Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?
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From: J.J. O'Shea on 2 Jan 2010 07:43 On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 23:29:02 -0500, John Brock wrote (in article <hhmi2e$3tc$1(a)reader1.panix.com>): > 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; Good luck with that. The days of the stand-alone low-end inkjet printer are rapidly coming to a close. Brother no longer sells stand-alone injets in the US; Epson has three, four if you count the 17" wide carriage model; HP still has several, but the low-end ones literally cost less than the ink carts for them and are worth about that they cost. Frankly, it'd be a better idea to get a MFD even if you never use the other functions, the pricing on a Brother MFD is lower than the pricing on an actual worth-while HP stand-alone inkjet and the build quality, life expectancy, and cost of consumables per page on the Brother are all better. (There's a _reason_ why HP has been mounting a PR campaign about its ink carts...) > we're looking for robustness and simplicity above > all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges > by herself! All modern inkjets make that easy. Brother has been using a door in the front of the printer to load the carts for a _long_ time. Epson and HP usually make you open up the top of the printer, but it's not a big deal either way. > Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good > OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). It's the ink that's going to be the killer. Epson ink is the cheapest, but lasts the shortest time. (Well, duh...) HP ink is the most expensive and, frankly, doesn't give as good output as Epson ink. Epson and Canon ink are about neck and neck for best print quality. Brother ink costs less than Canon or HP ink, but while it's better than HP ink it's not as good as Epson/Canon ink. > Under > $200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria, > what would be the best choice? > If you don't need colour, get a low-end laser such as a Brother HL-2140 or HL-2170W (same printer, just with Ethernet and wireless-G added to the USB ports of the 2140) which have list prices of $120 and $150 respectively; you can usually get the 2140 for under $100, sometimes for under $80, and you can usually get the 2170W for under $135, sometimes for around $100. I have the 2170W's now-discontinued older cousin, the 2070N. No wireless, but then I got it four-five years ago when wireless was less of a big thing. List price then was $150, I got it for $135. I'm now on the third toner cart, at $42-45 per cart, so I've spent about as much on toner over 4-5 years as I did on the printer. However, I also have a Brother MFC-440cn colour inkjet MFD, which I got for $80 (list price was $150) and for which I've spent over $100 on ink _just last year_. The laser carts print over 3,000 pages/cart (I just put in a new cart in the 2070N, and the total print jobs exceed 7500 over the 4-5 years I've had it) while inkjets printer under 400 pages/cart. Which is why I don't print to the inkjet except when I must have colour. When the drum in the 2070N finally dies I'll probably replace both it and the 440cn with a colour laser, possibly one of the Brother colour lasers. Currently you can get a Brother colour laser for under $300, under $250 if you look. Their output is not as good as an inkjet, but it's faster and a _lot_ cheaper. If you _must_ go with a stand-alone inkjet, check out Epson or Canon. Stay far away from HP, and further away from Lexmark. If you can live with a MFD, add Brother to Epson and Canon. -- email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.
From: J.J. O'Shea on 2 Jan 2010 07:44 On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 05:31:45 -0500, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote (in article <elmop-3BC6C8.05314502012010(a)nothing.attdns.com>): > In article <SalmonEgg-46D50D.01251202012010(a)news60.forteinc.com>, > Salmon Egg <SalmonEgg(a)sbcglobal.net> wrote: > >> 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 agree wholeheartedly. A laser printer is the best bet here. > >> >> I am not pushing Brother. There probably are other brands that do just >> as well. > > Probably not--Brother's Mac support is incredibly good. > > Also, I would consider a wireless network printer that allows her to put > it anywhere, and allows the friends/family to hook to it without effort > when they come over. That would be a Brother HL-2170W unless there's another laser printer with wireless-G support that costs under $150... -- email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.
From: Red on 2 Jan 2010 09:46 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? Get her a black and white laser printer--- forget the ink jet stuff. Cost per page is a quarter of ink jet cost per page. Unless she's a printaholic, the cart will last for years. There ain't no bad printers out there today-- though I would stay away from Lexmark. Hard to go wrong with an HP or a Canon.
From: Jonathan L. Parker on 2 Jan 2010 09:47 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. Are you sure about that non-support? I'm still using 10.4.11 so I can't speak directly with regard to Snow Leopard, but I can tell you that Gutenprint *does* have a driver for this printer, and my version includes it. Unless Mom lives a long way off and all of you have already gone home after the holidays, you might want to take a crack at setting it up for her. If nothing else, it could serve as a backup option in case the new printer you'll *still* probably end up buying for her ever goes on the fritz. And to save everyone else from chiming in, I'll say it for them: Gutenprint drivers can be an absolute *bear* to set up properly, especially with older printers, and even then you'll likely get better quality output by going ahead and buying a printer with native, manufacturer-supplied OS X support. If I hadn't paid $350 a decade ago for the Canon portable I'm using with my MBP, I wouldn't have bothered with Gutenprint, and as it is, I only use it with my Windows virtual machine now anyway. I just did it mainly to prove to myself that I could, and to give myself one more after-the-fact justification for having spent all that money. --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news(a)netfront.net ---
From: Jolly Roger on 2 Jan 2010 11:27
In article <hhnm8r$83t$1(a)news.albasani.net>, Red <red(a)neckspam.com> wrote: > 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? > > Get her a black and white laser printer--- forget the ink jet stuff. > Cost per page is a quarter of ink jet cost per page. Unless she's a > printaholic, the cart will last for years. > > There ain't no bad printers out there today-- though I would stay away > from Lexmark. Hard to go wrong with an HP or a Canon. Only she won't get very good photo prints from a black and white (or even a color) laser printer. ; ) -- Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me. E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts. JR |