For the amount of printing you're talking about, you want one of the
HPs that takes the giant (10/11) cartridges; The 1100D, which is just
a printer, has a maximum reccomended monthly usage of about 6500
pages. There are very few all-in-ones that take these, such as this
<
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001OGMQ6/203-1505873-4297547>
which is way out of your price range.
If you want to
1) print 250-1000 sheets a month AND
2) have all-in-one functionality, you will have to either
A) Buy a cheap 'business' inkjet in your price range, then spend
thousands of dollars a year in ink cartridges, or refill them. If you
buy one of the OfficeJet models that takes the 56 or 96 cartridges,
which are common, and try to print 1000 pages a month, especially with
images, you will be spending about the cost of the printer in
cartridges each month unless you refill. You can get relatively
inexpensive continuous flow systems for Epsons, but I am not sure if
there's one for Epson All-In-One printers. Plus the Epson printheads
themselves may not hold up to the volume you're talking about.
B) Buy an expensive office jet printer. Bigger initial cost, but much
less for ink. The 10 and 11 cartridges are MUCH easier to refill than
most HP cartridges. Continuous flow systems for these printers tend to
be horribly expensive (the one for the HP 1100/1200 is $300, $100 more
than the printer itself). Epson doesn't really have business class
printers, they do have 'office' ones, but the print cartridges are
generally just as tiny as their photo/deskjet ones. However, the price
for an HP OfficeJet All-In-One that takes the giant cartridges is just
as expensive as a color laser printer these days, so this option isn't
as good as it used to be.
C) Buy a color laser printer. Initial cost these days can be
reasonable, but will be more expensive if you want on the all-in-one
capabilities. Your initial cost will be very high. Resupplying it will
also be expensive. However, your cost per print will be incredibly
small. Your prints will also look extremely professional compared to
the inkjet.
Personally, if I were you, I would look into getting a business class
regular printer (such as the 1200D, which is discontinued but can
still be ordered, for now) for printing straight off the computer, and
get a cheaper all-in-one machine for any copying you want to do.
Refill or get a CFS for the business machine if your volume needs
increase. You will not find an all-in-one at your price that will not
cost you a fortune in ink in a very short time. The 56 black that many
HP all-in-ones take costs $30 and has about 20ml of ink. The 10 Black
for the 1200D costs $35 and contains 69ml of ink. If you expect your
volume to increase a lot, you may want to consider a laser printer.
The initial price is high, but you need to factor in the cost per
page. You will soon regret buying a printer in your price range (about
$175 US) a month or so later when you've spent another $175 in ink.
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