purchasing new printer

[shiggy]

what's a good printer to get for pictures, text, etc? looking for a good all around printer hopefully below 300 bucks. just want some input before i purchase one.

thanks

 

[ProviaFan]

I use an Epson Stylus Color 880 (on a recommendation from my aunt, who owns a commercial graphics business, and she said for all of their applications where they need a small printer to print previews or whatever, they use Epson), and am very pleased with it. However, I think it's now outdated, and there is a newer model (C80 iirc) that would be better suited for you. Also, iirc, it has separate ink cartridges for each color. In a moment I can find you a link if you'd like.

 

[ProviaFan]

The Epson site apparently uses session cookies or something so it won't help for me to paste you a direct link, but here are the specs from Epson's site:
Prints black text at up to 20 ppm
2880 X 720 dpi
Individual Ink Cartridges
Water-resistant DuraBrite? Inks with up to 70 year light-resistance
Makes everything - even everyday photos - look amazing on plain paper
USB and Parallel connectivity, with network and wireless options
I checked quickly on pricewatch and found that these go for as low as $157.
HTH.

 

[shiggy]

thanks alot jliechty

 

[Comp625]

I have an HP 932C. It's very quiet and the image quality is very nice and sleek. I can't give you technical info about it (you can look at up at HP's site) but the printer is very reliable and compact too. Runs for like $150 ~ $200 retail.

 

[ProviaFan]

Comp625, have you had any experience with HP's Windows 2000 drivers lately? I see that Shiggy has Windows 2000 as one of his operating systems, and can remember a while back when I had Windows 2000 and an HP printer that there were many issues with the drivers for it.

 

[Comp625]

Sorry man. I'm on Win98SE. Don't know if the HP drivers have compatibility issues with Win2K.

 

[amdskip]

I have a hp 932c printer on Windows 2000 at a freinds house. I used to like epson but man do they suck up the ink! I'm a hp guy now

 

[ProviaFan]

Epson printers sucking ink? Not mine. Of course you realize my HP experience was with an older, cheaper HP printer, and I'm sure they have improved somewhat now. Anyway, the reason I bought my Epson printer was because it was rated as the 2nd or 3rd most efficient in ink usage in some PC Magazine article a year or so ago. The 1st most efficient inkjet was an Epson 980, iirc.

 

[Wolfsraider]

i also have the 932c and its sweet in 98 98se and me and now xp no problems here either and ive seen it for 125 to 140 new
check around

 

[mastertech01]

I like my Lexmark printers. The Z43 is priced well and prints fast, excellent color. But I also have a laser that I primarily use for B/W print jobs. Saves a ton of ink in the long run if you can run your setup like that.