I've had dozens of printers over the years, all brands and styles..
my wife is a graphic artist, and she loves her Epson R800; just a fancy version on the R200 our European friends are talking about..
HP ink is a fortune, and the quality of their stuff is nothing like it used to be; much cheaper and flimsier..
And, not only are epson carts cheaper than HP, most of their printers have individual carts, so when yellow runs out, you dont have to buy a "new color cart" like you do with HP..
I use a Xerox Phaser 8400, with the solid ink sticks, which is technically a color laser..its expensive, but a real workhorse, and I use it for work and for play..photos are just a bit less vivid than the wifes' epson..
Lexmarks are noisy, and their cartrdiges are very expensive, and Canon's are ok, but hard to service, and not everyone carries their carts..

All things equal, I say get an Epson..good balance of value, and quality is right there at the top with any other brand..

I also have an Epson R800, just as wase4711's wife. The R800 is a dedicated photoprinter. Together with Canon i950 and the HP 7960 it is the best A4 photo printer out there. Which one to choose depends upon personal preferences. One of the reasons for me to choose Epson is that it produces perfect photo prints that are guaranteed to last around 80 years (or more, depending upon how you store the prints of course).

Theese printers are not for intended for general purpose use.

You'll hardly find a printer that is best at everything, or even good at everything. The closest one to be good at everything are the Phasers from Xerox (unless you don't count money at least).

Normal home printing? I also have a HP LaserJet 1300 for everything but photographics. I still don't cover every neeed for prints here. If somebody want to print an Excel sheet including a color diagram or chart I have nothing to offer.

One of the cheaper Epson ink jet printers maybe? First check if there are third party ink cartridges available. If not the ink will cost way more than the printer over time.

Used Different Epsons the last 10 years, and they are hard to beat.
The Epson R300M, with 6 separate cartridges is very good.
I just bought a CANON i900D, with 6 separate cartridges, for 149 Canadian( about 110 US), and that is unbeliavable for photos, and you can refill the cartridges .

To KingCobra...you can refill al the epsons, as long as you get the chipfixerwhich resets the cartridges....made by Nomi.

I have a HP 1210 all-in-one printer,scanner,copier that works like a charm. Does good quality photos and the printing is very fast

@ moen - Thanks for your tip. Although I have not trashed my CX5200 for scanning, I nolonger use it for printing. I've read reviews all over the internet talking about the same problem I have. Now I have a big fat 3-in-1 machine that only does one thing, scan! I refuse to get it fixed and give Epson anymore of my money. I should have known better. Never buy any printer that don't have the printhead attached to the ink cartridge. My new Lexmark does.

I just bought a Lexmark 515 for all around printing. Got it new from WalMart for $34.00 so I have no problem buying a few of these and throwing them in the trash when the cartridges runs out. Just blame the money hungry printer companies for the large landfill problem. :angry:

I just bought 6 more of them so I have enough ink cartridges for a while now. :P