What makes a printer good?

The Higher the DPI the better.

Also, consider the cost per print when thinking about purchasing. That factors in cost of ink, special paper if you are so inclined, etc. Some good websites that I use are cNet and Toms Hardware Guide. They have various reviews and breakdowns including cost per page.

I recommend HP's. They are pretty reliable and offer better quality, especially with photos. The ink cartridges are pretty expensive though.
 
Try an Epson RX595. They usually go on sale at Best Buy for like 99 bucks and use really high quality ink. The cartridges are pretty inexpensive compared to HP and IMHO is a better looking print for photos than most HP's remotely close in price.
 
Every printer has a built in fatal flaw that will cause it to grenade after a year. In my experience, it doesn't matter what brand you buy or how much you spend. You will get screwed.

Seriously, though try to buy either a laser jet or a traditional cartridge inkjet (like Lexmark). Stay away from the "airflow" type print heads that have the 4 removeable ink cratridges. AKA "superbright" inks. I've owned a few of these and they blow through ink like crazy. Plus the ink well in the print head clogs and then you're buying a new print head for $75. Epson, HP, and Brother make a lot of these evil machines.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']Every printer has a built in fatal flaw that will cause it to grenade after a year. In my experience, it doesn't matter what brand you buy or how much you spend. You will get screwed.

Seriously, though try to buy either a laser jet or a traditional cartridge inkjet (like Lexmark). Stay away from the "airflow" type print heads that have the 4 removeable ink cratridges. AKA "superbright" inks. I've owned a few of these and they blow through ink like crazy. Plus the ink well in the print head clogs and then you're buying a new print head for $75. Epson, HP, and Brother make a lot of these evil machines.[/quote]

Ive had hp printers for YEARS! and have had no problems with ink clogging or it wasting too much ink.

I will recommend an HP printer until the day I die.

I have found them to be completely reliable and last forever.
 
Lasers make good printers.
If you want to print photos get them from a drug store everything else can be in black and white and lasers do this better and cheaper than ink jets in the long run.
Also I have always had problems with printers that load paper in the top stick with a tray feeder they seem to go bad less often. All commercial printers and copiers do this so it just makes sense for a home user too.
Printers that are $20-50 don't cut it the ink dries out, it costs too much and long term are not a good choice.
Wow I didn't know I was so opinionated about printers.
 
You have to use an inkjet correctly in order to get it to last. Don't go a month or 2 (or longer) without printing, don't run the ink until its bone dry, dust inside of the printer as much as you can, if you can. Try to print something small at least once a week if possible, in order to run an inkjet it has to be kept in use, not left standing for months without use. Its bad to run the ink totally bone dry because that damages the printer heads. Seriously, its better to waste half a page of ink than to run it until its dry which damages the print heads.

Buy a printer solely based on ink costs. Make sure the manufacturer hasn't crippled it by using software that makes it impossible to install remanufactured ink carts. Buy remanufactured ink carts, they are much cheaper.
 
Are you using the printer primarily for printed texts, photos or both. I am a big proponent of a dedicated photo printer.

My experiences with HP's build quality over the past two years is VERY different. I have found their new products to be absolutely abysmal. My first disappointment began with a defective 550c and then the worst was the photosmart P1100 that apparently couldn't handle photo paper. I went through about 4 of those as the paper ejection mechanism kept breaking. Since then I have gone through about 4-6 different similarly below average models of HP products before giving and trying Epson.

I wont go back. I absolutely worship at the Epson fountain now. I have heard bad things about CX and C lines but I have never tried one as I am out of the bottom end of the printer market for now. All of the R and RX series seem very solid. I have used them in my home office and had friends and family purchase several of those models with no complaints or issues.

I actually like the independent color cart.s as it has saved me money vs replacing whole multi-color cart.s at a time.

I also really like the print to printable CD media, it makes a nice impression and they are very durable. Epson ink is also much more humidty and water resistant than HP brand inks.

Ideally, you could get a cheap printing laser for black and white (I use my laser printing fax machine in my SoHo) and then a quality photo printer if you indeed want one.
 
I would say, NEVER get the cheap sub $100 printers. NEVER(never say never doesn't count in this case). Cheap describes what they are worth. I bought a decent Hp officejet 6310 printer last year for use at home, and so far, i've only had to change the black ink cartridge. For hp printers, the print head is inside the cartridge, so you don't have to worry about ruining the whole printer(but ink's get expensive). Make Ink Price you prority. :)

Anyway, can anyone help me set up my printer settings? I want to use the least ink as possible. I've already set the ink volume to it's lowest factor with no noticable differences from the normal function. Should i lower the overspray function, or change the printing shortcuts from everyday printing to economical printing? Thanks.
 
I bought a Epson R200 a couple years ago and have never had any problems. Great for doing what I wanted, printing DVD covers and hub-printable discs. It's been sitting a while now though, since I ran out of ink... wonder if it even still works.

I would say buying generic off-brand ink works okay. Epson's ink is about half the cost of the printer; no way I can afford that (which I believe is their strategy). In the time I've had the printer, I've bought one set of banded ink and one off-branded (maybe two), and they seem so close that with the difference in cost, it's an easy choice.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']You have to use an inkjet correctly in order to get it to last. Don't go a month or 2 (or longer) without printing, don't run the ink until its bone dry, dust inside of the printer as much as you can, if you can. Try to print something small at least once a week if possible, in order to run an inkjet it has to be kept in use, not left standing for months without use. Its bad to run the ink totally bone dry because that damages the printer heads. Seriously, its better to waste half a page of ink than to run it until its dry which damages the print heads.[/QUOTE]

I agree- if you are not going to print regularly seriously consider buying a laser printer. There are even some color lasers out there that are quite affordable ($300 range) that have network connectivity, etc. It really comes down to how much you are going to print, why you are printing, and what you are printing. For the occasional email or document, a laser will cost less in the long run and avoid all these ink hassles. Despite the higher initial investment, lasers usually end up being cheaper if you print with any regularity. Get the color laser if you want to print out colors too (but don't get a color laser to print photos, read below).

If you are going to print mainly your own digital photos, think about an inkjet because they will have superior quality when it comes to photos. But remember if you are going to print photos only occasionally it is probably better to just have them printed at a store or online as opposed to printing them yourself. Also, for me personally, if I want a picture printed I want it printed big so I can frame it nice and put it on my wall. That means I'd have to go to a store anyways because most regular inkjets can't print big sizes (16x20, etc). Also something to think about...

Ruahrc
 
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