Best Color Printer For Around $300 ? (1 Viewer)

[Chuck C]

I'm going back to school in a couple weeks, and I absolutely hate my Epson 740 that came with my computer. So now I'm looking for something sweet. It looks like HP has some nice ones. I love the 722C we have at home now, but I know that in this day and age, I could do a lot better. Any suggestions? How about the 1200 series HPs? Or better yet, has anyone seen that Print/Scan/Copy HP?? (PSC750, $299)?
Thanks for all your help!
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Chuck
Chuckster's HT Equipment List

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

One of the best color printers around for the money is the Canon S800 (list is $299).

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/printers/s800/index.html
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Regards,
Brian W. Ralston
"Success is a journey, not a destination." - Unknown
[Edited last by Brian W. Ralston on August 05, 2001 at 12:47 PM]

 

[Tim Markley]

I hear ya about the Epson 740. I mistakenly bought one of these a couple of years ago and it's a POS. I'll never buy an Epson printer again. Most likely I'll be going back to an HP for my next printer but the Canons do look promising.

 

[Mark Dubbelboer]

What are you going to be printing with this printer?
I haven't seen an s800 personally but the printer one model down does a very competent job as well. The seperate ink cartridges are a very very nice feature. I bought my printer solely for printing documents so i just bought a cheap xerox printer and it costs like the 2/3 of the price of the printer just to replace the ink...blech
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Bring Degrassi out on DVD!!

 

[Patrick_S]

Without knowing your major, before you buy a color printer I would evaluate just how much color printing you will actually be doing. I would image not much has changed since I graduated college, and the vast majority of your printing will be simple black and white text.
If that is the case you would be far better served buying a low end monochrome laser printer.
The laser printer will produce better text at a better cost per page point then any ink printer.
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[Chuck C]

Well I'm going into business, thus there will be allota text stuff, but alotta graphics and spreadsheets too. Also, I may have a computer focus with my major if that helps. Back to that scanner/printer/copier all in one package...don't tell me that thing doesn't look incredible. It scans up to 9600x9600 and prints pretty fast. And it's only $300!

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Chuck
Chuckster's HT Equipment List
[Edited last by Chuck C on August 05, 2001 at 02:27 PM]

 

[Joseph S]

Actually, I think it looks like the top/back of a toilet. Far from incredible, but it's the features you need.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Chuck,
I swear by HP printers. I've owned two in the last 9 years (Deskjet 500, Deskjet 722C), and have used several at work (540C, 660C, 850C, 870C, 1200C, 1600C) and all have been absolutely 100% trouble free. You'll have a hard time getting me to change brands.
You mentioned going into business. If you plan on printing a lot (here's an idea- go "21st century" and be a minimal print office- things are a lot easier to track/store in a good database program, backed up, of course), you may want to look at the rated duty cycle of the printer you plan on buying.
Also, note that in HP printers, they print cartridge IS the print head. Therefore, you'll get the same print quality in models that use the same cartridge. For instance, the 930/932C, 950/952C, 960, 970, and the all-in-one 750 in your photo above, ALL use the same cartridge. The 970 has a higher duty cycle, for heavier use.
I'm looking to upgrade fairly soon, to be able to print higher quality photos from my 3.3Mpixel camera. The 722 is good, but you should see these same photos on the 9xx series!

The laser printer will produce better text at a better cost per page point then any ink printer.

I totally agree with this statement. Laser is better for business, IMO, if you don't need color. How about getting the a laser, and keeping the 722 online when color is necessary?
Todd
[Edited last by Todd Hochard on August 06, 2001 at 10:26 AM]

 

[Ryan Wright]

