Printer recommendations? (multi-purpose)

[dh003i]

My HP OfficeJet K60xi just bit the dust, after 9 years of faithful service since 2001. I have to say, although it had a few quirks like copying B&W documents with a slight blue tinge (trying to make more money on ink cartridges?), I'm really impressed. It also worked excellently with Linux.

So, I now have to buy another printer. I'm basically restricting the choices to HP, as they have the best Linux printer support by a significant margin (although I think Epson has a lot of supported printers too), but also because I have to say, in retrospect, I'm very happy with how well my old printer did. Although I have to say I'm unhappy with HP's planned obsolescence regarding ink-cartridges, where some of them have a chip that prevents them from working after 2 years.

So I'm basically considering the HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One Printer series (wired or wireless, I'm not sure) and the HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-one C309 series. The advantage of the OfficeJet is a lower cost-per-page (I calculate 1.64 cents/page) compared to the Photosmart (3.95 cents/page, assuming normal black ink). The advantage of the Photosmart is that it has higher print quality and can also print to printable CD's or DVD's.

Thoughts? Has anyone used either of these?

Also, re print dpi resolutions & quality, I'm skeptical, due to over-stated claims by manufacturers of consumer scanner devices. Is it the same with printers?

[PenGun]

My HP OfficeJet K60xi just bit the dust, after 9 years of faithful service since 2001. I have to say, although it had a few quirks like copying B&W documents with a slight blue tinge (trying to make more money on ink cartridges?), I'm really impressed. It also worked excellently with Linux.

So, I now have to buy another printer. I'm basically restricting the choices to HP, as they have the best Linux printer support by a significant margin (although I think Epson has a lot of supported printers too), but also because I have to say, in retrospect, I'm very happy with how well my old printer did. Although I have to say I'm unhappy with HP's planned obsolescence regarding ink-cartridges, where some of them have a chip that prevents them from working after 2 years.

So I'm basically considering the HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One Printer series (wired or wireless, I'm not sure) and the HP Photosmart Premium Fax All-in-one C309 series. The advantage of the OfficeJet is a lower cost-per-page (I calculate 1.64 cents/page) compared to the Photosmart (3.95 cents/page, assuming normal black ink). The advantage of the Photosmart is that it has higher print quality and can also print to printable CD's or DVD's.

Thoughts? Has anyone used either of these?

Also, re print dpi resolutions & quality, I'm skeptical, due to over-stated claims by manufacturers of consumer scanner devices. Is it the same with printers?

All in one is always junk. What are you planning on printing with this ... thing? Documents should be fine, I would not want to print photos but then I am spoiled. My Epson 3800 is a joy to use and prints amazing prints. I use windows to run QTR though.

[Paul O]

Took delivery of an Epson 3800 last week - my first "proper" printer!
Results ... still completely gobsmacked! Fantastic!!

[dh003i]

Well, the printer it was replacing was an OfficeJet K60xi, not a photo-printer. I am planning on spending about $200 or less, so it is mainly for documents and maybe some photos, but not photos for exhibitions or anything. I also like the CD-printing feature. I am mainly printing text.

At that price-range, I doubt the print-only printers will produce much better quality.

The main thing is I need a multi-function device that includes fax. I was initially thinking about just a few used LaserJet multi-function printers, as I thought they have a lower total cost of ownership (accounting for the cost of cartridges). However, some calculations told me that this wasn't true when comparing to the OfficeJet 8500.

It might not even be true when compared to the PhotoSmart one, if I buy the ink-refill things.

[dh003i]

Now PenGun's response has me thinking maybe I can forgo the fax-feature, thus just get a dedicated printer. HP Photosmart 8550 or HP Photosmart "Pro" 8850. These are both sub-$400 printers (around $240 or less on eBay). The dpi ratings on these things are bit confusing, as both of them show lower dpi ratings (1200x1200 and 4800 "optimized" x 1200) than the Photosmart all-in-one c305a ("9600x2400 optimized"). Is his marketing mumbo-jumbo, as with the scanners?

[Aahx]

Having worked with Color Laserjet 8500 & 9500 as well as a Photosmart 9180 for several years. I would recomend you go Laserjet for simply reliablity and lower total mantenance. The Photosmart 9180 made excellent prints when it worked. But after about a year it starts to die, and bleed ink over parts of the printer. Now I have to clean it on a weekly basis and not print volume or it starts to move the paper around while it is printing (thus ending up with interesting but unusual results). Mind you the laserjets occasionaly need maintenance (drum replacement now and then), but I have found to be much more reliable and consistant. And I print volume on both (20k+ prints a year). If you you need a photo printer I would not go with either. But for consistant documents, and basic imaging the 8500 will work fine and give you much less headaches. Oh.. also the 8500 software for windows at least is much cleaner to operate than the photosmart one.

[dh003i]

I just went with the HP B8550 wider-format printer and a separate fax machine. If problems start to occur with the printer, I have a 3-year extended warranty from HP with 24x7 service and next-business day replacement if they can't fix the problem on the spot.

I got the printer for $140 and the 3-year extended warranty plan for $80, so I figure that's a decent enough deal.

[jp]

We have a brother multifunction color laser at work, ordered with a postscript emulation option. Works great with linux. Mac uses cups now, linux drivers based on cups are pretty easy for printer makers.

At home, I stick with a HP postscript B&W laserjet, and a canon selphy photo printer; no multifunction here.

Postscript is key, and you can get any printer working very easily.