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Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 2nd 10, 05:29 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
John Brock
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Posts: 8
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac
for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by
Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations
for a new printer.

We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or
multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above
all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges
by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good
OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under
$200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria,
what would be the best choice?
--
John Brock


  #2  
Old January 2nd 10, 05:34 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
TaliesinSoft
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Posts: 3
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 22:29:02 -0600, John Brock wrote (in article
):

My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac for
Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by Snow Leopard
-- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations for a new printer.

We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or
multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above all.
We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges by herself!
Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good OS X support, and
not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under $200 certainly, and
under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria, what would be the best
choice?


I have two Canon MP-470 printers and they have performed flawlessly for
several years. I believe Canon now markets what is essentially an
updated/improved version. The MP-470 is a combination printer, scanner, and
copier. It uses two easily replaced ink cartridges, one black and one color.
The printer can be purchased for around $100. I'm using Snow Leopard without
anyl printer problems.



--
James Leo Ryan --- Austin, Texas ---

  #3  
Old January 2nd 10, 05:50 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

In article , John Brock
wrote:

My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac
for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by
Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations
for a new printer.

We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or
multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above
all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges
by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good
OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under
$200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria,
what would be the best choice?


pretty much any printer you'll find in a store is fine, however, the
ink will be expensive no matter what you get. that's how they make
money. you can sometimes buy a replacement printer with ink for *less*
than just buying ink for an existing printer. also, stay away from
cheap generic knock off inks since they tend to clog.
  #4  
Old January 2nd 10, 06:03 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
John McWilliams
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Posts: 126
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

TaliesinSoft wrote:
On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 22:29:02 -0600, John Brock wrote (in article
):

My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac for
Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by Snow Leopard
-- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations for a new printer.

We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or
multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above all.
We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges by herself!
Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good OS X support, and
not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under $200 certainly, and
under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria, what would be the best
choice?


I have two Canon MP-470 printers and they have performed flawlessly for
several years. I believe Canon now markets what is essentially an
updated/improved version. The MP-470 is a combination printer, scanner, and
copier. It uses two easily replaced ink cartridges, one black and one color.
The printer can be purchased for around $100. I'm using Snow Leopard without
anyl printer problems.



.....But that's Multi function, which I'd also avoid for my Mom were I
getting one for her.

Pretty much Epson or Canon in my experience, but printer models change
so rapidly I don't know what to suggest for a specific model, esp how
easy it is or isn't to change carts.

My Mac store stopped putting printers out for a while now, but Office
Max/Depot usually has a shelf or two of them. There you could see for
yourself the access process.

==
--
john mcwilliams
  #5  
Old January 2nd 10, 06:23 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
David[_20_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

In article ,
(John Brock) wrote:

My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac
for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by
Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations
for a new printer.

We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or
multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above
all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges
by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good
OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under
$200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria,
what would be the best choice?


Any of the HP or Canons in basic form should do the trick - certainly
avoid Epson (even though they do print nicely) as she will be forever
cleaning heads.

With HP (I have had 4 of them over the past 15 years) they just sit
there until you want to print, then they print. No trouble no fuss.

Re cost of ink - generally the cheaper printers tend to be harder on ink
than the more expensive units, but that is not such a problem unless you
(or her) are going to do a lot of printing.

One big advantage of the HP and Canon is that cartridges are available
at most department stores and at post offices.

Cheers

David
  #6  
Old January 2nd 10, 07:30 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 160
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

In article , David
wrote:

Any of the HP or Canons in basic form should do the trick - certainly
avoid Epson (even though they do print nicely) as she will be forever
cleaning heads.


they don't clog in normal use.

With HP (I have had 4 of them over the past 15 years) they just sit
there until you want to print, then they print. No trouble no fuss.


i know someone with an hp printer that is bit of fuss, especially the
curved paper path which doesn't work so well with thicker stock.

