Windows 7 Compatible Printers

[treblesum81]

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy a new printer, partly because mine isn't compatible with Windows 7 (and the company has said they probably won't be updating it...) and partly because its old and uses a lot of expensive ink. So here is the question I guess:

Can someone please give a list, or some other information regarding which color printers / all-in-ones are compatible with Windows 7 Out of the Box, meaning I won't have to wait for the company to release their driver in 2-3 months after the official release of the OS?

Right now I've got an Epson C88 which will print B/W without much problem, but can't do color as it produces a page where every line of text is overlayed with a bar of a single color in alternating fashion. The problem is that I need to print about 10 color pages a day for school and am left running my flash drive to school every time I need to print. I've tried reinstalling the printer driver, reinstalling the driver in compatibility mode, and even just letting the windows driver service install its own version... all without any improvement.

So, if anyone can please share this information with me so that I can get a new printer quickly, I'd much appreciate it. Also, I've been comparing the Canon MP490 and the Epson NX515 (I don't want another epson, but if thats all that will work, so be it), so if either of these two have been proven to work correctly with Windows 7, I'd really like to know.

Thanks,
Greg

PS: I'm not sure if this has been brought up before, but a few searches didn't bring me anything like what I'm looking for so I'm sorry if this is a repeat.

 

[NaviRahu]

I have an HP Officejet 5610 All-in-One that we bought some time ago, relatively cheap, and I've had no problems between it and Windows 7. At most, the scanner is crap for pencil drawings and color pencil art. But that's the printer itself. I also have an HP LaserJet P1006, however that's B&W. For the most part, if it says that it works with Vista, it's likely to work with 7. And most modern printers should work out-of-box.

As a note with the 5610, if you're printing 10 pages in color a day, that's going to be really expensive in cartriges. Unfortunately, I've found that true of most color inkjet printers.

 

[treblesum81]

As a note with the 5610, if you're printing 10 pages in color a day, that's going to be really expensive in cartriges. Unfortunately, I've found that true of most color inkjet printers.

This is the reason I wasn't really looking at the HP's... their ink is expensive. The Canon's ink cartridges are only about $13 a piece, despite the fact that the color ink comes in a single cartridge rather than separate cartridges. The Epson on the other hand, has separate color ink cartridges and a package of 3 costs about $30. I personally am leaning towards the Canon, but I can't bring myself to buy any printer that isn't confirmed to be 100% working in Windows 7, as I would still find myself running down to school every time I have to print something, having saved myself nothing...

 

[bc3tech]

Canon pixma pro 9000 working great

 

[piattj]

I'm currently using (and very happy with) an EPSON PX700W. I used to have HP as my default choice and used LaserJet and allinone printers, but problems with bloated software, installation problems and expensive ink drove me away.

 

[treblesum81]

Well, although I haven't seen either of the two I'm looking at, its seeming like it may be the fact that my printer is 4-5 years old that is the biggest problem. That being said, the printer did work fine until after some windows update download, so I'm not sure. I wonder if it's reasonable to expect that either the NX515 or the MP490 will work, considering other product lines from those companies work.

Any thoughts?

 

[Barman58]

I have an Epson DX5050 MFD which works OOB with Windows 7 x64 - More functionality is provided by the latest Vista drivers.

 

[bjrichus]

treblesum81,

I have two printers defined in my Windows/7 set up...

One is a Epson CX4800 and a Dell 5100cn.

Both work just fine from Windows/7 x64 with Vista 64bit drivers.

(The Dell is a PCL6 device - color laser at work - and the Epson multi-function is at home).

 

[NaviRahu]

As a note with the 5610, if you're printing 10 pages in color a day, that's going to be really expensive in cartriges. Unfortunately, I've found that true of most color inkjet printers.

This is the reason I wasn't really looking at the HP's... their ink is expensive. The Canon's ink cartridges are only about $13 a piece, despite the fact that the color ink comes in a single cartridge rather than separate cartridges. The Epson on the other hand, has separate color ink cartridges and a package of 3 costs about $30. I personally am leaning towards the Canon, but I can't bring myself to buy any printer that isn't confirmed to be 100% working in Windows 7, as I would still find myself running down to school every time I have to print something, having saved myself nothing...

