printer and scanner

[ComatoseDelirium]

Hey, im looking for a solution to a problem I have with my systems at home, we have 3 computers all are hooked up to a printer, thats no longer doing its job, so upgrade time, the problem is we all seem to want a printer to do something different, my sister wants a printer to print digital camera photos, and we also need a printer to print normal office/school assignments is their anything recommendations, I've heard that those.. printer copier scanner faxers are crap cause they are jack of all trades.. do all jobs ok.. but nothing great, is their any printer that would work for both needs? and any scanner also? I'm looking for a bit of a budget upgrade.

 

[Erasmus-X]

I'm personally an Epson guy when it comes to photo printing, but if you're looking for a printer that does both documents and photos very well, I like the Canon PIXMA iP4000 a lot. It uses 5 colors (two different blacks - one for photos, one for documents) and has two paper paths that enable automatic duplex printing (UNHEARD OF in a $150 printer). Canon 3e and 6 series cartridges are widely available as OEM and generic parts.

The problem with photo-optimized Epsons is that they're great for what they're designed for (photos), but quite shoddy at printing text documents (lots of noticeable jaggies). Their document-optimized printers (C/CX series) CAN print photos reasonably well, but their pigment ink (DuraBRITE) formulation doesn't have near the flexibility with paper stocks (it likes matte really well, but very picky with glossy).

 

[Blain]

I've got an Epson Perfection 1660 Photo scanner and an Epson R200 printer.
I'm very happy with both of them! :laugh:

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

ahh thanks for the responses very helpful

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

I have been looking at this printer cause it seems to suit all of our needs, right now we are using an hp 842C achient technology, heres a link to the one im looking at, it seems to offer good quality photos, ok school printing, and good scanning. : http://www.futureshop.ca/catal...10781&newdeptid=18

http://www.futureshop.ca/catal...;langid=EN&dept=18

Anything I get from Futureshop I get at cost, through family, so if you see anything their that are better choices let me know + i am canadian. so no neweggs lol.

This is another choice, a tad out of my price range, but if its like 50% off in cost price I'd get it, http://www.futureshop.ca/catal...0781&newdeptid=18#

 

[akira34]

My ~4 year old Epson scanner (Perfection 2450 Photo) and R200 printer produce excellent results for all things color. That's images from my digital camera, scanned images (from the above mentioned scanner to the printer) and everything in between. You can get an excellent quality Epson scanner these days for between $100 and $200, even under $150 it's easy to get a great scanner from Epson. That's compusa pricing too, so I'm sure you can get a better deal someplace else.

For a quality scanner look for either the Perfection 3170 USB Photo Scanner (~$170) or the Perfection 2480 Color Photo Scanner ($99.99). The R200 ($99.99) will print out any image you scan with print quality results (scanned photos will look as good, if not better than, the originals). So for about $200 you could get both a great scanner and kick-ass printer. Not bad all things considered.

As for printing out regular documents, the R200 will do that without a complaint as well. Do yourself two favors when getting the new printer... 1) Use paper made for inkjet printers (it does make a difference). 2) Use ink from the printer manufacturer, don't refill them or get generic brand. I don't care what anyone else says, generic and refilling the ink cartridges will only shorten the printers life and give you lower quality results. I have a friend that used to refill the ink for his printer, until it started acting very bad when printing. It would either not print colors, or print them wrong. He went to ink made for the printer, from the printer manufacturer, ran a couple of clean cycles through it and now it prints. In fact, according to him, it produces better quality prints than it did with the refills.

 

[funggorgor]

I agree with the suggestion of Canon
Canon is always a budget buy in both machine and ink

 

[ComatoseDelirium]

mhmm i see thanks guys