Advice on new Printer under $250

J

J32P2006

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Aug 27, 2005
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Hi to the [H] People.

I'm currently looking for a new all in one printer and have no idea which are the good and bad manufacturers.
The only experience I have with printers is my HP Deskjet 632c which is a real POS.

I really just want to get one that doesn't come with alot of headaches.

I want it to print great looking pictures,print multiple pages constantly without errors saying the printer is out of paper like my HP deskjet 632c always said. I want to hook it to my computer and, have it's own card reader so i don't always need the computer to use it.

One with a little lcd screen would be cool also.

I need some recommendations.
Also advice on what to stay away from.


If you can find it on Newegg and link me to it that would be great too.

Thanks for your Time,
J32P2006
 
id like help on this too. My situation calls for one a bit under $250 though, so maybe if someone has a lot of recommendations make sure that run the gauntlet from cheap to just barely $250.
 
Way under your budget, but we have a HP 7660 and it does a very good job, excellent looking prints, its a little slow, but no biggie. Has a LCD, card reader, everything you want, and its been very reliable without issues. We also have a samsung ML-2010 Laser printer for black and white volume printing to keep from wasting ink the on the HP, the whole setup is less than $220 on the egg with a $50 mail in.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16828104260

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16828112035
 
Thanks for your suggestions."But I forgot to add that it needs to fax papers too".

So i want an all-in one printer that does great 4 x6 pictures, copier, scanner,and Fax.


Mandatory: Headache free,good drivers,and doesn't cost over $250.00"Give or take a few dollars."

Optional Stuff: Equipped with a card reader.
Lcd screen that shows the picture being printed.

I have a couple in mind:
Newegg.com printer choice 1 $229.95

Newegg.com Printer choice 2 $257.00

They say they do everything that I want, but I have no idea how 4 x 6 pictures will look on either of these models.

Anybody got them???

Thanks for your time,
J32P2006
 
I would highly recommend the Canon MP780. I have one myself, and I love it. It uses 5 seperate ink cartridges, which is pretty cost effective, prints pretty much the best quality photos (for a 4-ink system), faxes, scans, offers duplex prining (double sided), and has a cassette (not only could you have the "traditional" auto sheet feeder that's in the back of pretty much all printers, there's also a place where you could load a bunch more paper on the very bottom after pulling out the tray, so it'll save you the hassle of having to reload while doing some heavy printing as it automatically switches).

It's really efficient when it comes to printing (it is a printer afterall :D). I could print probably 10 or more full page (8.5"x11") photos while using only like half the ink of 3 cartridges, and 1/4 of another, and could print more than a hundred pages of regular text with one cart, which is only like $13 by the way. To top it all off its extremely fast! One of the fastest multi-function printers out there, and makes some of the most fantastic photo prints. Canon and Epson really specialize in printers, but I chose to buy Canon for its... kickassness.

The only drawback for you would be the lack of a card reader, and color LCD screen... but if you're willing to sacrifice that, you'd have an extremely handy all-in-one printer that's fast and has very outstanding quality.
 
Will add that to my short list. Thanks

Can you get the fax to work on that printer?

Does it show you how to fax in the manual?


Anybody else have this printer?




Thanks for your time,
J32P2006 :)
 
I have the iP4000 and the MP780 is the exact same printer but with a scanner on top. The quality is great and cartriges are cheap. There is also the MP760 which does not have the faxing option but it does have a color screen on it.

If you wish to go back to HP they have the 7210 printer that fits almost everything that you wish.

Everybody deserves a second chance. :)
 
I have the iP4000 and the MP780 is the exact same printer but with a scanner on top.
Click to expand...

Cool, I have an iP5000 along with the MP780. :D

As for the fax, I have never used it myself, but looking though the manual, here's how you fax:

Sending Methods
1 Load the document on the Platen Glass or the ADF.
2 Press [FAX].
3 Adjust the settings for your document as necessary.
4 Dial the recipient's number using the Numeric Keys or speed dialing.
5 Press [Color] for color sending, or [Black] for black & white setting.
Click to expand...

You could download the manual here. Just look for it at the "Getting Started" area, and download the PDF.

By the way, have you ever used a printer that used individual cartridges? You save a whole lotta money on those because eventually, your inks are going to run out at different rates (at first, they'll run out at about the same times), and you're not gonna lose the extra ink like you would on those tri-color carts if only one color ran out. These carts vary between $11-$12, which is pretty cheap for the capacity for each individual cartridge (about 2-3rds of the cart is the ink-saturated sponge, and the other 3rd is a tank that's pure ink which slowly depletes as you print more). AFAIK, only Canon and Epson uses this technology widely... right?
 
So to get this right, the hp printers waste ink by having all the ink in one cartridge.And the canon doesn't because it uses five seperate cartridges???

If that's the case, I think I'll go with the canon mp780 ;)

I just hope the fax works as it's supposed to.
 
J32P2006 said:
So to get this right, the hp printers waste ink by having all the ink in one cartridge.And the canon doesn't because it uses five seperate cartridges???
Click to expand...

This is not necessarily true and there are other factors to consider. The printers that let you replace one color at a time require priming before you can use it. This priming ensures that ink is at the print head but often wastes more ink than is needed.

With most HP printers, when you replace the ink, you are also replace the print head, which ensures great photos during the life of the printer and less ink wasted during priming.

Both ways have positives and negatives. I have never had issues my HP All in One and neither has my dad.
 
