Recommendation for a printer?

[Craig234]

My sister would like a new printer. She wants it to print text and color for brochure type things, but it doesn't have to do photo-quality.

She also wants one with less expensive costs for ink.

Any suggestions? I don't have a fixed budget but I'm thinking about $100-$150.

That's a bit below the prices the decent lower end lasers seem to run, so I'm assuming this would be an inkjet.

 

[Zepper]

Get on down to Staples tomorrow morning. Canon iP4300 for something like $70. + sales tax, after rebate (you should be able to find the link to the Sunday circular in the Hot Deals section) - if you don't want to mess with rebate, you can get from Newegg for around $75. with free shipping if you can pay with PayPal (see the thread in Hot Deals) - assuming they have some in stock. No way can you get better for the money. Refills $4. each from our good buddy SwiftInk.com, but you will have to swap the chips (not hard to do). The OEM tanks can last 4 months or so depending on your volume - I've had mine for a month and have put a small dent in only the photo black. I know it's a bit of a PITA to have to swap the chips, but it sure keeps the costs down.

.bh.

 

[Craig234]

Thanks for the tip. I'm wary about the chip swapping for my sister, she would buy the Canon cartridges I think, and the reviews I checked had complaints about the ink prices.

Still one to consider, though, the reviews liked the quality of the prints.

 

[Zepper]

Well, some places may have the HP Photosmart 8250 still on sale. They are discontinued and were down around $80. bucks within the last few weeks - but these are more of a photo printer comparable to the iP6600 (which I bought one of for $50. when staples was blowing them out a month ago). HP doesn't really have a low price separate-tank general purpose printer now. About the closest they have is the Office Jet 550 which is great on high volume printing, but not very good on photos. The 8250 has six separate tanks that have been cloned but they aren't as cheap as the Canon tanks. Being DC'd they are catch as catch can.

A couple of reasons I don't like HP: the U-shaped paper path can make it difficult if not impossible to use thicker stock and may mess up non-HP glossy photo paper because of the sharp bend - the Canon can feed 110# card or 12 mil glossy photo using the "prevent head scrape" setting that is also used for printing CDs (have to mod the 4300 somewhat to print CDs - the parts are out there) because of its straighter paper path, second is that they use Starter Cartridges - specially underfilled carts come with the lower line inkjet and laser units - so you have to buy regular ones sooner. That just rubs me the wrong way. Even if I wasn't a Canon fan, I'd never consider an HP printer just for that stunt. I think only HP and Lexmark pulled that stunt and the less said about Lexmark ink jets, the better.

I think swapping chips is worth it for the money savings. Besides, they are working hard on cloning the chips, so it may not be long before you won't have to swap chips any more. However, it did take them over a year to clone the tanks themselves properly, so it may be longer than we'd like. SwiftInk has another sale going - see the sticky thread at the top of the Hot Deals page. He had a link to the instructions for swapping the chips in the post last time - shouldn't be hard to find on the site if there's not a direct link. They send a copy of the instructions with every tank. I'm sure they'll stop doing that after a while.

Note I don't mention the Epson clogmeisters either. They are decent printers but have a tendency to clog way out of proportion to the other brands that use thermal nozzle print heads. Why risk the aggravation. I've got a C82 in the cellar clogged up tighter than a drum. Do you want it?

.bh.

 

[Craig234]

OK, I think the Canon is sounding all right. Newegg has a combo deal with it and a set of cartridges for $10 off (why are there two types of black ink carts needed?)

Since the printer doesn't include a USB cable - some said this runs $20, circuit city sales one with it for $30, but newegg has the USB 2.0 cable for $3 - is this the right cable?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812116121

The HP 'low ink' starter carts didn't impress me either, esepcially since they don't tell you. I've got a little sympathy for them doing it, given the way it's almost cheaper to buy a new printer for the carts otherwise, but they should tell you IMO.

Although, my own inkjet is the old classic HP 882C.

I'd actually looked at the 8250, but given it's discontinued, think I'll avoid it.

Any idea whether the canon 4200 or 4300 is better? The 4200 still seems widely sold, pricegrabber only listed the 4200.

 

[Lemon law]

To craig234---who asks why two types of black are required---Canon and other photo printers need a dye based ink for photo's---but use a pigmented black for ordinary text.

