Am Buying a Printer, please help!

[sheruken]

I am looking to buy a Printer and am not sure which one to go for (what make). I am looking to buy a Color LaserJet.. But I have no idea about the technicalities and stuff. Don't mind spending upto $800 - $1000 (converting that into Indian Rupees) thats what the prices are like over here..
I also was just wondering, that THAT is a lot of money for me and I was thinking if I can get more out of the printer. As in also get photo prints (like a 2 in 1, where I can print normal A4 size Laser Colored Documents with Pictures and also Print Photos that I've taken from a Digital Camera.).
Now as I said I've not done any research or anything on this. At the moment I have a shitty HP DeskJet 3325 and I've had a very rough time with it. I have to manually put like 1 paper and that also gets stuck and wastes my executive bonds .. So I want something that is quick, automatic (like put in 50 pages and just say print and u dont have to bother touch the printer, untill you have to refill the papers), Printer Cartridge / Toner changeable only after 3 to 4 months of regular high quality printing, Photo Printing big size is preferable like 8" x 4" photo prints..

Now I know it seems impossible to have such features, but if it is out there then I dont mind spending little more aswell.. I also know I could've just done a search and instead of spending to much time writing this I could've re-searched a few ones, but then again I would've been confused and not come to a decision at all, So I would appreciate if someone please puts up the hand and helps me shortlist a few good printers possibly with the features I listed above.. As I said I am a newbie to printers don't know much besides creating something in photoshop and pressing CTRL + P ..
(also what the hell is so much RAM needed for in printing, I read a few printers have like 128 MB RAM expandable to blah blah?? )

Thanks!

[antonioledesma]

not much of an advise, but look after some office printers. They have big paper tray capacity, the toner will last a very long time.And the RAM they have should be enough
For quality prints I don't like fast printers.
Let's say the most common features you should look for a printer are DPI, pages per minute (they cheat a lot with this one. They say it can print...20 pages per minute, buuut only in economic mode and black ink).
If you have a laptop with bluetooth, it could be nice to have a printer with bluetooth so no more cables

for more info you should look here
http://reviews.cnet.com/Peripherals/...tag=cnetfd.dir

[sheruken]

Thanks for the Link and the explanation.. I always knew that buying a printer can be complicated but I never knew that there was so much attached to it.. I mean really it is quite deep, isnt it.. Thanks for the Link aswell.. some nice pointers there..
Will let you know which one I evetually end up buying!

[frodefe]

Hi

I work as a internasjonal product manager for a large printer company, I might be of some assistance...

1. What do you plan to print? documents, images, presentations etc
- equal amount of each of the above?
2 How much will you print
3. How often do you plan to print
4. Do you own a scanner - do you use it
5. What's your budget

I will do my best to give you some unimpeded advice..

[sheruken]

Hey frodefe,
Thanks for your assistance mate! I really appriciate this!

1. What do you plan to print? documents, images, presentations etc
- equal amount of each of the above?
Equal Amount of each of the above!

2 How much will you print?
Quite Regularly, I am also a partner at a LAN Gaming Cafe / Center, So I Print all sorts of Promotional Prints with Images and Logo for the Cafe once or twice a month just to make it look good!

3. How often do you plan to print
I print documents almost daily, and image printing once or twice a week (Print a lot of Project Reports / CVs and somtimes even Company / Corporate Profiles..

4. Do you own a scanner - do you use it
Yes, but I dont use it often, only occassionally, but I hate it, Never found Scanner quality upto the mark. I have a Umax Astra 4400 or something.

5. What's your budget
I dont mind going maximum upto USD 900, but that is also too much. I'll have to shell in from my extra savings

BTW, I do have a sony photo printer, and the quality is pretty much okay.. I mean I dont love it, but I dont hate it either. And it prints 6 by 4 inch pictures. I have a Sony CyberShot DSC P-200 thats 7.2 MegaPixel, And I would like to print a few good quality pictures of it.. So I was wondering if there are any printers that do that and normal laser printing aswell.. Quite frankly, I am horrifyed by the thought of owning another InkJet printer. I just hate it. The papers Get stuck in my printer often and I dont really like to print images on it, coz it just SUCKS!

