Printer Reviews


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Buyer reviews for "Printer" sorted by average review score:

Epson Stylus Photo RX500 All-in-One
Made by Epson
  • Digital-camera memory card slots for PC-free printing and scan-to-card
  • Up to 5,760 x 1,440 optimized dpi printing
  • Up to 17 ppm draft print speed; 10 cpm copy speed
  • Up to 2,400 dpi optical scanning, 9,600 dpi interpolated
  • Built-in transparency unit for 35mm negative and slides
Amazon base price: $oo Low To Display
Used price: $182.00
Buy one from zShops for: $147.95
Average review score:

Great color, Great scanner, really just great.
I researched heavily. I needed a GOOD scanner that would also do film scanning. I have a large collection of negatives - 35mm and even super8 movie film. I have been most impressed with the quality of the scans, everything from old photos to negatives to slides comes out very well. This unit is advertised at an OPTICAL resolution of 2400x4800, and I believe it. I am able to scan a single frame of super8 movie film (which is about 1/4" square, if that) at 2400dpi and see film grain. Scanning higher res reaches the limits of the film before the scanner.

The printer: Awesome. That's all I have to say. The first test print on 4x6 epson photo paper blew me away. It looks BETTER than any photolab I have ever seen. This using only a 2.1MP Canon S330 digital camera as source. Simply amazing. Pretty quick too, about 30-45 seconds for a 4x6 in photo mode. Speed when printing "Regular" documents is VERY impressive. Draft is downright scary fast.

Software: Here's where Epson fell down for me. The CD that came with the printer would not install all the applications correctly. It would fail saying "unable to find file setup.exe" After beginning the install. I uninstalled everything and began anew, to no avail. Wound up digging into the CD with explorer and running all the installs by hand, except the scanning software which still gave the message.

Downloaded an older version from Epsons site, and it works adaquately. However, I cannot scan in "simple" or "home" mode, it fails after doing the preview scan with a memory error. Professional mode (manual control) works fine, and that's all I personally care about. I am awaiting a newer version of everything from epson.

The photo management/printing/project software (arcsoft photoimpression) is quite good. I've evaluated a lot of photo management/printing packages, and this one is a really easy to use and reasonably powerful package. I especially like the easy to use cropping to format tools (a digital format image almost never fits a 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 exactly), easy printing, and templates/projects. Free trial version can be had at arcsoft website for the curious.

Copying features are good, I haven't used it as a copier much, but it works well. Copying photos works very well, even enlarging or changing them. I prefer to scan/photoshop/print on most things, but for a quick copy it works very well.

Bonus for me is the USB card reader built in. You can use it independant of the printer as a regular card reader (Drive E: in my case). Nice thing is it's usb2.0, and VERY fast compared to my old one (You need USB 2.0 on your PC to get the most from this printer. Get a USB 2.0 card, they are about $10 or less)

All in all, 5+ start, minus a star for the failed software install (That would definitely ruin a lot of people's day).

Excellent for photos, decent for text.
I bought this printer after doing a thoroug search on the net. I rate is as quite good, but there are things that could be improved.

Software installed great; it was fast, and not too big.

Copying photos as a stand alone is excellent, but I noticed some greenish overcast. But I intent to scan everything into photoshop first, so I can live with that.

OCR software is quite effective and user friendly. I already like this one.

Cartridges are quite expensive, and it seems to be going through them rather quickly, but still acceptable.

The scanner is perfect. It has more resoulution than I can use.

The software works quite good, and it's user friendly, but there could be some more explanation in the manunal - for example I could not turn on the "dust and scratches option" in the scanner software, but I have to try higher resolution and see if the function becomes enabled.

The only major drawback I noticed was the text quality - I compared it to the printout from my HP cp 1700 at work, and Epson does not even come close.... mind you, the HP is a pricey unit able to print 13X17 pages. Having said that, the print quality is decent enough, but I feel a bit dissappointed.

I am using a USB 2.0, but the time it takes to start printing is not too impressive (on the other hand, some files are huge)

the unit is compact, appears to be well made and mechanically works very well.

5-month Review: 99.9% Perfection
My original review is further down, written a few days after setting up the printer. I'll now relate my 5-month experience.

The machine has been flawless. It's one of the best experiences I've ever had with an electronics device, and I am a gadget freak. I've printed approx. 30 greeting cards and 200 photos, from 4x6 through 8x10. Photos copy extremely well with the flatbed scanner, and I use it to make accurate copies of originals. For even better results, tweak your original photo on the computer and print it using your favorite image editing software.

