By Ted Kritsonis
The digital age may have lessened the need to actually print off documents, but the fact printers now connect to the Internet means that how and what you’re printing has changed.
Wi-Fi is standard in most printers nowadays, while printing from mobile devices or even from remote locations are becoming staple features too. Web connectivity is bringing in fresh new content to print, especially for kids, and image quality is getting better for photos and image-heavy school projects. All the major manufacturers are competing for your hard-earned dollar on this, and here are four options in different price ranges to consider.
HP ENVY 110
$299.99
Ink cartridges (#60): Black $24.99
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow $14.99 each, or $27.99 for multipack
Photo paper range: between $14.99 and $36.99
The ENVY is HP’s flashy all-in-one printer, and its cable box-style design is ideal for condos or small living spaces. The wireless printing capabilities of this printer mean you can put it almost anywhere, and print from almost anywhere. The ePrint feature lets you email any photo directly to the printer for remote printing. There are also apps installed where you can print out anything from short colouring books, greeting cards, calendars and more.
Kodak HERO 7.1
$179.99
Ink cartridges: Black (10B) $9.99
Colour (10C) $19.99, or $29.99 for Black/Colour combo
Photo paper range: between $5.49 and $44.99
Kodak’s printers stand out because they don’t use separate colour ink cartridges, and the overall cost is lower than their competitors. This model also features Google Cloud Print (for printing Google Docs and other enabled sites and apps remotely), along with Kodak Email Print, which is the same idea as what HP offers. This is an all-in-one that also offers two-sided printing, plus smartphone and tablet prints through Kodak’s Pic Flick app.
Canon PIXMA MG4120
$109.99
Ink cartridges: Black (PG-240) $19.99
Colour (CL-241) $29.99, or $49.99 for Black/Colour combo
Photo paper range: between $9.99 and $42.99
This model offers some nice filters that you can add to a photo before you print, like miniature, fish-eye, blur background or soft focus. You also get PIXMA Cloud Link where you can print directly from Canon Image Gateway and Google’s Picasa photo-sharing app. Full Movie HD Print allows you to print photos captured from .MOV video files from your compatible Canon EOS Digital SLR or PowerShot camera.
Epson Stylus NX430
$99.99
Ink cartridges (One T124): Black $14.99
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow $14.99 each, or $29.99 for multipack
Photo paper range: between $19.99 and $39.99
At $99.99, the Stylus NX430 is more of a budget buy, but it does offer some real bang for the buck. Like the others in this list, it is an all-in-one, is Wi-Fi-enabled for wireless printing and can work with Epson Connect smartphone apps to print directly. It may be a bit slow to print colour images, and the jury’s out on how long the colour ink cartridges might last, but consumer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive thus far.
