Which is a good and cheap all-in-one color printer to recommend?


Status
Not open for further replies.

behyx

Senior Member
Jun 15, 2002
2,662
0
36
41
SG
It's to put in my office to do some color document printing and photocopy. Also to consider is the ink prices (running cost). It must be compatible with Mac.

Any recommendations? Hoping to get a good deal at the IT Show this week :)
 

I like Brother printers. All get good support for Mac computers. They come with separate PC and Mac CD roms for drivers, software etc.

I am using a cheap Brother C115. It costed under $90 bought in last year's IT Show. This model is good because it uses separate ink cartridges and each one is of bigger capacity than those of Epson's. There are newer models these days. I think the basic C1xx models are all gone. Now Brothers sells C2xx (e.g. C240, C265 etc etc) as entry point models.

I suugest you go to the IT Show this weekend and look out for the lowest priced Brother color all-in-one printer. Do not buy the original ink cartridges. There are plenty of good 3rd party ones. Brother printers are not so choosy to tell you the cartridges are not originals, which my previous Epson printer did.

For my C115, I paid $50 for 2 sets of 2 Black+1 Cyan+1 Magenta+1Yellow cartridges (non-originals). That's 10 cartridges for $50. Quite reasonable priced. I still yet to buy any cartridge after 1 year. My usage is occassional only; but my son prints quite a lot for his home work assignments and photos.
 

Epson on any day.
 

Based on my past experience I would not buy Epson.

For one, Epson does not fully support Mac. Some models have Mac drivers and some do not. After I got my Epson printer, my son purchased a Mac Mini. We went online and could not find any Mac driver for it!! But Brothers supports both PC and Mac as far as we can see from Brother's support website where both PC and Mac drivers are available.

Secondly, Epson printers are choosy and insisting user to use Epson Ink. After a period of time (several months), it stopped working and said servicing was needed. That was what happened to my Epson AIO color printer prior to my current Brothers printer. I did not know if it was genuine technical problem with the Epson printer (possibly due to non-original ink) or it was Epson's business tactic to stop people using non-original Ink.

But I have switched to Brothers and have none of the above 2 difficulties. The printer still works wonderfully after 1 year using non-original ink all the time except the first batch of originals that came with the printer.

Everyone's mileage is different. There is no right and wrong. Just share my experience. Cheers!
 

Status
Not open for further replies.