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[APi]TheMan · Jan 27, 2002, 08:41 PM

Today my Epson Color Stylus 740i pretty much stopped working... It was a free printer, it came with my G3 450, and now it makes so much noise before, during, and after printing. Clicks and kinks and ugh. We need a new printer, and I'm aiming to steer clear of Epson, they make weird noises, the drivers kinda suck, and the $30 quickdry ink cartridges last 2 months at the most.

I'm thinking of getting an HP, just because I've heard good things about them, and I'm not sure I want to stick with Epson.

I'm looking to spend around $200. I would like it to be USB, and it will need to work on OS9 and be compatable with USB Printer Sharing.

Thanks, guys.

Han's Hands on Leia · Jan 28, 2002, 02:08 AM

HP for sure. X drivers, it is always on, quiet as hell, no constant cleaning.

Lexmark is LOUD.

For the record I think the Epson 740 was a dud.

[APi]TheMan · Jan 28, 2002, 03:53 AM

Originally posted by Han's Hands on Leia:
HP for sure. X drivers, it is always on, quiet as hell, no constant cleaning.

Lexmark is LOUD.

For the record I think the Epson 740 was a dud.

Agreed on the dud part... that's why it was free. Sure I loved it when I got it... heh.

I was talking with a friend and he pretty much sold me on a Lexmark Z53 ($129 or so), until I read your post... now I'm going to have to do a bit more research.

Thanks for the input, I'll get back to ya in a bit.

xyber233 · Jan 28, 2002, 02:46 PM

I love my 740. The quality is freakin awesome. Too bad it makes too much noise though. HPs are quieter and better at printing text but I dont think that their Photo quality can match Epson.

[APi]TheMan · Jan 28, 2002, 05:25 PM

Originally posted by xyber233:
I love my 740. The quality is freakin awesome. Too bad it makes too much noise though. HPs are quieter and better at printing text but I dont think that their Photo quality can match Epson.

Thanks for the info... I rarely print photos, probably once a year. I print black and white pictures sometimes, now that I think of it. But those aren't family pictures or anything important, so I don't mind too much.

I am thinking of getting a laser printer just for that reason, faster, quieter, and not too expensive for a black and white laser jet. I'll have to talk to my mom and sister about how they'd feel if we got a black and white only printer... cuz as it stands now, with the Epson (which uses that Quick Dry ink) we rarely print in color, and the color cartridge dries out a lot, but not as much as the black one (which is $30 a pop)

Thunderbird · Jan 29, 2002, 06:26 PM

I hate my Epson Stylus 780 Photo printer. If I don't use it every day, the ink jets get clogged, and I have to run the ink-sucking Epson Head Cleaner Utility. I've had no such problems with the my HP Deskjet.

pmcd · Jan 30, 2002, 05:04 AM

If would stay with Epson. HP has come and gone in the Mac market and in any case I think the new Epson C80 is a great printer. If you want to go laser the Samsung ML-1210 is very inexpensive and has OSX drvers. I had HP Deskjets and Laserjets for years but am far happier with my Epson printer.

philip

Originally posted by [APi]TheMan:
Today my Epson Color Stylus 740i pretty much stopped working... It was a free printer, it came with my G3 450, and now it makes so much noise before, during, and after printing. Clicks and kinks and ugh. We need a new printer, and I'm aiming to steer clear of Epson, they make weird noises, the drivers kinda suck, and the $30 quickdry ink cartridges last 2 months at the most.

I'm thinking of getting an HP, just because I've heard good things about them, and I'm not sure I want to stick with Epson.

I'm looking to spend around $200. I would like it to be USB, and it will need to work on OS9 and be compatable with USB Printer Sharing.

Thanks, guys.

xyber233 · Jan 30, 2002, 10:44 AM

If you are going to print text, just get an HP Inkjet. The text quality is great and you can print in color when you need to. Hehe, you will need color sometime right?

vsurfer · Feb 6, 2002, 10:36 AM

Originally posted by xyber233:
I love my 740. The quality is freakin awesome. Too bad it makes too much noise though. HPs are quieter and better at printing text but I dont think that their Photo quality can match Epson.

I'm finding my 740i does not want to print in OSX since I clean installed 10.1.4

The Epson site is no help - more like a catch 22 situation. No drivers to download just 740i is supported in Mac OSX. Well not in mine. And everything else is working fine. Heck even the scrollwheel on my optical mouse

I've selected Stylus 740 in the print center, and it says "printing" + the name of the document, but nothing is happening in the progress bar the print center. Curious. Any thought Xy?

G4ME · Feb 6, 2002, 11:01 AM

Well seeming that 10.1.4 isn't out yet I would recomend staying with 10.1.2, my 740 woks fine you problably need to select a printer in the print center, just like in the Chooser in OS 9, in order for it to work. Thats what I did. I am getting the C80 when the price drops bellow 129.

G-mac · Feb 6, 2002, 11:17 AM

About laser printing, if I was on a budget, I might go for the $299 HP 1200se (I think). It was given good reviews by some magazines and is cheap for an HP laser printer.

I too have the nasty 740i (worked at one point, but now it just smears ink). I heard good things about the Epson C80, but I haven't really looked.

vsurfer,

I had a similar problem with my printer. I pressed print, the print monitor would appear and say "printing", but nothing would happen, no progress bar. In my case, by fiddling around, I decided to place the Print Monitor app into the original app folder (not in the home app folder) and it worked! Strange, but try it out. Also, it could be that you haven't selected the printer under the Chooser (Epson drivers are included on X). Hope this helps.

zigzag · Feb 6, 2002, 01:35 PM

Check the recent inkjet comparison tests at www.tomshardware.com and www.pcmagazine.com . They do detailed cost analyses and everything.

