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I've been amazed at this printer. I've had only one cartridge for two years and use it very often. But, it will print colored pictures in black and white. I have had many types of printers, but always black and white AND COLOR. I just purchased a HP Photosmart printer to use for color prints and photos, hoping that it will be just as reliable as this one. The ink leaked out of some and the powder spilled. It was given to me by a friend who tired of it and wanted color. If color is not important to you, don't waste your money on a more sophisticated printer.
This has never had a paper jam unless I really caused it; and then it's easy to clear. The cartridge drops right in if you put it in properly. Only thing I haven't figured out yet is to stop printing if I hit the print button more than once. This is the first printer that has never caused a problem.
I did a bit of research, and the replacement toner is definitely cheaper than the $60 in ink I had to buy for my previous Canon inkjet printer. I bought this item on Amazon almost a year ago and it has and still is living up to my expectations. Very easy set-up. I don't print a large quantity of documents (it's just me and my hubby) and I don't print photos at home, so the toner hasn't even run out yet. This is saving me so much compared to all the ink cartridges I had to keep buying when my ink dried up from lack of use. The paper tray is not covered and is a bit small as far as capacity. However, this is an overall winner for the average Jane.
If you plan on printing more than say 20 pages per day, you might want to look at a beefier model.EDIT: 7/1/09Well, as an addendum to this review 9 months later, I recently had to change the print cartridge. I've had this printer for over a year now. It's fast, quiet enough, and reliable. But this is a good personal printer and I'm satisfied with my purchase.much cheaper in the long run than an inkjet. This is because the mechanism that grabs the paper grabs it off-center. I've only had problems with the drivers (on XP) a couple times but turning the printer on/off or reinstalling the drivers easily makes that go away.
I have experienced the driver corruption problems that other people talk about, but it didn't take me more than 20 minutes to fix- just rotations of turning the printer on and off, rebooting windows, and reinstalling the driver worked for me. 1500 pages later the introductory cartridge is still going strong (you have to make sure you print in "econo mode"). I replaced it with a generic since I don't really care if it explodes or not when it costs half the price (the cartridge was a little off on first use but now prints the exact same as name brand). I've only had a total of 2 jams on this printer but they were completely my fault and were easy to remove.Definitely DO NOT pay $250 for this. I believe I got mine off Amazon for around $70 or so. I'm not sure of the exact cause for this but it has only happened twice is 2 years, so it's not a deal breaker.Also, another "con" I've noticed is that this printer does *not* always print perfectly straight.meaning the text sometimes prints at a slight angle with the side of the paper.
Really it's only noticeable when I'm printing 9 PDF pages per sheet side.Overall, I think this printer could break today and I'd still say it was worth the 70 bucks + 30 for the generic replacement toner.
That's CRAZY.Anyway, the corrupting driver's alone makes this a printer to AVOID. I don't know why the drivers on this printer get corrupted, but that's purely unacceptable. I bought this printer for $89.99 direct from Amazon about a year ago, so I would DEFINITELY not pay $249.99 as listed here. I will never buy this printer again. The corrupting driver's makes this printer unusable.
This printer is awesome for use with a direct USB connection to a PC. It is economical with the toner consumption rates, takes up little space for a LaserJet and is very fast and clean. The only issue we have is trying to use it with print servers for use with workgroups. But, if you can use with a direct connection, this is the printer for you.
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