I just bought both the HP 8600 and the Epson 4530 for local non-profits, and I think I'd give the edge to the Epson. They're both excellent printers, but the Epson has a traditional paper path and a true manual-feed tray, which means it can print directly on envelopes much better than the HP. The HP achieves slightly faster print speeds by printing sideways, but I think the more standard paper path beats out the speed for most cases.
--Ted On 2/9/2014 10:02 AM, unix_fan wrote: > Also posted on FB, but want my LOPSA peer's advice. > > My HP 4215 printer is kaput, I'm in search of a new "All in one" > printer. I'm not decided or biased on laser vs inkjet. We mostly print > text, forms, letters, but my budding actor son occasionally needs head > shots printed (i.e., photos). > > A catalyst here: my wife is starting a business and was extremely > frustrated getting business forms printed. "I want a working (reliable) > printer for Valentine's Day day, nothing else". We all know the > importance of a happy SO/spouse/partner. > > Budget: $300 max, $150-$200 expected > > Current contenders: > Epson 4530 (OfficeMax has a sale plus tradein bringing the cost way down > to $140), HP 8600. > > Lasers I'm not finding a clear contender. All in one form factor often > drives price up over my $300 budget. > > Other considerations: HP approach to ink - engineer against third party > source irks me. Also, I think their quality has gone down. I haven't > owned an Epson, don't know how they fare. I've been reading reviews, > they seem OK. We might also just use Vistaprint for head shots and not > worry about the occasional photo job. One other thing is my previous > experience is that HP inks tended to dry up quicker than expected in the > cartridge. I also want a wired connection, and have no need for NFC, > cloud, etc, monkey business. It can come with that stuff, but it will > remain disabled. > > As for the old printer, I believe in "make it do, use it up, wear it > out". I tried taking it apart and seeing if a good cleaning would do the > trick, but the flimsy paper takeup mechanism seems to be past its > service life. > > Thanks in advance, > Mario > > > _______________________________________________ > Tech mailing list > Tech@lists.lopsa.org > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ > _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list Tech@lists.lopsa.org https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
