Please recommend a printer

[Booster]

I'm about to buy a printer. An inkjet, I think. I might print a few photos, so it should be able to.

What I'm interested in is low cost per page. I plan on printing black and white pages frequently and sometimes photos. Good if the printer will have a built-in scanner as well, and a good one (all-in-one models come to mind).

Why I'm asking, I'm new to inkjet printers. Been using laser ones for a long time. I heard there could be lots of problems with inkjets, like ink drying out and clogging the printing head and so on.

Just had an idea. What if I get a black and white laser printer and order to print photos somewhere? Might be cheaper indeed. I got nothing to hide on my photos anyway, so I don't mind someone else seeing them.

So maybe a laser with built-in scanner? Are there any cheap models?

Or is it better to buy a separate scanner? What do you think?

 

[moonsite]

For cheap ink, I would go with a canon. I like the MP series from Canon. You can always buy cheap sustituted ink from the web.

 

[oynaz]

My girlfriend and I do a lot of printing on our Canon Pixma 5200R (the wireless model). Both photos and prints are very nice, the economy is decent, and it is very fast. Recommended.

 

[JEDIYoda]

The way to go IMO is to get a multi use printer/scanner/fax combo unit.
There are so real nice 3 in 1 units for under $200 on the market.

 

[Oyeve]

I like Epson printers. If I were you I would choose a printer with seperate catridges for each color. This way when one color empties only one cartridge needs to be change instead of the whole color cartridge. Seperate cartridges are cheaper also.

 

[fredhe12]

I used to be Epson all the way, but after picking up a Canon Pixma, I don't think I'll go back. Great prints, super fast and quiet, and the ink and paper is cheaper.

 

[Lemon law]

Photoprinting is the form of printing that consumes the most ink. OEM cartridges to OEM cartridges, the Canon series of printers using the CLI-5&8 cartridges gives you the best economy of any currently produced ink jet printer. So there is a small Canon advantage at present. But what photoprinting affordable is to use third party prefilled Cartridges or to refill your own cartridges----and the prior series of Canons that used the BCI-3&6 series of cartridges allowed the user to easily acheive huge savings---which is why Canon users were so dominant on photoprinting forums.---because Canons had a huge advantage no longer present with the chips.

Using OEM cartridges in a chipped Canons means the user basically is only competitive with a photolab price----but because I refill a unchipped canon, I can slash those costs by a factor of 10 or more. The newer chipped Canons can be refilled with equal savings but its a task made artifically difficult with the chip. And prefilled third party cartridges are flat out not an option unless you recycle the chip.

 

[cockeyed]

I needed a new All-in-One to replace a Canon AIO. Instead of buying a new printhead for the Canon, I bought a Lexmark P4350 All-in-One. The Lexmark uses seperate cartridges, which can be refilled or uses non-Lexmark brands which are resonably priced. The P4350 cost me $80 and I'm very pleased with it.

I forgot to mention that the Lemark cartriges have a printhead built into the cartridge.

 

[Bobthelost]

Canon have done me quite nicely. I've got an i850 photo printer, i don't use it to print photos anymore as they fade badly in direct light after a few years and because it's so damned cheap to get them developed online now.

 

[Lemon law]

To BobtheLost,

The i850 lacks a photoblack cartridge and hence is not really good as a photoprinter---but it still can be refilled dirt cheap and hassle free. But ink is not the only factor in fading--the photopaper you use is at least equally important. And as a dirt cheap text printer---your i850 is a keeper that can't be duplicated today.

 

[bigstrickler]

I have a canon pixma...its freakin awesome...i love dual sided printing too saves lots of paper

 

[Booster]

Just picked up a Samsung ML-1610 B&W laser for $66 with a 30-dollar mail-in rebate. This thing is awesome and cheap. Now all I need in the printing department is a nice scanner.