Printer advice requested

[so.cal.fan]

I have a Epson C60 printer....inexpensive model.
Works "okay" however.....uses a lot of expensive ink cartridges....I've bought discount ink cart. with poor results.
My husband wants to buy a Laser printer.
Is this a better option?
I just bought two new cartridges....black and color.....$65.
I don't print very often, due to the high cost of ink.
Any tips would be appreciated.
thank you in advance.....
so.cal.fan

[DJofSD]

If the criteria is cost per page, I believe the so called laser printer is the cheapest. HP used to be a no-brainer but now a days there are alternatives.

[headhawg]

so.cal.fan,

The problem with lasers is one of cost. If you need to print in color, a laser could still run some serious coin. Personal monochrome lasers are relatively cheap -- I think Dell has one for $99. However, usually the cheaper the printer the more expensive it is for ink cartridges/toner -- that is, higher cost per printed page.

What are you going to use it for -- printing photos, just simple graphics/text? That will affect your choice.

HH

[BillW]

SoCal,
A Laser printer is definitely a good option. They are more expensive that inkjets, but per page cost is about 25% (for me - YMMV). The biggest problem I found with inkjets is that the cartridges dry out. If you don't use them because printing "costs too much", it will cost more. :eek:

Even reasonable color lasers are available today if color is a requirement. I've had a HP LJ-1300 for a few years and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Bill

[Figman]

So.Cal.Fan
I posted this once before - http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm

I also have an Epson printer. This company's cartridges are better than the originals. I looked up your model C60. You can purchase 6 black cartridges for $20.94 (or $3.49 a piece) and the color are 3 for $14.97 (or $4.99 a piece).

I used to buy ink and refill my own but this company changed my mind. As I said, better than originals and I've been using this company for over three years.

[so.cal.fan]

Thanks for the tips, guys.
I may try Shop 4 Tech, Figman......it's worth a try on your recomendation.
If that works, I'll stick with my old printer for a while.

[ljb]

Socalfan,
You may want to look for a store called "Cartridge World" in your area. I get replacement ink for my hp at about half price. You can bring your cartridges in for a refill or buy them already filled for 1 buck more.

[Tom]

SoCal...I bought a Lexmark Laser and have never been happier. It hums out them races, track after track! :)

[so.cal.fan]

I just spent $65 yesterday, buying one black ink and one color ink cartridge from Best Buy.
I'll check out these cheap refills one more time.....I was getting cartridges for about $4 and they worked.....sometimes....however, I noticed they ran out of ink faster and often my computer/printer software would reject them as not being Epson products.
I don't print up PPs and only print documents once in a while.
I sort of wanted to print photos.....I have photo paper, but while it worked well a few times, it usually doesn't do much but print an inferior picture and use a ton of color ink.
I think I'll just take my digital camera to Save-On drugstore and have them make me up a CD with my pictures.....it was pretty inexpensive to do this, and then I always have a copy.
If we start having to print up past performances....then I'll have to think about the laser printer.

[JustRalph]

Socalfan,
You may want to look for a store called "Cartridge World" in your area. I get replacement ink for my hp at about half price. You can bring your cartridges in for a refill or buy them already filled for 1 buck more.

be careful. The local cartridge world here in columbus quoted me 10 bucks more than I could buy the cartridges online..........after shipping I was still paying 3 bucks more at cartridge world

[NoDayJob]

I have a Epson C60 printer....inexpensive model.
Works "okay" however.....uses a lot of expensive ink cartridges....I've bought discount ink cart. with poor results.


Have you tried?

http://www.ld-products.com/?gclid=CJ7EqcHX0oECFTIKOAodMUqOmw

OR

American Ribbon & Toner 1-888-570-6255

I have been using both of them for years with absolutely no difficulties. Best products and service that I've seen outside of OEM and at a fraction of the cost.

NDJ [AKA Troll #1]

[so.cal.fan]

Thanks, I'm going to try all these compatables and see if they work.

[JustRalph]

while on the subject of printers...........if this has already been posted.....sorry.


http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=912

your printers are identifiable by the FBI and CIA etc.
EFF Researchers Decode Hidden Codes in Printer Output (http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=912)

Tuesday October 18, 2005 by Ed Felten Researchers at the EFF have apparently confirmed (http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_10.php#004063) that certain color printers put hidden marks in the pages they print, and they have decoded the marks for at least one printer model.

The marks from Xerox DocuColor printers are encoded in an array of very small yellow dots that appear all over the page. The dots encode the date and time when the page was printed, along with what appears to be a serial number for the printer. You can spot the dots with blue light and a 10X magnifier, and you can then decode the dots to get the date, time, and serial number.

Many other printers appear to do something similar; the EFF has a list (http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php).

The privacy implications are obvious. It’s now possible to tell when a document was printed, and when two documents were printed on the same printer. It’s also possible, given a document and a printer, to tell whether the document was printed on that printer.

Apparently, this was done at direction of the U.S. government.

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.

…

Xerox previously admitted that it provided these tracking dots to the government, but indicated that only the Secret Service had the ability to read the code.

The assertion that only the Secret Service can read the code is false. The code is quite straightforward. For example, there is one byte for (the last two digits of) the year, one byte for the month, one byte for the day, one byte for the hour, and one byte for the minute.

Now that the code is known, it should be possible to forge the marks. For example, I could cook up an array of little yellow dots that encode any date, time, and serial number I like. Then I could add the dots to any image I like, and print out the image-plus-dots on a printer that doesn’t make the marks. The resulting printout would have genuine-looking marks that contain whatever information I chose.

This could have been prevented by using cryptography, to make marks that can only be decoded by the Secret Service, and that don’t allow anyone but the secret service to detect whether two documents came from the same printer. This would have added some complexity to the scheme, but that seems like a good tradeoff in a system that was supposed to stay secret for a while.

[so.cal.fan]

Wow!
That is fascinating, Just Ralph. I sure never knew that.
:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Tom]

Thanks for the list of companies to refuse to do business with.

Emails have already been sent do all - with some ripe language, I might add.
They can :kiss: MA

[ljb]

What's all the fuss about guys ? This is just part of the package you voted for in the last two elections.