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billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2009-08-12, 21:40

Somehow both networked printers in my lab have become useless.

We have a Canon 4-in-1 inkjet which has held up remarkably well and which has suddenly developed an intense dislike of being plugged into seemingly any USB port, which is unfortunate since that is the only interface available. I suspect the printer has a virus obtained from improper thumb drive exchanges (for all their convenience, they pass viruses around worse than if they were a used needle).

Our color laser Lexmark sucked monkey balls from month 2 (month 1 was alright, and then we started to need to replace ink/photoconductors/waste ink trays). It recently developed a habit of staining the left side of printouts yellow, and in the process of fixing it, one of my labmates may have, perhaps, somewhat intentionally, aggressively destroyed the thing (he is a scot, they don't know any better). No tears were shed with its demise.

Now this leaves us in a unique position of having the ability to choose between purchasing two printers with similar/improved attributes or going with a single 4-in-one color laser...

Thoughts? Suggestions?
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Banana
is the next Chiquita
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2009-08-12, 21:43

My experience with All-in-One has been not so great so if space and cost isn't a major consideration, I would probably sooner get two dedicated printer that does their job well.

No specific recommendations, other than a general beware of the printers that can't do diddly doo with their inks. Some color printers eat all four inks. Some printers just shut down if one ink is out. Of course they never mention this "feature" in their glossy marketing brochure...
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Chris A
Formerly "Nurdley"
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Upper Manhattan
 
2009-08-12, 22:10

I am very pleased with my Kodak ESP-9 and one great thing about Kodak printers is that the ink costs far less than, say, HP. I think the low price is possible because the printhead is built into the printer rather than the cartridges,

I also have 2 HP ink jets and an HP color laser printer. The latter is insanely costly when it comes to ink, so it just sits there.
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RowdyScot
Ice Arrow Sniper
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Great Bay Temple
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2009-08-13, 02:53

Quote:
Originally Posted by billybobsky View Post
Somehow both networked printers in my lab have become useless.

We have a Canon 4-in-1 inkjet which has held up remarkably well and which has suddenly developed an intense dislike of being plugged into seemingly any USB port, which is unfortunate since that is the only interface available. I suspect the printer has a virus obtained from improper thumb drive exchanges (for all their convenience, they pass viruses around worse than if they were a used needle).

Our color laser Lexmark sucked monkey balls from month 2 (month 1 was alright, and then we started to need to replace ink/photoconductors/waste ink trays). It recently developed a habit of staining the left side of printouts yellow, and in the process of fixing it, one of my labmates may have, perhaps, somewhat intentionally, aggressively destroyed the thing (he is a scot, they don't know any better). No tears were shed with its demise.

Now this leaves us in a unique position of having the ability to choose between purchasing two printers with similar/improved attributes or going with a single 4-in-one color laser...

Thoughts? Suggestions?
What exactly do you mean by that?
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billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2009-08-13, 03:26

Edit: Oh... I see...

Well see, he is from Scotland and will at times break things just to see them fail because they angered him... This is common amongst the Scots I know -- from the Glaswegian troll who started shit with me in a nice bar to my labmate's wife...
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jcoley2
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Darien CT
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2009-08-13, 08:42

Quote:
Originally Posted by Banana View Post
My experience with All-in-One has been not so great so if space and cost isn't a major consideration, I would probably sooner get two dedicated printer that does their job well.
Generally I agree. My Brother really was very poorly constructed and I eventually threw it out. By my Canon MP830 has been excellent, albeit it eats up cartridges.
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billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2009-08-13, 11:42

It was actually an MP830 that bit the dust -- its too bad too, because it was awesome...

I think we are going to replace it with a more recent model from Canon...

As for workgroup color laser printers, anybody have ideas?

(hoping this made sense since I have been awake for over 24 hours)
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billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2009-08-13, 13:21

oops, just fixed the crappy laser printer... fuck didn't want to do that, just wanted to see how it should have been working.
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Dorian Gray
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Paris, France
 
2009-08-13, 15:25

Hey, not bad going for an egghead who's been awake for 26 hours, billybobsky!

Epson printers are notably absent from this thread. They're more or less the standard in the photography market. Probably do good stuff elsewhere? Epson as a company is a pretty good example of the best of Japanese business culture, too.

The Kodak series that Chris A mentioned intrigues me greatly...
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Iago
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Hmm?
 
2009-08-13, 16:17

Is it me or are all printers pretty much awful? Like, seriously bad devices. They still make horrible noises, they still get paper jams, they still inexplicably require drivers, you can never cancel the last thing in the print queue... I wish Apple would make another printer, and just nail it. Seriously, if someone advertised a printer that didn't make a noise like a trapped infant when it was turning on, I'd buy one right now.
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billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2009-08-19, 21:48

we went with a Canon MX860 and an HP C3525dn... thanks for the input...
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Yontsey
*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
 
2009-09-01, 07:16

Anyone have any experience with the HP Photosmart Plus Wireless All-in-One? It's a good price and I like the speed, wireless, photoprinting, scanning and copying feature.

Looking of some suggestions. Not really in the market for a printer as I already have a decent printer but have always wanted one of these multifunction printers.

