going to moving into my dorm on the 28th and I'm looking for a good printer. It's mainly for print black text (I'm a computer engineering major), but good quality color printing would be a nice addition. I don't plan on printing photos, so photo quality is not important to me. Also, the printer can't be very large because I don't have a big desk in my dorm. any suggestions?

 

[BG4533]

If you can go completely without color look at the lasers in Hot Deals, there have been a few for that price. I have an HP Photosmart 7350 that I paid about $120 for around Christmas that does pretty well with everything. It also has card readers that for all the major formats built in.

 

[SleepyGreggy]

I just picked up a brand new Samsung ML-1710 personal laser printer at OD for $92 after MIR, coupon and NYS sales tax. Unforunately, its only black and white, but it's compact and has gotten excellent reviews.

 

[natopotato]

i hear that the new midrange cannons are quite nice (i350, i450)

 

[Arcanedeath]

I'd suggest a Cannon I 450 or just about any HP, Brother, or Samsung Cheap laser printer if you don't Need Color

 

[ChefJoe]

I have a $80 epson 850 that got me through the last year of college. A $120 epson stylus color 800 got me through the first three years. Ink on these things gets expensive... and they tend to piss through it if you don't use the printer at least once a week (you have to clean the print heads a lot).

If I had it to do over again, I would have spent the tiny bit more that an equivalent HP was. Their print heads are a part of the ink cartridge, which makes the cartridge a bit more, but much less cleaning and worrying about clogged heads than the epson.

Just a note: In college, color inkjets can be such a waste. The vast majority of what you print will be in black and white. The few times you actually want to print in color (something important perhaps) you will end up having to clean the heads, align everything, and it would have just been easier to find an on-campus lab with a color laser or stop by a campus copy shop to use their color laser. If you can find a good deal on a 1-2 year old black and white laser printer on e-bay or the like and you live in the dorms, you should take it. Free electricity means it's fine if the printer stays on and a single toner cartridge is cheaper per page than inkjets can ever be. Just be sure to budget a fair amt for the toner cartridge. My dad had an old IBM 4029 that had a toner cartridge that cost btw $150-200. This lab's HP 4100N takes a $70-80 toner cartridge.

 

[CountZero]

It may not be the most glamorous printer around but check radio shack for clearance printers. When I worked there I got a lexmark IJ400 (I think thats the number) for $28 with the ink cartridges before my employee discount. It does text fine and pictures ok as well. Not a great one but for the price couldn't be beat.

 

[Lyfer]

EPson 3200CX, I got mines for $110 after rebates, works great for basic printing and scanning needs. Just don't expect too much.


btw you might wanna invest in extra cartridges, so you won't have to run kinkos in the middle of the nite when you "thought" you had enough ink left.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Go laser. If you ever need to print anything in color, I'm sure there's some place on campus where you can print for free. In the absolute worst case, there's always Kinko's.

-SUO

 

[Zepper]

For my money, Epson and Canon are the ones. Epson if you intend to use Linux. I just got an Epson C82 for cheap, $40. AR. You can get it anywhere for $80. AR - watch for sales as new models will replace many models soon. Very fast and crisp B&W.
re. the head clogging problem. Just print something in color several times a week and make sure to turn it off using it's own power button - never the switch on a power strip - whenever you won't be using it, as that caps the print heads and helps prevent drying.
You can get a refill kit with chip resetter for less than $50. to keep your operating costs down. Once you've got the chip resetter and syringes all you need is more ink from time to time.
.bh.

 

[Bruck]

HP makes a printer with a built in photo copier, it is 99.00 i believe. Great dorm printer

 

[50]

I got a Minolta PagePro 1250W for 100 bucks at staples, it is very good and it got a good reccomendation from Electronic Shopper for the Best Bargain laser printer. The top winner however was the Samsung ML-1710, I think either are great, the Minolta's design is poor in my opinion though

 

[Acanthus]

The lexmark z-52 is a decent 1600dpi color inkjet printer.

 

[addragyn]

For lasers look @ Samsung. link

For a MFP look @ the Epson CX series. link

For inkjets Canon and Epson.

Often times when you buy a very cheap printer the consumables are more expensive than a better model.


Here's a deal on a Samsung ML-1710.

 

[LordJezo]

Use the computer labs.. you might not think you want to now but eventually that will be all you use.

I just graduated and let me tell you.. if you will be printing out notes you dont want to waste your own money. You pay to use the facilities so why not take advantage of what you are paying for?

 

[Nato595]

I got an Epson 777 (color) inkjet when I moved out on my own.
I'm very happy with it.
Got it at CostCo, I don't remember exactly how much - but knowing me, It wasn't too much!

 

[Camby]

Originally posted by: LordJezo
Use the computer labs.. you might not think you want to now but eventually that will be all you use.

I just graduated and let me tell you.. if you will be printing out notes you dont want to waste your own money. You pay to use the facilities so why not take advantage of what you are paying for?

Not all schools let you use the printers for no charge. My school, Arizona State, charges 8c per page. Thats because students were printing two of everything, just to throw one in the trash.

 

[Macro2]

If you check other threads you'll see that Canon is the way to go.
i850 or new i560, even a i550 if your not as into printing photos.
You can get a refurbed i850 from outpost.com for 89 plus shipping.

Forget HP and Lexmark unless you want to pay $20,000 a gallon for ink. Epson is marginal.

 

[HokieESM]

Do you know your roommate? Does he have a computer/printer? I would HIGHLY suggest one of you get a cheap laser (as others have mentioned, a "hot deal" can get you one for $100-$120) and the other get a color inkjet (a Canon, preferably because of cheap ink). You can "share" the printers.

I find that only one page in 20 that I print is color--so I use my laser much more often.... which is great, because of the much lower cost-per-page. But having a cheap inkjet is great when you need those two color pages for your 20 page lab report.

 

[Zepper]

Epson C82, $60. AR at Staples starting 8/24. See my post in Hot Deals.
.bh.