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sokukodo · Feb 16, 2006, 11:46 AM

Can anyone recommend a good printer compatible with Tiger?

Back up 15 and punt · Feb 16, 2006, 02:14 PM

Are you looking for a laser or inkjet? Or does matter? What exactly are you trying to print or how are you going to use this printer?

sokukodo · Feb 17, 2006, 10:13 AM

Preferably inkjet; photos & general printing. This is for home use. The main thing is system compatabilty.

Back up 15 and punt · Feb 17, 2006, 10:19 AM

Take a good look at the Canon line of printers. They are inexpensive and they produce excellent results. You will have a choice of three, four, six, or even eight color printers. However, if you want a printers that produces great text as well as pictures then take a close look at the Pixma 4200.

tooki · Feb 18, 2006, 01:47 AM

Canon doesn't make any 3-color printers other than dedicated photo printers, which are obviously not what the OP is looking for.

sokudoku: in the future, please try to be specific when asking a question. Provide as much information as possible from the start.

tooki

Back up 15 and punt · Feb 18, 2006, 02:27 AM

Canon actually makes a four color printer but when it comes to printing pictures it only uses the color cartridges and the black is a composite of the three color combined. The dedicated black cartridge is used to print text.

sokukodo · Feb 18, 2006, 08:46 AM

Thanks guys. I should have been more specific (was posted at work and was in a hurry).

tooki · Feb 19, 2006, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by Back up 15 and punt

Canon actually makes a four color printer but when it comes to printing pictures it only uses the color cartridges and the black is a composite of the three color combined. The dedicated black cartridge is used to print text.

I have two such 4-color Canons (an i850 and an iP3000, which use the same printhead actually) and they do use the black ink on photo paper, despite it not being the photo-optimized ink.

tooki

pyn · Feb 19, 2006, 05:42 PM

well pretty much all hp canon lexmark epson and brother printers work with osx...

Back up 15 and punt · Feb 19, 2006, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

I have two such 4-color Canons (an i850 and an iP3000, which use the same printhead actually) and they do use the black ink on photo paper, despite it not being the photo-optimized ink.

tooki

When you print photo's the black is comprised of all three of the colors. The dedicated black cartridge (this cartridge is pigmented black ink while the color is dye based) is not used. If you have doubts about this contact Canon. Just to let you know I was a Canon representative at one time and I am quoting to you what Canon training taught me.

im_noahselby · Mar 1, 2006, 04:31 AM

While others on this board seem to have a preference for Canon printers. I have always used HP printers with impressive results. They aren't the best choice for a photo processing machine, as their ink tends to cost a little bit more than their competition, but for everything else an HP printer makes a lot of sense.

Noah

OreoCookie · Mar 1, 2006, 07:55 AM

I don't like HP for their ink policy. No separate ink tanks plus the ink tanks seem to shrink. My parents purchased a G85 a while ago (which, I guess, was based on the 970CX or so). After two-and-a-half years, HP replaced it with an OfficeJet 6100, and guess what, the ink cartridge is smaller … eeeeh, yeah. Thank you, but no thank you next time.

Back up 15 and punt · Mar 1, 2006, 10:11 AM

I also, at one time, was a big promoter of HP products. In fact, I represented HP for over three years in several retail stores. In that time I owned two printers and two of their scanners. Ink cost and lousy drivers changed my mind about HP products. I now use Canon products and I really haven't looked back. I just got rid of my last scanner (Scanjet 5500) because the drivers made it way to unreliable.

OreoCookie · Mar 1, 2006, 10:31 AM

Just a quick poll on this one, is it just me or do you also have the impression that HP lasers got less reliable as well. My department got a LaserJet 4250 (with all the trimmings) recently and after only 20,000 pages, the whole mechanics had to be replaced! Maybe we just got unlucky, but I am kinda concerned about the built-quality.

Back up 15 and punt · Mar 1, 2006, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

Just a quick poll on this one, is it just me or do you also have the impression that HP lasers got less reliable as well. My department got a LaserJet 4250 (with all the trimmings) recently and after only 20,000 pages, the whole mechanics had to be replaced! Maybe we just got unlucky, but I am kinda concerned about the built-quality.

HP has cheapened their entire line of printers. Its unfortunate because I was always willing to pay a little extra for the quality. Now you buy something and expect to throw it away when it breaks. The other thing that most people don't know is that Canon makes the actual engine for HP lasers. That doesn't mean that Canon is building lousy engines. These engines are built to HP's requirements.

OreoCookie · Mar 1, 2006, 10:43 AM

HP has used Canon engines since the dawn of days, I remember that I used parts of my LaserJet III to fix my LaserWriter IINTX.

However HP typically uses their own electronics, but in this case, the mechanics failed. (It made heartbreaking noises akin to the deceased LaserJet 4050 (after something like 415,000 pages. Apparently it was cheaper for the service to replace the whole mechanics instead of just the faulty part. A nice side effect is that the printer is considerably less noisy.)

bboisvert · Mar 2, 2006, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

Just a quick poll on this one, is it just me or do you also have the impression that HP lasers got less reliable as well. My department got a LaserJet 4250 (with all the trimmings) recently and after only 20,000 pages, the whole mechanics had to be replaced! Maybe we just got unlucky, but I am kinda concerned about the built-quality.

Prob unlucky, in the last 4 weeks the HP4000 beside me has printed 140 000 pages.

bboisvert · Mar 2, 2006, 07:40 PM

Im give strong support to HP. Even though the ink cartages are tri not individual, I found that it cost me less using a HP then a Epson with individual ink tanks, good drivers, reliable printers, great prints.

tooki · Mar 2, 2006, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by bboisvert

Prob unlucky, in the last 4 weeks the HP4000 beside me has printed 140 000 pages.

Right -- you missed the point completely. The point was that when the LJ 4000 series was made, HP's quality was much higher than it is now.

tooki

OreoCookie · Mar 3, 2006, 04:23 AM

Originally Posted by bboisvert

Prob unlucky, in the last 4 weeks the HP4000 beside me has printed 140 000 pages.

You misunderstood what I was saying. I was saying that the built quality of HP was much better a few years ago. My department's LJ 4050 (which uses the same mechanics as the LJ 4000 AFAIK) lasted for ages when the new 4250 needed to have the mechanics replaced after three months.