Buying Advice: Canon i850 vs i950
Having passed off my Epson Stylus 740 on my parents, I'm in the market for a new printer. I have two competing uses. First, as a college student, I have to write lots of papers so text quality is very important (speed is important, but a secondary concern). Second, I've taken a lot of pictures over the past year with my Coolpix 885 that I'd like to turn into prints. Third, cost is a very important factor (given that I'm still a student).
From all the reviews that I've read, it seems as though the Canon i950 is the best consumer photo printer, but that the i850 holds its own quite well despite only being a 4 color printer. On the downside, the i950 seems slow, and I can't gauge how good its text output is. Plus, the i850 is $100 cheaper out of the gate. However, the long term factor I'd be curious in is which is cheaper with regard to replacing ink and such.
So what I want to know is whether the extra $100 for the i950 is worth it. How much difference do Light Cyan and Light Magenta make? And if I'm shelling out the extra money for the i950, will the text output be adequate if I'm writing 6-8 papers a quarter? Thanks in advance for any advice. And if you think I should look at manufacturers other than Canon, let me know (I was just drawn to the idea of having individual ink tanks for each color).
From all the reviews that I've read, it seems as though the Canon i950 is the best consumer photo printer, but that the i850 holds its own quite well despite only being a 4 color printer. On the downside, the i950 seems slow, and I can't gauge how good its text output is. Plus, the i850 is $100 cheaper out of the gate. However, the long term factor I'd be curious in is which is cheaper with regard to replacing ink and such.
So what I want to know is whether the extra $100 for the i950 is worth it. How much difference do Light Cyan and Light Magenta make? And if I'm shelling out the extra money for the i950, will the text output be adequate if I'm writing 6-8 papers a quarter? Thanks in advance for any advice. And if you think I should look at manufacturers other than Canon, let me know (I was just drawn to the idea of having individual ink tanks for each color).
Comments
If you are being price-aware, and you wont need to print high-quality stuff for other people (the only time it ever matters
The driver for the i850 is exellent, works instantly. It prints papers and simple stuff really fast. Its easy to switch between fine/fast settings, depending on what your printing.
The i850 is also kinda large and noisy, i dont know about the i950 though.
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer...509/index.html
and this one is really great:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_...anon_i950.html
Steve's also has an i850 review. I would definitley go for the 950. The 2 extra colors make a big difference along with the more print nozzles.
Since returning it, Ive thought that it might have been my inexperience with digital photography that caused me to misjudge the 850. I had become so accustomed to the vibrate prints of the Epson, that the Canon looked a little flat. However, I think the Canon was really a more accurate reproduction of reality and the Epson a bit "cartoonie". (But for an old printer, the 740 is damn good with photos.)
So the 850 was good but Id still go with the 950. The price difference isnt large--there are photo printers for twice that. And its reviews have been solid.