HP DeskJet 6122 or Canon i550?

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Any suggestions? I am mostly interested in printed in both sides of the paper, mostly text and in draft mode. I had Hp 930c which had the option for double sided printing but i read that canon doesn't have such an option in their drivers. Maybe printing even and odd pagews separately will have the same result

 

[cd187]

The Canon i550 has an option to print duplex in the driver, but it is a manual option. You must flip the pages over yourself, and then print the opposite side. The HP 6122 has a built-in duplexer, so it will automatically flip and print the opposite side, but this slows print speed somewhat. The i550 has lower ink costs, slightly faster text speed, much faster photo speed, and similar print quality. But the i550 is slightly more dependant on the paper quality than the 6122, in my opinion, as certain papers look really good, but others can make colors too bland and/or text fuzzy. But if you use each manufacturer's papers, than both can produce good quality.
The HP 6122 tends to look slightly better, IMO, on typical business graphics, charts, etc. which is not a big concern for you. But the 6122 prints the better grayscale graphics. And the built-in duplexer is a big plus is you do a lot of reports, letters, etc. On the downside, if you do a lot of printing, the 6122 is more expensive to use as ink cost tends to be slightly higher than the i550. In addition, the 6122 costs nearly twice as much to purchase. If you'll be printly mostly text, then either will serve you well. The big question is whether the functionality of the built-in duplexer and slightly higher ink costs offsets the lower costs and slightly faster speed of the i550.
I use them both and like them both. I use the HP at work, but use an i550 and i850 at home. In addition, for printing schematics at work, I also use the Epson C82. The quality and ruggedness of the Epson durabrite ink is amazing. It resists water, alcohol, and even an acetone spill failed to ruin a printed electronic schematic. The paper curled after drying, but the print was fully readable and totally undisturbed. All this on plain copy paper. Amazing.

cd187

 

[spotlight]

Thanks for the info! I also believe that the dublexer is useless because i can first print even and then odd pages with the same result. I have read that Canon sometimes bleeds ink through pages and that it takes a while to get ready after you press power on. Is it true?

 

[cd187]

Canon inks seem to bleed a little more than some others, mostly on plain paper, but you can control this to some extent by using a intensity setting in the drivers to reduce this, if it is indeed a problem for the paper you use. I only had this problem when using plain copy paper, myself. However, on some photo papers, the Canon inks are much more finicky. There are some definite likes and dislikes with the photo papers to use with Canon inks.

CD187

Oh, I almost forgot. Both of the Canon printers I use seem to be ready to print about the same time as any other printer I've used give or take a few seconds when first powered up. Sometimes they do what seems like a head-cleaning when first powered, other times not. My HP is not always so quick to print either when first powered. Probably the Epson is the slowest when first powered. But the Canon's are definitely first to print a complete page after they're already powered. And they increase their lead with each page printed afterwards.

Hope that helps?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by cd187 on 08/27/03 08:32 PM.</EM></FONT></P>