Rooster_Ties Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 (edited) Hi everybody, My printer just shot craps ("fatal head error"), about 20 minutes ago. It's a Lexmark Z52 inkjet printer, about 3 years old. The replacement ink cartridges cost a mint!! (And within the last year, I've had several people tell me I just need to get rid of the thing, and get something newer, probably cheaper, with cheaper replacement cartridges.) I've been meaning to look at better low-cost printing options for a few months now, but now I'll probably need to be buying a new printer within the next 2 to 4 days. (Probably just something I can pick up at Office Max, or some similar store, I would imagine.) Any recommendations?? Or, perhaps more as importantly -- any brands or particular models I should stay the hell away from??? Probably looking for another inkjet, I suppose - but if there are other options I should be considering, lemme know. I don't really need to have color-printing, but it seems that color is so low-cost these days, that I've never considered not having it. But (what I'm getting at), I suppose I could graduate to a low-end laser-printer, though I'm sure the startup costs would be higher. I don't print tons and tons of stuff. Maybe 100 pages per week, at the very most - and many weeks less than that (sometimes MUCH less than that). 10 or 15 pages per day seems to be about the most I ever print. Any ideas, before I make a hasty decision in a store isle, based on price, and the list of features from the outside of three or four boxes?? Edited March 28, 2004 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 I've got an Epsom Photo 830U that I use alot. It does everything I need. Getting much cheaper compatible ink cartridges is easier with a big name like Epsom or Canon. I've never used the real thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Burke Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 Last year I bought an HP Deskjet 842C. It's color and has slots for printing envelopes. Never treated me wrong and it must have been cheap for me to buy it b/c I'mn still in school. My guess is that it was just under $100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 I don't have any recommendations for a specific printer, just some general advice. 15 pages a day is already enough to be aware of the cost of replacement catridges. Many companies offer very cheap (even subsidized) printers which cost less than $80, but charge a lot on cartridges ($30). You should at least get an inkjet printer which has separate B/W and color cartridges, so you can replace them seperately. Check the websites of PC magazines for buying guides and reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 We have an HP DeskJet 560C which is hopelessly old fashioned, and which has been subjected to brutally frivillous and unnecessarily heavy usage for at least 8 years now, and it just refuses to stop. So HP gets a strong rec from me. I read tests where other brands are faster and/or more compact and/or less expensive, but I like for my technology to remain practical and functional long after it's "obsolete", and this puppy has more than done that. It's only relatively recently that printers have gotten significantly faster and better (at least, for our usage), and it's only now that we've considered replacing something that still works fine for us (and fixing it when it ain't broke goes against my most basic household management impulses - there's CDs to buy, meals to eat, and other stuff, like kids, that need the money more than CompUSA, god bless'em anyway). We've been eyeing one of the HP "all-in-one" printer/scanner/faxes, the model that regularly goes for betweeen $350-$400. Not having a scanner "in house" has really been bugging me lately, a fax is one of those things that you might not need often, but when you do, not having one is really aggrivating (we're still running a Brother thermal papaer fax, so an upgrade is loooooooong overdue), and a printer, hell, if you have a computer, you need a printer, duh! Not exactly "inexpensive", but if the newer HPs have the reliabilty and lifespan of the one we've dogged like we've dogged it all these years, then I'd consider it money well spent. The front-end fiscal pain will be many times relieved by the lack of multiple back-end repairs/replacements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 Canon has been scoring very high points in the tests in recent years. HP is cool and a quality product, but not exactly economic in ink use and costs. Canon has several nice desk top inkjet printers with 4 separate ink tanks that can either be easily refilled or changed for inexpensive no-name tanks. Print quality is really very good. I would not recommend 3-in-1 printer/fax/scanner/photocopier (that's 4 actually...) products, unless you want to spend quite a bit of dough (300-400 won't take you to the promised land, think 700-800). The cheaper ones either have bad scanning capability or treat ink like it's rain and that's bad for the wallet and the environment. Printer/Fax combinations have been around a bit longer and those can be had for around 3-400 and present good quality in every respect.- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 I would not recommend 3-in-1 printer/fax/scanner/photocopier (that's 4 actually...) products, unless you want to spend quite a bit of dough (300-400 won't take you to the promised land, think 700-800). The cheaper ones either have bad scanning capability or treat ink like it's rain and that's bad for the wallet and the environment. Haven't begun serious research yet, so this is definitely news I can use. Thanks, John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 They make color printers? I've had an HP LaserJet 5L since Feb, '97 and it is a workhorse. I will certainly look first at HP when this puppy dies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 I wanted to buy a printer recently, and looked into such a scanner/printer/copier combination thing as well. I found out that the scanner ability is subpar (unless you pay ~400); these combined things mostly use another, simpler scanning technology that produces worse quality than single-function scanners that sell below 100; I have a digi cam that does better scans" of my LPs (LPs only fit on a larger scanner anyway...). The printers are often quite good on those combined things, but not better than on a single-use machine that goes for less than 100. So for 200, you already have something better, be it in the form of two machines. Room is a factor of course, but for one thing, these combined things are huge monsters themselves and for two things, also consider the fact that if one half breaks down, you're going to either replace it or leave it sitting there as the lame but huge monster it is. We got a Canon i560 inkjet printer in the end, this is the follow-up model of the i550. It's (really) fast, produces hi-Q pics, and is economic in ink use and costs. I decided to buy and not inform myseld any longer as you can inform yourself to death these days. Do inform yourSELF though, surf around, read some tests (look for price-per-print tests), find a shop that sells the shite (often the problematic part over here), and enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 (edited) They make color printers? I've had an HP LaserJet 5L since Feb, '97 and it is a workhorse. I will certainly look first at HP when this puppy dies. those HP laser printers never seem to die. More recent models are WAY faster than your 5 series though (and I mean WAY faster... ) you won't find a colour laser printer below 600 or so. *Much* more if you want hi-Q. laser printers are of course MUCH cheaper in use (couple of cents per colour print instead of a dollar). It's an investment no household will earn back by printing the occasional colour invitation to grandma's birthday Edited March 28, 2004 by couw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 I know people who use Canon and really enjoy the results, but they've been through two (ocassionally three) of them in the time that I've had my one HP. Is this experience typical? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted March 28, 2004 Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 I wouldn't know, it's my first printer. seriously: the ink of the Canon is dirt cheap compared to HP, especially if you buy the no-name stuff or do re-fills. HP is the only one who effectively seems to be able to block no-name firms from becoming very succesfull in selling ink tanks that fit their printers. Even the "HP" no-name tanks and refills are more expensive than any other brand, which may be due to the fact that almost every HP printer type has its own type of tanks; you won't be able to put the tanks of a 640C into your 560C. So what you gain in longeivity, you lose in ink-money really (especially when also considering that modern printers are way more economic in ink use). A guy who deals in these things told me that some firms actually buy up to 10 HP printers at once and if the ink goes out they actually sell the printer on ebay and unpack the next one. Just because the refills are way to expensive. Then I have read (don't know if it's true) that since Canon has been using its 4 tank system the longeivity of their printers has increased substantially. The people you know had these too? Lexmark is a brand that sells their machines very cheaply, but charges huge amounts for ink. Epson has been doing the 4-tank thing as well off late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted March 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2004 Yeah, last time I bought more ink cartridges, the guy at Office Depot/Max said I might be better off just buying a new printer, for the money I was about to spend on more ink for my old one. What a racket!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted March 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2004 (edited) Monday update... Wow, my old printer just started working again. For how long, I have no idea. But I just printed a few pages, and they looked just fine. Edited March 29, 2004 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted March 30, 2004 Report Share Posted March 30, 2004 Stay away from Lexmark. The largest pieces of shit on the planet. I hate them with a passion. In fact, here's a true story that just happened this weekend. My sister called me yesterday in a panic. Her Lexmark stopped working... the computer couldn't find it. She said this has happened before so she usually uninstalls the drivers and re-installs them, right? So she goes into the Lexmark folder and chooses the uninstaller and runs it and... ... for some reason it deleted EVERYTHING in her My Documents folder. All her mp3s, all her documents, all her photoshop files, everything. Over 10gigs worth of stuff. She teaches a computer illustration course at the local community college and lost four years worth of hand-outs, illustrations, etc. Why did the Lexmark uninstaller do this? Who knows. But that data is gone. We tried to use a recovery program (at a cost of $130) to get the stuff back, but everything was corrupt, which usually happens when you delete large amounts of data at once. Lexmark is evil. Throw it away. I won't even go into my dad's trials and tribulations with Lexmark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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