You may rarely use the negative-adapter, but if you only have a negative and need a print, it is a godsend. High quality scans, for sure.

One ink cartridge just fell under 20% full (light Cyan), so the ink lasts a long time. You can find great deals on original Epson ink on the web (try Amazon first). I bought a whole set of refills on the cheap.

I mainly use it to print digital photos (4x6 mostly) from my Canon S400 Digital Elph, and to print greeting cards. I make remarkable cards for pennies compared to $2 - $5 at the greeting card racks.

Paper: Extremely high quality prints on Epson, HP, Kodak and Ilford Galerie photo papers. I love Ilford paper. You can find great deals online for photo paper. 200 sheets of high gloss for under $20. Don't penalize yourself on quality - get the high gloss.

I have a minolta 11x17 b/w laser printer, so I don't use the RX500 for most document printing. Toner is cheaper than ink, and laser is faster than inkjet, especially for long documents.

The Epson RX600 recently came out. Same as RX500, but has an LCD preview window. Handy if you print right from the digital card reader. You can get an external Epson LCD for as low as $18, so the extra $100 for the RX600 is a bit tough to swallow. Deals are popping up on the RX500. It's still the best value of any multi-function device.

*** Original Review ***

I was looking for a color printer, as I only had a b/w laser printer. Since I have owned digital cameras since 1999, it was time to get a photo quality printer. I Decided I wanted it to scan and copy as well. The multi-function device (MFD) was much better than in previous-generation products. It had to have separate ink cartridges (better value on ink), which ruled out HP, and almost everything but Canon and Epson devices.

After exhaustive research and showroom testing at a local retailer, I bought the Epson CX6400. Great value. It was a 4-ink system (not 6), but the DuraBright inks were getting pretty good reviews. I stayed up until 1am playing with my new toy. On premium glossy paper, the prints were very good. However, they had a matte, or maybe a semi-gloss cast to them, even on the best glossy paper. Other photo printers (Epson R300) delivered a glossier, crisper photo-processing feel to them. I could live with that for the price and features the CX6400 had. The 6-ink system was not in the cards for me if I wanted a MFD flatbed device.

The next morning, while reading the Sunday paper, I saw an ad for a brand new MFD by Epson. Just came out. It was the RX500. Here's the bottom line. It has the same 6-ink system and print engine as the beautiful-printing R300/M, and it is a flatbed MFD. Nirvana!

I exchanged the unit the next morning. Wow! The printouts are just like a photo lab with my 4 megapixel shots. Even my older 2 megapixel shots looked great.

You can do almost everything on the device without a computer, as it has card slots for almost every media type. When you print from the computer, the software lets you tweak the quality even higher.

Liked the Epson CX6400. Love the RX500. The RX500 is the best of both worlds...

The 4x6 prints look incredible on premium glossy paper, and very nice on plain, bright paper. 8x10 and 8.5x11 also look great - just like a photo lab. And you can print borderless prints, without perforated paper. Ideal!

Speed is pretty good. Larger prints, and highest quality obviously take longer to print, but it's well worth it. Surf the web while you are waiting.

The bundled imaging software (PhotoImpression) is easy to use and does a great job. You can go from a digital photo to a beautiful print in minutes. The amount of control is overwhelming, but fortunately the standard setting doa great job. Go with the default settings unless you have a special need. Just set the paper type and size, and you are off to the races.

It's faster start-to-finish when you plug your memory card directly into the device. If you have a few minutes to boot up your computer, you'll have more control and you can bump the quality up a bit. Honestly, it was hard to tell the difference, though. Tech specs say there is a difference in resolution, but if I'm in a hurry, I print without the computer.

The Rx500 also scans and prints existing photos very well, as well as a magazine cover I used as a test. New on this device (and an exclusive) is a transparency and slide scanner. I scanned and printed from a 35mm positive, and a film negative. The quality is outstanding. Now I can zip out a print from any old negative or slide I have stored away in boxes. Way cool.

The only "negative" or tradeoff, is that the ink will smudge if it gets wet. That's the price you pay for the 6-ink system. As long as you get your prints into a photo album, or under glass in a frame, it is a non-issue. I'll take the tradeoff rather than settle for lesser quality in a smudge-resistant ink.

Buy the RX500. You truly get the best of all worlds. A superior photo printer, with the convenience and ultimate flexibility of a an excellent scanner/copier...


