[stryker23]

I'm looking to buy a 3-in-1 printer. I want to know what specs it should have to be fast and print good pictures, and also print nice text. I want it to be good but at a decent price. So could someone tell me what i should be looking for so I can tell whats good and whats not.

Thanks ahead of time!

[stryker23]

Does no one know how to help me? Is my question too confusing? If so let me know and i can change it around. Should this be posted somewhere else? If so will u please move it there.

Thanks

[Rockn]

It really depends on what you are looking for. What do you want to print, text only, pictures, both?? Do you really need all three features built into one unit? If one thing goes the whole printer is generally useless. They are also made very cheaply and the ink costs a fortune. Color laser printers are coming way down in price and the quality is very good for both images as well as text printing, but again the toner is very expensive.

[stryker23]

Ok well i want it to print both graphics and text. And i need both a new printer and scanner. So what would be some options of good a printer and a decent scanner I mean seperate since u don't recommend the whole 3-in-1 thing. I would look for myself but i don't know what is good, things such as pages a minute, and print resolution. I need to know the same for a scanner. So if u could just give me some like base numbers for good or just give me some ones that u see as decent would be great.

[slipe]

I think Canon has the best printers for both text and photos right now. Read Steve’s review of the Canon iP4000: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_...on_ip4000.html The advantage of the printer is that it has a large tank of pigmented black for text and does decent photos. It also has some neat features like a built-in duplexer to print on both sides unattended and very good speed. You can remove the Canon heads to soak them in hot water if they get clogged where you can’t do that with Epsons. It is also easy to refill the tanks, which works well if you get good ink.

You don’t need a pricey scanner unless you are going to scan negatives or slides, and none of the multifunction machines will do that well in any case. The combination I would recommend would be the Canon iP4000 printer and the Epson 2480 scanner. $90 for the 2480 scanner from newegg.com with free shipping and $120 for the iP4000 printer from buy.com with free shipping. The 2480 will even do a decent job on film and slides.

You can get the Canon combination MP390 unit for less than the combined price of the scanner and printer, but it doesn’t do anything as well. Canon has some new units with the printing capabilities of the iP4000 with a limited scanner, but the price is higher than the combined price of the individual units.

[stryker23]

Thanks for the input Slipe. I will check them out. They sound like they will do just what i want.

[Cosmic]

It is like most things, who will give you the best total deal? Want do you want it to do?

I got a HP PSC 1210 All-in-One and really like it.

Don't just look at the price of the hardware. For the printers you have to be extremely aware of the ink, its cartridge size, how much ink does it typically use, price of ink. The HP cartridges are not as big as I would have liked but the guy threw in 3 sets, I forget exactly what I paid but it was a steal. They wanted to dump that model and where selling them at a computer show.

The other advantage to HP, the cartridge contains the print heads on most models. It is also the most tolerant printer for not plugging if you don't print much. Some plug up if not used very often.

Yup, I would love to have a laser printer. Probably can't justify it for my use now. The ink jets are screwing themselves with the hassle factor, horrible expensive ink, micro size cartridges. If they are going to rip us off, don't make it so obvious.

Bad thing about buying something unseen, you can not really judge. In particular those cartridge sizes, Duh some are approaching postage stamp size.

[slipe]

The ink jets are screwing themselves with the hassle factor, horrible expensive ink, micro size cartridges. If they are going to rip us off, don't make it so obvious.

I agree. HP did the ultimate “in your face” insult to inkjet buyers – not sure whether they are still doing it. The cheaper printers in their line came with half-filled cartridges. If it were a one-time deal it wouldn’t have been so bad. But they put a chip in the cartridge and the cheap printers would only accept the half-full cartridges. They cost the same as the full cartridges for the higher end printers but had half the ink. The half-full cartridges would actually take the full 52ml of the large cartridge if you refilled it.

The other advantage to HP, the cartridge contains the print heads on most models. It is also the most tolerant printer for not plugging if you don't print much.

HPs don’t clog. I had an old 722C in storage for over 2 years with cartridges in the printer. Someone’s printer broke and I pulled it out of storage to give to them. To my amazement it printed perfectly without even any cleaning cycles. HP heads store against a moist pad, which keeps the heads from drying out. Capillary action uses a little ink over time to keep the pad damp, and some HPs drip a little ink from the pads. But the pads don’t consume as much ink as the cleaning cycles on Canon and Epson printers if you leave them too long without printing.

HP black tanks are falling off a log easy to refill. Refilling the color involves a learning curve. Epsons have a chip in the cartridge which needs reprogramming if you refill – too much hassle IMO. Canons are overall the easiest to refill and the cheapest to get aftermarket replacement tanks for. There is no chip in the cartridge and it measures the ink directly – refill the tank and it knows it is full again. I print enough that any learning curve involved with refilling is well worth the hassle. I’ve read that printers are sold with minimum markup and the companies make their profits on the ink. You beat that by refilling. But you have to use good ink made for the specific printer or results are poor.

Bad thing about buying something unseen, you can not really judge. In particular those cartridge sizes, Duh some are approaching postage stamp size.

Canon reformulated their inks a couple of years ago with stronger dyes. They went from dead last to best for ink cost. The Canons with the large individual tanks are much more economical than the lower-end Canons with the small cartridges – Canon screws you with the cheaper printers. But even the lower end Canons are frugal compared to others. This is a good comparison of ink cost. Scroll down to the color costs: http://www6.tomshardware.com/consume...rinter-10.html

[acraftylady]

I have had the HP office jet G85 all in one for 4 yrs. now and I love it, was worth the $900 price tag for us. I can print great looking 8X10's and since my husband has to do a lot of work at home it suits his needs for faxing and doing some copies. The thing is really a work house and has done well for us. If it dies right now I plan on replacing it with the 7140XI or the 9130, they are close to what we have. I am sure there are cheaper ones just as good but this suited our needs and when I printed some test photos in the store and they looked really good I figured I wouldn't have to buy myself a separate photo printer.

7140XI

9130