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#1
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Laser vs. Ink
greetings. i don't buy a lot of hardware as i tend to keep things
forever. while this works out pretty well in terms of getting my money's worth it also puts me behind the curve when i do need to buy new. so i'm seeking advice on a new printer purchase. i currently use an old HP LJ 4Plus and an old Canon personal copier. i'd like to replace both with a multi-function (4 in 1) printer that will also print the occasional photo. i don't print all that much to begin with so i'm trying to decide between ink and laser. this printer would be for personal use, not business. prior to the 4Plus i had an HP DJ500. the main problem was that the ink nozzles would become clogged or dry out due to infrequent use. when this happened i was able to occasionally re-hab the cartridge back into service but more often than not i had to replace the cart. question: am i going to run into the same sort of problem with today's inkjets? i sometimes go for weeks without printing anything __________________________________________________ ______ if i haven't printed in a while my 4Plus will give me a 'toner low' message . to rectify all i do is remove the cart, shake it up and replace it. for this reason i'm considering a MF color laser. but the only thing i'd need color for (ink or laser) is to print the occasional photo question: when i print a photo i'd like the quality of the print to approach commercial photo finishing quality...good enough to frame, give to family, etc. am i going to get that kind of quality from a color laser or must i stick with ink to achieve that goal or are they about equal? __________________________________________________ ______ the canon personal copier i have is actually pretty good...copies are crisp and clean. the carts cost a fortune, though and there are no paper trays. i have to manually place the source document on the glass and then feed a single sheet. i use the copier a lot more than the printer. question: do the MF printers produce good, clean copies? is there a difference in copy quality between ink and laser? __________________________________________________ ______ the function i'll end up using most would be the scanner. i have a lot of personal documents that i'd like to digitize in order to eliminate paper clutter. most of these documents are text only but i'd also like to scan in my collection of 2x2 color slides as well as a lot of color and B&W prints. question: what sort of resolution minimums should i be looking for in the scan function? any other things to watch for? __________________________________________________ ______ appreciate any and all thoughts on this as well as individual MF printer recommendations. 73, rich, n9dko |
#2
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Laser vs. Ink
My advice is to get a multifunction device such as a Canon MP830. It
will do everything you need and then some. Photo print quality is excellent, it has an excellent scanner and the 35 page document feeder is great for scanning multiple pages. The software that comes with it allows you to scan large numbers of pages (even two sided pages) and save them as a single PDF file. I find this one of the most useful features of my Canon MP780 (the MP830's predecessor). It will also send and receive faxes make copies in black and white and color. It prints and copies in duplex (two sided) and has two paper feeds. Also, you can refill the cartridges in the MP830 with very little effort for about $1 each. Overall, it is one of the best multifunction printers on the market, IMO. Rich, N9DKO wrote: greetings. i don't buy a lot of hardware as i tend to keep things forever. while this works out pretty well in terms of getting my money's worth it also puts me behind the curve when i do need to buy new. so i'm seeking advice on a new printer purchase. i currently use an old HP LJ 4Plus and an old Canon personal copier. i'd like to replace both with a multi-function (4 in 1) printer that will also print the occasional photo. i don't print all that much to begin with so i'm trying to decide between ink and laser. this printer would be for personal use, not business. prior to the 4Plus i had an HP DJ500. the main problem was that the ink nozzles would become clogged or dry out due to infrequent use. when this happened i was able to occasionally re-hab the cartridge back into service but more often than not i had to replace the cart. question: am i going to run into the same sort of problem with today's inkjets? i sometimes go for weeks without printing anything __________________________________________________ ______ if i haven't printed in a while my 4Plus will give me a 'toner low' message . to rectify all i do is remove the cart, shake it up and replace it. for this reason i'm considering a MF color laser. but the only thing i'd need color for (ink or laser) is to print the occasional photo question: when i print a photo i'd like the quality of the print to approach commercial photo finishing quality...good enough to frame, give to family, etc. am i going to get that kind of quality from a color laser or must i stick with ink to achieve that goal or are they about equal? __________________________________________________ ______ the canon personal copier i have is actually pretty good...copies are crisp and clean. the carts cost a fortune, though and there are no paper trays. i have to manually place the source document on the glass and then feed a single sheet. i use the copier a lot more than the printer. question: do the MF printers produce good, clean copies? is there a difference in copy quality between ink and laser? __________________________________________________ ______ the function i'll end up using most would be the scanner. i have a lot of personal documents that i'd like to digitize in order to eliminate paper clutter. most of these documents are text only but i'd also like to scan in my collection of 2x2 color slides as well as a lot of color and B&W prints. question: what sort of resolution minimums should i be looking for in the scan function? any other things to watch for? __________________________________________________ ______ appreciate any and all thoughts on this as well as individual MF printer recommendations. 73, rich, n9dko |
