A £0.29 Laser Colour Printer

My Lexmark colour laser printer (4 years old) needs a set of new toner cartridges. If I went for the manufacturer's items then I would be looking at an outlay of £469. A set of third-party compatible re-cycled cartridges would cost me £168.70.

Arriving later today is a like-for-like replacement model with a 4 year onsite warranty ( which includes a £469 full set of manufacturer's cartridges) at a cost of £168.99 - and I get to use the last of my old toner cartridges in the new printer.

Reading other forums, I am not alone in coming to the conclusion that is cheaper to buy a replacement printer rather than a set of toner cartridges. The World has gone mad.
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  • AndyPix
    AndyPix Posts: 4,847
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    Yep


    The price of printer inks is absolutely shocking.
    They usually sell printers at a loss these days and then pull your pants down with inks ..


    Its like the razor blade "scam"
  • GunJack
    GunJack Posts: 11,668
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    yup, that's how it works these days...there's an awful lot of people who would've just bought the cartridges which is why they're priced the way they are...
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  • grumpycrab
    grumpycrab Posts: 4,989
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    I just fell for the £22.50 HP All-in-one-instant-ink-compatible inkjet @Argos, instead of buying 2 new carts for an old Canon. The old printer mountain must be getting high!
    If you put your general location in your Profile, somebody here may be able to come and help you.
  • were
    were Posts: 632 Forumite
    Some companies sell their new printers that have partially filled cartridges, so may not be cost effective to keep buying new printers.

    For home use I would google forums for something that I could fill and works thereafter, or cheap compatibles that work.

    For some printers there are also chips for sale that bypass printer security and number of pages printed, so you can print till there is no toner left and you can use compatible cartridges and fill your own, and it can be messy.

    You can't use a cartridge though forever as the coating and mechanism wears away, gets lines, photo surface peels/flakes, and starts to leak toner. Years ago it was said that a 1500 page cartridge could be recycled 3 times before it was no use.

    I use my printer so little, now i go to the intent shop and get it printed for £1 for computer use and 50p a page.
  • grumpycrab
    grumpycrab Posts: 4,989
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    My work involves computers but printers are my most hated peripheral. I have standard replies for ...
    "why is every other line of text missing" - buy some proper cartridges
    "why is no paper coming out of the printer" - buy some paper
    "but there's paper going in" - buy a new printer
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  • DavidP24
    DavidP24 Posts: 957 Forumite
    edited 19 April 2017 at 12:18PM
    Yep they used to give Colour Laser printers away knowing they would get a mortgage payment on ink or toner.

    I did see the HP Instant Ink deal which is basically £7.99 a month for 300 pages with each additional set of 25 pages for £1.

    If you use less than 300 pages a month that is £96 a year so the price you paid may start to look expensive. Of course it depends on the printer and quality but still.

    https://instantink.hpconnected.com/uk/en/r

    I make a point of never printing anything and ask others to print something off if urgent, usually I print to an old version of PDF Creator and email the PDF.

    If I had a need to print that HP deal seems reasonable.

    Of course it applies to certain eligible printers


    HP DeskJet 3630 Series
    HP DeskJet 3720 Series
    HP DeskJet 3730 Series

    HP ENVY 4500 Series
    HP ENVY 4520 Series
    HP ENVY 5530 Series
    HP ENVY 5540 Series
    HP ENVY 5640 Series
    HP ENVY 7640 Series

    HP OfficeJet 3830 Series
    HP OfficeJet 4630 Series
    HP OfficeJet 4650 Series
    HP OfficeJet 5740 Series
    HP OfficeJet 6950 Series

    HP OfficeJet Pro 6830 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 6960 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 8210 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 8610 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 8620 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 8710 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 8730 Series
    HP OfficeJet Pro 8740 Series
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  • Cornucopia
    Cornucopia Posts: 16,139
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    Another vote for HP Instant Ink. If your usage is reasonably predictable, then it's a good deal. There are three usage levels:-

    £1.99pm = 50 pages pm
    £3.49pm = 100 pages pm
    £7.99pm = 300 pages pm

    There's rollover of unused pages for 1 month, and no ongoing contract. (I don't know how they handle it if you cancel after just receiving new cartridges).

    I worked out the figures for low usage, and it's a no-brainer. A typical low user probably buys 3 sets of cartridges per year (maybe £60 worth?). Or they can pay £2/mth = £24 for the year.

    There's a popular code-sharing thread in the Referrals sub-forum.
  • Biggles
    Biggles Posts: 8,209
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    AndyPix wrote: »
    They usually sell printers at a loss these days and then pull your pants down with inks ..

    Its like the razor blade "scam"
    You've been listening to Tim Harford, too, eh?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04t8k2l
  • To be fair anyone who buys a Lexmark laser printer must have money to burn, they are probably the most expensive to run plus a lot of models will only accept OEM cartridges due to Lexmark Return Program recycling system. Also I'd be surprised if a new Lexmark Laser Printer came with full cartridges, laser printers are normally supplied new with starter cartridges which will do a few hundred pages as opposed to a few thousand pages that the full ones should do.
    I hate football and do wish people wouldn't keep talking about it like it's the most important thing in the world
  • AndyPix
    AndyPix Posts: 4,847
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    Biggles wrote: »
    You've been listening to Tim Harford, too, eh?
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04t8k2l


    No - but thanks for the link - ill check that out :)
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