For the consumer market, the best photo quality still comes from inkjet printers. Laser printers would be the better choice for B & W as far as cost per page. As for durability, that comes with a price and so your $150 budget isn't going to promise you years of reliability. You're mention that your printer will see limited use also works against you with an inkjet printer. You will waste a lot of ink due to cleaning cycles and risk clogging of the print head due to drying of the ink. As well, that $150. just gets you a printer and "starter" cartridges which means they are not full and produce only a few pages. Your major cost will be in ink. Perhaps you'd be better off to figure cost per page or cost per print. If it weren't that you wanted the best print quality, I'd suggest a color laser type. Their text quality and their color quality for brochures and such will be quite good but photo quality will be lacking when compared to good inkjets. Laser printers also don't need cleaning cycles and don't dry out between uses. It does sound as though your purposes would be better suited by an inkjet printer but be prepared for the higher cost per page. As for brands, I've always used HP color inkjets and have an HP B & W laserjet that's been running well for 8 or 10 years. HP made printers long before they made PCs and do a decent job (IMO) in that market. Epson and Canon also do well. One thing you will also want to consider is the availability of ink locally. Check out your office supply stores to see what ink stock they carry. A good price on a printer without ink readily available isn't a good deal. Best of luck.
Hi,
I am in the market for a new printer and would be grateful for any info, advice, suggestions, and/or warnings before making the purchase. Its been years since I've owned a printer and am not at all tech savvy, so would appreciate any and all help. I have spent many hours online researching manufacturers and reading reviews, but am struggling with the numerous options and differing opinions. A general rundown on what I am after is - something that is reasonably easy to understand and operate (I'm not a total idiot and am able to follow most instructions, but computers and anything related are not my forte), prints quality photos (my main motivation for getting a printer), costs no more than $150 to buy (on a budget and price is definately a factor, but am willing to shell out a bit more for quality and durability), and that uses reasonably priced toner or ink cartridges. The printer will be for personal use only and don't anticipate using it too often. As mentioned, I am mainly looking for something I can print decent pics with. I am also trying to figure out what would be more cost effective - laser or ink jet. Based on what I've looked at online, the laser printers appear to cost substantially more, but do they work out cheaper in the long run if the cost of replacement ink/toner cartridges are factored in? I would be thankful for any info at all, including any warnings about printers to avoid. I would like to stay away from HP's - bought an expensive HP laptop and experienced issue after issue ending with it being beyond repair about 2 weeks after the warrenty expired. Realize such crappy quality may not apply to all HP products, but the experience left me with an aversion to anything with the HP name on it.
If you have taken the time to read all of this, thank you! Thanks in advance as well for any words of wisdom you may have for this tech challenged girl!
Soozalooza

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