canon ip4000 - snazzy little package - available in a wireless model too - also can print on cds - amazing print quality - very happy in os x

The HP PSC 2175 all-in-one printer. Does a great job in feeding in multiple index cards, also has a scanner and copier, and reads your photo memory sticks also. Its between 100-150, and sure its a little big, but it does an AWESOME job. Recommended.

-Maneesh

The Brother Monochrome Laser HL 2030 (117 Euros in France- Cheaper in the US) meets all your criteria, including an adjustable tray that can easily line up, hold and load 200 index cards down to 3x5. Only downside is a bit of page curl.

Thanks again Merlin for helping all of us get things done!

My HP 7550 has done a nice job for my on my 3x5 cards. I think it can be had for well under a C-note, runs a stack of 3x5’s (not sure how many, but definitely more than I want in my pocket at one time), and does a really nice job with photos too. I haven’t done enough cards to get a feel for how efficient it is on ink, but its “everyday” or “fastdraft” quality prints are good enough quality for most folks’ Hipsters, I would imagine.

not sure about the mac thing but i’m using the canon i860 and it is excellent and lo and behold it prints the most beautiful 3x5 cards in color you’ve ever seen!! love it love it love it.

I have an HP 5850 printer. I bought it because it had built-in wifi and I found it online for $100, but it also prints out some nice index cards and has a fast draft mode that doesn’t use too much ink.

I have been using the Lexmark P6250 photo printer. It’s $150. Supports Apple Mac OS X. Print/Scan/Copy. Multi memory card reader. What makes the printing on 3x5 cards work is the borderless printing feature. The new DIY planner Hipster edition looks beautiful in draft mode. Cheers, J.

The Samsung ML-1740 B&W laser is both small, cheap and crisp, and it handles index cards quite well. Looks like you can get it from Amazon for about $80 after rebates. Windows and Linux (Intel and PPC) are supported, but I don’t know about OS X.

HP 4215 All-in-One http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/en/un/WF05a/18972-238444-410635-12019-410635-351105.html

Costs about $150, feeds index cards excellently!

I can’t believe I hadn’t tried it any sooner than LAST WEEK, but my HP PSC 1210 All-in-one does a reasonable job. Can’t recommend that you BUY one, but I would confirm if any readers have one, it’ll handle most HPDA needs. Doug’s DIY Planner got cropped, but in OS X’s Page Setup dialogue, I could “shrink to fit, and it would still be legible. Best deal…these printers are DIRT cheap and of course they scan/copy too.

I’m using my Canon ip3000 that I’m very happy with.

Pros:

I set up a custom 3”x5” page with 0” margins in Mac OS X’s Page Setup dialog box.

DIY Hipster PDA templates used without problem.

The paper guide can be pushed all the way to the 3-inch width.

Print quality is quite good.

Margins consistent.

Speed is excellent.

Cons:

This is a new printer, so I have no idea how ‘sucky’ the printer is on ink.

Automatic duplexing is not available (too bad), but manual duplexing can be done.

The ‘secondary paper source’ cassette that can be used to print photo-sized paper. Sadly, it can’t be adjusted to dispense 3x5 cards. That woulda been cool because I could’ve kept Letter paper as the main paper source and 3x5s in the secondary cassette. I suppose larger cards could be used in the cassette (but then they wouldn’t fit in me pocket!)

I found the HP Color LaserJet 3550 to work pretty well. I wrote some instructions on how to print hipsterPDA cards on them - these instructions should work on most if not all hp laserjets.

There’s a certain good feeling that comes with doing it yourself, but it might be cheaper and easier in the long run to persuade a major maker of office supplies to create a product line using the best of these card designs. I’ve contacted Mead via email, suggesting they take at look at what is going on here and create products for this market. Someone with better contacts that I might want to do more to get their attention.

Remember, until Ford came along with mass production, cars were pricey and trouble to maintain. It makes no sense spending a lot of time klutzing with printers to save a little time.

—Mike Perry, Untangling Tolkien

Can I take a moment to bash ALL Lexmark printers, including the ones sold with the Dell name on them?

Any company that would use the DMCA to prevent refilling cartridges or using generic ones will not get dime number one from me. I used to rep Lexmark printers, but I’m done with them.

Of course, I think the DMCA is a universally bad idea, anyway…

Another plug for the Canon iP series. I’ve got an iP 1500 that does a good job with 3x5 cards. The printer cost 50 bucks and ink refills are $8 for black and about $15 for color. Doesn’t come with an out tray, but that just makes the footprint smaller.

