Recommend a printer?

[ewx]

I'm after a new printer. It'll be used both for documents (e.g. Naath's OU homework) and for photographs; though if I want particularly high-quality photos I'm happy to go get them done specially rather than buy/feed an unusually expensive printer.

It'd be attached to a Linux server and driven from Mac/Linux/Windows clients (presumably via CUPS) so it'd better be something that can be driven that way (ideally without endless pain but this is printers we're talking about...)

My old printer is an Epson Stylus Color 660 and appears to have unfixably clogged some of the black jets. So I'd prefer something that either inherently doesn't clog up or has the printhead built into the ink cartridge.

Recommendations for/against?

If anyone wants my spare ink cartridges (4 black and 4 color, non-branded), let me know.

Comments

[reddragdiva]

What's colour laser photo quality like compared to inkjet photo quality?

(I am prepared to pay way too much to print photos by inkjet because it's about the same cost as sending them out to be printed and I like control.)

[simont]

I'm not much for literal photos, but my general impression is that stuff coming out of my cheap HP colour laser is slightly nicer in basic quality than my Canon BJC used to be and much nicer in terms of not having slightly soggy paper which rucks up, not having misalignment between successive print-head passes, and not having obvious horizontal banding.

It might be that I had a particularly poor inkjet, of course, but I'd take a lot of convincing before I'd even consider going back.

[reddragdiva]

See, I'm talking about doing nice A4 prints onto expensive glossy photo paper :-) My RX620 does an ace job at this (six-colour printer, specifically for making nice photos), so that's why I pay all that money for ink. Which does dry up as quickly as you describe.