Die young and save yourself....
@yontsey
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2009-09-01, 09:41

I'm a little late, but

Quote:
Originally Posted by Iago View Post
Is it me or are all printers pretty much awful? Like, seriously bad devices. They still make horrible noises, they still get paper jams, they still inexplicably require drivers, you can never cancel the last thing in the print queue... I wish Apple would make another printer, and just nail it. Seriously, if someone advertised a printer that didn't make a noise like a trapped infant when it was turning on, I'd buy one right now.
This. Is. So. True.

Every printer I have ever used - even big expensive laser ones at school - has felt A) cheap and B) fragile. Like looking at the paper tray the wrong way could snap it off.

An Apple printer (and Apple printer toner) would probably be redonkulously expensive, though.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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2009-09-01, 13:14

I doubt printers will improve much, there are just too many moving parts to make them quiet. It would be like demanding a quiet gas powered lawn mower.
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Satchmo
can't read sarcasm.
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Toronto, Canada
 
2009-09-01, 22:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yontsey View Post
Anyone have any experience with the HP Photosmart Plus Wireless All-in-One? It's a good price and I like the speed, wireless, photoprinting, scanning and copying feature.

Looking of some suggestions. Not really in the market for a printer as I already have a decent printer but have always wanted one of these multifunction printers.
That one looks good although it lacks a auto doc feed and no fax. I saw this one at an HP demo...it's huge, but was pretty quiet. Also had high capacity inks, but unlike lasers, if you don't use it, they can dry up
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2009-09-02, 12:52

Quote:
Originally Posted by PB PM View Post
I doubt printers will improve much, there are just too many moving parts to make them quiet. It would be like demanding a quiet gas powered lawn mower.
Well, they'll obviously never be silent, but I'm sure they could be made less cacophonous. And at the very least, they could be made to look nicer, feel sturdier, and be easier to use. Today's printers are just a mess, from set-up to printing to the inevitable moment when the paper tray comes off and you wonder if it was supposed to be removable and then you try and snap it back in but it never really fits right after that and it always creaks a bit under the weight of the paper and you cry.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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2009-09-02, 13:16

Thats why you get a laser printer with the built in top tray, nothing to bend, well other than the paper. In all honesty we've had the same HP deskjet printer since 1999, and it still works rather well. Its gone through a lot of ink, and printed thousands of pages, although it is showings its age.
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2009-09-02, 13:38

Quote:
Originally Posted by PB PM View Post
Thats why you get a laser printer with the built in top tray, nothing to bend, well other than the paper.
Oh, I swear by laser printers. Faster, lower cost per page, and (as you mentioned) slightly less flaky-feeling hardware. But unfortunately, I'm surrounded by family who are convinced they have to print in color, like, all the time (and a color laser printer is still far more expensive than the disposable $40 inkjets at Walmart). And guess who has to help them when they need to figure out what ink to buy, or when they have any sort of mechanical problem?

They all insist on having "photo printers." The thing is, none of them are photographers (and when they do print photos, they usually print them on regular printer paper, which makes me twitch). It's like people who insist on making a massive SUV their daily driver for the camping trip they go on once a year - they spend so much on gas that it would be cheaper just to rent an SUV when they "need" it! My entire extended family should switch their inkjets for low-cost lasers, and then use the money they save on ink to either A) pay for their occasional digital prints at a one-hour photo place (seriously, they're, like, thirty cents at Walgreens) or B) buy one of those tiny, ultra-simple Canon dye-sub printers (the only other kind of printer I can stand), which would be better quality than their inkjets and works out to only 27c/print (including photo paper!), from the comfort of home.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PB PM
In all honesty we've had the same HP deskjet printer since 1999, and it still works rather well. Its gone through a lot of ink, and printed thousands of pages, although it is showings its age.
Showing it's age? The rest of the world has had the same HP DeskJet since 1999, too! They're still selling them. No real advancements have been made; now they're just built more cheaply and the ink is more expensive.

Cheap inkjets are, quite literally, disposable; environmental cost aside, it's often cheaper to buy a new printer at Walmart than it is to buy ink for your existing one (as long as you make sure to buy one that comes with real ink cartridges, and not tiny "starter" ones). Almost every computer store (even Apple!) literally gives them away with a purchase. I'm waiting for the first brand to give away their printer without a purchase (perhaps with some sort of "ink subscription" to ensure that you don't take their free printer and then do what I just described). Maybe then I'll get a inkjet, for the full-size color page I need to print from home once a year. The rest of the time the ugly thing will sit in my closet, ink hardening on the heads, making me feel guilty for taking a waste-of-plastic inkjet just because it was given to me.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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Chinney
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2011-01-07, 20:35

Long-bump, but I did not want to start a new thread just for my comment and this thread is the most recent generalized printer discussion thread I found using the AN search function.

In any event, after having gone through three ink-jet printers over the past 10 or so years, and not being happy with any of them, I have finally found one that I like. I bought a Kodak (ESP-7250) a few months ago, and so far it has been great. High print quality, very reliable paper handling, high capacity paper tray, very reasonable ink usage, and very reasonable ink cartridge costs. None of my previous printers had any of those qualities. The only weakness of this particular printer is that it is a bit slow, but I am more than willing to put up with that to get the advantages.

There was a lot of griping in this thread - justified - about the poor quality and high usage costs of ink-jet printers. Maybe they are finally getting better. This model certainly is much better than anything I have previously owned.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
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thegeriatric
geri to my friends
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Heaven
 
2011-01-07, 20:49

Would love to try a Kodak, But they are not available where i am.
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