PeteWK · Feb 6, 2002, 02:42 PM

Hello Man (the). I had a 740 at one time and I had a love hate relationship with it as most people did. I'm something of a printer freak. My wife and I currently own 4 printers, all working, all Epson. Plus, I've purchased 3 more in the last year for my office, 2 Epsons and an HP.

Epson
777 (2X)
880
980
1280
C80

HP
982c SE

HPs are great printers so long as you don't want to use them as a printing press or use a lot of heavy (read thick) paper. Right now I'm high on the C80 for just about anything except the highest quality photos. I use my 1280 for that, which will print up to 13 X 19 and edge to edge as well. 500 bucks though.

PeteWK

Fetch · Feb 7, 2002, 12:50 AM

Originally posted by [APi]TheMan:
...... I'm aiming to steer clear of Epson, they make weird noises, the drivers kinda suck, and the $30 quickdry ink cartridges last 2 months at the most.

I'm thinking of getting an HP, just because I've heard good things about them, and I'm not sure I want to stick with Epson.

........

I just gave my ole 740 a proper burial after tons of pages of great printing. I don't know why you're paying $30 a pop for cartridges - you can get the black compatibles for less than five bucks and the color for less than $8, just about anywhere. I've run lotsa these cartridges and never had anything but good results.

If you're thinking of HP, bear in mind that you will be stuck with high replacement cartridge costs, since the head is built into the cartridge, rather than the printer as in the Epson. There is an advantage to having a new head everytime you change cartridges, but its a costly way to go.

Just my 2 cents....

--Al

xyber233 · Feb 7, 2002, 03:02 AM

Originally posted by vsurfer:


I'm finding my 740i does not want to print in OSX since I clean installed 10.1.4

The Epson site is no help - more like a catch 22 situation. No drivers to download just 740i is supported in Mac OSX. Well not in mine. And everything else is working fine. Heck even the scrollwheel on my optical mouse

I've selected Stylus 740 in the print center, and it says "printing" + the name of the document, but nothing is happening in the progress bar the print center. Curious. Any thought Xy?

I would either go back to 10.1.2 or just wait for 10.2 which
should be coming soon.

mugwump · Feb 10, 2002, 01:37 PM

Actually, I finally purchased a USB printer using this forum's info, and clearly the best one of the bunch is the Canon S500. The problem is finding one around town, where EVERYONE is also trying to get one

So I ended up with the S630, $40 more for virtually the same specs, the OS 9 / X.1 drivers are perfect, and the printer is perfect! The cost per page is the lowest of any inkjet printer, and the photos on glossy photo paper are stunning, the printing is very fast and crisp! I guess the S630 prints a bit slow in Windows XP

[ 02-10-2002: Message edited by: mugwump ]

thirsty · Feb 12, 2002, 12:27 PM

l Just Bought and Epson Photo 890 after always having HP's. After a little setting up it now works fine in OSX. It's quiet and fast, I bought it for photo quality and thats what i got.

[APi]TheMan - from what you have said you just need a basic printer, go for the HP you'll be happy. The thing I like the most about them is there paper tray, the paper always stays flat, no curls.
The reason i changed was for USB I wanted HP but the epson suited my needs better, Believe me it was hard to change
Get the HP you'll be happy.

dav · Feb 12, 2002, 01:06 PM

i have a canon s800 - like it a lot. photos are excellent(using canon's photo paper pro), text is very good, it's quiet, and it has individual ink tanks.

rbolinski · Oct 14, 2002, 02:04 PM

Originally posted by [APi]TheMan:
Today my Epson Color Stylus 740i pretty much stopped working... It was a free printer, it came with my G3 450, and now it makes so much noise before, during, and after printing. Clicks and kinks and ugh. We need a new printer, and I'm aiming to steer clear of Epson, they make weird noises, the drivers kinda suck, and the $30 quickdry ink cartridges last 2 months at the most.

I'm thinking of getting an HP, just because I've heard good things about them, and I'm not sure I want to stick with Epson.

I'm looking to spend around $200. I would like it to be USB, and it will need to work on OS9 and be compatable with USB Printer Sharing.

Thanks, guys.

If you put a drop of sewing machine oil on he metal bar, then run a cleaning, it works great again. The drive bar just needs oiled.

Back up 15 and punt · Oct 14, 2002, 10:37 PM

Originally posted by [APi]TheMan:
Today my Epson Color Stylus 740i pretty much stopped working... It was a free printer, it came with my G3 450, and now it makes so much noise before, during, and after printing. Clicks and kinks and ugh. We need a new printer, and I'm aiming to steer clear of Epson, they make weird noises, the drivers kinda suck, and the $30 quickdry ink cartridges last 2 months at the most.

I'm thinking of getting an HP, just because I've heard good things about them, and I'm not sure I want to stick with Epson.

I'm looking to spend around $200. I would like it to be USB, and it will need to work on OS9 and be compatable with USB Printer Sharing.

Thanks, guys.

Seriously consider buying a HP 5550. You have the option of six color printing at 4800 X 1200 resolution. It works well with OS X and is pretty much on par with Epsons photo quality. I have compared side by side photos from Epson's latest photo printer and I can tell you there are some differences but you will be hard pressed to notice. At $150 you really can't go wrong with this printer.