Canon S630 Color Bubble Jet Printer
Made by Canon
  • Up to 2,400 x 1,200 dpi resolution
  • Prints black text at 17 pages per minute, color at 12 ppm
  • 100-sheet automatic paper feeder
  • USB and parallel connectivity
  • Separate black and color ink tanks
Amazon base price: $
List price: $169.99 (that's NaN% off!)
Average review score:

Great Printer--except for the streaking
The first three months with this printer, I loved it--clear photos and crisp quality. But after that, it went downhill, with streaking on the side. I'd seen this in a customer review and thought maybe they had bought a lemon, but the same thing has happened with my printer.

Other than that, I like the individual ink tanks and photo print quality. But nothing looks good when there is a dark streak across your page!

Great overall printer
After much research into an ink-jet printer that would do a decent job for printing my digital photos, I decided to get the Epson 785EX. I was trying to decide between the HP 1315photo printer, this Canon, and the Epson when a customer walked in and told me he loved the Epson.

Brought the Epson home, and it took an hour to install. Made some prints, and the photo quality was not anything near to the Lexmark z51 printer that just died on me--both in terms of color quality and clarity.

Returned the Epson for the Canon the next day, and love the Canon. I've only had it for a week, but the prints are pretty good quality on plain paper (still not as good as the Lexmark); I like the separate ink tanks (the Lexmark ink cartridges were very expensive!), and it is very fast.

No problems on text printing in draft mode, and the software installed in 10 minutes, no problems. I like its simplicity and it should serve the average digital photo hobbyist well.

Great PHOTO printer for the price.
I have to say this printer is leaps and bounds above others in its price range (...). I chose Canon because of prior experience. I started out with a BJ-10ex, BJC-6000 and now this one. I did some research and found that Epson is an ink hog and HP hasn't come close to the photo-quality of Canon and Epson. I did frown down on Epson for making a very loud printer compared to the Canon. Though I have to admit both make some noise when initially feeding the paper in. After that you can barely tell the Canon is printing until it spits it out.

I did encounter one problem with attempting to print to the S630. Using Macromedia Fireworks, I tried printing a PNG graphics file but the printer took the paper and spit it right out with no trace of ink on the paper. I haven't made the call the Canon yet. I hope to get it resolved soon.

If you decide on buy a printer and want to use another brand of paper don't forget to create a customize "form" before doing so. Just open up your printers folder(assuming you are using Windows) and select File | Server Properties or something very similar. You will then get a windows that lists all the different types of paper sizes and an option to create new ones. This is where you have to measure you paper and input the dimensions in. Do a test run using plain letter size paper and use that as your basis for making adjustments before you use that expensive paper.

Unfortunately the poor soul(An electronis fan) who posted on Oct 27,2001 from Chicago, IL USA may not have known this and wasted time, money and patience trying to get it working on a different brand of paper. (...)


Epson Stylus Photo 2000P Inkjet Printer
Made by Epson
  • 6-color Epson Archival Ink system for beautiful long-lasting photos
  • 1,440 x 720 dpi resolution in black and color
  • Supports borderless, edge-to-edge photo printing
  • Variable microdroplets for fine detail
  • USB, IEEE-1284 parallel, and optional Ethernet print server interfaces; PC and Mac compatible
Amazon base price: $
List price: $899.99 (that's NaN% off!)
Average review score:

Exceptional Archival Printer
I own this printer. It does beautiful archival prints. I know of some photographers who have gotten the Epson 2000P to use instead of Iris prints. They feel the Epson 2000P has better print quality and longevity than a ... ... Iris print. The only issue I have with the Epson 2000P is that there is some bronzing when printing on glossy photo papers. My favorite paper with this printer is the Epson archival matte. The prints are beautiful on this paper. If you are interested in archival printing and can handle only doing smaller prints (8.5 X 11), Epson has a new printer called an Epson Stylus C80.

