Need a new printer for my iMac

[jisham]

My HP Photosmart has crapped out being able to scan/copy. Well actually, it stopped those functions fairly soon after I got it two years ago. Now that it's time to replace the ink cartridges, which will cost about $50 for the black and color cartridges, I figure it's a good opportunity to get something new and put the $50 toward it.

So...what are you guys using? I don't need anything high end -- just something that will do good black/white and color printing, as well as decent output on photo paper. I do need the ability to copy/scan as well, although I don't use those functions often. I'm okay spending up to $200 if needed.

I've looked up reviews on Canons and Epsons and the reviews are all over the map...hence my post here.

Thanks.

[specialk]

I have a printer only. It's a Canon Pixma iP43400. Love it, but it has 5 separate ink cartridges. From Costco/Sam's, the 5 pack refill kit is around $55. They last at least 6 months. Total compatibility with OS X. Here a link to Canon's mutifunction stuff:

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controll...fcategoryid=123

Canon is good stuff, IMHO. And it plays well with Apple.

[kenjones]

I like Epson printers simply because they are the only printers (in the U.S. at least) that will print directly onto the face of a white, printable CD/DVD.

[BubbaVO]

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 Wireless. The wife, 5 kids and I absolutely run that thing all day. Love being able to print off the lap top in a completely different room. It has a scanner and a copier feature. No problems at all.

Consumer Reports also liked the HP Photosmart Premium line.

+1 to Costco.

[gorch]

Is this an HFC Experts question?

[jisham]

Is this an HFC Experts question?

WTF...are you the forum police man these days?

As to those who answered, thank you.

[mathman]

I like Epson printers simply because they are the only printers (in the U.S. at least) that will print directly onto the face of a white, printable CD/DVD.

My HP prints to cd/dvds.

I buy or help buy quite a few printers at my school. HP or Epson for me. HP is what I buy most of now. I've bought a few canons but they have had a higher repair rate for me. The epsons are probably the cheapest of the models i've bought to continue printing. The HPs are close but I've had better luck with the features. This is almost always using Macs.

[Devnor]

Where these guys get you is on replacement inks. Assuming you aren't refilling carts, the Canon seems to be the least expensive of the big three. Just bought a couple of these....Canon model MX860.

[mathman]

Where these guys get you is on replacement inks. Assuming you aren't refilling carts, the Canon seems to be the least expensive of the big three. Just bought a couple of these....Canon model MX860.

You also have to take into account the number of prints per cartridge. Hp carts cost more but they put out a lot of prints (at least the 5 or so models I've dealt with) Epson has been pretty good for lots of prints also. We got a lexmark as a demo once. Cheap carts but they only printed about 10 or 15 full color pages. Canon makes good stuff but I've just had better luck with HP. YMMV

[jisham]

Where these guys get you is on replacement inks. Assuming you aren't refilling carts, the Canon seems to be the least expensive of the big three. Just bought a couple of these....Canon model MX860.

No joke. I've been looking at the Canon PIXMAs online today (no decision as to brand yet though), and promptly determine what replacement ink costs as well. It's crazy they sell these printers for around $100 and the ink alone is $50-$55.

[Hackubus]

I'm a terrible cheap bastard. I print it to a PDF & mail it to the office to print from there. We now return you to your regularly scheduled informative & thoughtful postings.

[Mike Lee]

You can get an HP color laser printer for $300-$400 even at Best Buy. That's the direction I'd be going if I needed a printer right now.

But my 12 year old HP Laserjet 6mp still works fine, even when shared from an Apple wireless base station with a USB-to-parallel converter cable.

I also have a Canon MP830 I got for fax, scan, copy, and color printing. It's a color inkjet and it's OK. It has an automatic document feeder and will do duplex copies which is nice. But the ink is expensive and the thing has developed a problem where it thinks the wrong ink is installed in the wrong slot every time you turn it on. If I leave it on all the time and just let it go to sleep it works better. I chose not to get an HP at the time because of reports of poor driver support for Macs.

But www.monoprice.com does sell generic ink and toner so you could save some money if you buy a printer that Monoprice supports.

[DaveL]

I have a brother laser printer that I bought on black friday 2008 and

great print quality and I'm still on the original cartridge... if you can

roll with black and white it's a nice deal...

BTW: I don't use photo printers or that pixma stuff... ritz has 6 cent

3.5 x 5 prints on tuesdays and wednesdays (as well as various internet

coupon codes for other sizes)...

[Thundersteel]

I've had good luck with Epson and Canon. I've had my Canon for about a decade, and it's still going strong.

[JohnnyB]

Consumer Reports also liked the HP Photosmart Premium line.

+1 to Costco.

I got an HP Photosmart free from Apple when I bought the MacBook I'm using to post this. I get the XL versions of the cartridges at Costco and Sam's at around $55-60 per pair. They really do last 2-3 times as long as the regular ones. Performance and reliability has been exemplary. My next one will be wireless. Right now I have it connected to the USB port on my Time Machine. We can all print wirelessly, but to scan a file into a JPG I have to connect a computer directly to the printer to get the jpg. With a laptop that's not such a big deal. Hmmm. I'll have to check to see if I can scan to an SD card.

As to the ratio of printer cost to ink cost, that's the idea. That's what Kodak realized when they started making plastic-bodied Brownies and later Instamatics. The profit is in repeated film (or ink cart) sales. Lexmark was the first one to have vanishingly cheap printers and exorbitant ink prices. I upgraded at least twice when I needed Lexmark ink because two ink carts were $70 and a new printer with more features (including cartridges) was $79.