I'm planning on upgrading my whole computer set-up at home in the near future, and first in line is my printer. I currently own an Epson Stylus Photo 820, which has been doing the job for me some what adequately... except for the heads constantly clogging, but fine none the less.<br><br> My needs will be to supply great art samples for my portfolio, printing out good family pictures, and a good compliment to my newly planned G4 Dual 1.42 GHz tower.<br><br>I'm considering the Epson Stylus 2200, but I've read some good reviews on the Canon i850, any suggestions?<br><br>

I do quite a bit of desktop publishing at home. Not professional by any stretch of the imagination...but I will say this. I've always used HP's and never had a problem. One time I bought an epson (Stylus 720 I believe) because it was "cheaper" and Epson was so great. Boy did I regret it. The clackity noise it made was awful. The software kept getting in my way...etc. I used it on one big project to really test it and give it a chance to shine. Printing full color pages on best quality for a project. It took over 7 hours to complete a task my old HP 570 less than 3. The quality was about the same...but I'll never go back. I bought an HP Deskjet 895cxi and I've been happy ever since. That was...when my sister got married....oh 4 years ago. I'd say I've replaced the cartriges in it over 200 times and have never had any issues. I really get a lot of use out of my printer. It still runs like the day I bought it. That's my $.02. <br><br>

The HP Photosmart 7550 looks appealing, something I have not researched, I'll have to look into it more. Thanks Beniitec!<br><br>

I use my HP 5550 for printing photos and my portfolio pieces and it works fantastic! Great color, speedy and inexpensive. I don't even have the "photo ink cartridges" and the prints come out awesome!<br><br><br>Click here to visit me.

You bet! It has been my experience also that Apple computers and HP printers have always gotten along well. Oh and I'll have to concur with Giz, my photos come out great. People ask me all the time where I got them printed! I simply say..."my printer" Everyone thinks I have a $5000 printer in my home. :)<br><br>

Clogged heads on Epson printers are always a pain. I have an Epson now, but my next printer will be an HP of some sort. My wife has an HP and it never clogs up, never has problems.<br><br><br><br>Great wits are sure to madness near allied.--John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"

A co-worker here at the studio just showed me some of his prints from his HP printer and they look incredible! my Epson will print out some nice pics, but I constantly have to keep cleaning the heads. That HP Photosmart 7550 is looking sweeter, and sweeter.<br><br>

And when you clean the heads, do you get ink smudges on the first 10 or so sheets of paper that go through the printer? It's really a pain in the keyster!<br><br><br><br>Great wits are sure to madness near allied.--John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"

I have both an Epson and a HP (although the HP is a few years old now). I have never had any problems with the HP or its software whereas the Epson can at times best be described as temperamental! I find that on a number of my macs the fastest way to fix gliches with the Epson is to reinstall the software - which always seems to work - but is a very boring time waster.<br><br>Need a laugh? Visit CreatorDude.com

The two threads (this one and the 'new scanner') have certainly made MY buying decision a little easier- I had thoughts of replacing some of my peripherals as well...<br><br>The 7550 and the Epson 2400 are what I'm leaning towards right now myself..<br><br>[color:red]Hold on, it's time for a </font color=red> <br>