Help me choose a $100 printer, ASAP!!

[Raswan]

So I get a call from my dad this morning, as as per usual he waited until the day of my mom's birthday to start looking for a new printer for her. I've been out of the loop for a while, so I'm looking for some help. Biggest constraint: Needs to order early this afternoon, so I need some options asap.

1. Budget= $100
2. All-in-one (I realize they all generally are)
3. Purchase from Amazon (I have a prime account) or Newegg
4. User-friendly
5. No preference on wired or wireless, but if they are the same price obviously going with the wireless. I just don't know if the sub-100 wireless ones are that cheap because prices are just dropping or if they are the cheap-ass ones.

I traded an older Lexmark for the new Kodak one that touted cheap ink, and have been regretting it since, so no Kodak. Other than that, I am open to anything. Here are a couple I thought would work well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16828102555

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16828102468

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16828115633

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[BoomerD]

I have two Canon Pixma printers in the house. Neither is an AIO, just printers, but I like them. GREAT photo-printing quality for the rare photo that I actually print, clear readable text, reasonable ink consumption. My biggest complaint is their chipped ink cartridges. It's a crap shoot for refilling them. Some of the work-arounds work...but IME, most don't.
I also have a Canon Laser AIO that handles those kinds of tasks. HIGHLY recommended.

If color printing isn't important, this is a decent printer at a decent price:
http://www.buy.com/prod/canon-imagec...202540906.html

 

[Lemon law]

Since you did not mention and inkjet is required, I would think your better consumable costs options would be with a B/W laser.

But in my mind, among the three you linked, hands down, the Canon PIXMA MG5220 would offer the lowest consumable costs. The next Canon seems to use small tri-color cartridges, and HP inkjets are almost all rips offs.

 

[Raswan]

That Canon is a nice-looking printer, but unfortunately she will need something that prints color.

About your PIXMA printers ink cartridges--what do you mean by "chipped"? That it's a crap-shoot finding a place that will be able to refill them because there's a chip in there to force you to order from Canon directly? Is it significantly more expensive to refill from Canon than, say, Walgreens or Staples or Office Depot (if any of these even do?)

Thanks Boomer.

 

[Raswan]

Since you did not mention and inkjet is required, I would think your better consumable costs options would be with a B/W laser.

But in my mind, among the three you linked, hands down, the Canon PIXMA MG5220 would offer the lowest consumable costs. The next Canon seems to use small tri-color cartridges, and HP inkjets are almost all rips offs.

Yep, sorry Lemon--color printing is necessary. This will be a printer used from time to time, no heavy use but rather something that will last her 4-5 years and handle documents, pictures, and photos. That sort of thing.

 

[BoomerD]

They have a small chip that allows the printer to read ink levels and compatibility. Unfortunately, the chips are difficult (if not impossible) to reset when you refill them.
Many places offer "replacement chips" that might work...or might not. (I haven't had any luck with the chips nor the chip resetting tools that are SUPPOSED to work)
I'm not a fan of aftermarket inks anyway...too often, they're lower in quality and produce crappier looking prints.
I buy only Canon inks and toner for my printers.

 

[Raswan]

Boomer,

That makes sense now. I ended up going with this Brother, actually: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16828113519

They didn't need wireless, and my limited knowledge places Brother ahead of HP in almost every case.