As do I. I swear by most HP products.
I don't swear by their tech support, though. I was an early adopter of CDR, spending $400 on a 2x HP burner. 11 months later it was toast. They forced me to spend 2+ hours on the phone troubleshooting. They then had me call back the next day (I forget why now, it's been awhile), and when I did, they made me go through the 2+ hour troubleshooting procedure all over again. I explained that I'd already gone through this and it wasn't necessary, but was told that if I wanted a replacement I had no other choice. Worse, this was a long distance number. No toll-free available.
The new burner lasted about 4 months, then failed with the same symptoms as the other one. I spoke with a number of coworkers who had the same problems with the same model burner! So I called HP for a replacement. They flat out refused. Said my warranty had expired. Basically they replaced a defective product with another defective product and that was it. You don't get a new warranty with your new product.
I fired off a nasty email to as many HP email addresses as I could find. They finally caved in and replaced the drive with their top-of-the-line (at the time) 4x burner. It's worked wonderfully for many years now. In fact I just used it this morning to burn a bunch of digital pics to a CD.
Anyway, their products are great, but if they fail it could be a pain in the ass to get a replacement.
Printers: I've owned a 722c for almost 4 years now and absolutely love it. I won't buy a new one until it croaks. (I also have a nice HP laser printer)
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-Ryan (http://www.ryanwright.com )
Ok, I admit it: I set you up the bomb.

 

[Chuck C]

Thanks for the replies, boys. The 722C stays at home & a b&w laser is outta the question. I need the color, and the 900 series looks sweet. We'll see what happens; I'll probably buy later this week.
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Chuck
Chuckster's HT Equipment List

 

[Chuck C]

Speak of the friggin devil...just got Consumer Reports Magazine, and guess what was reviewed this month. PRINTERS!
HP 1200's at the top followed by HP 950's and 930's in second and third place respectively. Of course, CR is kind of a crappy resource for many subjective items (eh hem...speakers

), but when it comes to printers, I'll take a hard look at CR any day.
Ryan & Todd, you guys are right, it's all about the HPs.
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Chuck
Chuckster's HT Equipment List
[Edited last by Chuck C on August 06, 2001 at 05:32 PM]

 

[Chuck C]

well, i just bought the toilet printer. To make a long story short, hp cust. service said it's defective and now i have to exchange it for a new one! pain in my friggin ass!
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Chuck
Chuckster's HT Equipment List

 

[Jay H]

Well, they must have liked the 950's features over the 930's cause they have the same print hardware, just the 950 has a little more features like I think the dedicated 4x6" photopaper tray which works very nice with HP photo paper with the tabs but OK with any other plain 4x6 photo paper. Sometimes it feeds 4x6" sheets w/o tabs a little crooked, IME.
Jay
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[Chuck C]

Welp, the drama is over. I was given back credit for that defective monstrosity and picked up the all new HP 960c for $199. It's awesome! It only took about 3 minutes to set up & install, and best of all...it prints text at lighting speeds! I've never seen a simple inkjet printer print so friggin fast! Also, the 960c came w/ glossy photo paper. I headed over to playboy.com found a nice pic of Dalene (Miss Sept.), and now she's on my pin-up board!
This printer is great; I love simple, nice things.
Thanks for all who listened and participated in my quest.
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Chuck
Chuckster's HT Equipment List

 

[Vanessa]

Chuck -
Didn't want to say anything before - I work for HP on printers. But, if you have any questions in the future, feel free to give me a heads up...
Vanessa
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[Larry Schneider]

Vanessa, I see on the HP site that the 960 and 990 series printers are "out of stock." Are new models coming out in the near future?

 

[Vanessa]

Actually, I believe those two printers just came out recently! The 990 is an improvement over the 970, etc. Of course new models are always coming, but I can't think of any that will be replacing those in the real near future. Although printers can come out at any time, it seems like we aim for "back to school '0X" quite often and I think the 990 is in that bunch for this year.
Vanessa
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[Larry Schneider]

Thanks. I just went out & bought a 960.

 

[Chuck C]

That's awesome, Larry! I especially like the blue light deep within the recesses of the print-cartridge area that comes on during printing. I wonder why that's there? Anyway, let us know how you like it.
Vanessa, thanks for being open to our questions.
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Chuck
Chuckster's HT Equipment List

 

[Parker Clack]

Vanessa:
I have model 970Cse and I have had frequent problems with paper jamming when trying to print and problems with feeding envelopes. When trying to feed an envelope it almost always doesn't pick up the envelope to pull through and print. If it does capture it the first time it tends to jam the envelope as it is trying to print on it.
Any thoughts on what could be going on with it? It is only about 8 months old.
Parker