My last one was an HP and cost $69 . I have not printed a photo yet but every HP printer I have had printed photos just fine. This one is an all in one, but not a wifi. I did not need that because I like to watch mine print so I can cancel if it is not printing like I want it to. The only difference in this one and the more expensive ones it loads paper from the top.

My most recent printers are HP Officejet 4500 (non-wireless) that I bought for $60 each. They mostly work ok, but I don't print every day and sometimes they need a little coaxing. In addition to print-copy-scan they also fax and that has been very helpful to me. The only thing I really dislike is that it was a totally wasted effort to try and use non-HP cartridges in them. For $100 or less, I wouldn't describe any inkjet as reliable. It either works or it doesn't. In fact, in a year or two anything you buy will certainly be obsolete are mine already are.

This post was edited by azinoh on Sat, Aug 3, 13 at 13:38

I've been a HP user from the beginning. Currently using a7 year old AIO.

I posted on another thread a little while back that Canon was getting good reviews, particularly ink management. If I was looking for a new printer I would definitely research Canon along with HP.

DA

This post was edited by damccoy on Sat, Aug 3, 13 at 18:39

Two tips for newer inkjet printers:
If you don't put a fairly steady flow of work through them, don't shut them off, just let them go to sleep on their own when idle.
Once out of warranty, or whenever you go to refill while you wait cartridges, be sure to get them done before they start to go really crappy.

Here's a different approach:

Buy a monochrome (black only) laser printer or all in one. You'll have many decent and different units to choose from at the $100 +/- price point.

Do your photo printing at your local pharmacy, most offer a great service at reasonable prices. Upload your photo files over the internet or walk them in on an SD card or a CD/DVD. Same day or while you wait printing.

With this approach, you'd get higher quality prints of both kinds (photos and text) and it could very well be cheaper than using a color ink jet.

I like Snidely's idea above unless you want to create small coloured stuff like birthday or Christmas cards. My older HP 7600 has done very good service, this is a printer only not AIO.

To me most printers have become quite reputable. Check online somewhere like Staples or Tigerdirect to see the choices then Google any you fancy looking for complaints or reviews before venturing forth.

I've had HP printers for years and years - three or four printers over the course of 20 plus years. (I used them until they were years old.) And I was mostly happy with HP all-in-one printers.
But my latest need to change printers came during a sale on Epson printers, a sale my tech person knew about and promoted.
.... I'm still not happy. (And no, I don't think it's because I was just used to HP.)

Jane, which Epson model do you have and what about it are you not happy with?

Thanks to all that replied... what I am seeing is that the WiFi doesn't seem to hold and that ink carts are very expensive... the units are cheap but you pay for the ink.. like free cigarettes but the matches are $30.00. After reading so many reviews it becomes confusing as heck. All I want is to print some photos every once in a while and print letters maybe 3 to 4 times week ....I'm leaning towards buying from Amazon, they have a great return policy so if the printer goes south I can get a refund etc .