Need a new printer!

Blue_Fairy_3

Hi there,
My printer died the other day, just as I went to print out my latest assignment for my Open university course! (Which was already overdue! :eek:)

My only requirement for a new one, is that I would like a printer that can print on card as well as paper if possible. I don't do much printing, so not worried about speed and price of ink doesn't concern me too much, although obviously cheaper cartridges would be better!

I'm not looking to spend much, less than £50 if poss as I don't print a lot, but might consider spending more if it saves me money in the long run. On average I'd say I maybe print about a dozen pages (mostly text but some colour printing) a week!

I have searched the net for ideas, but not found much apart from this HP F4180 http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3594195/-/Product.html?searchstring=hp+f4180&searchsource=0 (sorry don't know how to do short links! )

I read some bad reviews of it though so not sure. But bearing in mind I probably do a lot less printing than some people, is whatever printer I have less likely to break down? (Sorry if dumb question!) The last one was a cheap HP one and it lasted about 3 years. I did hardly use it though, so bit disappointed. If I get a better one I will probably use it slightly more.

I'd be grateful for any ideas for a new, cheapish one!

Bluefairy

tomsutton529

I am not going to give you a list of printers but i am going to you some sound advice.

when you pay less for a printer the price of cartridges is higher and if you pay more the cartridges are less, this is so the company's can cover costs.

if all you need is a basic printer and you dont do alot of printing the i would go for a lexmark, they are dirt cheap at the moment and for £50 you could get a scanner, printer (photos and paper) and its wireless, i think its the X5000. if this is overkill then you can one for around £20. however the ink is around £25 for both cartridges if you get the lexmark branded ones, seen them alot cheaper on ebay and you can get re-filled ones from a local cartridge shop.

damo24

If you're not interested in colour printing have a look at a cheap black and white laser printer. You should be able to pick one up for not much over £50 and it will last a lot longer than any inkjet one.

negg

If you hardly use the printer, get one where the printheads are part of the cartridge. The cartridges will be more expensive however, when the printheads block up, you will change them when you put in a new cartridge. Epson generally have fixed printheads in the printer, Lexmark usually have the printhead in the cartridge. HP have a mixed batch and Canon tend to have replaceable printheads but they are always hard to get hold of. Don't buy Dell, they are expensive and are simply rebadged Lexmark printers but you can't use Lexmark cartridges in them.

chunter

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1597661
Epson 3-in-1 from Argos £30 limited quantities

Nikkisun

chunter wrote: »

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1597661
Epson 3-in-1 from Argos £30 limited quantities

Also around the £30 mark from Amazon, Tesco & Comet (so probably just about anywhere).

Blue_Fairy_3

Thanks guys you've given me some ideas for brands to go for which is good, I have come across quite a few bad reviews of HP printers so maybe it's best to avoid those.

Sorry forgot to mention I would also like to be able to print in colour. Bit confused about the difference between inkjet and laser printers, are laser printers a lot better then?

PizzaCake

What you have to be wary of when buying a laser or inkjet printer is the running costs on top of the cost of the printer itself and whether the printer comes with starter ink cartridges for inkjets or starter toner for laser printers. A printer which comes with full cartridges or toner at a higher price may turn out to be better value than a cheaper printer with starter equivalents.

The most economical printer is a mono black and white laser printer. However if you'd like to use colour in your documents a low cost inkjet is the most affordable option.

Typically a low end colour inkjet printer, perfect for documents and the odd photograph, uses a separate black and colour inkjet cartridge normally £15 each. They will typically print about 250 pages of documents with a splash of colour here and there before running out.

Seeing as your typical inkjet printer costs £30 why not just buy a new printer each time your ink runs out. Well the manufacturers have this figured out and when you buy a low cost inkjet they typically come with what are called starter cartridges which will last about 10-20 pages of print after which you'll have to shell out £30 for new cartridges for your barely used new printer!

However some inkjets like the Canon iP2600 £31 delivered from amazon come with cartridges which should print about 150 pages, a rarity these days.

A black and white laser printer can be had for less than £50. See ebuyer for some good deals. However these use a single black toner not cartridges. Nowadays these cheap lasers come with starter toner which produces a fraction of the pages of full toner. A full black toner typically produces 2000 pages and costs approx £40.

A colour laser on the other hand requires multiple toners each costing typically £40 each, three colour and one black so in total approx £160 however you'll get about 2000 colour pages. Colour documents look good on laser however for photos an inkjet produces much better results.

This may sway your decision if you're set on colour, colour laser printers are enormous, no joke!

p.s. good luck on your OU course from a fellow OU student

Blue_Fairy_3

Thanks very much for that pizzacake, I think you have made the decision for me about laser vs. inkjet - I have very little room so a huge printer is a no-no! (I don't even own a PC- just have a laptop as it doesn't need a proper place to live - I just shove it under the coffee table when I'm not using it!)

Good luck in your OU studies as well!

Bluefairy

Tone_Arranger

I have had 2 Canon pixma 160 printers and both times I have got an error message like "waste ink container is full, you must send the printer to a Canon centre". First time I thought it was odd, but bought another one as i) too expensive to send away for "repair" and ii) I had a couple fo expensive cartridges 'in stock' and didn't want to waste them. But now it's happened again, and i don't feel I've had the machine very long. This feels like a real rip-off, a built-in rapid obsolesence - anyone else had this problem, or found a way round it ?

joshm_2

Tone_Arranger wrote: »

I have had 2 Canon pixma 160 printers and both times I have got an error message like "waste ink container is full, you must send the printer to a Canon centre". First time I thought it was odd, but bought another one as i) too expensive to send away for "repair" and ii) I had a couple fo expensive cartridges 'in stock' and didn't want to waste them. But now it's happened again, and i don't feel I've had the machine very long. This feels like a real rip-off, a built-in rapid obsolesence - anyone else had this problem, or found a way round it ?

Not read it fully but there's some advice here: http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff11.html