Recommend a good printer?

[Mar]

Can any of you recommend a good color printer, preferably under $100? I'm not terribly concerned about ppm speed; I am concerned about resolution and color quality for documents printed on paper (not necessarily photographs). I do not need a fax, so a full combination printer is not necessary.

Is there something better for slightly over $100.

Thanks!

 

[Friedle]

Good printer

Kingery??




Friedle

 

[pmdave]

I'm partial to HP. My current color printer is an HP 960c (several years old now).

Most printers today have very good resolution, but three other considerations are reliability, cost of ink cartridges, and ink durability.

My 960c uses 2 large cartiridges, a $45 black, and a combination #23 magenta/blue/yellow. Very good color rendition on standard paper or slick photo paper. The printer does a little self-test of the paper type before printing, so I don't have to make any manual adjustments. According to durability tests a while back, the HP inks are very good at long-term, and my experiences back that up. Very little noticeable fading or color change. I have also noticed that these cartridges don't clog even if the printer is not used for several weeks.

I'd advise against a printer that uses small cartridges. Cheaper, but they run out of ink very quickly.

Often, the computer magazines have comparison tests of printers that can be very helpful.

pmdave

 

[BRADFORDBENN]

I am really happy with my HP printers. I think you might want to look at PhotoPrinter series. Also be careful to consider cost of cartridges as Dave pointed out. Some companies are selling the printers at almost no profit in order to sell you consumables.

 

[ppaintguy]

$100 does not buy much of a printer with that kind of resolution. When I went looking for mine I took a newspaper ad with all kinds of colors on it and made a copy on each of the demo models...the HP was by far the best. I had a lexmark previously but the ink was outrageous and the resolution was pitiful too.

 

[crazydrummerdude]

Everyone has an opinion..

I hate HP anything. Out of my 50 computers, I've had probably 6 HP computers, and 2 HP printers. I recycled the computers, smashed one printer with a sledge hammer, and threw the other printer out the window.

Just recently, my girlfriends step-dad had an identical HP printer that he coincidentally said he was about to throw it out the window.

Brother printers are definitely nice, but I doubt you could find a <$100 one.

I am currently using a Lexmark X1185 on my home pc. I bought it when I was broke, so I don't think it could be more than $100. It's pretty nice, actually. It's got a flatbed scanner on it, too, for copying/etc. Only complaint is it seems to always think my ink cartridges are empty, so I occasionally have to take the black one out and shake it and put it back in. (Which is very simple and a lot easier than when the HP's would jam every-other paper, never cancel the print job, and just become one big cluster-f___.)

 

[MOTORMAN]

Go look at Lexmark. They have a variety of printers and you can even get the ink at wallyworld.

 

[mika]

These are my favorite printers and the make $100.00 bills.

 

[paulsibek]

Check out

CNET.com, a reliable site.

Colour printers are used in 2 ways, 1. Text/presentation graphics; 2. Photographs.

Generally the Cannon and Epson are better for photos than HP.

If for photos, use the same ink and paper as the printer type.

For a little more than $100 you can get a nice printer, in fact for $100 you can get a decent printer too.

Check CNET.

 

[ultracyclist]

printers

I am partial to HP Printers because:
1.) Printers are their core products
2.) I have had excellent luck with them
3.) If there is a glitch, their customer support unit is second to none.

I am not sure if $100 is going to get you much of a printer, but that is your decison.

 

[Mar]

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

Actually, the $100 limit is an inflation of the $40 my husband wants to spend. If I had my way, it would be $200-$300.