Epson Stylus CX5500

Got an all-in-one printer from the Comex fair today: the Epson Stylus CX5500.

The price for all-in-ones has dropped quite a bit from about four years ago. Then, I paid something in the region of the high $200s. My new Epson cost me $118. Yet I paid it grudgingly.

I suppose, when it comes down to it, I just don't like spending money on printers. To me, it doesn't make sense to put money into a plastic machine that will probably jam up, konk out, clog up, or refuse to turn on in about two years' time. Buying a printer also means that I'm stuck having to buy expensive ink cartridges that seem to hold less and less ink over the years so that the manufacturers can "lower" the retail price of their cartridges. I mean, it may actually cost more for me to print at home than to print in school at 5 cents a copy.

Yet, having said all of that, I'm quite happy with my purchase. I chose the Epson over the Canon because it looked prettier and was cheaper, and the Epson over Brother because I could get a $9.90 cartridge of ink. The cost of ink is actually the same for Epson and Brother; it is just that with the Epson, they have smaller capacity ink cartridges. This gives me the option to keep a small capacity cartridge for my colours ($9.90) and a high capacity cartridge for my black ($17.90) if I don't do a lot of colour printing. Canon is always my first love, but the low-end all-in-one was just way too bulky. It's a shame, but I hope this Epson will be as good as my first Canon...

If anything, I'm looking forward to scanning. At least I'll save some money on photocopying! :)