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Thread: Inexpensive color printer?

  1. #1
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    Question Inexpensive color printer?

    I have a Brother laser black and white printer which works well for 99% of my printing. Every once in a while I would like to print a color page, say once or twice a week. Can anyone recommend a color printer for less than $100, since I will rarely use it, inkjet will be OK. I would want to have both printers connected.
    Thanks
    Dennis

  2. #2
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    Dennis, for incidental use, I'm going to suggest you get together with a friend who has a color printer. Why? While you can buy inexpensive color ink jet printers, it's the ink that costs you dearly. And while you might at first say, "But I'm only going to print a few pages once in awhile so the ink should last a long time", the truth is that even if you don't use it, the ink magically disappears/expires. This drives me bananas, but it's been that way for multiple printers from multiple manufacturers. I've only ever gotten a fraction of the number of pages that the ink was supposed to provide, whether I was printing a lot or not printing much at all. If I didn't have a need/desire to print photos on occasion, I'd bag the color printer all together and just have a lower end black and while laser printer.

    If you do decide to buy a color printer, out of all the printers I've owned, I liked the Epson printers the best for photo quality.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Dennis, for incidental use, I'm going to suggest you get together with a friend who has a color printer. Why? While you can buy inexpensive color ink jet printers, it's the ink that costs you dearly. And while you might at first say, "But I'm only going to print a few pages once in awhile so the ink should last a long time", the truth is that even if you don't use it, the ink magically disappears/expires. This drives me bananas, but it's been that way for multiple printers from multiple manufacturers. I've only ever gotten a fraction of the number of pages that the ink was supposed to provide, whether I was printing a lot or not printing much at all. If I didn't have a need/desire to print photos on occasion, I'd bag the color printer all together and just have a lower end black and while laser printer.

    If you do decide to buy a color printer, out of all the printers I've owned, I liked the Epson printers the best for photo quality.
    Jim
    Thanks for the reply ,now that you mention it, I remember having the same problem in the past. I see a Brother color laser printer for $180 at Best Buy, maybe I need to stop being such a cheapskate and just buy it!
    Dennis

  4. #4
    If you know someone who would let you, perhaps a neighbor, I suggest you look into Google Cloud print.

    Even the most inexpensive printers will work fine, but like Cody said there are issues with cartridge shelf life.

    The ink cartridges in my dad's printer (which he rarely uses) just dried up.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robert Engel View Post
    If you know someone who would let you, perhaps a neighbor, I suggest you look into Google Cloud print.

    Even the most inexpensive printers will work fine, but like Cody said there are issues with cartridge shelf life.

    The ink cartridges in my dad's printer (which he rarely uses) just dried up.
    Dried up ink is why I got a color laser. Use it only for color work. My B&W laser does most of my printing.

    Howard Garner

  6. #6
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    we have a cannon mg5400 that we have been very happy with. We do not print often. The ink is fairly inexpensive on amazon from Blake printing supply and the printer uses a permanent print head. the ink is just a replaceable tank. we get ink about once a year, I just picked up 3 big black tanks and a 2x set of all the tanks black and color for about 25 bucks, should last us a couple years. Used for regular home stuff and craft projects. we probably average a few pages per week.

    between the 2 of us, we had quite a few hp printers, none of these lasted for years with no trouble like the cannon.

  7. #7
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    $180 for a color laser is a good price. It probably comes with with partially filled teaser cartridges, but should last a lifetime at 1-2 pages per week. Laser cartridges should not dry up like inkjet cartridges.

    You should also be able to find a color inkjet printer in the $30-50 price range that would work fine for an occasional print. Assume that you will need to buy cartridges every few years. It might still be cheaper overall.
    Steve

  8. #8
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    I see there is a Microcenter in NJ if you are cclose to it check out this one I have it and love it. I did get the open box one. I buy a lot of their open box units they have a very good return policy

    http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...r_Printer?ob=1

  9. #9
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    I paid $200 for my brand new in box Canon Pro 100 large format, 8-color photo printer, off craigslist. So you should be able to come up with a high quality standard color printer for something close to your $100 budget.
    "Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."

  10. #10
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    Ink-jet works just fine. Its the paper that makes a difference. I think Aldi's was selling an HP for $50 recently. Or you can have FedEx or Office Max print off the ones you really need.

  11. #11
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    At the house we have a HP inkjet color printer. Like everyone else here we've found the inkjets don't last like they should making the total cost of ownership high. Getting the cartridges refilled can help with the cost. Usually after 3 refills the cartridge gives up the ghost.

    After buying a new set of cartridges for the HP spending less than $200 for a color laser sounds cheap!

    -Tom

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    We have a Canon MG 7520 and like it. It's about 3 years old and trouble free with fairly light use. Amazon has it for $140. There's also a fairly through review on it at Amazon.

  13. #13
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    I have had inkjets and they dry up and have to replace heads.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jerome Stanek View Post
    I have had inkjets and they dry up and have to replace heads.
    We had the same problem and no longer use inkjets. When we need a color print. I go to one of the printing stores at 10 cents per copy your $100 will pay for 1,000 copies. Since color prints are rare, it is far cheaper than buying inkjet ink and print heads.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  15. #15
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    If you have a Fedex Office location nearby you might be able to print and pickup. Not sure who else offers that service. One of the problems with cheap printers is that the ink is often more than the printer and the initial cartridges are "starters" that have very little ink. Plus some of them install a bunch of crud on your computer, are difficult to get working on wireless, etc.


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