Simplest and most reliable printer for an iMac?

In article , J.J. O'Shea
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?

yes. if you turn off the printer when not in use, the heads park on a
sponge so they don't dry out. of course, if you buy cheap ink or leave
the printer on all the time, then it might clog, but that's not how
it's supposed to be used.

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.

where? in the usa, i've never seen printer ink sold in a post office,
fed ex, ups or even mailbox etc. type place. lots of shipping supplies,
but not printer ink.

In article ,
Jolly Roger 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.

most likely from improper use.

In article , Howard Brazee
wrote:

Not printing enough can dry out cartridges and be expensive as well.

true, and can cause clogs.

In article ,
Jolly Roger wrote:

Most cheap, low-quality printers require you to clean the heads
regularly just to keep them operating correctly.

nonsense. epsons do a clean cycle automatically, and the longer the
printer is off, the more thorough the cycle is. if you have a major
clog problem, it's not the printer's fault.

On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 13:51:28 -0500, nospam wrote
(in article ):

In article , J.J. O'Shea
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?

yes. if you turn off the printer when not in use, the heads park on a
sponge so they don't dry out.

Except that sometimes the sponge gets hard as a rock and then it doesn't do
squat. I'm talking actual real-world experience, here, not theory based on
vendor PR.

of course, if you buy cheap ink or leave
the printer on all the time, then it might clog, but that's not how
it's supposed to be used.

And... once again, wanna bet? I had an Epson printer for years and I used
non-Epson ink in it and it didn't clog. At the office there were several
examples of the exact same model all of which were supplied with Ye Official
Epson Ink(r) and which _did_ clog.


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.

where? in the usa,

West Palm Beach.

i've never seen printer ink sold in a post office,

the office on Haverhill, for one.

fed ex,

The FedEx I use most often is the one at Palm Beach Lakes and Ochechobee. It
has lots and lots of HP and Epson and Canon ink.

ups

The UPS I use most often is the one at Forest Hill and Jog. Again, lots of
different inks.

or even mailbox etc. type place.

The mail drop in the plaza at Summit and Military has lots of ink. All of it
discount ink, not original vendor ink. In addition, the Walgreen's across the
road from it, like every other Walgreen's in the county, not only sells ink
carts, it has a big sign out front indicating that it refills carts, too.
(HP, Epson, and Canon carts, that is. Brother, Lexmark and other vendors need
not apply.)

Where you been, man?

lots of shipping supplies,
but not printer ink.



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

On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 13:51:32 -0500, nospam wrote
(in article ):

In article ,
Jolly Roger 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.

most likely from improper use.

This has not been my experience.

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

In article ,
heiko recktenwald wrote:

John Brock schrieb:
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?

Try to get a used office Laser printer with network printing capability,
for example an old HP Laserjet 5 combined with HPs Jetdirect, very
cheap, very powerfull, good for all sort of computer and you can even
print photos (in b/w),


So do they sell for $20? My printer/scanner prints beautiful fotos and
cost something like $120.

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist


http://www.chibardun.net/~erilarlo

In article ,
Jolly Roger wrote:

Most cheap, low-quality printers require you to clean the heads
regularly just to keep them operating correctly.

I got great photographic quality from my Epson Stylus 740 for over a
decade and very seldom had occasion to clean the heads. It printed as
well 10 years after I purchased it as the day I bought it. I hope the
new one lasts as well. It prints even better.

In contrast, I have a five-year-old Canon PIXMA printer on which I have
*never* had to clean the heads; it prints just as good today as the day
I purchased it!

Wow! Half as old as my old Epson! Somehow I'm not terribly impressed.
So how much did IT cost? How expensive is ITS ink? How's ITS print
quality?

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist


http://www.chibardun.net/~erilarlo

erilar schrieb:
In article ,
heiko recktenwald wrote:

John Brock schrieb:
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?
Try to get a used office Laser printer with network printing capability,
for example an old HP Laserjet 5 combined with HPs Jetdirect, very
cheap, very powerfull, good for all sort of computer and you can even
print photos (in b/w),


So do they sell for $20? My printer/scanner prints beautiful fotos and
cost something like $120.


My HP Laserjet did cost 10, well, Euros, and the Jetdirect was a
present. Ok, they dont sell like that, but as a direction, where to keep
eyes open, what to look for. The Laserjet is incredible good for me,
MUCH more reliable than the old Laserwriter and also smaller allthough
not very much.

erilar wrote:


I don't know what Gutenprint is, but I do know Epson didn't update the
drivers for that printer when they updated everything else.

Gutenprint is the open-source printing system that's been incorporated
into the Mac OS since I don't know when. (I've only been a Mac OS user
since 10.4.8.) It includes dozens, perhaps hundreds, of drivers for
legacy printers such as the one that sparked this thread. If you try to
add a printer through System Preferences without installing any
additional software from the manufacturer, the driver (if you find one)
listed there will be a Gutenprint driver.

I just mentioned this to advise the original poster that even though
Epson didn't update *its* driver for his mother's printer past OS 9,
it's likely still possible that she can keep using it with Snow Leopard,
if she or her loving offspring are willing to work a little bit.

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