| I shouldn't say this out loud without knocking on | | | | 1. Decide what features you must have, like |
| wood but I've always had good luck with every | | | | scanning, faxing, copying, or what ever. Many of |
| inkjet printer I've purchased. I really don't think | | | | the newer models do all three so it might not be |
| that it's luck; it's most likely due to my method of | | | | much of a deal breaker on any manufacturer. |
| picking the best inkjet printer for my particular | | | | 2. Go to the top 3-5 brands and find the models |
| budget and common uses. My buying system is | | | | that fit your criteria. I never choose the cheapest, |
| pretty simple and it's always saved me a few | | | | or the most expensive. I look for something right |
| bucks, plus it also provides a good printer for | | | | in the middle. |
| years of use. | | | | 3. After I pick one model from each of the top |
| I don't remember ever having to replace a | | | | five sellers I check any review websites for user |
| broken inkjet printer. I have beaten a few lasers | | | | comments. I don't check the expert websites, I |
| into the ground when I was publishing manuscripts | | | | prefer the everyday users. Experts sometimes |
| and on demand book printing for clients. But that | | | | get caught up in the technical issues that most |
| was from printing volumes way above and | | | | normal user would never use. |
| beyond the manufacturer's recommended | | | | 4. On the remaining models I now go check the |
| numbers and my fault and not the printer's. Most | | | | ink cartridges prices and yields. Now you can't |
| of my inkjets I've been much easier on and have | | | | depend on the print yields but they are one |
| passed them on to another friend or family | | | | factor. The yields stated by the manufacturer are |
| member when I decided I needed some new | | | | under perfect conditions and low coverage, so |
| feature or just couldn't resist the new shiny | | | | take them with a huge grain of salt. |
| models. | | | | So the price of the ink cartridge and the semi |
| I usually try and go for the best-cost verses | | | | accurate print yields are the deal closer on which |
| value on my inkjet printers. You don't want to go | | | | printer I end up choosing to buy. The features, |
| with the cheapest models unless you have no | | | | recommendations, and models are to make sure I |
| choice due to a meager budget. And the real cost | | | | get what I need, but the actual purchase price of |
| of any printer is the ongoing materials costs, like | | | | the printer is no where near as important as the |
| ink cartridges and paper. In fact I've seen ink | | | | ongoing ink cartridge cost. This is especially true |
| cartridge duo packs (black and multi-color | | | | for heavy users and people who print a lot. |
| cartridges together) cost more than the purchase | | | | The last time I bought an inkjet printer was last |
| price of entry-level inkjet printers. | | | | spring. I wanted to be able to print on CDs and |
| And as far as I can tell, all of the major brands | | | | my current inkjet printer couldn't do that. I ended |
| like HP, Epson, Canon, and Lexmark make good | | | | up spending about $100 on the inkjet printer and |
| quality inkjet printers for the most part. Every | | | | the duo cartridge pack is about $34. I'm happy |
| once in a while they may come out with a model | | | | with my choice and it does everything I need for |
| that fails to deliver what's advertised but most | | | | a very reasonable cost. I really didn't have a lot of |
| are low end models which I recommend to avoid. | | | | choices due to the printing on CD requirement but |
| OK, so here's the system in a nutshell: | | | | there were 5 different models. |