Recommend a good printer? (mini-rant included)
 

I bought a computer bundle a few months ago for school. Most of it works pretty decently, at least for a package. I have issues with the all-in-one printer/scanner/copier. It is a Lexmark X2250. Let me just say that if a salesperson ever comes up to you and offers you this specific printer, you should do the world a favour and beat them to death with it. It has the most heinous shithole of a feed system in the world, and I have eaten no less than 30 pages of paper, all either destroyed or inaccurately blotted with ink, in order to print of a single paper of 6 pages.

So if anyone can give me a good recommendation for a printer (preferably w/ scanner) that is cheap, and will actually feed paper through without forcing me to tear it out over 75% of the time, I'd be grateful.

Keep that one for the few times you need color or a scanner. Buy a Brother 1440 laser on sale ($79-99) for all your usual printing duties.

I just picked up a HP PSC 1315v. Color Print, Scan, Copy. Grabbed it at Target for 79 bucks and thay gave me a 10 dollar gift card. So i got it for 69. Never had any problems with it misfeeding. The scans are great and the copying is right on also. Check into it.

I have dell's version of the lexmark z615(i think). Its pretty cheap but it hasn't given me any problems at all. I mainly print text only so i don't really know how i'd rate the color quality. The only things you'll probably dislike about it is that there is no scanner and its a lexmark. I doubt you'll buy a lexmark again...

That's what you get for buying Lexmark.
AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!!!!!

/disgruntled excustomer

I swear by HP. I bought a $50 HP deskjet three and a half years ago and have worn it to the bone and it just gave out on me a few weeks ago, so I replaced it with a new $50 HP deskjet. My parents bought a $300 HP scan/copy/fax/printer about six years ago and it's still going strong. My dad bought a pretty decent laser for $200, I think, so if you need that kind of volume you might check that out. As RAGE said, Lexmark is bad news. I don't have much trust of Epson, either. But I've had very good luck with HP.

They make good scanners too, and, for my money, I'd buy a separate printer and scanner ever time. The all-in-one machines might seem handy, but they don't do any of their jobs as well as they ought to.

before this degenerates into a brand war, let's keep in mind that ALL inkjets suck. They're designed to suck. They make them as cheaply as possible so they can sell it to you as cheaply as possible and then charge you a jillion dollars per ink cartridge. The ink jet industry is the same as the crack industry, except crack is a lot cheaper.

That said, HP printers are really good as far as hardware (as long as you don't want to do envelopes), but their drivers suck. Epsons just suck. So do canons. The Lexmark Z53 I have actually is not that bad of a printer. Feeds well, prints FAST, and the look is nice and sharp.

So what I'm reading is that laserjet will beat the pants off of inkjet? How are they for cartridges?

Once you use a laser (or dye sub) you never go back...

Laser printer cartridges last 3000+ pages depending on image density. Most lasers now ship with a "starter" cartridge good for maybe 300-1000 pages. New cartridges go for $60-100, but can be refilled at least a couple times for $5-10. The starter cartridges are the same unit, just with less toner. So:

In the example of a Brother 1440 for $79-99 on sale (they're a closeout item now):
-Includes cartridge w/toner good for 300-500 pages.
-Refill toner is $5-10 for another 3000-6000 pages.
-By 6000-10000 pages you'll likely need a new fuser assembly. Some lasers have this integrated into their toner cartridge, so every 3rd refill or so you buy a new cartridge. Other lasers use a separate fuser which can be $50-100.

(There are other consumables and more expensive parts for higher-end lasers, but not to worry for models under $500.)

Very true.