Best Photo Printer on the Market
After receiving this printer and making numerous prints, I have decided to dismantle my traditional darkroom! For years I held back from going completely digital because photo quality printers were not up to the standards I had come to expect from my Cibachrome prints. All that has changed with the Epson Stylus 2000P. Image quality is superb, indistinguishable with the naked eye from silver halide-based prints. While I have not personally tested longevity, if the reported 200-year lifetime is anywhere near correct these prints are better than Cibachromes. And going digital has other advantages. I have already made outstanding prints from transparencies I would never have thought about printing in the past because of the complicated masks I would have had to create. A good photo software program (I use Corel PhotoPaint) makes it easy to do difficult contrast and color corrections. The 2000P was easy to set up. An excellent quick-start sheet had me making my first print less than 20 minutes after taking the printer out of the box. The Windows installation program was straightforward. The only thing I didn't like is that it made the 2000P my default printer without asking me. This was easy to fix. I was also surprised to discover it came with three boxes of papers: 50 sheets of premium luster, 50 sheets of archival matte, and 20 sheets of 13x19 watercolor paper. Plus a sample pack of various media. Nice job Epson. Don't plan to use this as your everyday printer. It is optimized for printing photos and should be used for such. A 13 meg photo took about 10 minutes to print using the parallel interface (I will convert to USB as soon as I get a cable), which might seem slow but is still faster than chemical-based prints. As a 25-year Hewlett-Packard employee (now with Agilent Technologies as a result of the company split) it was very difficult for me to decide to buy Epson. But in the area of photo quality archival output there is just no alternative. All in all, I am extremely satisfied.

Great printer for artists!
I bought this printer to make prints of my original watercolor paintings at home. The quality is incredible. When the prints are printed on Epson's watercolor paper, I can barely tell the difference between the original painting and the Epson print! The printer is expensive, but is paying for itself very quickly. You need to read the manual and use the right paper for each job, and you'll be very happy with the results.


HP PhotoSmart 7150 Inkjet Printer
Made by Hewlett Packard
  • Photo-quality inkjet printer with easy digital camera connection
  • Up to 4,800 dpi color resolution on photo paper
  • 2 USB ports, 1 in front and 1 in back
  • Supports optional duplex accessory for 2-sided printing
  • PC and Mac compatible
Amazon base price: $
List price: $182.00 (that's NaN% off!)
Used price: $45.00
Buy one from zShops for: $149.99
Average review score:

A bit disappointed...
As an HP-only printer owner over the 15 years I've been using the PC, it was a natural for me to again go to them when I upgraded my 1MP digicam to a 4MP. I've had nothing but great performance and reliability from these machines!

The upgrade to the HP 7150 Photosmart was a no-brainer. I did anguish over whether to go with the Canon i850, as I have worked in consumer electronics for the past 6 years, so I know my way around printers, and know the Canon's rep for quality.

Anyway, the printer was incredibly easy to set up and get running! I set it up for max quality and photo ink, and the first photo was STUNNING! I noticed a few peculiarities that bothered me, though:

- Prints were coming out curled at 4x6 AND 8.5x11. I want my prints to come out as flat as the paper they're printed on.
- In my opinion, the printer is WAY too noisy for my taste. My wife and I work opposite shifts, so I have to print the occasional job while she's asleep --- well, WAS asleep!

Overall, I love the 4x6 paper tray, and the HP name. I'm sorry to say, though, I will be returning the 7150 in exchange for a Canon i850. I will miss my nice, quiet 722C(the printer I'm replacing) - hopefully, the Canon won't let me down...

HP 7150
My HP 7150 prints nice photographs. The quality is very good, but I have had a lot of difficulty getting 4x6 sizes of paper to feed properly.

Also, business letters are important to me and I can't get envelopes to feed properly.

It has been frustrating not having availability of free customer service.

I will probably replace this unit with an Epson in the near future.

Beyond All Expectations!
Put the old camera & film in the attic for nostalgia sake! Get a 2 MP digital or higher and print your photos with this printer! The 4"x6" tray is a plus for album & framed prints and the 8x10 tray is fine for multiple prints on one page (called albums). I use desktop publishing programs to create collages of pictures as well. The photo print quality of the HP is magnificent! People who see my photos cannot believe a printer produced them with such vivid color and clarity. I have made "memories" CD's using my cdwriter and imported background music for the "slide shows". The HP software does it all - follow the directions. User friendly and the ink goes a long way! Don't pass on this one - I paid ... only 3 months ago and it's worth much more -it's on sale so run for it! Print only what you like and you will LOVE what you print!


HP PhotoSmart 1215 Photo Printer
Made by Hewlett Packard
  • 2,400 x 1,200 dpi enhanced resolution using photo paper
  • Exclusive HP PhotoREt III color layering technology
  • Prints black text at 17 ppm, color at 13 ppm
  • Prints directly from digital camera memory cards
  • Parallel, USB, and wireless infrared interfaces; PC and Mac compatible
Amazon base price: $
List price: $199.99 (that's NaN% off!)
Average review score:

Recipe for grief
Until this product, I was a huge promoter of HP printers, but the HP 1215 apparently was designed with little attention to Apple compatibility. Unpredictably it refused to print first in 0S9 and then in 0SX. I'm frankly sick of downloading and reloading new drivers only to find they don't work and/or freeze up my entire computer. Because of this printer I've cleaned off my entire hard drive, lost valuable files and programs, and still wound up with a non-functional machine. It's been in my closet for 6 months, and I'm considerably happier with a new bottom-of-the-line Canon printer.