#3
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Laser vs. Ink
"Rich, N9DKO" rk911 at yahoo dot com wrote in message ... greetings. i don't buy a lot of hardware as i tend to keep things forever. while this works out pretty well in terms of getting my money's worth it also puts me behind the curve when i do need to buy new. so i'm seeking advice on a new printer purchase. i currently use an old HP LJ 4Plus and an old Canon personal copier. i'd like to replace both with a multi-function (4 in 1) printer that will also print the occasional photo. i don't print all that much to begin with so i'm trying to decide between ink and laser. this printer would be for personal use, not business. prior to the 4Plus i had an HP DJ500. the main problem was that the ink nozzles would become clogged or dry out due to infrequent use. when this happened i was able to occasionally re-hab the cartridge back into service but more often than not i had to replace the cart. question: am i going to run into the same sort of problem with today's inkjets? i sometimes go for weeks without printing anything __________________________________________________ ______ if i haven't printed in a while my 4Plus will give me a 'toner low' message . to rectify all i do is remove the cart, shake it up and replace it. for this reason i'm considering a MF color laser. but the only thing i'd need color for (ink or laser) is to print the occasional photo question: when i print a photo i'd like the quality of the print to approach commercial photo finishing quality...good enough to frame, give to family, etc. am i going to get that kind of quality from a color laser or must i stick with ink to achieve that goal or are they about equal? __________________________________________________ ______ the canon personal copier i have is actually pretty good...copies are crisp and clean. the carts cost a fortune, though and there are no paper trays. i have to manually place the source document on the glass and then feed a single sheet. i use the copier a lot more than the printer. question: do the MF printers produce good, clean copies? is there a difference in copy quality between ink and laser? __________________________________________________ ______ the function i'll end up using most would be the scanner. i have a lot of personal documents that i'd like to digitize in order to eliminate paper clutter. most of these documents are text only but i'd also like to scan in my collection of 2x2 color slides as well as a lot of color and B&W prints. question: what sort of resolution minimums should i be looking for in the scan function? any other things to watch for? __________________________________________________ ______ appreciate any and all thoughts on this as well as individual MF printer recommendations. 73, rich, n9dko Keep your HP Lasjer at all costs. Consider buying a cheap inkjet for the fotos |
#4
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Laser vs. Ink
"Rich, N9DKO" rk911 at yahoo dot com wrote in
: prior to the 4Plus i had an HP DJ500. the main problem was that the ink nozzles would become clogged or dry out due to infrequent use. when this happened i was able to occasionally re-hab the cartridge back into service but more often than not i had to replace the cart. question: am i going to run into the same sort of problem with today's inkjets? i sometimes go for weeks without printing anything Yes. Moreso likely with the finer nozzels these days. question: when i print a photo i'd like the quality of the print to approach commercial photo finishing quality...good enough to frame, give to family, etc. am i going to get that kind of quality from a color laser or must i stick with ink to achieve that goal or are they about equal? If you aren't printing a lot of photos, and want near commercial quality, then have them printed by such printing outlets. I don't think color lasers will approach that, or even inkjet for photos. __________________________________________________ ______ question: do the MF printers produce good, clean copies? is there a difference in copy quality between ink and laser? The printers/scanners get pretty fine these days. It will be a digital copy, rather than an optical copy the copier does though. __________________________________________________ ______ the function i'll end up using most would be the scanner. i have a lot of personal documents that i'd like to digitize in order to eliminate paper clutter. most of these documents are text only but i'd also like to scan in my collection of 2x2 color slides as well as a lot of color and B&W prints. question: what sort of resolution minimums should i be looking for in the scan function? any other things to watch for? I'd hire that out, perhaps (the slides that is, to somebody that has a purpose built slide scanner) __________________________________________________ ______ appreciate any and all thoughts on this as well as individual MF printer recommendations. 73, rich, n9dko |
#5
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Laser vs. Ink
many thanks for your post, michael. my primary concern with any
