need a new printer

[deano_ue]

I'm thinking of getting a new printer, though i don't know which. It'll mostly be to print photos and the occasional full colour illustration/graphic.

I've used epson mostly in the past so i'm quite comfortable with them currently using an sx200, but my main factors are the cost of the printer i'm looking for a max ?80 - ?90 and the cost of the inks


anyone any ideas or recommendations

[BlueBard]

Up until recently, I would've stuck by HP.  They might cost more, but overall they're the most reliable printers on the planet.  I had an HP LaserJet 4L that only recently died; the thing lasted around 15 years.  I still have an HP PSC-1610 multifunction on the shelf in perfectly good working condition.

But we bought an Epson NX515 because we needed wireless printing and for the features it was the best buy I could find.  It's an ink-based multifunction printer and scanner.  The included software and drivers work on both XP and Vista, including the 64-bit Vista.  (Which was important because we have an older XP desktop and a newer Vista-64 laptop).

One feature of the NX515 is that it uses separate CYM cartridges so you only need to replace the inks you use most.

Overall it works well.  The scanning software is a bit clunky for scanning multiple documents but I can live with it.  Print quality is great, it's reasonably fast, and the wireless does what it's supposed to do.  We bought it on sale for somewhere under $120 US if I recall.