HP fan
I've had a HP842C for 3 years. On its last leg, I researched what printer (brands) to get, including all the HP's, and found the 1215 as the best buy. A friend told me the only thing good HP does is printers; don't know if that's true, but I am sold on their printers. I print mega digital photos, and the large ink cartridge is what sold me. I also publish a bi-monthly newsletter for my trade association, and my first copy from the 1215 was more than anticipated. I had forgotten what a good printer accomplished. The "normal" print selection produced text so crisp and clear; the color photos were superb. Print speed was quick - just watch out for the flying paper. The printer spits the paper out so quickly, some sheets landed on the floor. I've remedied that situation. Also had to buy a new 78 color, the print heads were dried up on the cartridge included in the box. Being an older model HP, I wasn't surprised nor angry. It's just one of those things. Overall, very satisfied. So much, I bought a second one!

Fantastic! A 6th Star.
I have numerous printers available in my office for different functions. My Photosmart 1215/1218 gets all the work. It's fast, reliable, great quality and we have not had 1 minute of down time. Also, I purchased the auto-duplex unit that enables the printer to print 2 sided documents. Super easy to use and still very fast! The printer can be tricky to install, however when I upgraded to Windows XP, XP easily set it up for me. If you don't have XP, be sure to follow directions carefully. I was so pleased with the printer; I bought a second for my son to take to college.


Canon BJC-85 Portable Color Bubble Jet Printer
Made by Canon Computer Systems
  • Lightweight color Bubble Jet printer
  • USB and parallel ports, Mac and PC compatible
  • IrDA technology for wireless printing
  • 720 x 360 resolution in color or B&W
  • Up to 5 ppm black printing
Amazon base price: $
List price: $299.00 (that's NaN% off!)
Used price: $159.99
Buy one from zShops for: $369.85
Average review score:

Print Word Documents From Your Palm
If you add DataVid's Documents To Go 4.0 (available from Amazon) to your Palm; and if you also add Docs To Print and IR Print (available from doctoprint.irprint.com); you can then -- work on -- and print MS Word files from your Palm to the Canon BJC-85 via IR (infrared) -- no cords or PC required.

The printing I get when using my Palm and Canon BJC-85 isn't letter quality. But the Canon BJC line of printers are the smallest, most portable letter-size printers available today. And being able to -- work on -- and print MS Word presentations and proposals from my Palm while on the road is extremely convenient.

(The above software combination, incidentally, will enable you to also print to other IR capable printers such as desktop models from HP and portable A6 paper-size units from Sipix.)

The BJC-85 also provides the option of swapping out the color cartridge -- and replacing it with a much larger black cartridge -- which is very helpful, especially since the ink capacity on this printer is quite limited.

(As a watch-out: be sure to aim your Palm at the Canon BJC-85's IR port from at least seven inches away, otherwise the connection won't be made. I learned this after e-mailing someone at Docs To Print, who was most helpful.)

Being able to print letter-size documents on the road directly from my Palm is another good reason to leave my heavy laptop computer -- at home -- where it belongs!

Just what I was looking for..
This printer is a convenient size for someone with limited desk space or for taking it with you when traveling. The battery pak mentioned that can be used with this printer is available through DELL. It may take a bit of searching to find it. Click on Printers, then look for the Canon BJC-85, then click on more details under the printer icon, then related products on the next screen. It does not state for BJC-85 but it is the correct battery pack or ask Dell for reassurance, I did! I have been very pleased with the print quality of such a small printer, even the graphics are great. For Word Processing that requires mostly black ink, use the large BCI-10 Ink Cartridge it is better than the small black tank you use with color printing. I have not been able to locate the Infrared Driver for it does anyone know where that can be acquired? I am more than pleased with this quality and size of this printer.

Small, Convenient, Works Great!!
The Canon BJC-85 is a small, lightweight printer that is easy to pack and works wonderfully well. It has both parallel and USB connections for PC's or MAC's. The quality of the black text printing is very good - especially when you consider the small size and light weight of this printer. The color printing is also amazingly good. The software loads easily, and I had mine up and running in a matter of minutes attached to my laptop. You'll need to buy either a parallel or USB cable, since it isn't included. Canon has the best reputation, by far, of all the brands who make portable printers and this is their newest model. This is really a terrific little printer that is well worth the price for people on the road who need to print from their laptops.


