Need a new Printer

[ShadowDragon]

My wife is almost done with school, yay , and with this were learning how much printing she's really going to need to do. So what I need is a printer that will do us good. If I had to chose what in and in what order I would.


COST
INK USAGE
QUALITY
SPEED


Cost: I don't want to buy a laser printer but agood ink jet is a thought.
Ink Usage: With the amount of printing she does now she kills me on ink.
Quality: Gotta look good for class work and well to be honest doesn't hurt in the real world either.
Speed: I don't want it to take 10hrs to print but obiviously I want this factor to be my least worried about one.

Thanks for your input and suggestions. FYI would be nice if it was compat with 2k3 server

[TechZ]

How about an MFD; HP's range is pretty good, and if its gotta do alot of printing, just get a mono laser, plenty of prints till new toner, and prices are really low now.

[ShadowDragon]

How about an MFD; HP's range is pretty good, and if its gotta do alot of printing, just get a mono laser, plenty of prints till new toner, and prices are really low now.

So make a couple of specific suggestions

[Outcoded]

I had a bottom of the range Samsung laser while I was at University, it served me well, and no inkjet can beat it in text output. It died after over 3 years and a LOT of pages. I just replaced it with a new bottom of the range Samsung laser, which you can pick up for £50 over here. A full-life cartridge costs about what the printer does (it ships with a half-full one), but it has an integrated drum, so that's not that expensive anyway, and they last a long time.

Modern printers aren't that reliable, and are pretty much impossible to get repaired economically, so just get the cheapest and throw it away when it breaks (and that's speaking as someone who mends printers).

For colour output, I have a Canon i250, who make, IMO, the best inkjets. The carts aren't very big, but 3rd party replacements cost £2 each over here. The printer itself only cost £40, gives a good output, and actually does a single page of text as fast as the laser.

[Skywalker93]

I'm sure you can find them cheaper, but even here, Staples has a low-end HP laser printer for just under $200 (HP LaserJet 1012). You can find your Minoltas and Brother's for $150-170 (low end)...

I prefer HP myself. Quality and fairly well priced.

[ShadowDragon]

Cost wise for laser printers. I know you have to buy toner, drums, ect. If it has to be serviced it could get expensive. SO the question comes to mind is it still gonna cost less for us to get a low cost laser. Yes pennies a page but repair, supplies are much more than inkjet??

More research time

[TechZ]

Arent there lasers now that require change of internal parts alot less and fewer parts need to be changed, TCO is much less, its a fact.

I use the very basic PSC1110, simple, cheap and does print,scan,copy, very basic indeed. GO for something higher up the range.