Need usb cable for printer

[Jaydon]

I bought a Lexmark P707 photo inkjet printer, and it does not come with a cable. The story is that we bought it just because of the price ($13.00 after the rebate), and we can't even use it right now because our computer does not have a usb port, also not enough RAM and processor speed. We bought it with a look to the future when we may have a newer pc.

I just want to know what usb cable will work for it, because I notice some cost $20-30, and I'd rather get it cheap if possible.

Thanks in advance.

Also, I notice the printer is mainly for photos, and I intend to use it mainly for printing text, and assume it will work for that. Any comments? It comes with color and photo cartridges, the photo cartridge has black as one of the colors. Black cartridge is optional.

Did you ever feel like a dummy?

[Force Flow]

Okay, about the cable - the ones with gold connections cost more, so go with a standard one. Chances are the gold ones are what you are looking at.

As for the cartridges, I think you can get by without having a color cardridge if you're just going to be printing text.

[Jaydon]

OK, thanks force_flow. I've seen some really cheap, like $2, and I guess I didn't say this in the original post, but I really meant to ask, what are the specs I should be looking for, for example, bi-directional, and high speed? The $2 one was called a 2.0 or something, which may not be what I need.

Also, again I did not say this right the first time, do you think the photo cartridge will print black text because it has black as one of its colors? Thought I'd try to get some use out of it. I'd have to buy the black cartridge separately. As you can tell, I'm trying to be cheap.

Thanks again for your response.

[Jaydon]

OK, I just looked at froogle, and what I was seeing there is called a 2.0 A to B usb cable, and one of these was only $2, like I said. Is this all I need? Thanks.

[Force Flow]

Just make sure it has the ends that you need.

No, a color cartridge does not print black. It has a combination of 3 primary colors to get any other color. The black cartridge takes care of black and gray.

[glc]

If you are going to use it mainly for printing text, buy the optional black cartridge. You can print text with what you have now, but the ink cost will be astronomical. Save the photo cartridge for when you are printing photos.

ANY USB cable with the correct ends will work fine, doesn't have to be 2.0.

[Jaydon]

Thanks, force_flow and glc, I think my questions are answered.

[Hi Ho]

There is no "USB 2.0" cable. 2.0 has the exact same connections as 1.0. If a cable says "USB 2.0!" it is just to get your attention. It means nothing. There is no point to having a gold plated USB cable. Why do they make those anyway?

[Brown Hornet]

this is all you should need http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50155698&pfp=cat3

[Hi Ho]

What does it mean by "USB Certified"? They have 10ft USB cables at Wal-Mart for $3 that would work just as good.

[colecifer]

a color cartridge should print black, use to have a really crappy cheap lexmark z11 printer, it only took one cartridge at a time, so you had to use the color for black, cause if you switched 'em out a lot they dried out. Maybe my printer was designed for printing black with color, since it only could fit one. but i see no reason why a color cartridge wouldn't print black. Me and my sister got new printers this x-mas thats used USB. I had a spare cable from my cable modem i wasn't using, but she had to buy one. We got a really cheap one at walmart that works fine.

[glc]

Yes, a color cartridge prints black (sorta - it's closer to a muddy brown) but it mixes all 3 colors to make the black, which gets very expensive.