Printers?

Printers = the necessary evil of the computing age.

Apple used to "make" (i.e., rebrand) printers back in the old days. One of the best, and most durable, were the StyleWriter and StyleWriter II models. These were rebranded Canons (and used Canon BC-05 cartridges). Fabulous little machines, they'd run forever (and many still do).

The way to look at printers these days is simple: Buy a cheap printer, and pay through the nose for the cartridges, because as soon as the red, or blue, or yellow runs dry, you need to swap the entire darn thing. In many cases, it's cheaper to buy a new printer than buy new cartridges! Welcome to the disposable society.

Or buy a more expensive printer, and have the option of swapping out individual colour cartridges as they run dry. Cheaper in the long run.

As for brands: Epson and Canon are, I suggest, the most popular and arguably most reliable brands. For reviews, head on over to Tech product reviews for cell phones, computers, MP3 players - CNET - one of the first places I go when thinking of buying new gear.

guytoronto said:

With places like Shoppers Drug Mart and Future Shop offering 19¢ and 29$ colour prints, it makes no sense for a home user to have a colour inkjet printer.

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That may be true if ALL you do is print 4x6 photos. I LOVE having an all-in-one (Epson CX6400) because I frequently need to photocopy, scan, and print things that I find interesting, or enlarge things just to experiment. I found an awesome site in Calgary that has good prices, good ink, free shipping on orders over $50, and excellent service (no... I don't work for them!) Inkjet Cartridges - Inkjet Refill Kits - InkWorld.ca Calgary Alberta Canada
With the less expensive ink... I can experiment to my heart's content without worrying about preserving something for hundreds of years. Honestly... I preserve things by storing them in more than one place. If the paper copy fades (which I haven't experienced yet)... I'd print another!

I have always used Epsons (Stylus 440, C60, and now CX6400) and have been mostly satisfied with them, until I do something to screw things up, and then end up getting a new one. I've had three since 1998. They have a built in print head, though... so they do reserve a little ink at the end to keep them from drying up and frying the print head. I definitely prefer the multi-cartridge systems because I rarely use up all three colours at once. I order my black in high capacity size, too. Works for me. We have a Canon, too, but since I haven't yet used it, I can't offer an opinion!

ChilBear said:

Not sure how you fare but if you have small kids that will use this printer think laser right from the start. They will collect sites for homework and print them out emptying the cartridges just to trim out pictures in the middle of the reversed web pages.

Laser - more expensive to start and way cheaper in the log run.

Add HP to you list of great printers. I have one that is banging along for 17 years and no service calls other than a blown Ethernet board. I just bought an All-in-one HP and it installed in about 5 minutes using ethernet.

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I've put off my purchase until the New Year (which is now) and I'm happy to see my thread's still here.

The only great printer I had (have) is an HP so I do think I'll be going that route again, although I am open to trying another brand.

I want a colour laser all-in-one (scanner, copier...maybe fax). Does a fax machine have to be connected to a phone line or has that changed while I haven't been paying attention?

I'm down to the wire, will probably make my purchase in the next couple of weeks, so if anyone has any advice, now that I've been more clear about what I need/want - it would be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Elli said:

The only great printer I had (have) is an HP so I do think I'll be going that route again, although I am open to trying another brand.

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HP used to make good printers, in the old days, ie. when the company was run by Hewlett and Packard. These days, it is just Compaq gorbachev. Lexmark used to be good, their old Optra printers were pretty tough. Now they are just the printer industries version of the BIC pen.

For a laser printer, I recommend Brother because they do support Macs. I think colour lasers are still too expensive to run, and for those times you need a colour laser print, one can dash down to the States and seek out a Kinko's. (There used to be one in Hogtown that I used, but they have ceased to exist) I guess there is always Staples if you want a low colour laser printed page...

Faxes will need to be connected to a phone line. But if your Mac has a built in modem - you already have Fax. You can always buy a USB modem if your Mac does not come with a modem. All in ones are a good way of wasting all of your money on one device. They kind of have spotty Mac support, and any that I have seen are pretty low grade when it comes to quality. Buy a real scanner for scanning - you will have much better results. Buy a real printer for printing - you will have much better results.

If colour is of importance, you should only purchase a printer that uses Archival Ink, like the Epson R800, in which the prints have a rated lifespan of 140 years. And only buy a printer that has separate inkwells, with a minimum of 8 colours. If you only want cheap, low quality colours, well, any cheap nasty colour inkjet will do; but it will produce cheap, low quality colours with a limited lifespan.

You are better off with a B&W Laser, simply because you get high printing quality inexpensively, and the printing is quick. Most printing is in B&W anyways. If you are using it for your kids, then the Laser is the way to go because the letter formation is much cleaner. Inkjets tend to produce letters that are fuzzy, unless you are very picky about paper. As for scanning, spend a bit more money and buy a real scanner; if you need one. There are good used scanners on the market these days, like the older Agfas, which are excellent for most work.