inkjet are the nozzles on the print head becoming fouled or clogged due to infrequent use. when that happened with my ancient DeskJet 500 i was only partially successful in cleaning them...most of the time i had to toss the cart and replace it with another. being able to refill the carts for $1 wouldn't seem to matter if the nozzle heads become clogged. what are your experiences with this? and many thanks to the other posters for their thoughts as well. it seems i need to adjust my thinking about a MF printer. i don't print all that many photos anyway and for those that i do i've been uploading the digital images to walgreens or CVS or bringing in a CD-R to them for printing. that's worked out pretty well. gary, you suggested that i farm out the task of scanning my slides and negative and maybe that's a good thought. i have a ton of old slides but i rarely shoot film of any sort these days. barry, you suggested a stand-alone scanner such as the SJ5490C and i see your point but i'm trying to reduce the amount of hardware i have, not add to it. so if i take photo printing and slide/negative scanning off the table i'd still be looking for a multi-function device for scanning documents and copying. and since i'm still concerned with ink nozzles drying up and clogging maybe a B&W MF laser would be a better choice. any thoughts along those lines? 73, rich, n9dko On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:42:06 -0400, Michael Johnson wrote: My advice is to get a multifunction device such as a Canon MP830. It will do everything you need and then some. Photo print quality is excellent, it has an excellent scanner and the 35 page document feeder is great for scanning multiple pages. The software that comes with it allows you to scan large numbers of pages (even two sided pages) and save them as a single PDF file. I find this one of the most useful features of my Canon MP780 (the MP830's predecessor). It will also send and receive faxes make copies in black and white and color. It prints and copies in duplex (two sided) and has two paper feeds. Also, you can refill the cartridges in the MP830 with very little effort for about $1 each. Overall, it is one of the best multifunction printers on the market, IMO. |
#6
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Laser vs. Ink
Keep your laser printer and buy a cheap dye-sub printer for your
photos.No printhead,No cloggs,same $/photo,excellent quality and resolution. |
#7
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Laser vs. Ink
Rich, N9DKO wrote:
many thanks for your post, michael. my primary concern with any inkjet are the nozzles on the print head becoming fouled or clogged due to infrequent use. when that happened with my ancient DeskJet 500 i was only partially successful in cleaning them...most of the time i had to toss the cart and replace it with another. being able to refill the carts for $1 wouldn't seem to matter if the nozzle heads become clogged. what are your experiences with this? I haven't had many issues with the head clogging on any of our Canon inkjet printers. Just making a color print once a week should keep it running fine. Also, the Canon printers don't have a head in the print cartridge like many HP printers. The head is separate and easily replaced by the user. and many thanks to the other posters for their thoughts as well. it seems i need to adjust my thinking about a MF printer. i don't print all that many photos anyway and for those that i do i've been uploading the digital images to walgreens or CVS or bringing in a CD-R to them for printing. that's worked out pretty well. gary, you suggested that i farm out the task of scanning my slides and negative and maybe that's a good thought. i have a ton of old slides but i rarely shoot film of any sort these days. barry, you suggested a stand-alone scanner such as the SJ5490C and i see your point but i'm trying to reduce the amount of hardware i have, not add to it. so if i take photo printing and slide/negative scanning off the table i'd still be looking for a multi-function device for scanning documents and copying. and since i'm still concerned with ink nozzles drying up and clogging maybe a B&W MF laser would be a better choice. any thoughts along those lines? 73, rich, n9dko On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:42:06 -0400, Michael Johnson wrote: My advice is to get a multifunction device such as a Canon MP830. It will do everything you need and then some. Photo print quality is excellent, it has an excellent scanner and the 35 page document feeder is great for scanning multiple pages. The software that comes with it allows you to scan large numbers of pages (even two sided pages) and save them as a single PDF file. I find this one of the most useful features of my Canon MP780 (the MP830's predecessor). It will also send and receive faxes make copies in black and white and color. It prints and copies in duplex (two sided) and has two paper feeds. Also, you can refill the cartridges in the MP830 with very little effort for about $1 each. Overall, it is one of the best multifunction printers on the market, IMO. |
#8
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Laser vs. Ink
Michael Johnson wrote:
Rich, N9DKO wrote: many thanks for your post, michael. my primary concern with any inkjet are the nozzles on the print head becoming fouled or clogged due to infrequent use. when that happened with my ancient DeskJet 500 i was only partially successful in cleaning them...most of the time i had to toss the cart and replace it with another. being able to refill the carts for $1 wouldn't seem to matter if the nozzle heads become clogged. what are your experiences with this? I haven't had many issues with the head clogging on any of our Canon inkjet printers. Just making a color print once a week should keep it running fine. Also, the Canon printers don't have a head in the print cartridge like many HP printers. The head is separate and easily replaced by the user. and many thanks to the other posters for their thoughts as well. it seems i need to adjust my thinking about a MF printer. i don't print all that many photos anyway and for those that i do i've been uploading the digital images to walgreens or CVS or bringing in a CD-R to them for printing. that's worked out pretty well. gary, you suggested that i farm out the task of scanning my slides and negative and maybe that's a good thought. i have a ton of old slides but i rarely shoot film of any sort these days. barry, you suggested a stand-alone scanner such as the SJ5490C and i see your point but i'm trying to reduce the amount of hardware i have, not add to it. so if i take photo printing and slide/negative scanning off the table i'd still be looking for a multi-function device for scanning documents and copying. and since i'm still concerned with ink nozzles drying up and clogging maybe a B&W MF laser would be a better choice. any thoughts along those lines? 