I need a reliable, relatively cheap printer - suggestions?

[And That]

My crappy 4 year old Lexmark home printer finally bit the dust this morning after years of threatening to do just that. I need a new printer... I don't print a ton of stuff from home, and most of the stuff I print is in black and white. I don't want a bottom-of-the-line printer that sucks through ink and is prone to jamming - I also don't want a $3000, 800 ppm laser printer. Can ya'll recommend a cheapish yet not "cheap" printer for me? Gracias.

[jason21nl]

how much is cheap but not cheap? this printer is awesome.

 

Printer

[And That]

Under $200 definitely, preferably well under $200. I also don't need an all-in-one scanner/fax/copier/counterfeiter/EKG machine. Just a printer that does b&w effectively and doesn't completely blow at color, for the rare times I do use it.

[jason21nl]

OK. Id wait til this PRINTER goes on sale in a store. Its fast, does really nice black and white and is awesome on colors and the inks are cheap. Stores don't sell but 2 or 3 printers without the scanners anymore. At least my store doesn't. When that printer does go on sale, its costs usually $129.99.

[bullox]

I have a cheapish Canon Pixma IP1500 and it serves its purpose pretty well. I usually only print black and white text, and in that regard it does pretty well. When my sister sends me pictures of my nieces in digital format, I break out the glossy paper and it prints unbelievably well for how cheap it is. Full 8 1/2 x 11 prints came out remarkably crisp and full of color. On top of that, the cartridges are ~$7 for black and about $18 for color.

 

You can find this printer in the neighborhood of $50.

[1992casey]

I can't recommend a printer because I'm mad at both HP and Lexmark, and they're the two most recent purchases I've been involved with. Neither is a printer quality issue, though. HP wanted to charge $30-plus to tell me if an older printer could go wireless and Lexmark took until January to come up with a Leopard driver for a new printer.

 

But I'll highly recommend the concept of going wireless. The only wire coming out of my dad's iMac is the one that supplies electrical power. That's unbelievably convenient.

[Big Reed]

you know, if you were to buy a new dell computer system over $1200, they will throw in a very nice printer for free. If your computer is over 6 months old, it's probably time to upgrade and buy a new one.

 

Another idea is to start using public transportation or a bicycle rather than driving your car all over the place. You'd be amazed at your weekly savings and then you could afford to buy a real nice printer.

 

as for the type of printers, I'd recommend HP. I had an HP 11 laser printer that lasted over 12 years. I have an HP photosmart 7960 ink jet printer now which is great for photos, theater programs, regular documents and Christmas cards. I've had it for about 3-4 years. if you only want to spend under $200 for a printer, you will be looking to spend another $200 on a different printer in 6-8 months. Think of a printer as an extension of your computer. if you spent good money into your computer, you should spend the same type of money and buy a decent printer. You should also remember it costs more money to fix computer equipment than it does to upgrade and replace it. if you go to the store with your MC in your pocket, you can walk away with a nice printer and only have 4 nice monthly payments of $100.

 

Cancel your pay per view subscription and you're half way there. Toss in your cell phone usage, and viola - paid in full. and you still have money left for beer.

[brewers19]

Building off Big Reed's suggestion, you could just move out of your house/apartment/whatever and into your car. You may not have the luxury of a bathroom or kitchen, but damn if you won't be able to buy one swanky printer.

[And That]

I'll give up urinating completely for a Xerox.

[LouisEly]

When you consider "cheap", just like a car look at the total cost of ownership. Look at how much the ink costs too (you probably know that after owning a Lexmark).

 

I highly recommend the lowest level HP All-in-One Printer/Scanner/Copier/Fax. Goes for $140. You don't need the card slot for printing pictures that the more expensive models have. The thing is, you have the copier in case you need it (you'd be surprised how often that comes in handy - copying receipts, documents, etc.), you have the fax in case you need it, you can scan in case you need it. I've had mine for almost four years and no problems. And everyone carries the ink - no hassles there. Some "cheap" printers the ink is expensive or you can't find it.

[mothershipconnection]

I can't recommend a brand, but look at passwird.com and bensbargains, sometimes you can find some very cheap printers there.

[1992casey]

Another note: Lexmark printers don't ship with full ink cartridges. It's kind of a surprise when you suddenly need ink in a few days.

 

And I concur with LouisEly about the copier function. It's great to bypass scanning software when all you need is printed copies. You don't even need to turn on your computer. Heck, my parents owned one of those things three years before they even owned a computer.

[ttsather]

I have a cheapish Canon Pixma IP1500 and it serves its purpose pretty well. I usually only print black and white text, and in that regard it does pretty well. When my sister sends me pictures of my nieces in digital format, I break out the glossy paper and it prints unbelievably well for how cheap it is. Full 8 1/2 x 11 prints came out remarkably crisp and full of color. On top of that, the cartridges are ~$7 for black and about $18 for color.

 

You can find this printer in the neighborhood of $50.

Seconded. I think mine's an IP1700 or something (probably the exact same thing), and it's pretty great for what it is. I too print mostly black and white, but with photo paper the little thing turns out frameable images.

 

[Diskono]

I have an old HP Laserjet 5 that I got from UW Swap for $30 a couple years ago. Still works great, haven't needed to buy new toner, and it even came with a network adapter and duplexer!

[And That]

Thanks for all the help. I ended up going with a Canon Pixma printer/copier/scanner... I was looking for wireless, but I'll sacrifice a USB slot for quality that a lot of reviewers seemed to like about this model.

[bullox]

Awesome. I don't have the all-in-one model, but if my Pixma is anything like the one you got, you won't be disappointed.

[pitchleague]

woot put one up tonight. not sure how reliable it is but it's cheap.

[hawing]

We just got a Pixma this weekend. The little bit of printing I've done so far has made me happy. The online reviews all looked good and someone in my office is happy with his.