New Canon and HP inkjet printers: new technologies (page 6: Conclusion)

Conclusion

Canon and HP have made some progress, that is undeniable. Printers are less expensive and colors are nicer. Everything is for the best but…we are still waiting on some things.
Even if prices are more affordable, these printers still cost as much as a very satisfactory multifunction printer. Prices have to continue to drop. Ideally and we will be a bit extreme on this part, we would like to buy them for less than 50 euros. We have to say that we would already be happy with a first step at 99€. 50% more, two times more for some of them is a bit excessive to us.

Well, you will be surprised to hear that such an economical product, under 100€, very good and fast, is already available! This is the Samsung SPP-2020, a model based on our favourite 4" x 6" printer the SPP-2040.
The two peripherals are identical except for a couple of ergonomic details. The SPP-2020 doesn´t have a color monitor or memory card player. Prints have to be commanded from the computer or in PictBridge (direct connection with a digital camera). This last option finally becomes comfortable as cameras more and more integrate very big monitors up to 3 inches (diagonal); and they become more they become more usable than the one integrated to printers.

We have to however point out that none of the printers is able to compete with the discount prices of some of the photo labs for larger orders. One of the most aggressive, Pixdiscount, has prices up to 0.01€ per 4" x 6" photo! With the invoice and production fees, you will pay 6.99€ for fifty 4" x 6" pictures, or 0.14€ per print. This is half the price of the cheapest printer and you don´t have to spend the 100€ (or more) to buy the peripheral.

Finally, (and now I feel like I am rambling on) why do these printers not give the choice to print in 4" x 6" or in 5"x7" when we know that 95% of photos (bridges and compacts) will all be truncated by 11% in height when they are printed on 4" x 6" paper. I don´t understand and the answer of the manufacturer is because there is no 4" x 6" paper. This is too easy and we remind you the name of the brand on the paper: Canon, Epson, HP, Lexmark. It would nice be nice to see an effort in this area.