The Quest for the Ultimate Home Office Printer

[Brett_Tabke]

I rarely print documents anymore. Most of the time I'm doing photos off the digital camera or printing out some receipt from a web purchase.

Currently I have a pair of hp 712's that work good. I've been an HP guy since my first DeskJet 500 in 87(?). I won't do Epsons (I've had Epson laser, dotmatrix, and inkjet printer failures) and I'm not all that fond of Canons.

What's your best recommendation for a solid home office printer?

I'm leaning towards one of the better HP all-in-ones, but also looking a possible Lexmark. The thing I don't like about any of these is the monopoly priced slaveware ink cartridges.

[Nick_W]

Canon S630 -- Never had a days trouble and prints nicely...

Nick

[Mardi_Gras]

I agree with you on the HP quality. We just bought an HP D135 at home to replace an old 722 (the rubber teeth on the gear belt gave out).

Nice flatbed scanner, stunning print quality, and a sheet feeder for the fax (unusual with flatbed models).

The newer version of that printer - the D145 - includes slots to accept removable media directly.

The only weird thing is that pages to be faxed go in to the sheet feeder face up - I keep faxing the wrong sides (blank paper, usually) ;)

[Eric_Jarvis]

I'm the opposite of Brett...I've had two Epson printers at home and hardly lost a page in a decade...I've had Hewlett Packard at work and it's been nothing but hassle for several years

[Brett_Tabke]

Obviously me and Lorax have the same thing on our christmas list. Lets continue over there:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[digitalghost]

I'm using an HP 750xi. I won't use anything but HP. I sold Epson, Canon's, Okidata, etc. Not sure if Epson and Canon still use the built-in print head, but I know that HP's print head is in the cartridge, the ink doesn't dry up and the quality never diminishes. When you replace the ink cartridge, you replace the print head.

I was party to the DPI wars, and it was BS. At the time, color DPI was the issue, and many manufacturers claimed the quality of the image was a direct result of DPI, better DPI, better color. Simply isn't so. :) The very first HP photo printer blew the competition away, still does for photo prints.

PhotoREt and ColorREt are the ticket. :)

[Brett_Tabke]

That's exactly the problem I had with the Epson ink jets I had DG. The head would clog up and you'd start to miss pixels. This HP I got has remained just as good as the day it was new.

I was just looking at a D145 today Mardi_Gras. I wonder if the quality is that much better than the lower end 750? I know the 750 doesn't have the fax on it, but it is also less than one third the price (down to $135 now). I wonder if it's worth that much more? The price difference could buy quite a few ink cartridges (and a stand alone fax machine to boot).

[Bradley]

Digitalghost: Epson still uses the built-in heads. When you buy new cartridges, you're only buying ink. With Epson, if the heads go bad - buy a new printer.

[digitalghost]

Thanks Bradley. I'll stick with HP. Always loved their no-hassle return policy as well.

[Bradley]

Here's a home grown trick I learned with HP. If your cartridge is clogged, stick the print head in about 1/10th inch of hot water. That seems to "loosen" things up to get the juices running again :) You also might want to consider grabbing a Q-Tip, wet it, then clean the head.... I've done that several times to get the cartridge to work after several months of non-usage. Just a tip...........

[Mardi_Gras]

wonder if the quality is that much better than the lower end 750?

I did not compare the two, Brett, but that is a pretty significant diference in price. Wonder if they use the same cartridge/head design? If so, I would guess quality is probably similar.

Office Depot has a no-questions-asked return policy; Office Max may offer the same. Try the less expensive model and see if it meets your needs.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[Brett_Tabke]

I just read the paper - today is the big Chrismas Advertising edition. Staples has a special on the hp950 for $150 in the morning. That settles that.

[Brett_Tabke]

Got the 950 and so far so good. I was po'd because I swear the HP website says it was a parallel connection. In the rush of the crowd at Staples sat morning, I didn't read the box. So of course, I was back that afternoon to get a usb cable. Is it just me, or is all this usb stuff over blown?

The print quality on the 950 is excellent - you could print money. I did some duplicate side by side tests with one of my old 712's and I was impressed how much better the quality was. Photo's are just a tad crisper and defined. It really shined when I scanned a 70year old faded black and white photo. I retouched it a bit and printed it - it was outstanding - better than the original.

[mivox]

I didn't read the box. So of course, I was back that afternoon to get a usb cable. Is it just me, or is all this usb stuff over blown?

I remember back in the day, when peripherals were sold with the required cables to use them. Would printer manufacturers really go out of business from the extra expense of throwing a USB/Firewire/parallel/SCSI or whatever cable in the box with the printer?

(My Epson can use either USB or parallel, but didn't come with either cable... and yes, I eneded up having to make a second hour-long round trip drive to the store to get a USB cable.)

[lorax]

I remember back in the day, when peripherals were sold with the required cables to use them.

Yea, I remember this too - heck they had to supply them because computer stores were few and far between.

Brett, I ordered the Canon S900. I have an Epson Stylus 400 which has worked reasonably well as a home office printer. Print quality has been an issue but then I never really needed something of high quality until now anyhow.

The S900 will be used primarily as our family photo printer. It was a toss up between this and the Olympus P400 (dye sublimation). I opted to go cheaper for the first round and give the Canon a few months testing.

[DaveN]

oops just seem this thread,

brett the 950 uses the HP C6578DE\No78 colour cartridges as standard it's a tricolour 19ml which equates to only 6.33ml per colour an your baby drinks the stuff.

the other option is the HP C6578AE\No78 which has 38ml but twice the twice.

Trying not to get into trouble but it's a almost a crime what HP are doing in the consumables market place, when buying HP consumables ways check what they are filled to the No78 has a max cap of 45ml. and they ship it with THREE different amounts. WHY?

DaveN

[Jon_King]

In our graphics design company we do much inkjet printing. We mostly print sheets 11" x 17" full color, full coverage and eat up a ton of ink. The cost of HP cartridges is just out of sight. It did cost $80.00 to replace both the color and B&W cartridges. It is not uncommon for us to use more than one a week per printer.

We have recently started using the widely available recycled cartridges with great results. These cost us about $25 to replace both. I suggest checking them out. Stickymail me if you want my source.