Best home office printer (Page 2): I’ve been using the same HP All-in-1 printer for 8 years now. Have printed Probably ten thousand pages and at least 1,000+ photos over the years.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Al Beatty wrote:

I'll second the suggestion of the Epson ET-4550 bulk tank printer. A pint of each ink color is about $15.00 (give or take) so it is much less expensive to run than those printers with the plastic ink cartridges. Take care & ...

I’ve been using the same HP All-in-1 printer for 8 years now. Have printed Probably ten thousand pages and at least 1,000+ photos over the years. I’ve had to change print heads twice, for about $32 each. But ink is expensive.

It’s only a matter of time before it dies, so I’m on the lookout for a replacement. Does the Epson you mention above produce high quality photos? Could be my next printer. Thanks.

bobbyjohn Loc: Dallas, TX

John Howard wrote:

My home office printer died and I need to replace it. I have not in the past printed many photos. But if I were to in the future, which would be the best printer to purchase. I would not be looking to print very large.

I, like you, have not printed many photos.

I have a black & white HP laser printer...intentionally! In the past, I had a color printer, but found over the years, that the expense of printing one's own photos...such as color ink per photo, and the color stock paper which is much heavier and somewhat glossy... was even higher than taking it to a photo print service.

So, many years ago, I decided to get a good laser printer in Black & White only....and when and if I wanted a photo color on paper, I would take the jpg to such as Walmart, Costco, or any other like service. The expense is less, and the resulting image is typically better than printing it at home. Plus, if for some reason you didn't like the resulting image, they would typically re-do without charge.

Do the math....check the cost per image of doing it at home vs. a color print service.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

I have a Canon Pixma Pro-100. The prints are true to what I see onscreen and it prints even after letting it sit for awhile. Inks are a tad bit expensive but there are good off-brand inks available. It is worth it to me for convenience.
I use an HP Deskjet printer for documents, though - faster output and cheaper prints.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Epsom 7700. Needs time to set up properly but capable of stunning results. This is a 5 ink tank model and I got mine for a substansial discount at the Photo show last year so it's 18 months old. I'm approx. 1/3 through a set of bottles - and got two sets included. But like you, I don't print to many photo's.

Amadeus Loc: New York

Get an MX series Canon. I have an MX922. Makes photo quality prints up to 8X10 and get your ink from 3rd party sellers like LD Products for 1/3 the cost of OEM. That wasn't an order by the way :) , just my preference. You will get many opinions on this subject here.

grichie5

Ratskinner wrote:

Canon. Then buy ink from Amazon. Back up all photos on which ever device you chose. I will not try to
convince anyone that my choices are better than theirs but they are for me for over 20 years. Good luck
with what ever you select.

Which ink do you buy from Amazon?

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

John Howard wrote:

My home office printer died and I need to replace it. I have not in the past printed many photos. But if I were to in the future, which would be the best printer to purchase. I would not be looking to print very large.

Just realize the best photo printer at any given point may not also be the best home office printer. If your focus in on the best photos you may have to compromise on things like printer speed, cost of ink, number of pages per month and other features that one would be looking for in a good home office printer.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

bobbyjohn wrote:

I, like you, have not printed many photos. br br ... (show quote)

Laser printers in general, whether they are B&W or color have never been the best choice for printing high quality photographs. I got rid of my B&W HP laser jet close to 15 years ago. I currently use an HP OfficeJet Pro 8725. Its output is so good that its difficult to tell the difference in sharpness between it and a Laserjet even with a magnifying glass, and the difference in color between it and a color LaserJet is nothing short of amazing. Nothing wrong with a B&W Laserjet if you don't have a need to print any documents in color. Even though I'm very happy with my Officejet, I certainly wouldn't use it as a dedicated photo printer.

tnleafer

I recommend and use 2 printers, the Canon Pixma Pro-100 for photographs, the quality is excellent, and handles a wide range of papers. So far I've had 3 trouble free years
I have never had a clog, and it doesn't waste ink constantly cleaning itself.
The Epson ET-4550 bulk tank printer is a real ink sipper for business printing, I haven't replaced the ink in 2 years and print over 10,000 pages a year. Just dont move this printer when it has ink in it as the tanks can spill.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

tnleafer wrote:

I recommend and use 2 printers, the Canon Pixma Pro-100 for photographs, the quality is excellent, and handles a wide range of papers. So far I've had 3 trouble free years
I have never had a clog, and it doesn't waste ink constantly cleaning itself.
The Epson ET-4550 bulk tank printer is a real ink sipper for business printing, I haven't replaced the ink in 2 years and print over 10,000 pages a year. Just dont move this printer when it has ink in it as the tanks can spill.

Exactly. Two completely different uses require two different printers each optimized for its intended purpose. Anything else and you would be compromising either photo quality or home office utility.

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

augment your photo printer with a laserjet.
Your business correspondence will look much more professional.
And save you a lot of ink.
I have an old HP LJ II. Never fails.

BebuLamar

Personally I would use an office printer which is a laser. It can be color or just black depending on your need. Then a separate inkjet printer just for photo. For general office use the inkjet printer is expensive to use and often not delivering the quality that a laser printer can especially plain black text.

10MPlayer Loc: California

I had one of the Epson all in one machines and it served me well. I bought a Canon 3620 series and it's a nice printer/scanner but it lacks the automatic sheet feeder. Lack of a scanner makes it a lot harder to scan multi-page documents to file. I use a Canon 100 printer for photos and it does a very nice job.