A good printer/copier?

Question

I'm looking to buy a good printer with a copier. I don't really need a fax, but if it comes with one, it's okay.

I'm not looking to spend more than $150. It's more for at home use, but I don't want a piece of c**p.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

How does $45 sound?

As someone who was in the computer hardware business for years (though I rarely sold printers since I couldn't compete with the crazy rebates) I have always recommended Epson. The print quality is excellent, even on plain paper. I have photos I printed on a 640 about ten years ago hanging in my office which still look good, though not as good as the ones from the CX8400 on glossy paper. The warranty is excellent. For a year, Epson will express-ship a replacement and pick up the old one. I had one customer who needed this. He called one afternoon and had the replacement two days later. Another client bought a Canon. It needed two repairs within a few months. Each time it was taken to the repair center, then picked up a few days later. This client runs a specialty printing business and this really hurt. They have since bought an Epson CX5000 and have had no down time since.

All name brand ink is expensive, but you can get cheap new replacement cartridges for Epson (not refills which I never recommend) for under $5 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp   I have been using these for years.

The RX595 scanner/copier/printer also prints on DVDs. It uses 5 colors plus black and has high photo quality. You can get it at Ritz Camera for $45 after rebate with digital camera. The printer is $130. The cheapest camera is $15 bringing the total to $145. Then there is $100 rebate and free shipping, bringing the final cost to $45. http://www.ritzcamera.com/webapp/wcs/sto...

Answer 2

That highly depends upon how much you intend to print, how long you want the printer to last you and how much you wish to spend on ink.

Drop for drop right now the cheapest printer to run is a Kodak easy share all in one.  The quality is decent however the paper handling is less than perfect.   You will have paper jams they will annoy you.   However at about 25% of the running cost of almost any other printer, it may very well be worth it.

I have a preference towards canon printers.   I have 4 of them running right now, all purchased over 2 decades.   My most recent printer is an MP 150, it cost me about $30, it is an all in one (no fax).   It has a remarkably high resolution scanner, my husband recently took to smooshing mosquitoes onto the glass and has been obtaining remarkable detailed scans of the carnage.   The ink is drop for drop cheaper than most of their competitors (except kodak) however the quality is much better, they offer a longer archival guarantee and this is one thing that I truly appreciate, even with an empty cartridge it will function, as a matter of fact, I have been running it with an empty color cartridge for about a year.   The running with an empty cartridge feature is not something that you come across often these days, and I do have to tell you, it comes in handy.

The black cartridge is about $20, it prints around 200 pages, if you print in draft mode you will get about 400 pages out of the bad boy.   All around it has been a great printer.  

I have had canons for almost two decades, they make a solid printer, how could they not they invented the thermal ink jet.