Imac compatible printer

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I have a 2008 iMac and I want to replace my present Lexmar printer with an HP model. What are other iMac users using?
 
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chas_m

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I have a 2008 iMac and I want to replace my present Lexmar printer with an HP model. What are other iMac users using?

I love HP hardware, but I'm less thrilled with their insistence on ignoring the built-in print engine and using their own convoluted and often buggy software.

Still, maybe they've gotten their act together for Snow Leopard -- I wouldn't know. You might want to consider other brands like Canon and Epson as well.

As for what printer, the first question I would ask is do you mean inkjet? All-in-One? Laser printer? Lexmark makes all three so that detail is important.

My own personal experience has largely been with Epson inkjets (though my clients use a lot of different types of printers), and I've been very happy with them. I recently replaced my aging R200 (which was still working fine for a four-colour) with an R280 (six-colour) and both have been great for my (pretty occasional) use. No clogs, cheap replacement inks online, good utility for monitoring and cleaning, good quality each time.

I've also noticed that clients seem very happy with Canon in the inkjet department, and HPs -- once they are finally setup correctly -- seem to be good too.

I've only very rarely run across printers of any make that were flat-out unsupported in Mac OS X, particularly over the last few years that seems to be a non-issue at least on the consumer printer level, so you are free to pick from pretty much any of the name-brand models.

Cheers
chas_m

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Now on Brother MFC as Canon MP had issues with scanning wirelessly to 2 iMacs on a LAN but the Brother has been playing nicely from the start. Had an Epson but was not a multi but it printed OK.
 

vansmith

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I have a Canon Pixma MP210 and it's terrible. It goes through ink like there is no tomorrow and every once in a while I get "connection issues" which require me to unplug the whole thing and plug it all back in. My old HP printer on the other hand could have survived a bomb and lasted through four years of university. Next printer I buy will be an HP and will be that way from now on.
 
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I've had my imac for about 3-4 months and finally, just a couple days ago, got around to hooking up my inkjet (Epson Stylus CX3810). It's a about 3 years old if I recall.

I couldnt find the original cd to install the drivers so I downloaded them from the Epson website.

Everything is normal while printing from XP in bootcamp.

The printer will print fine under OSX as well but it is only in maximum quality (slow and expensive) and there are no "print quality" settings available.

I also don't seem to be able to check the ink levels or clean/align the nozzles. If I run out of ink, I wont know which one is out unless I'm using XP.

I'm going to live with it for now since I rarely print anything but if I were going to buy another printer I would make sure it said something like "OSX compatible" or "Mac compatible" so that I could have all the settings available.
 
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I don't wish to be contrary, but I go for Canon every time - unless it's wireless (not so in my situation). Canon works with Mac just-like-that, but I acknowledge issues users have had with wireless scanning.

Unfortunately I can't empathise with vansmith, whose contributions I respect, but my (now) old Canon MP110 just plugs on, and on, and on. The spare ink cartridges dry out unless I put them in the fridge. That said, I print b/w with a Brother laser, so the Canon doesn't get used all that much now - but it did for well over a year.
 
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I don't wish to be contrary, but I go for Canon every time - unless it's wireless (not so in my situation). Canon works with Mac just-like-that, but I acknowledge issues users have had with wireless scanning.

Unfortunately I can't empathise with vansmith, whose contributions I respect, but my (now) old Canon MP110 just plugs on, and on, and on. The spare ink cartridges dry out unless I put them in the fridge. That said, I print b/w with a Brother laser, so the Canon doesn't get used all that much now - but it did for well over a year.

On the Canon subject...I just bought the Pixma MP 610 (from Apple) when I bought my MBP. I have only had both items less than a month & have already had 2 conversations with Canon regarding this printer & the numerous printing issues (I haven't even tried the scanning functionality yet).

Whether I am using my MBP, or if I am using a Windows maching running Vista, the printing issues are uniform. The printer acts fine when printing B&W, but when printing color, there are all sorts of lines in the document.

We (me on the phone with a Canon tech) ran through so many print head cleanings, alignments & tests that they had to send me new ink cartridges from draining the ink. Along with the new ink, they sent out a new print head. After replacing the print head, running through all of the alignments & tests again, to no avail, I am having the same issue with this printer. I am beyond frustrated with this thing.

I have always been an HP person but I was trying to avoid having to deal with HP's bloated software package that they insist the user install. It bogs down every machine that I have ever had to install it on, but at this point, at least the HP printed correctly.

I would like to give this Canon printer a chance to work correctly, but my patience are wearing thin. This has not been a good experience AT ALL with Canon.

If anyone has had any similar issues, I would welcome any advice you might have to help resolve.
 
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I second the Epson NX515. Best printer I have ever used (It is a 3 in 1).
 
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I use a Lexmark X4550, an all in one. It's fine, though I did have issues with the drivers when I upgraded to Snow Leopard.
Weirdly I downloaded an older driver and it works!
It's been very reliable, and prints very well.
I think a lot depends on what your principal use is going to be. I don't print photo's any more, it's cheaper to get it done professionally to be honest, so if you don't intend to use it for that, you may be better off getting a printer better suited to other tasks.
Consider also the price of ink. I remember a while back that PC World were selling a 6 ink Epson for £75, but a set of inks for it cost £85. How ridiculous is that, buy a new printer each time instead (not that all 6 inks run out at once of course, but you get the picture!)
 
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I use an Epson Stylus SX515W (Ethernet, USB & Wireless) all-in-one (printer, scanner & copier) which I purchased just after Xmas.
So far, no issues with it - Scans are crisp, as are prints.
Drivers for OS X Tiger supplied on the CD installed without any issues and worked as expected, first time around.

All in all I'm a happy bunny and would recommend this printer to anyone. :)
 
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The HP 1320 and 3390 work well for me. Snow Leopard saw them and set them up without me having to do anything. I don't even know it HP makes OSX drivers, but they weren't needed. Which is probably a good thing, since the Win version of HP stuff is usually extended bloatware unless you remember to check the drivers only box.
 
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HP 1320n laser, Epson R300 Injet, Epson DX600 All-in-one all work in this house.
 

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