Question Best inexpensive printer to print pictures and color on card stock 80 lb paper

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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So I used to work for Tektronix and they had great printers that would print on anything, but nowadays, that division got bought ut by Xerox, and I can't find what I am looking for. So I want to print photos, and print on a wide variety of paper, including very heavy card stock (80 pound) It has to be like $500 or less for the printer. Any good ideas ?
 

Paperdoc

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Aug 17, 2006
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I have a Lexmark C543dn colour laser printer that does very well on colour photos. This model has both USB2 and 100 Mb/s Ethernet ports (I use Ethernet and share it across our network) and can do two-sided printing easily. Now, colour laser printers often are not cheap, and full colour toner costs also are not cheap, but I make sure anything that does not need colour is printed only Black & White or Grey Scale. On the other hand, IF your use is high-quality colur printing on glossy photo paper, an Ink Jet system and that paper also is not cheap. I have had two problems with it over the years, and in each case Lexmark Tech Support was pretty good at diagnosing the problem on the phone and advising how to fix, including sending me replacement parts for no charge.

This printer can handle "Card Stock" paper well. HOWEVER (small limitation) it will NOT do two-sided printing on stiff Card Stock because reversing that type of paper through the curved path is not reliable. I keep sheets of "110 lb" Card Stock for making signs and price tags for our small retail store. But as an aside, let me warn you (because I worked in the paper industry) that the ways that Basis Weight of paper is specified (that is, weight per area of a paper) in the English system are VERY inconsistent. Every class of paper seems to have its own definition of "standard" area to weigh. For example, I once had a commercial print shop make up a batch of price tags on Card Stock of specified Basis Weight, and they did it instead on a different grade of paper with the SAME "Basis Weight" number, but it was NOT the heavy Card Stock type. On the other hand, the users of the metric Basis Weight system use only ONE way: grams weight per square metre of paper, no matter what type of paper. So, to be clear, the "110 lb" Card Stock I use with success is 199 g/m² in metric units. By comparison, the common "20 lb" printer / copier paper has a metric Basis Weight value of 75 g/m². See, that does not "match" when you convert one measurement to another.

Another IMPORTANT point here, though, is that a laser printer like this normally can NOT print on glossy photo papers. That type of paper has a surface that laser toners cannot bond to properly, so the print you get on glossy photo papers often can be destroyed easily by minor wiping across it, or may even not be complete as it comes out of the printer. But if you want to make full-colour prints on plain printer paper or heavier stocks that effectively have a matte finish, a colour laser can do it.

My printer is older and has been replaced by newer models, although I did find my model exactly available as refurbished units for under $500. Despite the maker's advice, I normally use generic toner cartridges with extra-large toner content to save money.