For photo-printer which one is better… Epson? HP? Canon?
Which one has lower cost of maintenance over time?
Based on my limited “research” (based, at this solely on my discussion with the sales rep), Canon has 5-6 separate color cartridges (each 11 bucks), which means that if a color is running low, you only change that color and don’t have to replace the whole cartridge (like the tri-color one used by Epson/HP).
Epson’s inks are slightly cheaper, HP’s ink dual pack (bw and tri-color) is about $50 bucks.
HP is better looking, plus the one I saw (Photosmart 7550?) had that small screen where you can preview the pic, and it had memory card reader built-in. Canon and Epson provide add-on of memory card readers. However the sales rep preferred Epson over HP, citing unknown reasons :-/ Epson was cheaper up-front.
Speed of printing is not that important, but I just want something which can replace my current deskjet completely (can print regular text pages and also photos) and won’t require expensive inks every now and then.
And obviously something which prints great quality prints 4x6 or 5x7.
In my experience Hp is the best and I will give you the reasons. First of all Hp's print quality is the best; Ink consumption is lower than Epson or Canon. Canon makes individual ink tanks but there is a catch. They use yellow color more than any other color so yellow is used the most. Check it out for yourself, go to a store and take out all the cartridges and see the yellow ink level would be lower than any other ink. On the other hand Hp and Epson use pretty much equal amount of inks.
7150, 7350, 7550's are all great printers but have you seen new Hp Photosmart printers that just came out? They have improved a lot ... now you can get borderless prints for any size and the prices are low.
I have both Hp and Epson at home but I like Hp.
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However the sales rep preferred Epson over HP, citing unknown reasons :-/ Epson was cheaper up-front.
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Did you go to Frys? Actually the sales rep probably recommended you Epson because of his/her commission so be aware of these tactics when you go to Frys :)
PA.. this seems like an older comparison. They rave about HP 7150, which has been discontinued. I would assume that newer HP models will build-upon the quality of the older version.
In any case, I’d rather keep it below 200 bucks. HP’s 7660 at $149 sounds like a decent one. What do you guys think?
And I am not sure I understand completely the point about Yellow being used more in Canon. Why would that make a difference? I mean, if yellow runs out, we’d replace the yellow cartridge for $11. We won’t have to replace the whole tri-color cartridge, right?
Also, the older Canon model used 5 ink cartridges (two were black). That one is $149. The new Canon model uses 6 ink cartridges (one is photo cyan and one is photo magenta) and it is $299. The ink drop is finer and, I am sure the quality is also much better.. but spending 300 bucks seems like an awful lot, when you can get pretty darn good results by spending half that much.
HP is good for long run? Says who. They might print good, but they are flimsy. Dont complain if the lid breaks while installing a cartridge. If you want cheap ink go for Canon. (Canon has a patent on a variety of inks. )You can also try Epson but I wouldnt as the ink is pricey, (see my old threads about printers).
Please remember, a photo printer might not be a great idea. It costs more to print at home than it does to print at a store - and you still wont get great quality at home. Only buy a photo printer if you are impatient about printing photos. You can also ignore inkjets and go for a Dye-Sub. They are slow, but the quality is much better than any inkjet on the market. They also dont double as a document printer. They usually just print 4x6 shots.
I would recommend you keep your current printer for documents and the rare colour pages, and buy a dye-sub just for photos.
I totally disagree with all of your statements above regarding HP printers. I have HP photosmart 1115, bought it for $199.00. It works great, best reolution is 1600X1280. I will show you my photographs printed from this printer and if you can tell the difference I will be surprised. HP printers last for a long time. Come to think of it I posted some pictures in the image gallery some time back. You can take a look and see if you can tell if the quality is not the same as the store. As far as price is concerned, you just have to be a savvy buyer, photoprinters do go on sale, look for it and you can buy them at a reasonable price.
hskhan.. dye-sub printers are pretty darn expensive. Are you sure one can get a dye-sub for less than 200 bucks (USD i.e.)? I am not planning to start a photo-studio at home, you know. :-)
Kaleem... I have an affinity for HP cz my whole desktop, printer and scanner are all HP. Not that they are gonna give me any discounts, but if I keep the whole thing in one family it keeps connectivity issues to a minimal, not that Epson or Canon are likely to cause any issue on that front.
I have used HP's deskjet 650C for the last couple of years, and its pretty decent and had no problems whatsoever. But, obviously its not for printing photographs of any decent quality. Hence, my wish to go for a better Photoprinter. Without breaking the wallet, ofcourse.
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*Originally posted by hskhan: *
It costs more to print at home than it does to print at a store
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How did you work that out? It cost $5.99 for 100 4x6 pre-cut sheets. The printer inks cost $50 for about 500 prints. Give or take a few. That is 8.9 cents per print, plus depreciation of the printer. Assuming its for 2 years, then we have $6.25 per month for printer.
A print from the store, costs typically 29 cents per 4x6.
The last part is convenience, which can't be factored in monetary terms.
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I am not sure I understand completely the point about Yellow being used more in Canon. Why would that make a difference? I mean, if yellow runs out, we'd replace the yellow cartridge for $11. We won't have to replace the whole tri-color cartridge, right?
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That's exactly why Canon came out with individual ink tanks and now using it as a sales tool. You will only need individual ink tanks if you are planning to print so many copies of the same image in one color. Hp and Epson both have special printers for this application.
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*Originally posted by Faisal: *
How did you work that out? It cost $5.99 for 100 4x6 pre-cut sheets. The printer inks cost $50 for about 500 prints. Give or take a few. That is 8.9 cents per print, plus depreciation of the printer. Assuming its for 2 years, then we have $6.25 per month for printer.
A print from the store, costs typically 29 cents per 4x6.
The last part is convenience, which can't be factored in monetary terms.
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500, 4x6 in full colour set on best quality? Where were these stats from. I doubt it. Must be a super ink saver printer to get that much.
Edit : I remember seeing the Sony DPP-EX5's output. It was comparable to lab prints. It was around 299cdn at the Sony Store when I bought my dscp7 (1 year ago). Its probably cheaper now, and you can negotiate and get it for around 170 or 160 US.
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*Originally posted by hskhan: *
500, 4x6 in full colour set on best quality? Where were these stats from. I doubt it. Must be a super ink saver printer to get that much.
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Feel free to disagree and provide better estimate. This estimate was provided by the sales guy, when I was trying to compare operating costs for various printers.
Asim, HP printers use two cartridges (one is 5 color and the other is black). The price for combo is $50.
However, whats the scoop on Dell's photo printer. I believe they recently introduced it. Its $79 bucks. Is it any good?
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Dell buys printers form Lexmark. Dont buy Lexmark in desguise.
Besides printers, Dell flat screen monitors are mostly made by Samsung with Dell "stamp/logo" on top/back. Bought a dell 802.11b compact flash wireless card for my PDA, it turned to be made by Belkin. BTW, Dell PCs/servers/notebooks are lajawab. my 2 paisas
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*Originally posted by Faisal: *
Feel free to disagree and provide better estimate. This estimate was provided by the sales guy, when I was trying to compare operating costs for various printers.
Asim, HP printers use two cartridges (one is 5 color and the other is black). The price for combo is $50.
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I would'nt expect more 20-40 top quality photo prints from any HP cartridge. Dont blv that sales guy talk.
