BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

My Canon MP210 just died. I have checked "Search" and did not find much to answer the specific concerns about criteria. Could someone make a rocommendation based on the following needs:

List has been edited since first post!

1. Primary use is text printing.
2. Need good copy capabilities.
3. Need good scan cacabilities.
4. Minimum paper size 8½ X 11; up to 13 X 19 acceptable.
5. Number in ink cartridges unimportant; optimum cost efficiency.
6. Budget $200 or less (don't want a cheap piece of junk, but don't want to get a loan either.)
7. Compatible with MacBook Pro.
8. Color and B/W photo print quality need not be professional, but would still like to be able to print acceptable (good+) prints.
9. Low volume (<10 pages per day; usually far less).
10. Local (big city) pick-up; prefer to avoid shipping.
11. [ADDED] Print/negative/slide scanning if possible and practical

NON-Critical features (can be poor or not required):
A. Speed.
B. Double sided printing
C. Fax

I would appreciate any suggestions; thank you.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Look at Epson Workforce all-in-one I have the 85 0excellent

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

Staples has the HP Officejet 8620 for $199.99. It doesn't offer negative/slide scanning but, photo scanning is good. The setup is wireless so it should be Mac compatible as long as you have WiFi.

Carl D Loc: Albemarle, NC.

I've had an Hp officejet Pro 8600 for years and it's always been an excellent printer for both Mac and Windows based computing, plus it's not a ink hog either.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right! Much lower ink cost, but supposedly not great for photo printing.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Read reviews and comparisons done by people who do this all the time.

http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=best%20all-in-one%20printers

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Some of your requirements are mutually exclusive...

If you want printing, scanning, copying (and possibly faxing) all-in-one, that rules out a lot of other things.

AFAIK, there are no truly photo quality or particularly cost efficient all-in-one printers. AFAIK, there also are none that offer any larger than 8.5" width (i.e., no 13x19 capable).

Good photo quality requires at least six ink colors: black, cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta and yellow typically. Every All-in-one printer I'm aware of use only 4 colors: black, cyan, magenta and yellow. Actually, among all-in-one printers the Canon MP210 is rated as one of the best for photo printing, so you should expect lower quality photo prints out of most other ones.

Best photo quality... and most especially B&W capability... often requires 8 or more inks. Quality B&W requires an additional one or two gray cartridges and may need different black for matte paper vs glossy (some require you to manually swap it out and that wastes a lot of ink).

Most all-in-ones use a single cartridge with three colors, and a second cartridge for black. Besides not being all that great for photos, over the long run this is also the least cost-efficient because any time one of the colors runs out you end up throwing away and wasting some of the other two colors when you replace the cartridge. Individual ink tanks will usually cost more to buy, but also usually hold a whole lot more ink and don't lead to so much waste, so actually end up costing less when compared on a per page basis. (There are web sites that compare these costs.)

You rank it as less important to be able to scan prints/slides/negatives... and it's good that's not too important to you... Because most all-in-ones just aren't good enough scanning to do what's needed for those purposes. In fact, slides and negs are still best done with a quality dedicated film scanner, though some higher end flat bed scanners are nearly as good (and might be fine for medium and large format film, in particular). You might be able to get adequate print scanning with an all-in-one, if your expectations aren't too high.

Personally I also wouldn't want an all-in-one because there's a lot more complexity to break down... And when any of the individual features fails it means replacing it all.

And, I wouldn't worry too much about buying locally... Often you can get free shipping on things these days, so it doesn't really matter. In fact, depending upon where you are, you might save on sales tax buying online.

Shop around both online and locally... there are often deals on printers. I just bought a Canon Pro-100 (13" wide, 8-color inkjet only... certainly not an all-in-one) for "less than free", including free shipping. I bought it in a bundle with a camera I was planning to buy anyway. Between an instant rebate and a mail-in rebate, the camera/printer/paper bundle cost me 40% less than the current "street price" for the three items bought separately (around 50% off their "MSRP list price" ). While this particular combo offer has expired (and might not have applied to you anyway), there's often another really good deal right around the corner. Printer manufacturers are always offering deals to get you to switch to their brand, knowing they'll make up the difference later selling you inks and paper consumables.

I wasn't planning to buy a 13" wide inkjet because I really only needed to replace an old, worn out 8.5", 6-color that I use for rapid proofs, thumbnail catalogs and assorted office work. But the price of the 13" wide (which is much bigger and heavier) after all the discounts, plus its bigger ink tanks that will make for equal or lower cost-efficiency over the long run, made more sense than buying a "less capable" printer.

Any printer can do double side printing, if you don't mind flipping the paper over yourself. You'd have to spend a lot to get one that does it automatically... and that auto paper feeder/flipper is yet another thing to jam or break down and require replacement.

Most printers are both Mac and PC capable.

Personally I also could care less about wireless connectivity. Wired is typically faster and more reliable.... and no big deal.

Kuzano

That's the perfect list to argue for a low cost laser printer. I purchase a $130 Dell 1160w which has toner cartridges that cost me $16.00 on eBay (1 week)

When I want color, I go to Fred Meyer... cheaper per print than inkjet anyway, on any day.

One cartridge, No Ink Mess, Dry process. Under a penny per page, vs 8 cents + for ink on paper.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Thanks to those who responded. I ended buying an inexpensive Epson five cartridge MFP because it was on sale. I also bought some extra ink. The printer will do what I need at home, and I can send larger jobs out. No, the photo images are not the best, but they will give me enough quality to determine whether to have my infrequent prints reprinted professionally. I have also acquired a highly accurate scale and intend to begin some experiments with several printers in my residential facility regarding percentage of ink usage.

I have my eye on an eight cartridge wide format MFP that I will probably buy later this year, after I make some changes in my living room layout and have the room for the monster.

Thanks again.