Best mutifuction printer for $130 of less?

[smooth3d]

Hi.

I'm buying multifuction printer and was thinking about the lexmark 1150 for $89 dollers at wal mart. I was giong to get the lexmark 5150 but I heard its photo and scanning wasn't that good.

Wal mart also has the hp PSC1210 for 99 dollers. It has a little smaller footprint and can copy with the pc off but that not a big deal to me plus it color dosn't match my pc( my pc is black and gray). Plus I had a hp before I wasn't to happy with it.

So which is better or do you recommend another mfp and please give reason's why you like the mfp you recommend. Thanks

 

[smitbret]

My brother grabbed that Lexmark at Officemax about two months ago. I was actually quite impressed with the printout quality. Scanner quality is going to be average. I think what you'll scarifice is speed. The downside was the price of the replacement cartrdiges. They're not that big and you're looking at around $35 to replace 'em. Even the non-OEMs are around $20. In general, though, he's happy with what it does for him (college).
-Brett

 

[M39shadow]

The real question is what are you going to do with that multifunction and what do you want it to do in the future. How much do you print? How much do you expect to print a year from now. Are you going to be doing pictures? Do you want a digital camera. You may actually be ahead to spend a bit more money but thats your call. The cheaper printers aren't designed to last as long as the more expensive ones and don't have many features.

The cost of ownership is higher on the Lexmark. It uses more ink. You may wanna check some of the web sites for reviews and comparisons as well. Toms here did a fairly good comparison:
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20030520/index.html

P.S. If you decide to buy the HP, you won't have too much trouble installing it (it uses the same software as the PSC 2210 that I have) if you remember this:

Get all the updates from Windows Update:
It uses the latest version of Microsoft Installer. This comes in Windows XP so you don't need to worry on an XP machine but Windows 2000 you need Service Pack 3 or newer. For Windows Me and 98 you need to go to the microsoft web site and install the latest version. Just search their download site for MSI installer.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by m39shadow on 08/19/03 10:56 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[smooth3d]

I went ahead and bought the Lexmark x1150. I'm very impressed with it. It prints very good and scans well and does pictures well. I print very little so I didnt need a very exp. printer. I paid 89 dollers for it at Wal-Mart. And I plan on using third party carts they cost around 20 for color and 15 for black.