Printers

[Mike6567]

My old HP printer broke so I got an inexpensive HP C4480 (£48 John Lewis) as a temporary replacement.
I have wasted most of today (nothing much else to do as snowed up) trying to sort out the software. Lots of e-mails to HP with various suggestions - usually to remove and re-install - but never solving the problem. The printer works OK but I can't get the HP Solution Centre to work. I think it is something to do with a missing hprbui.exe file.
I have always had HP All-in-one-printers with no real problems. However several people have remarked on the poor software and I am now reluctant to get one of the better HP models. So I have decided on a change.
Which is a good alternative - my Canon camera is very good. Is the software on their printers OK?
Any other suggestions please?

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Yeah, it's like that.

You pretty well have to buy HP printers, because everybody else's hardware is crap ...

... but then you discover that HP's software is crap.

It's been like that for at least ten years.

[Parapunter]

It all rather depends on what you wish to do with it. Photos? Spreadsheets? letters etc.

In General, I would say as no expert but a long time consumer of cheapy inkjets that Canon knock HP into a cocked hat for ease of use. Lexmarks gobble ink which in the long term will cost you big, Laserjets are a waste of money unless you are leafletting housing estates and pc world is always a rip off. Look online at ebuyer, Novatech, anywhere really, but don't buy from a shop unless you really have a thing for the personal service.

[Keef]

I use a HP Laserjet 2100 for B&W and a Canon Pixma IP4000 for colour.

Both are fine, but the Canon came with over 100MB of software that they wanted me to install. A lot of it was drivers, that I needed, and some of it was truly rubbish software (mostly crippled versions of commercial stuff) that they wanted me to use.

I decided years ago to ignore most "packaged" software and use the standard fit stuff that comes with MS Office or whatever, plus the essential drivers for the hardware. I may miss out on the occasional gem, but I save a lot of time and Angst.

The IP4000 was the last (I think) Canon printer to use plain ordinary ink cartridges. Later ones have chips in - I think to make you buy their super-expensive ones. The ink in the "replacement type" that I buy is the same as the ink Canon use, but at a tiny fraction of the price. The machine has five cartridges, CMYK plus big black, at £3 a pop. Canon's ones are around £11 a pop, for no better performance.

By the time this printer dies, I'm hoping the law will have changed and the use of "restrictive practices" on ink will have been banned.

In summary: unless you need all the bundled software, just use the drivers.

[taxydual]

Without a doubt, Canon.

I was in the printer repair business for 5 years. I never had to repair a Canon.

[Parapunter]

My new build windows 7 box won't load the HP software for my F4180 deskjet. Turns out windows fax & scan (built in = zero extra disk space) works far better & more straightforwardly than the bloaty 160meg hp software. Result!

[Saab Dastard]

My experience over 20 years has been:

Laser - HP best

Inkjet - Canon best

SD

[Loose rivets]

For years, Epson have sent me new printer-scanners to compensate me for the one they sent before. The first freebee was sent some 18 months after the original sales date. At one stage they got out of phase leaving me with two units.

Both are worthless.

Every time then sent a new one they sent new ink. In three years I've had ONE successful print.

The 6600 beside me now has had one attempt at a picture print. In keeping the heads clear I have run my WP page with different colour X's. A minimal use of ink. With the initializations and almost no cleaning, I'm now told that I need to buy new cartridges. They were new out of their packets to all intents and purposes - ONE FULL PICTURE TEST PAGE AGO.

It has cost Epson a lot of money and staff time. It has cost me time and the initial cost. We are both the losers in this debacle.

[rogerg]

I have an HP which works fine but I dont like the way the paper has to go though 180. My daughter has an Epson, also fine, and both were cheapies,

[Strange Frontier]

Canon all the way. Got a IP3000 here that has been going strong for a few years now. Personally saw insects falling into the printer that I have bever been able to get out and had it covered in dust more than a few times after leaving the glass sliding door open that leads outside on more than a few windy days.

It started making strange noises while printing more than three years ago, obviously due to all the crap it has already ingested. I bought a Canon IP3500 as a standby replacement for the day the 3000 dies, but the 3500 is still to this day sealed in its box. The thing just will not die.

Print quality is great, the automatic duplex printing (prints on both sides of the page, cutting down on paper usage) is great and the ability to print on CD's has come in very handy when creating my own home DVD's.

I also own a Canon MX700 all-in-one and it is also a great machine.

In case anyone was wondering, I do not work for Canon.

Yes, the software may be a bit bloated, but any unwanted features can be uninstalled individually after the setup CD has run its course.

[timmyneedham]

Well I've just bought an HP C7280 wireless job with a fax as well and it is great. You can also print photos direct from your iphone. It was easy to set up and works both with my wife's eee pc running windows and my macbook. In fact with the macbook it set itself up - all i had to do was add printer and it and the mac did the rest.

TN

[ShyTorque]

A vote for Lexmark here. I needed a new printer with a multi type memory card reader to replace my old Photosmart 1000. I also needed a new fax machine and my old scanner has never worked with XP due to driver issues.

Walking round Sainsbury's (not something I often choose to do), I noticed a pile of Lexmark X5650s at less than half price - £49.99.

I went home and checked out the prices elesewhere. PC World said £107. I went back and got one. The checkout price was actually less than the half price sticker, due to the VAT reduction.

As a combined printer/scanner/fax it's replaced all the above items in one go and freed up the hall table because the old phone/fax has gone to the skip. The ink cartridges aren't cheap, but less than the old HP rip-off prices. The print quality is quite good enough for my stuff, including photos (it has a common paper loading slot which works fine with 6 x 4 photo paper and copes with other sizes which I'll probably never use). It's also reasonably quick. The software for XP is excellent, very user friendly, and includes photo enhancing/cropping, text conversion, etc. Installation was straightforward and it all worked first time out. :ok: