Dell Printers?

[GimpyFuzznut]

My girlfriend is ordering a new computer soon and wants to just pick everything up from Dell. Does anyone have any experience with their inkjet printers (specifically the all-in-one scanner models). This printer will basically be for B&W school printing and digital camera photo printing - hopefully with the right paper it can look like a good substitute for professional development.

Can anyone recommend a specific model? I'm guessing you have to order ink from Dell as well? I think these printers are Lexmarks right? I've had bad experience with my old Lexmark in the past.

 

[keeleysam]

Don't do it.

Get a ~$100 laser for perfect B/W prints.

Use Snapfish, it's cheaper and looks better.

 

[bruceb]

If and only IF Dell is including the printer at NO COST, then take it
If not buy a good one such as Canon or HP

I myself have a Lexmark X73 All In One ... it came FREE with my Dell
about 4 years ago .... still works, but I do not do a whole lot of printing
and my reink costs are high ... $28 for Black / $34 for Color cartridge (OEM)
You can get compatibles, but they do not always print as good or last as long

 

[Zepper]

Lexmark has historically had the highest TCO of any of the inkjet printers. They actively prevent the creation of a clone cartridge market (at least here in the USA) for their printers so about all you can do is refill them yourself to cut costs. Dell's are modified Lexmarks so you have to buy the ink carts from Dell. You can buy carts refilled by others and theoretically they use carts that were only used once before, but one never knows. So I prefer to do it myself so I know the provenance of the cart I'm refilling (you should be able to get at least 5 refills from an OEM cart) - same for HP and any other integrated head cart.
. Almost everyone here knows I'm a diehard Canon fan and I don't think you can do any better than the Canon iP4300 among current model units. Have been around $90. shipped from the Egg. and were $70. AR at Staples last week. There are clone tanks available for $4. or less, but you do have to transfer the chips from the OEM tanks and go thru a bit of rigamarole to get the printer to accept the new tanks. Maybe by the time you run out of your first OEM tanks they will have gotten the chips down. But I wouldn't hold my breath... OTOH, if you are willing to pay more than original list price for one of the original Pixmas (iP3000, 4000, 5000, 6000D), you can probably find a NewInBox unit on eBay. And there is always the chance you'll get lucky on a bid or BuyItNow if the seller doesn't know what he has... Almost regardless of initial price, those will pay for themselves in low TCO and reduced hassle over time. Needless to say the output from even the 3000 (the one I owned before I got the 4300 and I had the i450 before that...) is hard to beat and the 4300 is no different.
. If you don't print a whole lot, your first set of OEM tanks for the 4300 could last you 4 months or more. I'm just about at the two month point on mine and I'm down about half on the photo black and about 2/3 left on my Cyan and those are the lowest - I print out a lot of PDFs and the black used for those is the photo black as they are really graphic rather than text files at it seems that shades of blue are favorites for spot color and highlighting.

.bh.

 

[SilentRunning]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Almost everyone here knows I'm a diehard Canon fan and I don't think you can do any better than the Canon iP4300 among current model units. Have been around $90. shipped from the Egg. and were $70. AR at Staples last week.

Canon ip4300 $50 after rebate 12/1/06 - 12/31/06 from Dell with PC purchase

 

[GimpyFuzznut]

They don't have that deal at Dell Canada. I did however find the Canon MP160 for around 65 bucks CDN. Any input on that printer (looking for multifunction). I'm guessing it should do the job (nothing fancy really needed).

 

[Zepper]

Dell is pushing Canon printers - I'm shocked... :Q :shocked:

OIC, you have to buy a computer too to qualify for the rebate - I knew there was a catch. Clever of SR not to mention that little gotcha..

.bh.

 

[SilentRunning]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Dell is pushing Canon printers - I'm shocked... :Q :shocked:

OIC, you have to buy a computer too to qualify for the rebate - I knew there was a catch. Clever of SR not to mention that little gotcha..

.bh.

[Scratches head] What part of "with PC purchase" was not clear. He said she was going to buy a PC anyway, but he didn't mention the Canada part (being that his profile shows he lives U.S.)

Back to his question. The MP160 is not really that good of choice. It uses smaller ink cartridges. I think you need to start at the MP500 to get the larger ink cartridges.

 

[GimpyFuzznut]

Ok, thanks for the info. I'll check it out.

 

[Zepper]

OIC, He can buy the Dell with the Canon for the rebate. It's late... Can barely stay awake...

.bh.

 

[Doh!]

I have one that I got for free with my wife's notebook purchase. MP160 does have an option for larger cartridges (it doesn't matter to me since I refill).

For basic scanning/printing, it's not that bad at all if you can get it really cheap. Even a photo printing using the highest setting w/ a good photo paper will give pretty decent result. If you want something high quality though, stick w/ MP5XX & higher.

 

[Zepper]

The MP160 has the new integrated head cartridges - much more expensive over the long haul even if you refill. And refilling those multicolor carts are much more of a hassle than the separate tanks. The MP530 is $160. w/ free shipping at amazon right now. It has the separate ink tanks and is the least of the Canon multi-function printers that I would bother with.

.bh.