I'm Lost in Printer Hell

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Drakul

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
374
So I'm looking for a printer, I've been looking for a while but I'm really overinfoed.

I'm going to follow EvilSofa's questions I saw in another thread.

Will you print mostly text or pictures? Will you need color, or just monochrome? (These are laser vs inkjet questions.)

I will print both text and pictures. I plan to print some pictures I have taken over the years, I plan to also print custom game covers and make prints to frame and hang so it need to be good quality.

Do you want to connect with USB, ethernet, or wireless? Most printer makers have separate models for each of these.

I don't really care honestly. I guess I'd rather have Wi-Fi because it's cleaner and easier but if the right printer is either USB or ethernet I'll live.

Do you want just a printer, or an all-in-one multifuction printer that also does scanning, copying and faxing?

I'm not sure on that.
I already have a scanner (Canon 8600F) so I could get a dedicated printer. But if an AIO can do what I need then I wouldn't mind getting rid of it and gain some space.
Fax would be a nice plus but that's not the reason I'm buying the printer, but again i'd be nice.

How much do you want to spend on ink?

Does anyone really have a choice? I would rather have a printer that doesn't eat ink like an ogre but most of the time that can't be helped.
It seems like a good place to also mention that I probably won't be printing on a regular basis but most likely in bursts. I'll run a draft every few days to keep the heads fresh but otherwise that's it.


I was sort of settling on the Epson Artisan 810 but I've read in several places that it sucks ink like a baby drinks milk so I'm kind of scared now....


any help is welcome :)
 
Epsons in general suck ink, IMO. They also dry out if you don't print at least once every two weeks. They are great for pictures, though -- better than Canon and HP, IMO.

So I'm guessing your budget is around $200?
 
enginurd said:
So I'm guessing your budget is around $200?
Click to expand...

I'm even willing to go up to maybe $400 if it's worth it.

DarrisBard said:
Hmm, your needs don't seem to be too demanding so a variety of printers would fit. In my experience all printers suck up ink. I've had bad luck with HP's but done better with Canon.

What about something like the canon mp640?
Click to expand...

What happened with your HP? I read somewhere that HP is better is you're going to print on and off as opposed to on a regular basis.
 
Drakul said:
What happened with your HP? I read somewhere that HP is better is you're going to print on and off as opposed to on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

Yep, my printing is fairly frequent but low volume. Some pictures, some text. Two hp's in a row started getting paper jams, paper not in the tray, messages, even when those weren't real problems.

But, at the $400 price point the problems are probably different.
 
I do a lot of printer troubleshooting/repair, etc at work and the HP's I've run into often seem to have problems w/ the drivers and software. I've had about 6 PCs that have had OS loading problems, printer functionality issues, and windows crashes or shutting down problems all related to their software. I've also seen single pieces of the software causing the entire printer to function incorrectly, and often cause issues that throws up the microsoft error reporting. Overall, I would pick a different brand just for this reason.
 
Your best bet is an HP or a Canon. Both will give you solid color photo prints. HP is more true to real life for the color in pictures, while Canon tends to have a slightly surreal coloring.

From a study: You take the picture, you like the HP photo print better. Someone else picture, you like the Canon print better.

For text, I think the HP is slightly more crisp, but both should be more than sufficient.
 
Standpoint said:
I do a lot of printer troubleshooting/repair, etc at work and the HP's I've run into often seem to have problems w/ the drivers and software. I've had about 6 PCs that have had OS loading problems, printer functionality issues, and windows crashes or shutting down problems all related to their software. I've also seen single pieces of the software causing the entire printer to function incorrectly, and often cause issues that throws up the microsoft error reporting. Overall, I would pick a different brand just for this reason.
Click to expand...

Damn talk about horror stories.
So in your experience you'd recommend Canon?
 
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