Wanted: Cheap and reliable printer?

Question

Hi, I am lookig for a reasonable cheap printer. I am an "occasional" printer, therefore the printer hasn't got to be fast or extermly fancy.


What printer are you using, how much was it and how much are the cartridges? Spread the word...

I am a little bit nerveous about the cost of cartridges. Are there some companies, which charge less for cartriges than others? Is there a quality difference when buying non brand replacement cartridges and is it true, that some brands have chips, so that I can not use non brand cartridges?

Answer 1

Overall cost is what you've got to look at here. The cost of the printer is usually indicative of what the ink is going to run you. I.E. a Lexmark model which has all the bells and whistles for $40-$60 is going to run you about $65 - $72 for one set of cartridges. The fact is most companies make there money on the ink not the printers. That's why you see some pretty good models for dirt cheap prices.
In my opinion Lexmark and HP are the worst ones at this. Canon (IMO) gives the best bang for the buck BUT you may also want to check out Kodak who have stunned the market by offering super cheap ink replacement cartridges that don't gouge the customer.
If it were me? I'd look at a Canon model or a Kodak. Lexmark also sucks if you're refilling your own cartridges. There is a call back feature in the Lexmark software that actually limits the amount of times you can re-use a cartridge. To the best of my knowledge no other manufacturer does this except Lexmark. And yes, they can tell if it's actually a new cartridge or not.

Answer 2

You're not looking for a cheap and reliable printer - you should expect to spend upwards of 200 dollars on a decent-quality, robust printer - anything less and your printer will probably last a matter of months.

As you've spotted - it isn't about the cost of the printer - it's the consumables. If you buy a cheapo printer - you'll probably find you spend a lot more on the cartridges. Do a little personal research on to find your ideal printer for your expected use. I have one which uses individual cartridges for each colour - usually the blue is finished first of the three coloured carts I have - but that is just my system and my usage pattern. (I like to print off photos)

Fortunately, I know of a place locally that sells their own brand of colour cartridges and I can stock up with the colours I'm needing and black of course. They also decent quality refill carts for my printer - saving on the cost of branded.

Since you're on the net - you should be able to take advantage of the great deals out there. Though I would always try to find somewhere who'll give me a demo of the model I'm interested in - coz I'm naturally suspicious of the various magazines agenda when they talk a lot of rubbish about the latest gadget printer.

Oh - Canon are a decent brand and Never buy a second hand printer - you don't know where it's been and what it's done! Someone above mentioned getting a laser printer - the toner carts for these are VERY expensive!!!

Answer 3

The cost of ink carts quickly dwarfs the cost of the printer, and the carts dry up in six months whether you use them or not.

The cheapest route for the "occasional" printer is to go laser, instead of inkjet. Laser toner lasts until you use it up. A black-and-white laser costs about 2c a page, and a color laser costs about 6c a page. If you print a lot, an inkjet costs 10-12c per page, and if you print very little, you could get 1 page for the price of a $30 ink carts.

You usually can find laser printers for about the same price of the drum/toner refills. Since a b/w laser printer uses one color, that means about $80-100, and a color laser printer uses four colors, that means about $320-350.

I have a Konica/Minolta Magicolor 2300W that's about 4 years old. I've replaced the toner only *once*, and my wife and I do a lot of printing on it. (Our computers share printers.) I previously mostly used a Samsung ML-4500 b/w laser printer. Both of these printers have been extremely reliable.

Because laser printers don't have wet ink, the paper doesn't swell up, meaning that there's no smearing, and that you don't get paper jams. Before I switched to laser printers, I used to hang around sailors, trying to acquire a sufficient vocabulary to deal with inkjet printers. These days, I hang around Hallmark shops, trying to pick up vocabulary: I love my printers.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

HP Deskjet D1360 around £30 good quality prints reliable but does jam a bit.

Catridges are £12 each you need 2
comes with 2 starter catridges about half full

Answer 6

get a hp laserjet jet for business use.
you can find very cheap ones on ebay .
you might have to spend 60 bucks on the inks but it will make over 10,000 prints.etc.making it short it might last you a year.
and I dont mean buy an industrial sized printer they have em that fits right on your desk under 100 bucks.

www.aplusbudgetpcs.com

Answer 7

You can buy a printer compatible with what is called Continuous Ink System. This way, you can save in the ink costs. It is also not messy since you don't have to refill ink cartidges.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

i've worked with more than 20 different printers over the years, the best brand by far is canon.

stay far away from hp!

Answer 10

I have no idea what will be the cost in your area.

You can comfortably use a second-hand printer. Refill the catridges when they go empty at your own risk. or buy a genuine catridge