Note that it doesn’t know that it can accept 3x5 cards. I had to setup a 4x6 custom page size (which is also as narrow as the paper tray will go) and appropriately wide right/bottom margins. The same trick might work on the iP3000’s secondary paper tray: just ‘cause the tray doesn’t snugly hold the paper, doesn’t mean it won’t go through. My 1500 can fly through a stack of cards, and it’s tough to find a better deal IMO.

Go Canon iP! I’ve got the 1500 too. Just stick in the index cards, adjust the paper slider to the lowest size, and run. It handles 3x5 pages from Illustrator and PDFs well.

As Eric says, the ink is nice and cheap. I have found, however, that it runs a little on those low-quality 500 packs from Amazon, but not to any serious extent.

My old Laserwrite NT handled index cards perfectly. I used to print my vocab cards for French class with it.

HP Deskjet 5650. LOVE IT!!! The paper feeder alignment thingies clamp right down on the stack of cards to hold them in perfect alignment.

I use a Brother HL-5040 and it works fine. Straight-through paper path when you drop the back wing, but still a bit of a curl. I printed several of the interesting designs posted here over the past couple of weeks and they worked just fine. Need to open the PDFs in Acrobat Reader, however, to get them on the card without truncating for the unprintable margin.

A solid printer all the way around. Don’t know about feeding a stack. I generally do manual feed and it works just fine.

my lexmark 6170 seems to handle the index cards just fine, with minimal tinkering.

The Brother HL-1440 works like a dream on my 3x5s and I’ve found most other brother lasers work just as well. They’re sturdy and cheap to run in my experience.

It’s not under $150, and probably won’t make your cut, but of the 3 printers I have, my Epson 1280 is the only one that will slot down small enough to hold 3x5 cards. With the ‘maximize print area’ checkbox checked, the margins on all sides come out to 1/4 inch or less. And it handles a stack of cards all by itself with no manual feeding and no babysitting.

Thank god we’re all thinking alike. There is genius on 43 Folders.

Every time you’ve posted a Hipster PDA hack - which is what I consider those beautiful templates - methinks, ‘Yeah, but which is the best printer?’ I look forward to your final suggestions.

I’ve had no luck with my Epson 880C, so it’s not in the running.

HP psc 1350 all-in-one

Pros: * Can feed in multiple index cards with no problems * Is fine with the run-of-the-mill index cards I am using * No border or margin problems

Cons: * However it is over or around $150 * Doesn’t have separate trays, so need to adjust and re-adjust trays to go back and forth between index cards and paper (but really is no big deal to do so)

Alt solution that works with any printer utilizing a home-rigged carrier sheet. Similar to what is used to print a single remaining check from a 3 check sheet.

1) Take a standard sheet of paper and reinforce front edge with tape - because you will run this sheet thru the printer many times.

2) Print this sheet with the 4 up card layout - to serve as guidelines

3) Glue sticky portion cut from post it notes - sticky side up on paper inside the printed card lines - cover inside of edges and seams between cards (Super sticky post-it-notes work best - Double stick tape could work if you sligthtly desticky it on fabric)

4) Place 4 cards on sheet 5) Print, remove, repeat

Alignment is perfect

Not exactly the solution you’re looking for, but I’ve been printing 4-up on letter size card stock. It’s actually cheaper than index cards, at least at the local Staples. Chopping them up with a paper cutter is pretty fast, especially if you include indexing marks on all four sides, like the DIY templates do.

I’ll second the following printer:

Samsung ML-1740.

It’s probably one of the cheaper laser jets out there ($120-$170), but it’s a really nice machine. Been using it for a year for business and school related work (which equates to a lot of printing).

It prints directly to index cards like a champ.

I can’t fully second the HP PSC2175. Google up “PSC2175” and “Tiger” and you’ll find plenty of complaints about getting the scanning half to work with the new OS. Mine hangs when I try to scan or preview, even though Tiger sees the scanner.

The printing half does a nice job on notecards. You’ll need to tweak your print settings to allow a half inch margin at the bottom of the card, however.

Brother 5170DN is wonderful. Will even duplex index cards if you so desire.

I have nothing but praise for my Lexmark z31. This has been my “work horse” printer for years whenever I need to print something as a “draft” and use for a few then toss. It handles index cards (3x5 and 4x6) like a pro. I can put in close to 50 cards, hit print and just walk away — no manual feed or special tray needed. Has not jammed once. Honors margins, never prints crooked, and looks ok in draft b/w format.

Reviews on Amazon are mixed, but I have printed tens of thousands of pages and never had a single problem. None. I buy the b/w toner (I don’t print color from this printer) at SAMS in a two-for-package so they run about 30 bucks each. I don’t monitor how many pages I get per unit, but I never think to myself, “wow, that went quickly.”

BTW: it works much better then my $1,500 Samsung laser printer …