Quite understandable. Something that you could also look into are cheap but compatible cartridges (which is what I'm doing for my LaserJet) or refilling, which is usually cheaper. There are usually a few replacements for HP carts. I've simply been using HP since the LaserJet IIIp and they've been incredibly reliable so far. I was upset when the IIIp finally had communication issues and was no longer usable, a few months ago. Might try it with an old 98 laptop I have and see if it's the printer or just that it's too old for modern computers.

 

[treblesum81]

From what I've been told in my researches aside from whether they are Win7 compatible or not, HP doesn't use refillable ink cartridges on their new models, but rather non-refillable ink wells. Also, the off brand cartridges like Office Depot were actually recycled brand names which were refilled and sold again, so if the wells aren't refillable, there will be no off brand to buy.

 

[NaviRahu]

HP Deskjet F4400 All-in-One Printer series
HP Photosmart C4600 All-in-One Printer series NEW!

HP 60 Black Ink Cartridge CC640WN: Hewlett Packard HP 60 Ink Cartridge, Black, Remanufactured - 4inkjets
HP 60 Tri-color Ink Cartridge CC643WN: Hewlett Packard HP 60 Ink Cartridge, Tri Color, Remanufactured - 4inkjets

Those all-in-ones are right off of HP's site, and those are remanufactured ink carts.

Mind you, I am not promoting HP in this. HP's are expensive, and even the remanufactured can be. They're just cheaper. Hey, I went laser printer for a reason, but I also didn't get a color laser for a reason. I'm just obsessive-compulsive about information.

Not all of their carts are refillable, and some you will need to buy remanufactured rather than trying a home-refill, but they are out there and available.

Aside from that tidbit, while I haven't tested them with Windows 7, I would greatly recommend the Canon printer. From what I've seen, they're really clear and have decent ink management. Something that I would do, however, would be to spreadsheet the number of pages each of the carts say they can print, if they have that available. I went through a few models doing that when trying to decide on whether to get a laser printer, and many of the cheaper carts also didn't last very long. I don't remember the brands, though, as that was a few years ago.

 

[TheSchaft]

I would also recommend HP.

They are one of the few manufacturers that ship full cartridges with their printers. I have an old(er) HP 2600n color laserjet that works fine with Windows 7, I just had to load the drivers from the original CD and point to them when Windows asked for them when it discovered the printer on the network.


It has been my experience that if it worked under XP, it will probably work under Windows 7, so don't give up just because there aren't Windows 7 specific drivers out there.

 

[Everlong]

I picked up a cheap Dell V105 inkjet printer few months ago. Tried it for the first time today on Windows 7 and it worked right away. Connected it in to the PC and Windows Update downloaded all the drivers for it and it printed a few things today with them drivers without any problem.

 

[treblesum81]

From what I've been able to find out canon has a fairly low number of pages per cartridge of ink (220 for black and about 250 for color). The epson is claiming more at about 250 and 340 with the option of going for high cap inks, and the hp says they print about 1000 sheets per cartridge. Now I'm not sure again as economy is important to me.

I looks like I can expect any of the three to work, but all three options seem to have their drawbacks. Canon is cheaper, but is going to cost me more in ink in the long run, Epson I don't really want, but it looks like a better deal than Canon, and the HP is expensive, but it will be the cheapest on ink (at least from my research). Anyway, thats all stuff for me to figure out, but thank you all for your input. If you do have any more, I would always appreciate it.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Snufffed]

I'm using a Brother MFC-240c - 100% working, and does a very good job. small foot print for copy, scan-sheet, scan-flat sheet, fax send-rec. perfect for almost any thing. you might need. Small Office it is WOW, great. USB support. Cheap, works very well.

 

[johngalt]

I was using a Ricoh Laser AP-1600 with W7 without any issues whatsoever, but it was so old that the cartridge needed replacing. At $110 I figured it was time to get a new printer - so I bought Brother HL-5250DN Network Laser Printe and am very happy with its W7 support.

The web admin software works like a champ when I had it previously installed in the Beta, but now I just connect to the printer via IP and am able to configure it at will.

Seriously, if you have any sort of home network at all, get a networked printer - then you can save the hassle of having to share the printer through your computer, and it is available to all users of your network.

That is the main thing I look for, in addition to the usual suspects - reliability, quality, price, etc.

 

[airport]

I need help in sharing my MFC 240-C USB printer on my desktop having xp and laptop ahving windows 7, can somebody help please. Just to let you know I am a novice in computers.

 

[Zepher]

just go the manufactures website and check to see if there are Windows 7 drivers for the printer you are looking at. that is the easiest way.