I would also like to know, if I have a decent 600 dpi Colour Laser Printer (CLP), will I be happy to print Pictures taken from my DigiCAM on a normal Executive Bond Paper? Just to stick it on my Empty wall? Like for egs, I play GT4 enough and have taken a few decent pictures of my rides in it, so if I print those thru a CLP will I be satisfied or would it be just like the way it comes out from the InkJet!

I am sorry to have blasted so many questions at you mate, but I really have no clue about this.. And the internet has just confused me more.. However after reading the earlier link posted by antonioledesma, I did come to a decesion of checking this out :
HP Color LaserJet 2550 Printer Series!

[pharzo]

Hey, I have that printer

It's actually very good. Not so much for photo's, so I have a seperate Casio photo printer for that, but the quality is pretty good on moderately expensive paper, and it's pretty fast. About 15 sec for a color page. With your budget of 900 USD you can get this one, and then shell out for a great photo printer as well. It's always better to seperate the technologies, because they'll each better at what they do than an All-In-One device

[antonioledesma]

Originally Posted by pharzo It's always better to seperate the technologies, because they'll each better at what they do than an All-In-One device

of course... I have an hp psc750, scanner, printer and "xerox"
isn't that good scanning neither with quality printing, but it saves some valuable space in my room.
if you look for proffessional results always go with one printer for all your documents, one flatbed scanner bigger than A4 sized paper. And if you have a constant need of printing photos, a printer that has different colors, pastel like, and the new models (epson as I know) have 5 or 6 different colors plus black

[frodefe]

Hi sheruken,

I will try to answer this as general as possible, and not throw you a lame sales pitch. The choice is actual fairly simple when you have decided what to print, and how much/often.
Technology have moved the capabilities of all printers a great deal, and to a certain degree one can claim that Moore's Law also applies here.

One fact has not changed; InkJet printers are unsurpassed when it comes to image quality. The new LaserJet models are rapidly closing this gap,
but do not expect to produce the same, fine and brilliant glossy result that the newer models can deliver. Furthermore, InkJet printers are way
cheeper to purchase, but more costly to use.

In between these two technologies are the Business InkJets. I visited the site you referred to and found the Business InkJet 1200.
(http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_Business_...tml?tag=viddet)
This is a InkJet printer designed to be used more frequently than your ordinary InkJet printer. It can also be extended with an extra papertray, network, etc, etc.
But the best part is, when you use this printer in combination with HP photopaper it can produce some outstanding photos.
During a normal day you can use ordinary printing paper, and the ink on draft mode.

This is, as I see it, the best of two worlds....

But the CLJ 2550 is one hell of a bargain

[sheruken]

Hey Guys, thanks for the Reply!!
I really appreciate your responses!! I had almost decide to buy the CLJ 2550 (By the way Pharzo, how is color printing quality like for Logos and a few Wallpaper prints just for hanging on the wall? Can you take a picture of a normal color print out and share it here?) I know I know thats asking for too much.. But I almost convined myself to buy it but then I saw Business InkJet 1200 and this one : HP PhotoSmart 8450
http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_Photosmar...?tag=pdtl-list

I do want a Photo Printer that can print Big High Quality Images aswell.. And I dont have a space issue.. I wouldnt mind going for the LaserJet and the PhotoSmart.. Allthough I doubt the one Frodefe gave, would be easily available here.. I'll have to check or might have to import it, but then no warranty on it! So will check on that tomorrow..

[pharzo]

Well logos it can print competently. Posters, not so much. I mean, it'll work, and it'll be fine, but not as good as thermal sublimation printer would do.

<--- That's the original image
<--- That's the one I printed, then scanned

[sheruken]

You're Amazing, Pharzo... Damn I didnt think you'd actually do it.. This is extremely helpful.. Thanks for being so fuckin Kind man!