Epson Stylus CX6400 All-in-One Multifunction
Made by Epson
  • Color printing, copying, and scanning
  • Up to 22 ppm print speed, up to 16 copies per minute
  • Up to 1,200 x 2,400 dpi optical scan resolution, 48-bit color
  • Slots for digital-camera memory cards
  • USB 2.0 interface; PC and Mac compatible
Amazon base price: $
List price: $239.99 (that's NaN% off!)
Used price: $105.99
Buy one from zShops for: $134.99
Average review score:

Nice Hardware, Poor software (on MacOSX)
I am very satisfied with the print quality, borderless on photo paper is just stunning.
As a scanner the printer is really hampered, on Mac OSX, by the supplied drivers: The installer crashed a number of times, the "Smart controller" often unexpectedly quits.
Also, the screens in the "scan and save" function have many field that I just can't edit, for example the Format where you could choose between PDF, JPEG is stuck at JPEG, a real bummer. The resolution field is also unmodifiable.

The software is obviously a bad port from windows, as it does not obey the most basic keyboard shortcuts (cmd-W to close a window does not work, cannot tab between fields etc). The "Smart panel" is laughable, especialy its "advanced settings" that's totally useless.
If I had known this I would not have bought the printer.

And yes, I went to Epson site to get the latest drivers&software.

Nice printer, but some drawbacks
Ok, I got this printer after much pressure for printing photos. Got a little patience? Good...because this will push your buttons to oblivion. Im not saying this multifunction is bad, it just has a little kinks to be worked out. (Ok Epson?)

Printing: nice and quiet, and fast. Nothing wrong there.

Scanner: ok too, but it takes a while to get the commands to the scanner. (Or maybe that was my computer, who knows?) The first time I used it, I scanned the same photo twice, because I didnt think it was already scanned. However, I think their software should have a little more umph to it, Im not thinking Adobe Photoshop, but close.

Copy: well, its ok, if you are only copying paper to paper, but if magazine to paper, this is where they get you. I copied an article but the print came out so small, I was very unhappy. So I scanned, zoomed, cropped and printed. Then I felt satisfied.

Card Print: Havent used it yet, waiting for a digital camera...hint hint.

Great Value
I bought this printer a little over a month ago, and I am completely satisfied. I used the card reader for photo prints for the first time last week and I really liked the process. Prints came out very nice. Comparable to an HP photosmart printer, but I feel like the epson prints were much nicer because you don't have to wait for ink to dry. Colors are just as vivid as an HP photo printer. But I do suggest that you buy DuraBrite Photo paper. This optimizes the photos appearance.

The printer is very easy to set up, Nice speed and very quiet. This is a great value for anyone looking for a quality multi-function printer. Especially with the great rebate Amazon is offering at the moment. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because it is a little bulky. But that is expected from a multi-function printer. I would LOVE for these to shrink a tad bit!


Samsung ML-1450/XAA Laser Printer
Made by Samsung
  • 15 pages per minute print speed
  • 66 MHz RISC processor, 4 MB memory, upgradeable to 64 MB
  • 12,000 pages per month duty cycle
  • Windows, Mac, and Linux compatible
Amazon base price: $
List price: $299.99 (that's NaN% off!)
Average review score:

Great printer with a few tiny flaws
Reviewer: An electronics fan from New York
I have been a happy owner of Brother HL-630 since Windows 3.1 days. For years it served my need quite well, W3.1, W95, W98, until recently it decided not to take in any more paper. So I needed a new printer. I don't need to print out fancy photos or colorful booklets. I needed a good black-white laser printer at reasonal price. I couldn't quite decide between Samsung ML-1450 and Brother HL-1440. The feature and price were quite close. And both got some very good reviews and very bad ones. The Sumsung was $... more with 2MB extra memory, and I have been quite happy with my old Brother printer.
Here are the few reasons why I chose Samsung at last:
1. Built-in memory: 4MB for Samsung, 2MB for Brother HL-1440. I don't want to open the new printer and install more memory right away.
2. Resolution: 1200x1200 for Samsung, 1200x600 for Brother. It doesn't matter much for everyday printing, but one never knows.
3. Multi-page printing: 16 for Samsung, 10 or something for Brother. Don't remember the exact number, read in someone's review, but not 16. Does it matter? again, one never knows.
4. Paper input capacity: 550 for Samsung, 250 for Brother. I am lazy and rather like to print without worrying if I have enough paper in the stack.
5. Reviews on Amazon: bad ones for Samsung are mostly from Mac user while there are both PC and Mac for Brother. I am a PC user.
7. Toner: Toner/Drum unit for Samsung, one replacement for both while Brother needs separate units which in turn would cost more.
8. This is small but quite personal opinion: Brother looks cheaper. HL-1850 is great but I didn't want to spend that much.

