Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 23:29:02 -0500, 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;

Good luck with that. The days of the stand-alone low-end inkjet printer are
rapidly coming to a close. Brother no longer sells stand-alone injets in the
US; Epson has three, four if you count the 17" wide carriage model; HP still
has several, but the low-end ones literally cost less than the ink carts for
them and are worth about that they cost. Frankly, it'd be a better idea to
get a MFD even if you never use the other functions, the pricing on a Brother
MFD is lower than the pricing on an actual worth-while HP stand-alone inkjet
and the build quality, life expectancy, and cost of consumables per page on
the Brother are all better. (There's a _reason_ why HP has been mounting a PR
campaign about its ink carts...)

we're looking for robustness and simplicity above
all. We'd like our mother to be able to change the ink cartridges
by herself!

All modern inkjets make that easy. Brother has been using a door in the front
of the printer to load the carts for a _long_ time. Epson and HP usually make
you open up the top of the printer, but it's not a big deal either way.

Beyond that, we're looking for a major brand with good
OS X support, and not overly expensive (especially the ink).

It's the ink that's going to be the killer. Epson ink is the cheapest, but
lasts the shortest time. (Well, duh...) HP ink is the most expensive and,
frankly, doesn't give as good output as Epson ink. Epson and Canon ink are
about neck and neck for best print quality. Brother ink costs less than Canon
or HP ink, but while it's better than HP ink it's not as good as Epson/Canon
ink.

Under
$200 certainly, and under $100 would be nice. Given these criteria,
what would be the best choice?


If you don't need colour, get a low-end laser such as a Brother HL-2140 or
HL-2170W (same printer, just with Ethernet and wireless-G added to the USB
ports of the 2140) which have list prices of $120 and $150 respectively; you
can usually get the 2140 for under $100, sometimes for under $80, and you can
usually get the 2170W for under $135, sometimes for around $100. I have the
2170W's now-discontinued older cousin, the 2070N. No wireless, but then I got
it four-five years ago when wireless was less of a big thing. List price then
was $150, I got it for $135. I'm now on the third toner cart, at $42-45 per
cart, so I've spent about as much on toner over 4-5 years as I did on the
printer. However, I also have a Brother MFC-440cn colour inkjet MFD, which I
got for $80 (list price was $150) and for which I've spent over $100 on ink
_just last year_. The laser carts print over 3,000 pages/cart (I just put in
a new cart in the 2070N, and the total print jobs exceed 7500 over the 4-5
years I've had it) while inkjets printer under 400 pages/cart. Which is why I
don't print to the inkjet except when I must have colour.

When the drum in the 2070N finally dies I'll probably replace both it and the
440cn with a colour laser, possibly one of the Brother colour lasers.
Currently you can get a Brother colour laser for under $300, under $250 if
you look. Their output is not as good as an inkjet, but it's faster and a
_lot_ cheaper.

If you _must_ go with a stand-alone inkjet, check out Epson or Canon. Stay
far away from HP, and further away from Lexmark. If you can live with a MFD,
add Brother to Epson and Canon.


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

On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 05:31:45 -0500, Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote
(in article ):

In article ,
Salmon Egg wrote:

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 agree wholeheartedly. A laser printer is the best bet here.


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

Probably not--Brother's Mac support is incredibly good.

Also, I would consider a wireless network printer that allows her to put
it anywhere, and allows the friends/family to hook to it without effort
when they come over.

That would be a Brother HL-2170W unless there's another laser printer with
wireless-G support that costs under $150...

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

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?

Get her a black and white laser printer--- forget the ink jet stuff.
Cost per page is a quarter of ink jet cost per page. Unless she's a
printaholic, the cart will last for years.

There ain't no bad printers out there today-- though I would stay away
from Lexmark. Hard to go wrong with an HP or a Canon.

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.

Are you sure about that non-support? I'm still using 10.4.11 so I can't
speak directly with regard to Snow Leopard, but I can tell you that
Gutenprint *does* have a driver for this printer, and my version
includes it. Unless Mom lives a long way off and all of you have
already gone home after the holidays, you might want to take a crack at
setting it up for her. If nothing else, it could serve as a backup
option in case the new printer you'll *still* probably end up buying for
her ever goes on the fritz.

And to save everyone else from chiming in, I'll say it for them:
Gutenprint drivers can be an absolute *bear* to set up properly,
especially with older printers, and even then you'll likely get better
quality output by going ahead and buying a printer with native,
manufacturer-supplied OS X support. If I hadn't paid $350 a decade ago
for the Canon portable I'm using with my MBP, I wouldn't have bothered
with Gutenprint, and as it is, I only use it with my Windows virtual
machine now anyway. I just did it mainly to prove to myself that I
could, and to give myself one more after-the-fact justification for
having spent all that money.

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

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?

I've tried all the cheap makes, including HP, Epson, Lexmark, and they
have all clogged up or died within a couple years. My Canon, on the
other hand, is still printing just as good as the first day I purchased
it back in 2005! It's just wonderful. Canon PIXMA Pro i9900 has
outlasted every single other inkjet I have ever used!:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/c35uqf

If I were in the market for a new photo printer today, I would
definitely get one of the current Canon PIXMA Pro models:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/nj5s6

In my book, Canon is highly recommended.

Note: I use *only* new Canon brand ink cartridges with my printer - and
no after-market refills. While I could try using off-brand or refill
cartridges, I'm simply not willing to change damaging the printer when
it has treated me so much better than any other!

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JR

In article , Red
wrote:

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?

Get her a black and white laser printer--- forget the ink jet stuff.
Cost per page is a quarter of ink jet cost per page. Unless she's a
printaholic, the cart will last for years.

There ain't no bad printers out there today-- though I would stay away
from Lexmark. Hard to go wrong with an HP or a Canon.

Only she won't get very good photo prints from a black and white (or
even a color) laser printer. ; )

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR

In article ,
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote:

In article ,
(John Brock) wrote:

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?

Brother. Hands down.

You've got to be kidding me. Their software flat-out sucks!

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
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JR

In article ,
nospam wrote:

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.

Ahem. Excuse me, but bull****. I and my family have had several of them
clog up and die within one or two years, rendering them completely
useless.

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
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JR

In article ,
Jolly Roger wrote:

In article ,
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote:

In article ,
(John Brock) wrote:

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?

Brother. Hands down.

You've got to be kidding me. Their software flat-out sucks!

You must be kidding me! Their software is just fine, including the
little toolbar thingie.

But then, who uses the software that comes with the scanner much anyway?
I sure don't and many I talk to don't.

Give me a solid driver (check), a simple interface for quick scans
(check), and work with my very good Apple software (check)

In article ,
Lloyd Parsons wrote:

In article ,
Jolly Roger wrote:

In article ,
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote:

In article ,
(John Brock) wrote:

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?

Brother. Hands down.

You've got to be kidding me. Their software flat-out sucks!

You must be kidding me! Their software is just fine, including the
little toolbar thingie.

But then, who uses the software that comes with the scanner much anyway?
I sure don't and many I talk to don't.

Give me a solid driver (check), a simple interface for quick scans
(check), and work with my very good Apple software (check)

Not the Bother software I've had to troubleshoot for a family member
(for a Brother MFC-4420C).

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR