Not a Brother. (On the advice of a printer repairman acquaintance.)

I ran across a Brother printer during my searches. Good to know I can scratch those off the list.

At least some Canon printers have separate cartridges for each color of ink. So if only yellow is out, instead of spending $30-some for a color cartridge, you spend $11 for a yellow cartridge. It saves enough for lunch once in a while if you do much color printing. The Canon printers are also quicker and produce better print than HP, IMHO.

I have a Lexmark combo that prints, scans, and copies. As for printing--cartridges are expensive no matter what printer you get. I primarily use my machine to scan things in, but after three years, it still works like new.

If you want reliable, bite the bullet and search around for a cheap-but-reliable color laserjet.

Trust me on this. Inkjets, you'll wind up buying cartridges (at $30+ a pop) every 3-4 months. Plus, the ink doesn't keep well. With a laserjet, the phrase "running out of ink" occurs on the order of once a year or less, and you can pretty much store the ink (as long as it's a dry location) indefinitely.

Dell's lasers, from what I've had experience at work, have been great. And they're running a special on color laserjets right now.

http://www1.us.dell.com/con...

Oh, if that breaks your "initial purchase" restriction, forget I mentioned it.

You could also look around on eBay or similar sites, if you're going to look at lasers.

Ms. TP got a fancy Xerox color laser printer. It's the bomb.

Tom, I forgot about Canon's single-color cartridges! Thanks for reminding me.

Sya, I'm a twice-Lexmark owner. Good printers, but the cartridge costs are exceptionally high. A quick perusal of computers.com tells me that hasn't changed in the last couple of years.

Tefkam, Yeah that's out of my price range. I don't need anything that good yet, anyway. I am considering a Samsung BW laser jet, though, recommended by a coworker that's had one for a year or two.

TPM, Someday I will own a color laser jet. Alas, that someday is not today...

Dell printers are Lexmark with a Dell label (iirc). They use to partner with HP long ago.

I still think HP makes the best printers on the market. They also tend to have the cheapest toner. Remember, most of your printer cost goes towards toner. Printers are a susidized market. Although I do like Lexmark, they cost more in the long run.

Cannon printers are amoung the best out there for home use. That's where I'd be looking if I was looking outside HP.