I’ve owned only inkjets for 15+ years. In a perfect world, I’d have a color laser. In a slightly less-than-perfect world, I’d have a fairly inexpensive B&W laser printer coupled with a color inkjet that does nice pictures. I don’t have a LOT of pictures to print, but sometimes I get into projects and I want to have the capability to print out a nice pic if I need it.
If you get an inkjet, get one that has separate ink carts for all colors. Now that I have that, I can see how often I used to replace my tri-color carts with a ton of cyan and magenta left because the yellow was gone.
I had an HP printer for like 10 years. The ink was expensive as hell, but my print needs were modest, and it’s output quality for both text and pictures was very nice. When I replaced my OS with Win7, my HP had a driver issue, so I had to replace it. Over the next 3-4 years, I’ve picked up 3 replacement printers. They all have scanning capability, with the last having batch scanning and fax as well.
First, I got a Canon Pixma something-or-other for about $40. Wasn’t wild about the print quality. Poor text, don’t remember about the picture. Probably good pictures, but what kind of printer can’t do AWESOME text by now? Apparently it’s more common than I thought.
I picked up an Epson XP-310 for about $40, and liked the text MUCH more. The photos were nice as well, IMO. However, I found the ink to be on the expensive side, and I had difficulty buying off-brand ink. When I found I now had more home-office needs than in the past, I kept an eye out for a replacement. I’ve since found off-brand ink that works with it, although I frequently get pop-ups complaining about it.
I bought a Brother MFC-J475DW all-in-one for $30. I do not like the text or photo quality as much. Photo seems passable as best, and only when I crank up the quality to maximum does the text approach that of my Epson in regular mode. I wanted it to give me more ink options and for batch scanning. The Brother ink is supposed to be cheaper in operation, and it has off-brand ink that, according to reviews, works with it.
For now, I’m using both the Epson and Brother - the Epson for color pics, the Brother for scanning and day-to-day printouts for which quality is unimportant. I’m also playing with 3rd-party ink, so if that bites me in the ass, I won’t have to run out and buy a new printer immediately.
I print out a couple pages daily for my mother’s TV guide needs. Occasionally I’ll scan copies or reprint forms, and print out the occasional full-size picture. Because of the light but constant use, I never have issues with dried-out printer heads/carts.
It seems there is no perfect printer. Some have better quality, some cost more to buy, some cost more to operate. You probably won’t find a printer that has great quality, cheap ink/toner, and is cheap to purchase, so you should examine your budget, usage, and print quality needs and proceed from there.