Recommendation needed for new home printer

dunker1

Morning all, looking to purchase a new printer just for home use, dont really want to spend too much and would like to avoid the issue of replacing ink cartridges so frequently. Currently got an old Canon i350 which has packed up and was proving expensive in refills.
Any guidance is appreciated.

jaydeeuk1

Dunno if its still true, but epsons used to be the cheapest ink jet based printers to run.
Have a looksie at this to see if anything stands out...

http://www.hotukdeals.com/search?action=search&keywords=printer

This one looks a good deal...

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/448697/epson-sx200-printer-scanner-and-cop/
£39 for an all in one

dunker1

thanks jaydee, the epson sounded good until i read customer reviews, without exception they say that it "drinks the ink", i suppose have to spend more on the printer to avoid cartridge costs.

jaydeeuk1

Is it mainly text, photos or a rougly even amount? If it is mainly text, then laser printing is the way to go, and perhaps get an ink jet for photo printing.

finished

dunker1 wrote: »

thanks jaydee, the epson sounded good until i read customer reviews, without exception they say that it "drinks the ink", i suppose have to spend more on the printer to avoid cartridge costs.

kodak have a printer out now cartridges are very cheap.not sure of web site but well worth a look.

johnmc

It doesn't matter how often you get through cartridges, it's the cost per page that you need to worry about.

A vote for Epson. The print heads are in the machine, unlike all the others where they are in the cartridge, so the cartridges are cheaper to manufacture.

There are loads of suppliers for compatible cartridges for Epsons at very reasonable prices. I get mine from www.nd-ink.co.uk and have found them to be very good.

As long as you don't let the print heads dry out you'll be fine.

yorkygal

Can I ask a daft question - can you use any printer with say XP, Vista etc or are certain printers better with 1 or the other??? Im after getting 1 for my dad who has a laptop which runs on Vista, I did recommend an Epson one which we have ourselves and just wondered if he could use the same one on Vista??

Thanks

jaydeeuk1

No difference at all. Apart from if you have an older printer (say 5 yrs +) where a Vista driver may not be available available but that won't affect you.

yorkygal

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

No difference at all. Apart from if you have an older printer (say 5 yrs +) where a Vista driver may not be available available but that won't affect you.

Thanks I didnt think it would make any difference but thought Id check :beer:

andy2004

I have a SX200 but i bought mine from comet's, I usually get my inks from ebay, usually 3 sets, 12cartridges, each one with around 18-19ml for around £10, so less than £1 per cartridge,
1 small note on epsons, they have a ink pad inside, when this gets filled you have 2 options, send it back to epson to have it replaced or buy a new printer, there is a 3rd option, and that would be to make the pipe longer and having the pipe outside going in a container. I'm waiting for my year warranty to run out before i do that.
This would only be a good idea if you are a heavy printer, i only print a few items montly.