What type of printer should I get? -

I am a student that just needs a printer for essays, reports, etc. I might rarely use color for graphs and charts, but otherwise everything else would be in black and white. I was thinking of getting a laser printer. My last printer cost me way more in ink cartridges than I like to think about. I want to avoid going through that again. Any suggestions as to what printer I should get would be very helpful.

If you want a color laserjet you are looking at $300-400. I know people say that a lasejet will save you money, but by performing my own research, I do not see the savings. Consider an Epson CX7400 (print, copy, scan) for $70 Individual ink cartridges are $18, black-$13, color. Page yield for these cartridges are black-245, color-335. Multiply the page yield X10 and you get 2,450-black and 3,350-color. So cartridge price $18-$13 X 10= $180 + $130= $310 for 2,450 blk and 3,350 color pages. Add the $310 ink cartridges + the CX7400 $70 =$380 Now lets move onto an average laserjet (color print only) $300 Individual toner cartidges avg. $61, black- $65, color. Page yields are black-1,500, color-1,400. Add the toner prices, $61-black, $65 X 3=$195-colors =$256 Add the $256 toner cartridges + the laserjet price $300= $556 So the inkjet price for higher page yield (2,450-black, 3,350-color vs. 1500-black, 1400 color) is $380, compared to the laserjets $556. You can do the numbers yourself, to verify information. I recommend the CX7400 for all students because it uses a pigment ink, so it is waterproof on plain paper (just like a laserjet). For your situation it will provide smear-proof highlighting and if your reports get wet, the text will not turn into a runny mess, as with dye inks. It uses 4 individual ink cartridges, so you are only replacing the color you are out of. It has memory card slots for photo printing plus you get copy and scan features. I have this printer and love it. I highly recommend it to everyone and if you do decide to go with an Epson printer, please contact me so I can pass on some money saving and important features.

Lasers have sharper text and are generally faster than inkjets. While toner cartridges are more expensive than ink, they print more pages, so the cost per page is lower. But you pay more up front. Inkjets are better for photos and cheaper for low volume. Personally, I use both. I have an inkjet for photos, a color laser for high volume color jobs and a black laser for regular text. I use the black laser most often. You can get a good color laser today for under $170 (Samsung CLP-315). Toner cartridges are more expensive then inkjet cartridges but they last for about 2,000 pages.It does a nice job on photos, but an inkjet is still better for this. Inkjet: As someone who was in the computer hardware business for years (though I rarely sold printers since I couldn t compete with the crazy rebates) I have always recommended Epson. The print quality is excellent, even on plain paper. I have photos I printed on a 640 about ten years ago hanging in my office which still look good, though not as good as the ones from the CX8400 on glossy paper. The warranty is excellent. For a year, Epson will express-ship a replacement and pick up the old one. I had one customer who needed this. He called one afternoon and had the replacement two days later. Another client bought a Canon. It needed two repairs within a few months. Each time it was taken to the repair center, then picked up a few days later. This client runs a specialty printing business and this really hurt. They have since bought an Epson CX5000 and have had no down time since. All name brand ink is expensive, but you can get cheap new replacement cartridges for Epson (not refills which I never recommend) for under $5 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp I have been using these for years. The CX8400 scanner/copier/printer was on sale at circuitcity.com for $60 with free shipping. It uses 3 colors plus black. The NX400 which uses the same cartridges is on sale at Staples for $75. The RX595 scanner/copier/printer also prints on DVDs. It uses 5 colors plus black and has even higher photo quality. It s on sale for $80 after $55 instant rebate. http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/54342… If all you want to do is print text, then get a black laser printer which you can find for $50.