And in my opinion---Canon is not doing it---"all right."---they are just doing less wrong than everyone else and therefore shine only in comparison---so somewhat look at them as the company who rips you off least in the ink jet arena when vending ink in the form of a cartridge.---and OEM cartridges---to OEM cartridges---will deliver about half the per page consumable costs compared to HP and Lexmark.

But I don't understand why everyone is going so gaga about clone tanks where you have to swap Canon chips---yes they cost $4.00 vs. Canon's $14.00---but why not do what I do and refill? My refill ink costs me less than a $1.00 for top quality ink---and either way---the economy minded will have to go through all the hassles of overriding the chip.---and Canon cartridges are so easy to refill. Its surely as easy to refill vs. swapping chips.

 

[Zepper]

Re the 8250. It is a nice printer and many other HPs use the same 02 ink tanks. I think it went for $150. or more originally. The HPs are quite different from most other 6-tank printers as the tanks are stationary and connected to the head with a tubing harness - making for a much lighter moving assembly so they don't need as strong a carriage motor as they would otherwise. This also means that it's duck soup to implement a continuous-flow ink system to large bottles of ink for those that need that sort of thing. But it still has the drawbacks mentioned earlier. I don't think the 8250 comes with the underfilled tanks, but beware, the flunkies at the big box stores tend to lie about that to get you to buy a new set of tanks right away. They must get a good spiff for upselling OEM carts... It's usually only the low end that get the Starter cart treatment: inkjets that normally sell for under $100. and lasers under $200.

No, the USB cable you linked is an extension with A type connectors on both ends. What you need is a printer cable which has USB A Male on one end and B Male on the other. Here is the Egg link for all USB cables and here is the one for just printer cables.

I'd say that the Rosewill or Generic black 10 footer USB 2.0 cables would match the printer best and give you some flexibility of placement over a 6 footer. Get the black 15 footer for even more flexibility of placement. It's easier to hank up the excess if it's too long than to make a too-short cable longer...

The Canon 4300 and many other of their better general purpose printers use two blacks . One is dye based to better match the dye based color inks for photos and graphics. The other is pigmented for crisper text document printing (remember that a lot of printing that may look like text is actuall graphical - that's why my photo black is drawing down faster than the others - files like PDFs are almost all graphic files, and I print out a lot of PDFs).

And if you use the duplex (both sides of paper) printing feature, either automatic or manual, you will be using photo black instead of text black. I think Canon did that because the photo black soaks in better and dries faster for less smudging and/or transfering to the feed rollers.

.bh.

 

[cyclistca]

The 4300 is better. When I was shopping around I compared the specs on the two. The 4300 is basically the same as the 5200. I love how text comes out on my printer. Pretty much is laser quaility.

 

[Craig234]

Nice! Some of the review had text in the 'con' section, so it's good to hear it's good.

One wrinkle - I talked to her and she would prefer one that can scan and copy documents as well. It's not absolutely something it has to do, but she would like it.

Are there any good choices that can do that too for a printer, or is it better to get this one and have her get a seperate scanner? How would copying best be done?

Boy, newegg has those cables for under $3 while the other ones cost $20 or $30. What a price difference... thanks a lot for the link to them.

 

[Zepper]

Yeah, I ordered five of those 10' Rosewill black USB 2 printer cables for under $9. shipped with this free shipping deal - and you don't have to settle for a compromise, have both excellent. I prefer separates because if one part goes bad you aren't without the other while the broken one is in the shop or awaiting a replacement in the mail. The drawback to separates is that you do have to have the PC on to do copying and faxing while some AIOs can do such things stand-alone. And most scanners have a copy button for one step copying, some have fax buttons too but you'll still need to enter the number to dial and such from the keyboard. I use HotFax Message Center 6 for doing faxes and it works well with my Epson scanner. If room is at a premium, build a stack rack or use wall shelves, etc.

I like Epson scanners - hard to get a Canon/Epson AIO... You can get good ones for under $100. shipped on eBay and sometimes refurbs from the Epson clearance center (often free ground shipping).

But if you really want an AIO (aka multifunction printer), the Canon MP-530 has the iP4000/4200 print engine that has about half the nozzles of the 4300. If you don't do photo printing much, that might do it for you. he 830 has the iP4300/5200 print engine with over 3500 nozzles. Both use the same ink tanks as the 4300. Of course the 830 likely has features that the 530 lacks. I haven't really studied them that much - I hope others will chime in with tips/warnings.

