Printers

[D.Hayden]

With the 1000's of printers out there today.. any good sites people can recommend that give decent reviews on current printers?

I'm looking for a general purpose color ink-jet that can also do photos.

And bad experiences with ink-jet cartridges are welcome..

Thanks..

[EricW]

Before you buy a printer to make photos, strongly consider Costco. It's vastly less expensive, the quality is better, the delivery is either free or cheaper than gas to drive there, and...you can upload them online. I think there's more than few pros that use Costco because they have a reputation for doing great color. My experience so far is that their color is spot on. Be sure to give them files in sRGB (as opposed to Adobe).

I prefer the local service, because I don't like my pictures getting mangled by USPS.

FWIW...

[D.Hayden]

Thanks Eric.. we use that too.. it's a great service.. this is realy only for those occasional one or 2 pictures..

[JD45]

We don't have a Costco here, but it is probably cheaper to let someone like them do the printing.

I've also seen wide variations in color accuracy. We have a mom and pop drugstore here that has a do-it-yourself machine made by Sony. For some reason it prints better photos than four of the chain drugstores in this area. Every Kodak brand machine I've tried makes people look too red-faced, and a red shirt looks radioactive.

With that being said, I also would like to print a couple of photos without driving to the store. But I mainly need something portable.

How many times have you taken a good photo and wanted to give it to someone instantly. Usually the only choice is to show them on the camera's crappy LCD screen or hope to see them again after you get prints. A good 4x6" portable printer would solve the problem.

It would be nice if it plugged into a cigarette lighter and had rechargeable batteries. But it must print good photos. Speed isn't that important for two pictures.

Who makes the best portable, small printer?

[RePete]

I have 2 HP printers which are great and a Brother Lazer printer which is 15 years old and still going strong.

[cking]

Ink jets are pain the butt. But it is the only route for photo printing for consumers. I used the HP and Epson. Right now I happier with the Epson. Cheapest way to get the Epson is the on line store. Google for a coupon to get an extra 10% off. Most will need a nozzle cleaning if let set for awhile. Vodka works good if you don't have any 90% Alhohol around. Just order three of the combo scanner printers. With heavy use they usually give up in about 3 years.

They just kill ya on cartridges

[Greg Bell]

You can usually get some decent info on the current stuff at PC World

http://www.pcworld.com/ic/printers

[DWPatriot]

Another thing to remember is that printer companies make their money on the ink, not the printer. Check out the cartridge cost vs page output before making a purchase. Another thing to consider is that color laser printers are getting cheaper and cheaper - and you don't have to worry about cartridges drying out. Also - there may be some good deals on printers during the Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) sales.

[RePete]

Another thing to remember is that printer companies make their money on the ink, not the printer. Check out the cartridge cost vs page output before making a purchase. Another thing to consider is that color laser printers are getting cheaper and cheaper - and you don't have to worry about cartridges drying out. Also - there may be some good deals on printers during the Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) sales.

If at all possible, get a printer with individual colour cartidges, that way you're not throwing away a cartridge with ink of another colour in it.

[Cactustactical]

If at all possible, get a printer with individual colour cartidges, that way you're not throwing away a cartridge with ink of another colour in it.

We have a Canon i900D. It has 6( or 5 iirc) ink cartridges, each about $10. A lot easier on the wallet than using an HP which uses 3 cartridges. Big fan of HP when it comes to B&W laser printers, but this Canon was the way to go for photo printing.

[SiG Lady]

I bought an HP K550 last year and am happy with it overall. I know one or two other designers locally who bought the same one. It takes FOUR color/B&W cartridges so you can replace them individually as mentioned in a previous post. It prints quickly and with very, very nice quality. I'm not doing super-heavy-duty production printing in my home office, but am happy to have a printer that prints as well as this one does. I bought it during the last day of a one-week rebate offer at the time so got about $40 off and the company mailed me the rebate check well within the time guaranteed.

I just this week replaced all the cartridges, and this one takes the 88 and 88L (or XL)... the "L" being the ones that hold a bit more ink than the 88's. Oddly, the price on each size cartridge was about the same so get the ones that hold the most ink--you'll get a better deal that way. (I bought the cartridges at OfficeMax).

The K550 has a number of service features built into the software--not the least of which is one that ostensibly tells you the remaining ink capacity of each installed cartridge, so you can sorta judge when you might need to swap out for new cartridges.

The K550 was purchased to replace my (also very nice in its day) HP 722c, which--though it appeared to be dying at the time of the K550 purchase--continues to function well and normally despite its age. HP printers are hard to kill. I've refurbed and rejuvenated a few of this vintage at the computer wrecking yard successfully. The HP900 series were good little printers too.

It all depends on what your END USE for the printer is intended to be.

[1911user]

I've had good luck with Cannon ink jet printers. A nice feature is 2 different black ink cartridges; a large one optimal for normal paper printing and another for photo paper pictures.

[Chris]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126368-page,1/article.html

[dstroyed]

I don't have much experience printing out photos but my business partner really enjoys photography and he prints some out on our HP2600N at the office. Laser color. Looks nice to me. Not sure what your budget is. Printer isn't too expensive until you need to reload it.