good printer with a small footprint?

[Madhattan]

Hey, can anyone recommend a printer that is on the tiny side. I also dont want
to spend too much on it. Maybe 150 max.
Black and White is fine, but color would be a plus.
Im looking for something that can fit on a small counter.
Maybe a little larger than a Shuttle PC?
Thanks.

 

[Lemon law]

To Madhattan,

First, $150. max does give you alot of leeway in the inkjet printer market--and nearly all inkjets are
color inkjets. But the big variable, at least for me, is the cost of consumable cartridges in the inkjet market.----where huge variability exists.

For someone doing very limited printing this may not be a huge consideration, but anyone doing more than 50 pages per month will feel the choice in their pocketbook when they replace those cartridges.

So it would help to have more data---like in size of footprint max in inches, the number of pages a month you are likely to need, and additionally what vertical restrainsts exist---as $150. will easily buy you various multifuntional printers that have a flatbed or sheetfeed scanner and sometimes even a fax. But with a multifuntional, the growth area is often not in footprint but rather in the vertical dimension.----and with any printer--they may start out compact but when you add a paper input tray and a paper output tray, they occupy more space.

But since I am a somewhat curious I measured my Canon ip4000--------which will fit in a space 16" by 16.5"-----and is less than 7" high------the vertical dimension grows to 14 " when the standard
back paper input tray is filled with A4 paper-----but that back paper input tray could be simply not installed and the printer could be used with only the bottom paper input tray.---the front cover of the machine folds up and becomes the paper output tray when folded down in use.--but the 16" dimension then becomes 18" in use---but folds down to 12" without the back paper input tray.--but sadly the bottom paper input tray juts out about another 4".

 

[Zepper]

Welcome to the AT Forums, Madhattan.

The Brother MFC-420CN multi-function is amazingly compact (14.7" x 13.6" x 5.3") for all that it does. One of the few printers currently being made that uses passive ink tanks - saves huge bucks over the life of the printer. Has integrated memory card readers, network connection. Only ~$130. street. Recently had $30. rebate at Staples - net $100.00. Check to see what the big-box stores are doing on it.
Ink tanks for it are available from: http://www.swiftink.com (I get my Canon ink from them) and there is a 20% off sale - see the Hot Deals section here. Unfortunately the new small Canons have integrated head cartridges which put them out of the running IMO.

Also see the thread in this section on cheap printers - he just bought one of the above and recounts his early experiences. I'm thinking about trying one myself as Brother is directly supporting Linux (Canon doesn't), and I could come out ahead after selling my iP3000 and Epson scanner on eBay (probably come out even just with the printer 😉 ).

.bh.