Just as a question to start, in your office setting are you using commercial quality printers or home/office?

DA

If your current printer costs $85 to fix then it was not a cheap printer to start with so DA's question is very valid.

Using 5 ink cartridges over 2 gives a far superior quality output.

You might select 3 or 4 models and Google each but add problems after each enquiry to bring the complaints pages nearer the top of the choices.

Ink is expensive, no way out of that. If you print numerous copies of individual colour pages consider using Staples or similar print shop locations

Home/office printers. This is the first printer I've had with five ink cartridges (HP Photosmart) and the color print quality is far worse than any of the other printers we've had in here.

OK! Now what is a fair estimate of your daily printing use? Text and non-text (color)? Have you been using manufacture's ink cartridges or after market?

If your demand is excessive of a home/office model you may have to go to a commercial line. Our office printer can be fairly estimated at a minimum of 200 B&W copies a day. A H/O would never survive long term

DA

Always new (not refilled) manufacturer ink cartridges. I go through a ream of paper every 7 to 10 days - so, maybe, 50 to 70 sheets a day? I don't need to print color very often, two or three times a month I may need to print photographs from a disc a client brings in ...

Using that much paper with more black I think you might be wise to consider 2 printers. A laser printer for the black only and a much lesser light for the coloured stuff. Remember as a business you get to write the printers off as an expense.

I do not know the figures for the USA but I suspect it is high enough that the whole printer purchase can be written off in the same year.

I went with a color multi function laser printer this time from Brother, that may be something to consider, the toner last much longer than ink cartridges. Most offices use laser for that reason. The one I got is rated for business or home and it does everything, scan, copy, fax, print color and black and white.
Brother MFC-9120CN Digital Color All-in-One Printer
that is the one I got, they put it on sale there quite often and I got it on sale and saved almost $100.
I checked user reviews on that model all over the place and it really has good reviews.

Prior to that one all had been HP ink multi use printers

Raven - will it print envelopes? 3x5 photos? Does it have the port thingy to insert discs from digital cameras?

In a strictly office environment I too would recommend a laser. I can't point you in a direction as I use inkjet at home. However, all the printers at work are commercial quality HP.

DA

it will print envelopes and it also will print on the back of pages I think that is called duplex? I would assume it would print photos the same as an inkjet would, I have a dedicated photo printer so have not tried. I guess you mean does it have a memory card slot? You know I have not even looked for one. I always put my memory cards into my reader hooked to my pc and then print my stuff from there, my other printers all had the slots and I never ever used them.

these pages have some more detailed info about the one I have. I will get my book out and see what else it does.

Brother MFC-9120CN Digital Color All-in-One Printer w/ Fax & Networking

MFC-9120CN
here at the brother site you can download or view the manual for it.

Okey dokey - just ordered it. And a memory card reader. Thank you!!! Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

hope you like it I know we do.

This is an interesting thread as printers are like razors. The base unit doesn't cost much, but you get raked over the coals to buy replacement cartridges. I've got a couple of people here that swear by HP inkjets both from a standpoint of quality and ink consumption, so I found it highly enlightening that they now seem to have come down in quality. I have had nothing but Canon at home, currently a 4 in 1 that we love, but Canon's also don't last forever, even when using only OEM cartridges, and the cartridges seem to run out quickly, and they cost a fortune. I had told myself to buy HP the next time the printer craps out, but now I'm not so sure.

I hope you have a good experience with the Brother. I'm always looking for viable alternatives in this space.