Personally I would recomend the 7210 if it is mostly for the office and MP780 if you are going to print photos, granted that the 7210 can also do photos but I would not recommend doing so many on it as it can get expensive. If you are going to get the 7210, you can only buy photo paper from HP as all the other papers from other companies are too thick for the printer to bend.
 
The two you linked to are good, the 2610. Also the 2710 looks nice. My dad is using an inexpensive 1610 and loves it. It does well, but the pictures are not as good as that of the 2610. I would go for the 2610 or 2710 if it fits your budget.
 
This is not necessarily true and there are other factors to consider. The printers that let you replace one color at a time require priming before you can use it. This priming ensures that ink is at the print head but often wastes more ink than is needed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've noticed that, after a long period of not using it, it'll do some "work" before doing a print job. So I guess that's what its doing. I don't think this is a real big deal, however. It's not like it's going to use up 5% of the ink each time. The cartridges themselves hold a whole load of ink, so it will still print out a very sizeable number of photos, color documents, text, etc. before completely running out. I even managed to print out like 2 more full-page photos when the one of the ink reservoirs was completely empty (sqeezing out every last drop from the sponge before I tossed it :D). Oh yea, it also has an optical sensor that accurately tells you how much ink you have, intstead of estimating based on the amount of printing you've been doing. To be honest it doesn't work too well lol, but it does accurately warn you when you're low on ink. It just looks completely full (on the software) all the time until it's actually running low.

I think that this printer does extremely well in both photos and office work. I mean, you can load a shitload of paper in the back of the printer, and put a shitload more on the tray underneath, so when one of them runs out, it'll automatically switch to the other without interruption. Also, it handles all sorts of paper pretty damn well. Canon's Photo Paper Plus Glossy is really thick, and really glossy. Almost too glossy for some people's tastes. This photo paper creates really vivid and sharp colors (the printer usually comes with a sample of 5 4"x6" sheets of these, so you'll get to try it out right away). Both the Auto Sheet Feeder, and the Cassette could take this kind of paper, but you'll have to remember to put it upside-down on the Cassette, or you'll be printing on the backside (not a pretty experience lol).

I kinda feel like a Canon salesperson now lol, but I'm just giving people a shoutout on an overall kickass product, which is pretty rare to find nowadays. This is one of the few experiences that I actually enjoyed over previous ones, and I'm just here to tell you my side of the story. They also make some of the best digital cameras IMHO.

Well here's something a Canon salesperson won't tell you. You can refill these things relatively easily lol. If you're not interested in doing things like this, I guess you can stop here, but if not, read on. :D

From my experience, the first few attempts were a complete pain in the ass though, but once I found better methods of refilling, it's by far the best unit to do the refill process with. Since they're in seperate, clear cartridges, with a completely hollow reservoir for ink, it sounds to be extremely convenient to refill. This is true, but there are some methods that you'd need to get it to work right, or else, you'll have some ink all over the place lol. This could be a pretty good advantage in contrast to HP, Lexmark, etc printers because there's no head to wear down over time (pretty much all the refill kits I've used for HP back then told me to replace the cartridge every 5-6 refills or something because of head wear). The Canon inks are just pieces of plastic that hold a sponge and some ink, so there's really nothing you could wear out... unless there's such thing as sponge wear. Also, there won't be the fear of overfilling the cartridges like the instructions usually forewarn you. All you have to do is fill it 'till its full, patch it up, and you're good to go. I use this for my MP780 nowadays to save a shitload of cash, but since my iP5000 uses 1pL droplets, it may be more vulnerable to clogging, so I use genuine ink there. So you could imagine that I only use my iP5000 for special occasions, professional looking letters, etc.

The quality of inks vary from company to company, but the one I use now provide pretty damn good results for the color inks, but not too great on the text. The color will have a subtly noticeable difference in the shading and contrast when doing a side-by-side comparison to the original, but it's still just as crisp,and about 98% the same thing. The text however, sucks. There's noticeable bleeding, which is pretty unattractive, but if you're on an extreme budget, it's not too bad. If that means a lot to ya, just stick with the genuine ink. It's cheap enough to stick with in comparison to the other cartridges.

Looks like I got a little carried away lol. But hey, this is probably the kind of descriptive experience you'll need for evaluating, and deciding on what to get next. Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the advice.
I'm still deciding what to do though. :confused:

I was thinking about going with the Canon PowerShot SD300 Silver 4.0MP Digital Camera and the Canon PIXMA MP780.

Just want the best my money can buy. :(
 
Good choice since canon does give you a $50 mail-in-rebate for the combo (I think).
 
J32P2006 said:
Thanks for the advice.
I'm still deciding what to do though. :confused:

I was thinking about going with the Canon PowerShot SD300 Silver 4.0MP Digital Camera and the Canon PIXMA MP780.

Just want the best my money can buy. :(
Click to expand...

No problem, but I bet the best that money can buy is well above $250 :D
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by J32P2006
Thanks for the advice.
I'm still deciding what to do though.

I was thinking about going with the Canon PowerShot SD300 Silver 4.0MP Digital Camera and the Canon PIXMA MP780.

Just want the best my money can buy.

No problem, but I bet the best that money can buy is well above $250
Yesterday 10:36 PM
Click to expand...

My money is $250 for a printer. So that means the best (All in one)Printer I can get for $250.oo.

Thanks for all your guys help,
J32P2006 :) :cool:
 
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