Just received my Samsung a few days ago. The machine looked great, simple neat design. Very easy to set up. It came with a color manual for installation. One could use it right away without reading its manual. The output look sharp and great. I would love to give it a 5-star, except a few things below:
1. The data transfer beween computer and printer is noticable slow, even compare to my ancient Brother HL-630. I am running Windows 2000 with 256RAM. Currently I use parallel port. I am not sure if USB would be better but then I already a couple USB devices at the same time so I doubt the bandwidth would be better.
2. No hardcopy manual provided. You can easily download it from Samsung website and print it out. Good test on double-side printing, but of course also good test on one's patient with slow data transfer before it starts printing.
3. When you have only one piece of paper on the multi-purpose tray, the paper could easily got jammed...

Great printer with a few tiny flaws
I have been a happy owner of Brother HL-630 since Windows 3.1 days. For years it served my need quite well, W3.1, W95, W98, until recently it decided not to take in any more paper. So I needed a new printer. I don't need to print out fancy photos or colorful booklets. I needed a good black-white laser printer at reasonal price. I couldn't quite decide between Samsung ML-1450 and Brother HL-1440. The feature and price were quite close. And both got some very good reviews and very bad ones. The Sumsung was $50 more with 2MB extra memory, and I have been quite happy with my old Brother printer.

Here are the few reasons why I chose Samsung at last:
1. Built-in memory: 4MB for Samsung, 2MB for Brother HL-1440. I don't want to open the new printer and install more memory right away.
2. Resolution: 1200x1200 for Samsung, 1200x600 for Brother. It doesn't matter much for everyday printing, but one never knows.
3. Multi-page printing: 16 for Samsung, 10 or something for Brother. Don't remember the exact number, read in someone's review, but not 16. Does it matter? again, one never knows.
4. Paper input capacity: 550 for Samsung, 250 for Brother. I am lazy and rather like to print without worrying if I have enough paper in the stack.
5. Reviews on Amazon: bad ones for Samsung are mostly from Mac user while there are both PC and Mac for Brother. I am a PC user.
7. Toner: Toner/Drum unit for Samsung, one replacement for both while Brother needs separate units which in turn would cost more.
8. This is small but quite personal opinion: Brother looks cheaper. HL-1850 is great but I didn't want to spend that much.

Just received my Samsung a few days ago. The machine looked great, simple neat design. Very easy to set up. It came with a color manual for installation. One could use it right away without reading its manual. The output look sharp and great. I would love to give it a 5-star, except a few things below:
1. The data transfer beween computer and printer is noticable slow, even compare to my ancient Brother HL-630. I am running Windows 2000 with 256RAM. Currently I use parallel port. I am not sure if USB would be better but then I already a couple USB devices at the same time so I doubt the bandwidth would be better.
2. No hardcopy manual provided. You can easily download it from Samsung website and print it out. Good test on double-side printing, but of course also good test on one's patient with slow data transfer before it starts printing.
3. When you have only one piece of paper on the multi-purpose tray, the paper could easily got jammed. I've been always happy with Amazon.com but hey money saved is money earned those days!

Outstanding features at a reasonable price
My HP Laserjet 4 finally died, and I spent several days looking at laser printers. Now that I've had this one for a couple months, I'm convinced I made the right choice. It's a great printer at a great price! It holds a huge amount of paper - 500 sheets at once. I've fed thick card stock and cover stock through it, and envelopes/labels load and print with no problems. Many of the inexpensive laser printers feel cheap and flimsy - this one feels substantial, much more like my HP than most of the lasers on the market.

One feature I really love is the "reprint" button- press it, and it prints another copy of the page you printed last. Why don't all printers do this? It prints a lot faster than my old HP - plenty fast enough for a small office environment.

The toner cartridge includes the drum - very important, as many of the cheaper printers have a separate drum which must be replaced with every few toners, sometimes for almost as much as the printer cost! The included starter cartridge is good for only 3000 pages at 5% rated coverage (less than that in real life), but considering how cheap the printer is I still think it's a bargain that they include a cartridge at all. The regular cartridge is rated for 6000 pages.