One big advantage of the HP and Canon is that cartridges are available
at most department stores and at post offices.


same for epson and even lexmark. what kind of post office sells printer
ink??
  #8  
Old January 2nd 10, 10:25 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
Salmon Egg
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

In article ,
(John Brock) wrote:

My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac
for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by
Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations
for a new printer.

We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or
multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above
all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges
by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good
OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under
$200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria,
what would be the best choice?
--


When I saw this post, I expected to se a large variety of answers. There
were fewer than I expected.

After fiddling around with ink jets, I decided never to buy one again. I
would get a black and white laser printer. I have a Brother DCP 1000
that is used primarily for copying. One full cartridge will probably
last through 10 reams of paper without the clogs from ink. A cartridge
costs about $30.

I am not pushing Brother. There probably are other brands that do just
as well.

What would your mother be able to do when a paper jam occurs? Can she
load paper and things like that?

Bill

--
An old man would be better off never having been born.
  #9  
Old January 2nd 10, 10:58 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
Andy Hewitt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

John Brock wrote:

My siblings and I bought our 80-some year old mother a new iMac
for Christmas, and her Epson Stylus Color 740 -- unsupported by
Snow Leopard -- is now junk. So we'd like to hear recommendations
for a new printer.

We're not interested in speed or ultra-high quality photos or
multi-function; we're looking for robustness and simplicity above
all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges
by herself! Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good
OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink). Under
$200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria,
what would be the best choice?


I think without doubt I'd go for the Canon Pixma range. They are 'photo'
printers, and maybe cost a little more than the average, but I've had
two now, and very happy with them (currently using an iP4500).

They also have some features you'll probably never use (Duplex and CD
printing for example, although Duplex can be handier than you think).
However, they are also quite robust in construction, and these use 5
cartridges (CMYK for photo, and larger capacity 'cheaper' one for black
text). I have found that the cartridges last pretty well, and probably
get somewhere near the quoted 400 pages yield, and they're not too
expensive either (when bought one at a time). I've not had to clean the
head in the last 18 months either.

The Canon software seems to be reliable too.

I have also used others in the past, but found the following:

Lexmark: poor print quality, and *very* expensive ink.

Epson: possibly the best photo quality, cheap inks, but as others say,
you do spend a lot of ink in cleaning the heads. If they're left unused
for a while they *will* clog.

HP: Used to be *the* printer to buy, but in recent years they have
become flimsy, and not so good with print quality. The software they use
absolutely sucks too. I've recently tried to install these onto Windows
machines, and it's a nightmare getting them to work properly (or at
all).

If you don't need colour at all, then I agree with others, a laser will
be the cheapest and most reliable printer to use. The best I have used
myself are Kyocera and HP.

If you can find an older HP on eBay, such as a Laserjet 4100, it will
last for decades as a home printer, and can manage over 10,000 pages on
a cartridge - which can be got very cheaply on eBay (I get them for
under £20 in the UK). It may be easiest to connect these via Ethernet
though, and they will then just work.

--
Andy Hewitt
http://web.me.com/andrewhewitt1/
  #10  
Old January 2nd 10, 01:16 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
J.J. O'Shea
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Posts: 18
Default Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 01:30:10 -0500, nospam wrote
(in article ):

In article , David
wrote:

Any of the HP or Canons in basic form should do the trick - certainly
avoid Epson (even though they do print nicely) as she will be forever
cleaning heads.


they don't clog in normal use.


Wanna bet on that?


With HP (I have had 4 of them over the past 15 years) they just sit
there until you want to print, then they print. No trouble no fuss.


i know someone with an hp printer that is bit of fuss, especially the
curved paper path which doesn't work so well with thicker stock.


HP printer _hardware_ is usually quite good. HP printer _software_ has stunk
for years, and is getting worse.


One big advantage of the HP and Canon is that cartridges are available
at most department stores and at post offices.


same for epson and even lexmark. what kind of post office sells printer
ink??


Lots of them. Just down the road from my office there's a postal agency that
sells discount ink. And, for larger definitions of 'post office', pretty much
any UPS or FedEx establishment sells ink.

--
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

 




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