Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?
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From: nospam on 2 Jan 2010 01:30 In article <postings-A1200E.16225102012010(a)news.bigpond.com>, David <postings(a)REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com> wrote: > Any of the HP or Canons in basic form should do the trick - certainly > avoid Epson (even though they do print nicely) as she will be forever > cleaning heads. they don't clog in normal use. > With HP (I have had 4 of them over the past 15 years) they just sit > there until you want to print, then they print. No trouble no fuss. i know someone with an hp printer that is bit of fuss, especially the curved paper path which doesn't work so well with thicker stock. > One big advantage of the HP and Canon is that cartridges are available > at most department stores and at post offices. same for epson and even lexmark. what kind of post office sells printer ink??
From: isw on 2 Jan 2010 02:19 In article <hhmi2e$3tc$1(a)reader1.panix.com>, jbrock(a)panix.com (John Brock) wrote: > My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac > for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by > Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations > for a new printer. > > We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or > multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above > all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges > by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good > OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under > $200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria, > what would be the best choice? If you can avoid color, an inexpensive laser printer is a far better choice than any inkjet. Isaac
From: Salmon Egg on 2 Jan 2010 04:25 In article <hhmi2e$3tc$1(a)reader1.panix.com>, jbrock(a)panix.com (John Brock) wrote: > My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac > for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by > Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations > for a new printer. > > We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or > multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above > all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges > by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good > OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under > $200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria, > what would be the best choice? > -- When I saw this post, I expected to se a large variety of answers. There were fewer than I expected. After fiddling around with ink jets, I decided never to buy one again. I would get a black and white laser printer. I have a Brother DCP 1000 that is used primarily for copying. One full cartridge will probably last through 10 reams of paper without the clogs from ink. A cartridge costs about $30. I am not pushing Brother. There probably are other brands that do just as well. What would your mother be able to do when a paper jam occurs? Can she load paper and things like that? Bill -- An old man would be better off never having been born.
From: Andy Hewitt on 2 Jan 2010 04:58 John Brock <jbrock(a)panix.com> wrote: > My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac > for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by > Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations > for a new printer. > > We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or > multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above > all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges > by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good > OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under > $200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria, > what would be the best choice? I think without doubt I'd go for the Canon Pixma range. They are 'photo' printers, and maybe cost a little more than the average, but I've had two now, and very happy with them (currently using an iP4500). They also have some features you'll probably never use (Duplex and CD printing for example, although Duplex can be handier than you think). However, they are also quite robust in construction, and these use 5 cartridges (CMYK for photo, and larger capacity 'cheaper' one for black text). I have found that the cartridges last pretty well, and probably get somewhere near the quoted 400 pages yield, and they're not too expensive either (when bought one at a time). I've not had to clean the head in the last 18 months either. The Canon software seems to be reliable too. I have also used others in the past, but found the following: Lexmark: poor print quality, and *very* expensive ink. Epson: possibly the best photo quality, cheap inks, but as others say, you do spend a lot of ink in cleaning the heads. If they're left unused for a while they *will* clog. HP: Used to be *the* printer to buy, but in recent years they have become flimsy, and not so good with print quality. The software they use absolutely sucks too. I've recently tried to install these onto Windows machines, and it's a nightmare getting them to work properly (or at all). If you don't need colour at all, then I agree with others, a laser will be the cheapest and most reliable printer to use. The best I have used myself are Kyocera and HP. If you can find an older HP on eBay, such as a Laserjet 4100, it will last for decades as a home printer, and can manage over 10,000 pages on a cartridge - which can be got very cheaply on eBay (I get them for under �20 in the UK). It may be easiest to connect these via Ethernet though, and they will then just work. -- Andy Hewitt <http://web.me.com/andrewhewitt1/>
From: J.J. O'Shea on 2 Jan 2010 07:16
On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 01:30:10 -0500, nospam wrote (in article <010120102230106163%nospam(a)nospam.invalid>): > In article <postings-A1200E.16225102012010(a)news.bigpond.com>, David > <postings(a)REMOVE-TO-REPLYconfidential-counselling.com> wrote: > >> Any of the HP or Canons in basic form should do the trick - certainly >> avoid Epson (even though they do print nicely) as she will be forever >> cleaning heads. > > they don't clog in normal use. Wanna bet on that? > >> With HP (I have had 4 of them over the past 15 years) they just sit >> there until you want to print, then they print. No trouble no fuss. > > i know someone with an hp printer that is bit of fuss, especially the > curved paper path which doesn't work so well with thicker stock. HP printer _hardware_ is usually quite good. HP printer _software_ has stunk for years, and is getting worse. > >> One big advantage of the HP and Canon is that cartridges are available >> at most department stores and at post offices. > > same for epson and even lexmark. what kind of post office sells printer > ink?? Lots of them. Just down the road from my office there's a postal agency that sells discount ink. And, for larger definitions of 'post office', pretty much any UPS or FedEx establishment sells ink. -- email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com. |