Compare this to an inkjet (where they basically give the printer away to sell you overpriced ink cartridges for the rest of your life) and I can't see why anyone wouldn't buy a laser. This one has the right combination of features and a great price - highly recommended!


HP LaserJet 1200se Printer
Made by Hewlett Packard
  • 1,200 x 1,200 dpi resolution
  • 8 MB RAM, expandable to 72 MB
  • 15 page per minute printing speed
  • USB and parallel connectivity; PC and Mac compatible
  • Supports optional networking and scanner/copier attachments
Amazon base price: $
List price: $499.00 (that's NaN% off!)
Buy one from zShops for: $269.00
Average review score:

Does not work sufficiently with Mac OS X
I've had this printer for a year. I have both a Mac running OS X and a PC running Windows XP. This printer is flawless with Windows XP, but doesn't even work sufficiently with Mac OS X. If I attempt to print from Adobe on my Mac, the printer takes 30 minutes for a single page. If I try to print a web page it will take 15 minutes per page and sometimes print screen shots rather than the web page. The Mac works fine with other HP printers, but the 1200 SE is a complete bust. No matter what software or solutions I try, the HP 1200 SE will not work properly with the Mac running OS X. I'm very dissappointed with this product. HP promised a solution 12 months ago. Apparently, that was a lie by HP and now I have a printer that can't be returned. I will never buy another HP printer as a result of this experience.

HP Excellence
After using the HP Laserjet 5L for 6 years, I decided to upgrade to the 1200. I love it. It's fast, economical (tone save function) and expandable if your needs grow. I'm a one person business user, so I elected to add the copier / color scanner. This permits scanning and directly emailing docs. Also, OCR and FAXing directly. Wow!!

As usual, HP is superbly reliable, although supplies are no bargin (I'd never use gray market toner to save pennies).

Some folks complain about no printer cable - go to a retail outlet - no cable there either. It's standard practice, not deception. HP has captured the laser printer market through there very common 11 years mean time between failures of the printer frame (excluding the toner cartridge), excellent quality, and competitive cost per print (~2.2 cents per page with 1200 series), and speed 15 pages per minute. The copies this little guy produces are as good as the local copy shop!

I'd buy HP again without hesitation.

Great Machine, Great Value!
A solid "introductory level" laser printer that has features normally found on much more expensive machines. I've used an HP Deskjet 500 for years and finally got tired of the incredibly expensive inkjet cartridges and of the "refill kits" that usually either don't work at all or end up leaking all over the inside of your machine. The laserprint technology is definitely the way to go in terms of ease of use, cost per page and print quality. I will never go back to inkjet.
I have been using this machine for about four months and have no complaints whatsoever...it works perfectly every time.
The only warning I would wish to extend to users is that in the event you have difficulties installing the included software, try rebooting your machine without drivers running and then running the install....this software seems to be highly sensitive to that, at least it was on my WIN 98SE machine.
Other than that, the machine was easy to set up and is a breeze to use, completely dependable in all respects.
...


Epson Stylus Color 900 Ink Jet Printer (PC/Mac)
Made by Epson
    Amazon base price: $
    Average review score:

    Great-- Until it died
    This is the 2nd (and last) Epson printer I have had trouble with. I used this printer for home use-- mostly text-- for about 2 years. It is very fast and has good layout options. On the down side the replacement cartridges are expensive and the system that tells you to replace them unreliable. (You can fool the computer into thinking you've put a new one in by lifting up the old one and quickly putting it back in, I learned) The other day (after using it that morning) I turned the printer on and it turned itself off. I have fooled with it to no avail. Epson does NOT have an 800 number and was not very helpful-- even about providing a place for me to bring it for repairs.

    Great performance with significant annoyances
    I've had this printer for over a year. On the plus side, this Epson prints very fast in both B&W and in color, and the printed pages and photos it turns out look great. On the negative side, two or three times a week, it has to go through a noisy and annoying one-minute-plus cycle to warm up before printing even one page, it needs head cleaning multiple times(done by an included software utility) about every three weeks which can take another three to five minutes of cycling or else I see gaps in the printouts, it runs very noisily when it is printing, and it goes through black ink cartridges faster than I'd like. Bottom line, when I have to do it over again, I'll go back to HP despite the high quality and speed of the Epson's printing, because my HP printers don't do the things that annoy me about the Epson Stylus Color 900.

    Great Printer!!
    I've been using an HP InkJet for several years. I can't believe how Epson has surpassed HP - the speed is fantastic, and the output quality is truely unbelievable. What a great price performer!


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