Hi Never had a printer (relatively new to computing in general as well) but need one now, so I could use all the help I can get. The immediate purpose is printing shipping labels and some basic documents like letters and receipts. The printer will be used only occasionally, perhaps not even every day. My priorities in choosing the printer are (as I see them now): reliability, low maintenance cost, price. The brands I'm leaning towards (based on a very short research I've conducted) are HP or Epson. But when it comes to a particular model I'm at total loss and would appreciate any guidance. Thanks a lot for your help. Andre

They are all pretty good. I would concentrate on a 'cost per page' evaluation if you can find it.

If you are not going to be doing all that much printing (like many pages filled with text and or graphics) HP, Cannon and Epson all have some lower priced models that are well rated in reviews. Given how you categorize your planned printing, I wouldn't spend over $100 tops(you don't need to buy high speed or photo quality output). Best approach would be to go to any office supply or computer store and look at the various models.

For the price, the low end Lexmarks are pretty good quality and are about as low maintenance as you can get.

For low volume printing, any of the above mentioned brands are fine. Stick to an InkJet type printer, you do not need a Laser printer. Al

Nowadays, the price gap between the laser and ink-jet printers is relatively small... Ink-jet printers themselves are generally cheaper but might be slow in printer (higher cost per page) Laser printers themselves are generally more expensive but is fast and provide professional looking documents (lower cost per page) Samsung and Brother are some of the bargain price laser printers manufacturers. If your computer is equipped with a USB port, go for a printer that is USB compatible. Spend some time and check out the printer reviews at Cnet.com under hardware product reviews.