Based on the criteria you mention in your first post, I would suggest one of these two: a
Canon Pixma MP-780 or an
HP Office Jet 7310. You might also check out Epson's line, although I think they come up a bit short in some areas compared to HP and Canon (but it depends on your priorities).
A few thoughts/considerations:
The Canon will likely give you the best image quality, as its ink droplets are only 2 picoliters in size. AFAIK, this is unmatched in the ink jet world, and the only printers I know of that do drops smaller than that are Canon's dedicated photo printers (a couple of which do drops of 1 picoliter). With photos, you are likely to get the best image from a Canon Pixma. With text and general things like printing Web pages, the difference will probably not be noticeable between the Canon and the HP 7310.
If your mom ever needs to copy anything larger than an 8 1/2 x 11"-size original, she'll be out of luck with anything other than the HP 7310 (or HP's models above it). One thing I don't like about the Canon and Epson all-in-one machines is that the glass is only 8 1/2 x 11" in size. So if she ever wants to copy a long document -- say, a long newspaper clipping or a legal document/contract or something -- she'll need the larger glass on the HP models (they have glass that allows 8 1/2 x 14", or "legal-size," copying). Why Canon and Epson both do this is beyond me -- when I called them recently and asked the wisdom behind this less-than-brilliant product design, all I got was snippy remarks. :roll:
The ink is much cheaper with the Canon Pixmas, and they have individual color ink tanks. This is very cool because you don't have to throw away, say, perfectly usable blue and yellow ink just because the cartridge runs out of red ink. With the HP models, you waste color ink because when one color runs out, you have to replace the whole tri-color cartridge.
The other side of the coin, however, is that the print heads on the HP 7310, for example,
are part of the ink cartridge. So you pay more for the cartridge (about double), but
you're getting an entirely new print head each time you replace the cartridge. This can be nice because now you don't have to worry about replacing a worn-out print head three years down the line. Nor should you have to worry about cleaning clogged print heads like you may with a Canon, Epson, or Lexmark or something. But the Canon heads can be cleaned, and as long as your mom prints at least a few pages a week, clogged heads shouldn't be much of a problem. I believe the Canon ink cartridges can be had for around $12 or so at Costco, and that's simply phenomenal. The HP inks for the 7310 are around $25ish, and I think the tri-color tank is a bit more ($30 or $35ish, if I'm not mistaken) at the usual office supply stores like Office Depot, Staples, et al.
HP's tech support is in India, and Canon's is in southeast Virginia. Score a point for Canon here. Just FYI, in case that matters to you or your mom.
Canon's all-in-ones are made in China, and HP's are made in Malaysia. Score points for neither here. :disgust: Both, like most consumer electronics these days, have typically pathetic 1-year warranties. HP does, however, offer a nice direct exchange policy. I won't go into a long explanation of it here, but it's nice. AFAIK, Canon does not offer a comparable policy (but I haven't checked on that lately, so maybe they do now -- I don't know.)
BTW, these kinds of machines are typically called AIOs, or "all-in-one" machines, rather than "MFCs."
The HP "Vivera" inks might last longer than Canon's inks. This is a long subject that I won't go into here, but you might wanna research it a bit. I called Canon recently to get expected yields (in years) on their inks, and got somewhat vague answers. This did not impress me; however, ink fade is not likely to be much of a problem unless the printed documents are sitting out in the sun for a long time or something. HP claims their Vivera inks will last for decades as long as they're not exposed to direct sunlight, and Epson has "Dura-Brite" inks with comparable claims. If your mom will print photos or other docs that she wants to last a
long time, you'll need to consider this.
Scan quality should be comparable between the HP and Canon machines. Both should be fine for anything but pro-level scanning needs.
I would stay away from Brother and Lexmark if it were me. In my humble opinion, both are also-rans in this arena. Their build quality and feel seem flimsier, to me, than HP and Canon machines, and neither brand does well, on a consistent basis, in the test reports I read (and I read a lot of test reports). This is just my opinion, but it's based on quite a bit of research. I have yet to see a Brother or Lexmark model that couldn't be beat by a comparably priced HP, Canon, or even an Epson AIO.
If you're inclined to go with an HP 7310 and can get to an Office Depot by
tomorrow, Office Depot is offering 20% off on all HP printers over $150 thru Saturday. So an HP 7310 will cost $400, less $80, for a total of $320 plus tax. That's a nice deal, and you're not likely to see a better one anytime soon. And unless your mom does a ton of printing/copying, the extra cost of HP ink cartridges(compared to Canon) shouldn't be too big a deal. Heck, my mom goes thru maybe one set of ink cartridges a year for her little Epson color printer, and if your mom has similar usage needs, you're lookin' at maybe $50 a year for ink with the HP. (And you're getting new print heads each time you replace the cartridges.) OTOH, HP ink will get expensive fast if she's running thousands of pages a year.
🙁
Canon MP780 machines (their best AIO) can often be found for $200ish after $50 rebates from the likes of Fry's and other stores. I see 'em all the time in the newspaper. List on that model is $249, so it's obviously cheaper than the HP 7310.
Hope this info is helpful to you, mofo (just kidding).
😉
Ken