.bh.

 

[Craig234]

The not having both out at the same time doesn't worry me too much.

The 530 looks pretty good; it's $175 as opposed to $75, sounds like two good options with these two models. Thanks a lot again Zepper, that helps a lot. Any other inputer welcomed.

 

[Craig234]

I bought her the Canon MP5300.

It's on a nice sale at Amazon, too, $160, and even free shipping.

Thanks for the help.

 

[13Gigatons]

MP600: http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PIXMA-Print...-6718067-7199962?ie=UTF8&s=electronics


If the adf was not needed and you want better photo printing.

 

[Craig234]

Ack, so the MP600 might be a better choice? I've ordered the MP530, but it won't ship for a week. Maybe I could switch.

The MP600 prints better?

Are there any other downsides? She doesn't need the ADF.

 

[Zepper]

I was unaware of the MP600 before this and I went to the Canon site to do some checking when this thread ensued. You should go to the Canon web site ( http://usa.canon.com) and do a comparison of the two. You just select the ones you want to compare and it presents you with a feature check list for each. The 600 doesn't have a sheet feeder but does have the 4300/5200 print head with over 3500 nozzles. So you definitely will get a sharper photo output. Most can't tell the diff. between a print from the 3500+ head from that of a six-color photo printer but then they have a hard time distinguishing the 4000/4200 as well...

Oh, I C Y I missed it - they have the 600 in the "photo AIO section" and the others are in the "office AIO section" so you may not be able to do a direct on-screen comparison. You may have to print out the checklist from both and put thepapers side-by-side.

.bh.

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: Craig234
Ack, so the MP600 might be a better choice? I've ordered the MP530, but it won't ship for a week. Maybe I could switch.

The MP600 prints better?

Are there any other downsides? She doesn't need the ADF.

It's pretty cool looking plus 3600 nozzles and an LCD display.

Check it out: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/contr...etailAct&fcategoryid=116&modelid=13800

 

[Craig234]

Shoot, I went to cancel it and order the MP600, and they already shipped it today; a return means shipping costs plus amazon bills you for the shipping of the orignal item ($27) that they had paid for under free shipping, so it's $55 or more just to return, over a third the cost of the printer. Yeesh.

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: Craig234
Shoot, I went to cancel it and order the MP600, and they already shipped it today; a return means shipping costs plus amazon bills you for the shipping of the orignal item ($27) that they had paid for under free shipping, so it's $55 or more just to return, over a third the cost of the printer. Yeesh.

Refuse the shipment when it comes maybe ?

or if you can afford it order the MP600 as well and sell the unopened MP530, it should have some resell value for business users since it has the adf on it.

 

[Craig234]

Well, Amazon nicely agreed to credit me the $27 'super saver' shipping outbound, so I'd just have to pay the return shipping. I'll check on the 'refuse the shipment' option too.

Thanks for the idea.

Reselling it is just a hassle by the time put into advertising, discounting, asking my sister to deal with shipping...

 

[Craig234]

I talked to her, and the main question is the difference in print quality between the 530 and 600. She doesn't need the automatic feeder, and the question is whether the better print on the 600 is worth the hassle to return the 530. I'm unaware of any other differences that are a factor...

Any suggestion on how much better the 600 print is? I saw from theposts it has twice the nozzles, but not sure how much effect that has.

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: Craig234
I talked to her, and the main question is the difference in print quality between the 530 and 600. She doesn't need the automatic feeder, and the question is whether the better print on the 600 is worth the hassle to return the 530. I'm unaware of any other differences that are a factor...

Any suggestion on how much better the 600 print is? I saw from the posts it has twice the nozzles, but not sure how much effect that has.

It's worth the hassle, the MP600 will last a couple years that you/she will look back on and say it was worth the effort. It has a better scanner on it as well.

 

[Craig234]

OK, we're gonna try to refuse the 530 or ship it back, and get the 600. thanks. Now I'm tempted to get a 600 for myself too, upgrading from my old HP 882C

With the 600, they have a combo offer for $100 off of the Canon cameras 640 or G7, but think I might pass that deal up...