|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Inkjet Printers Reviews
Updated November 2007
The best printer reviews directly compare multiple models, test print quality with the same variety of papers consumers will use and test all of each printer's modes. Printer reviews ideally include reproductions and enlargements of prints that demonstrate photo, graphics and text quality, but not many reviewers go the extra mile to do this. PC Magazine no longer shows prints, but still has the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of inkjet printers. A new reviewer, PrinterInfo.com, has the best individual reviews, but doesn't yet have a large enough database of reviews to provide the best buying guidance. CNet.com covers lots of inkjet printers, but the quality of the reviews is variable. PC World and Consumer Reports review and score printers, but their coverage isn't up to date enough to be of value. British consumer magazine Which? also does a good job rating inkjet printers, but many of the printers covered are not available in the U.S. With photo inkjet printers replacing general purpose inkjet printers in the marketplace, and photo quality from those printers equaling or exceeding lab print quality, the photography magazines have become excellent sources for reviews of photo printers. Shutterbug, PopPhoto.com, Imaging-Resource.com, photo-i and What Digital Camera all have good reviews of inkjet photo printers. The downside is that they focus on higher-end consumer models ($300 to $800) and professional models. This report covers full-size inkjet printers and photo printers. All printers covered in this report are Windows and Macintosh compatible and have a one-year limited warranty, unless otherwise specified. If you are interested in a dedicated snapshot printer, which only prints 4 x 6-inch or 5 x 7-inch photos, they are covered in our separate report on photo printers . General-purpose
inkjet printers have lost a lot of market share to multifunction printers,
which print, scan, copy and sometimes fax. These models are bulkier, and reviews
say there's a lot of performance variation in their individual functions. If
you want one unit that can also scan documents and make copies, these are covered
in our report on multifunction printers
. Reviews frequently recommend
buying a monochrome laser printer if printing text will be your primary use.
See our separate report on monochrome laser printers
for more information. In recent years, ultra-cheap inkjet printers have rarely been reviewed. With
so few on the market now, they are getting some attention. That's a mixed blessing
for Lexmark, the low-price market leader. The ratings for the
Lexmark Z1300
(*est. $35)
by PC Magazine and CNet.com are about as low as either reviewer
ever goes. Both repeatedly acknowledge the terrific price as a context, but
PC Magazine's M. David Stone cites "poor text and photo quality," and CNet.com's
Felisa Yang concedes, "If you do value print quality… you'll need to spend
more." Spending more can buy the
Lexmark Z1420
(*est. $70)
. Its major selling point
is the capability of printing from any computer in a home through a wireless
802.11g or 802.11b network. Britain's TrustedReviews.com says it's "a very
slow printer, particularly printing colour, and doesn't give the best print
quality you can get, even at this low entry price." CNet.com's reviewer Felisa
Yang adds, "The Lexmark Z1420 looks like a bargain until you see the prints
it outputs." Computer Shopper (U.K.) agrees about speed and print-quality,
but thinks the product is reasonable for its market niche. Computer Shopper
(U.S.) dissents; the magazine's reviewer Denny Atkin thinks print-quality is
very good, and the unit is a bargain.
... Continued
Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
General-purpose inkjet printers are disappearing from the marketplace in favor of photo printers. With the exception of Hewlett-Packard’s Deskjet 6000 series, the few current general-purpose inkjets do not receive many favorable reviews. The HP Deskjet 6980 and HP Deskjet 6940 share a print engine, but have different features. The new Epson Stylus C120 is intriguing, but has not yet been reviewed. Epson steals a page from HP’s marketing book by calling it the fastest inkjet ever made. Canon and Epson introduced new photo printers in the past two months. These models are just beginning to be reviewed, but so far, reviewers haven’t determined that any of them are the best in their class. Instead, the HP Photosmart D7360 continues to be recommended thanks to its good photo quality and ease-of-use. The most expensive printers are reviewed the most often. If print and photo quality matters most, reviewers say you can’t do better than the Epson Stylus Photo R2400. The HP Photosmart Pro B9180, Canon Pro9000, and Canon Pro9500 each have champions who think those printers rival the top Epson. Many say the Epson Stylus Photo R1800 is just as good as the R2400 for color, but not black-and-white photos. The Epson Stylus Photo R800 and Epson Stylus Photo 1400 fall into more affordable price ranges with little sacrifice in quality. Advertisement
>> Do you know of a review that we've missed? Click here.
>>  Email
>> 
Yahoo!
Digg
Google
Reddit
del.icio.us
(What's this?)
Inkjet Printers Reviews |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2008. ConsumerSearch, Inc. A service from 
, a part of The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.
ConsumerSearch and ConsumerSearch.com are registered trademarks of ConsumerSearch, Inc. Other trademarks or service marks on this site are the property of their respective owners. ConsumerSearch is not sponsored by any source reviewed, and we accept no consideration or payment for including, excluding, or ranking any reviews, products or services in our reports.
* Pricing information is approximate as of the time this report was written and is based on observed market selling prices and/or list prices. Actual selling prices may differ.
