Trying to find a printer for me...

[JokerFMJ2]

Hey, all. I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about printers so I was hoping ya'll could help me out. I'm looking to find a printer to fit my needs.

I mostly use the printer for CD labels that use quite a bit of color. Currently I have a HP DeskJet 3600 - it does it's job, but it runs out of ink too quickly.

I also print out photos. I'm not sure if photo-printers are only to be used as photo-printers or if they can be used as heavy use printers (I print about 100 CD Labels a week and about 150 other sheets of paper along with that).

I'd like to get a printer that has a seperate cartridge for each color (i'm sure i've seen them before).

If anyone could either inform me about printers, suggest a few nice printers, or point me to somewhere I could read up on the differences in printers, i'd be much obliged.

My budget is around $100-$350... So anywhere around there would be good.

Thanks.

 

[Osage]

To JokerFMJ2,

Probably the printer with the best cd printing support are Epsons. The curse of the Epsons are frequent head clogging.---or so many users complain. But cheap prefilled cartridges are vailable for them and others use refilling.

The best printers for economy are the non-chipped Canons---where consumable costs can get very low by either refilling or by using widely available third party prefilled cartridges. And Canons are very reliable, have user serviceable printheads that almost never clog anyway, which is why I have one Canon for my self and another for my wife. The top of the line Canon printers are dedicated photoprinters using up to eight seperate colors, and lack the large BCI-3eblk text cartridge--making them poor choices for any user wanting a general purpose printer.---and out of your stated price range anyway. The models you would probably want are the ip3000, ip4000, or the ip5000 which do a great job as a general purpose printer and a very good job as a photoprinter.-----but now days, all printers bill themselves as photoprinters.

Eureopean canons often have built in factory cd printing---US canons do not---but two forums have extensive threads on how to do it yourself enable that on various US canon models. Those forums are "Steves digicams" and the "nifty stuff forums"---just google the name without the quotes. The basic skinny is that most of the guts are there on US Canons but Canon USA was too cheap to pay a royality to Phillips so a few parts were left off.

The other curse is that the models I mentioned--all within your price range---are last years models--and are getting hard to find--try ebay..
Canons chipped sucessors--the ip4200 and 5200 make refilling more difficult and make using prefilled bulk cartridge use impossible--at least until a way is found around the chip. So it becomes a if and when question.
But using OEM vs. OEM cartridge comparisons on the Canons I mention should print about twice as economically as your HP--very good prefilled cartridges can reduce that by a factor of 7x and refilling by up to 15x on a Canon. A HP comparison gets you a cost reduction of only 2x using refilled cartridges and much more complex refilling in a HP.

Hope that answers some of yout questions.---but another option ---and almost the only retail option---is a Canon MP780---now at FRy' electronic for $180 after rebates. Which uses the non-chipped ip4000 printer engine and cartridge line and adds a decent flat bed scanner and fax to the mix.

 

[JokerFMJ2]

Osage,

What are "prefilled cartridges?" I know OEM cartridges are obviously cartridges made by Canon or Epson or whatever company makes the printer you own. And I know that refilling cartridges means that you by ink and fill up the cartridge well yourself. I'm not sure I know what a prefilled cartridge is, though, can you explain?

Thanks.

...very good prefilled cartridges can reduce that by a factor of 7x and refilling by up to 15x on a Canon.

 

[Osage]

To JokerFMJ2,

Especially with Canon printers there are large numbers of non-0EM carridge vendors who advertise mainly in the internet and usually sell by mail order. They vend cartridges that fit in Canon printers, come prefilled with a Non-OEM ink, and you use such cartridges just like you would a Canon OEM cartridge. Just put them in and print.

Unlike cartridges with the printhead on the cartridge itself, where the refiller must use a preused OEM blank, these cartridges are brand new.

The other huge difference is the price---the vendor I use charges $1.39 per BCI-6 vs. $12.00 for a Canon OEM. And not much more for the large text black. Many such vendors can be found on ebay, or the internet, or in various other advertising nedia. The quality of such vendors can vary widely with price seldom being a good predictor--which is why I always recommend these vendors be checked out on various printer forums like the nifty stuff forums.