i've been looking at hp's and canons. what does everyone recommend? i have the gay dell one right now and would like one that has better print quality, and maybe one that prints faster.

6/16/2006 1:46:20 PM

What kind of printer do you want? Color, laser, color laser, AIW, erc...

6/16/2006 1:59:32 PM

umm, i'm not that great w/ computer stuff, but i'd like to be able to print photo quality pictures, be able to scan stuff. the on i have now is a fax/scanner/printer/copier, but the quality just sucks. it's a dell, and i think they use lexmark's right?

so i was just trying to see what brands are better quality. i want color of course, i'm not sure if i need/want laser. i don't really know what that is. and what is aiw? thanks in advance. i'm a noob

6/16/2006 2:07:04 PM

laser is really the best.

If you print a lot of photos, one of those dedicated photo printer things (they're inkjet) may be a good option for you. Otherwise, for general printing, lasers are the best. They are also FAR more economical/page to print than ink jets, but they cost quite a bit more upfront.

6/16/2006 2:09:57 PM

^ They do cost MORE up front, but color laser printers have come down a lot. You can get a konica minolta color laser for about 250 after rebate now.

6/16/2006 2:26:33 PM

printer question, if you refill your color cartridge and it still doesn't recongize it (on the printer itself) and says that the cartridge is low, how do you get it to recognize it? (it hasn't flashed a warning on my PC though, just on the printer)

6/16/2006 2:29:01 PM

once you go laser you'll never want to use another printer ever again

6/16/2006 2:31:10 PM

^He speaks the truth, the only advantage inkjets have is for photo printing and initial purchase cost. I mean the color laser printers (in reasonable price ranges) are great for graphs, colored text, and clipart in color, but merely passable for photos. If it's important to you to be able to print full color prints of photos then you'll want some kind of inkjet most likely. If all you'll be doing is printing a few pictures every now and then, you'll be paying through the nose for every regular print job you use it for.

6/16/2006 2:41:58 PM

Quote :

"once you go laser you'll never want to use another printer ever again"

Depends on what you use the printer for.

At home, it's mostly printing pictures and posters.

Not even the most expensive laser printers come close to inkjet quality on glossy paper.

6/16/2006 2:52:50 PM

^ not true. the high end laser printers I've used surpass the printing quality of most consumer inkjets even on glossy paper (you do have to use Laser paper of course.) They also will print full page photos and large format paper at the advertised speeds (25ppm or so) as opposed to 1/20th the advertised speed. These high end laser printers cost well over 2000 bucks though so yes, if photo printing is actually an important thing to him he's going to have to get something with ink in it. Of course, an inkjet printer for photos and color laser printer for everything else will still cost less after 3 years than an inkjet printer for everything.

The biggest problem for him getting a color laser printer is that color laser all-in-ones are REALLY expensive. My recomendation would be getting an HP psc1610 and a magic-color 2400 color laser printer. The psc1610 can be had pretty cheap and you can get the color laser for 250 after mail-in rebate from the bookstore.

[Edited on June 16, 2006 at 3:34 PM. Reason : ]

6/16/2006 3:21:58 PM

The max resolution I could find at hp.com for a color laser was 600x600 dpi for color

That is not photo quality.

6/16/2006 3:36:58 PM

http://printer.konicaminolta.net/products/color/mc5450/index.asp

^ look at this one, this is the color laser printer I've been using.

6/16/2006 3:38:11 PM

Now that is impressive...

6/16/2006 3:39:52 PM

Yeah, the thing is beautiful, fast as hell too. We have a demo one set up in the bookstore for departments to look and and there's education discounts on all the konica minolta stuff. The color printer in most people's price range is not good photo quality though, and is only 2400 dpi. That's great for reports, labs, and papers but not worthy of photos.

Here's the one I'm getting at the end of the month:

http://printer.konicaminolta.net/products/color/mc2400W/index.asp

Not nearly as hot, but look at the cost per page. The color cost per page is about half what my old inkjet did, and I really don't do color much. Admittedly, most GOOD inkjets will have about the same cost-per page for color. Also, the cost per page for either inkjet or laser is less if you do 3rd party refills (cartridge world can do either.)

[Edited on June 16, 2006 at 3:47 PM. Reason : ]

6/16/2006 3:41:35 PM

I just bought the Brother MFC-640
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4837459

Built-in wired/wireless adapter for network printing, fast (20ppm) printing, CHEAP ink ($2 for black, $5 for color), seems well made, easy to use, small footprint, and only $100 after rebate.

Havn't used the fax, but the copier, scanner, and printer work great.

6/16/2006 4:18:44 PM

^ i was about to post that same model...i have the same thing, and it's awesome...i've never owned a brother product before, but i got that one on sale for $65 7 months ago and i've been very happy with it

EDIT: actually, mine doesn't have the physical phone...it supports pc and standalone faxing, but it doesn't have a handset...probably why it was cheaper

[Edited on June 16, 2006 at 4:22 PM. Reason : edit]

6/16/2006 4:20:27 PM