What is the best desktop printer out there? Cheap ink, reliable and great photographic quality prints?

Question by rykkardo8: What is the best desktop printer out there? Cheap ink, reliable and great photographic quality prints?

Best answer:

Answer by Dubbya

I’ve only ever owned Epson printers and have used them for printing everything you can imagine. Portraits, snapshots, charts, graphics, cards and letters. They produce beautiful photos and they’re a great office printer as well.

I would recommend that you stay away from the Epson Stylus CX series all in one printers though. While they print beautiful photos, a lot of users have had problems with the cartridges and printer firmware. Judging by the reviews I’ve read, they’re not the most reliable machine, especially if manufactured before March of 2007.

Alternatively, Canon printers produce great photos, their fully functioned all-in-ones perform reliably and are fairly inexpensive. Again, look for an older model where compatible or factory remanufactured cartridges are available.

HP, Lexmark and Dell printers all produce good photos and, while usually inexpensive to purchase (lots of them come free with a new computer), the costs for original brand name cartridges can bankrupt you.

Look for factory remanufactured or compatible cartridges from a reputable supplier and you’ll save some money.

Check the Epson online store and their clearance center for great deals and rebate coupons. They offer free shipping and their refurbished printers carry a full one-year warranty.

In some cases, you can buy a deadly machine for as little as $ 50 after the rebate.

If you can find an older or refurbished printer, you can save a pile of cash and compatible inks will most likely be available and provide you with an cheap alternative to original Epson cartridges.

If you’re fanatical about archival quality and cost is not an issue, you’ll probably be happier using the OEM inks and their brand of photo paper as well. If you’re going to be satisfied with good results at a fraction of the cost, look for compatible inks and generic photo paper.

At the very least, you can save cash if you print proofs with the generic paper and compatible inks, then swap in the OEM cartridges and paper to print the final copies.

Before you make your purchase, search some online ink stores to see if compatible or remanufactured cartridges are available for the machine you’re interested in.

Any one of these sites should help you to find what you need.

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