73, rich, n9dko On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:42:06 -0400, Michael Johnson wrote: My advice is to get a multifunction device such as a Canon MP830. It will do everything you need and then some. Photo print quality is excellent, it has an excellent scanner and the 35 page document feeder is great for scanning multiple pages. The software that comes with it allows you to scan large numbers of pages (even two sided pages) and save them as a single PDF file. I find this one of the most useful features of my Canon MP780 (the MP830's predecessor). It will also send and receive faxes make copies in black and white and color. It prints and copies in duplex (two sided) and has two paper feeds. Also, you can refill the cartridges in the MP830 with very little effort for about $1 each. Overall, it is one of the best multifunction printers on the market, IMO. For clarification, some Canon printers do have the printhead built into the cartridge. Best to check before you buy, depending on your preferences. Tony MS MVP Printing/Imaging |
#9
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Laser vs. Ink
Tony wrote:
Michael Johnson wrote: Rich, N9DKO wrote: many thanks for your post, michael. my primary concern with any inkjet are the nozzles on the print head becoming fouled or clogged due to infrequent use. when that happened with my ancient DeskJet 500 i was only partially successful in cleaning them...most of the time i had to toss the cart and replace it with another. being able to refill the carts for $1 wouldn't seem to matter if the nozzle heads become clogged. what are your experiences with this? I haven't had many issues with the head clogging on any of our Canon inkjet printers. Just making a color print once a week should keep it running fine. Also, the Canon printers don't have a head in the print cartridge like many HP printers. The head is separate and easily replaced by the user. and many thanks to the other posters for their thoughts as well. it seems i need to adjust my thinking about a MF printer. i don't print all that many photos anyway and for those that i do i've been uploading the digital images to walgreens or CVS or bringing in a CD-R to them for printing. that's worked out pretty well. gary, you suggested that i farm out the task of scanning my slides and negative and maybe that's a good thought. i have a ton of old slides but i rarely shoot film of any sort these days. barry, you suggested a stand-alone scanner such as the SJ5490C and i see your point but i'm trying to reduce the amount of hardware i have, not add to it. so if i take photo printing and slide/negative scanning off the table i'd still be looking for a multi-function device for scanning documents and copying. and since i'm still concerned with ink nozzles drying up and clogging maybe a B&W MF laser would be a better choice. any thoughts along those lines? 73, rich, n9dko On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:42:06 -0400, Michael Johnson wrote: My advice is to get a multifunction device such as a Canon MP830. It will do everything you need and then some. Photo print quality is excellent, it has an excellent scanner and the 35 page document feeder is great for scanning multiple pages. The software that comes with it allows you to scan large numbers of pages (even two sided pages) and save them as a single PDF file. I find this one of the most useful features of my Canon MP780 (the MP830's predecessor). It will also send and receive faxes make copies in black and white and color. It prints and copies in duplex (two sided) and has two paper feeds. Also, you can refill the cartridges in the MP830 with very little effort for about $1 each. Overall, it is one of the best multifunction printers on the market, IMO. For clarification, some Canon printers do have the printhead built into the cartridge. Best to check before you buy, depending on your preferences. Not the one I recommended. |
#10
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Laser vs. Ink
"Gary Tait" wrote in message
... "Rich, N9DKO" rk911 at yahoo dot com wrote in : prior to the 4Plus i had an HP DJ500. the main problem was that the ink nozzles would become clogged or dry out due to infrequent use. when this happened i was able to occasionally re-hab the cartridge back into service but more often than not i had to replace the cart. question: am i going to run into the same sort of problem with today's inkjets? i sometimes go for weeks without printing anything Yes. Moreso likely with the finer nozzels these days. I would disagree with this. Today's DeskJet printers are expected to (and do) survive the "Arizona schoolhouse in summertime" test, where printers in schools are expected to start up without issues after the three month summer vacation. A few weeks at a time should not be any problem for a printer such as the DeskJet 6940, see http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/p...C8970A%2523B1H. This printer uses the relatively large 96 & 97 cartridges which provide reasonable cost per page. For all-in-one printers my favorites are not longer offered. I own three Photosmart 2610 AIO's I picked up on eBay. They have a printer section very similar to the 6940 and a reasonable scanner and fax. I do not think they would do a reasonable job of scanning slides, for that I think a dedicated slide scanner would be better. The Officejet 7410 is like the Photosmart 2610 but it has an automatic document feeder. It is capable of scanning and copying double sided automatically. - Bob Headrick, W7OV |
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