Net books and printers help needed!

macman

The Samsung mono laser is a great little printer: below is the ML-1865W (wireless version). Also available in non-wireless as the ML-1865, about £40.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-ML-1865W-Black-Printer-Wireless/dp/B004CLVETO/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1325763325&sr=1-1

kezlou

Thanks

I'll look into them now

neilwoods

If they want it to print off princess pictures, then mono is not really that good. You want nice vibrant colour. So a 4 colour printer would be better, if that is what the printer is primarily aimed at, that way depending on the child's favourite colour, just replace 1 cartridge at a time.

TakeThis

Whichever you choice, search for the cost of cartridges; genuine and compatibles. Also check that the compatibles are actually properly compatible(without needing a chip for example).

esuhl

^^ This is really important. What I did before buying a printer was go on eBay and run a search for "printer cartridges". Then sort by increasing price. Skim-read the list, and make a mental note of which cartridges are cheapest and tend to be in a plentiful supply. Then get a printer that the cheapest cartridges would fit.

My Canon printer takes five ink cartridges. Originally they were around £15 (and £20 for the black resin one) - that's £80 for a set of ink! But on eBay, I've been getting them for £1.50 to £2. Recently the prices have dropped further to about half that.

In the long run (actually, it won't be that long!), far more money will be spent on cartridges than will be spent on the printer.

robmar0se

esuhl wrote: »

^^ This is really important. What I did before buying a printer was go on eBay and run a search for "printer cartridges". Then sort by increasing price. Skim-read the list, and make a mental note of which cartridges are cheapest and tend to be in a plentiful supply. Then get a printer that the cheapest cartridges would fit.

My Canon printer takes five ink cartridges. Originally they were around £15 (and £20 for the black resin one) - that's £80 for a set of ink! But on eBay, I've been getting them for £1.50 to £2. Recently the prices have dropped further to about half that.

In the long run (actually, it won't be that long!), far more money will be spent on cartridges than will be spent on the printer.

I totally agree with yr sentiment here. May I just add a couple of things too?

1. If you use some of the Jersey based suppliers you can get original cartriges for upto half the price that places like PCworld charge.

2. The very cheapest cartridges are more inclined to block printheads over time, not so much an issue if you are using them a lot, but if like me, you print in greyscale to save on colour, then there is a risk that the colour pintheads will need cleaning more regularly (and that uses a lot of ink) - often recommend that you don't actually go for the very cheapest, unless as I say you are printing a lot of stuff daily. I also try to use originals from time to time, maybe naive, but the system does seam to work.

esuhl

robmar0se wrote: »

2. The very cheapest cartridges are more inclined to block printheads over time, not so much an issue if you are using them a lot, but if like me, you print in greyscale to save on colour, then there is a risk that the colour pintheads will need cleaning more regularly (and that uses a lot of ink) - often recommend that you don't actually go for the very cheapest, unless as I say you are printing a lot of stuff daily. I also try to use originals from time to time, maybe naive, but the system does seam to work.

I've always used the very cheapest inks I can find and haven't found any difference in the way the printer performs.

My old Epsons used to get clogged quite frequently (even when they were new and I was using the supplied Epson cartridges). The Canon printer I have now virtually never gets clogged, even though I've had a few years and hardly ever use it.

Maybe it depends on the printer, but over the years I've saved more than enough money to buy a new printer by buying the cheapest cartridges I can find...

robmar0se

esuhl wrote: »

I've always used the very cheapest inks I can find and haven't found any difference in the way the printer performs.

My old Epsons used to get clogged quite frequently (even when they were new and I was using the supplied Epson cartridges). The Canon printer I have now virtually never gets clogged, even though I've had a few years and hardly ever use it.

Maybe it depends on the printer, but over the years I've saved more than enough money to buy a new printer by buying the cheapest cartridges I can find...

Maybe you have been very savvy in what you bought and where?

We get lots of calls from customers with printer problems, and invariably they are using cheap cartridges and are infrequent users. We only go on experince on what we see.

However as I said if the OP uses the printer regularly then I see no issues.

kezlou

I'm still looking into the printers and i've spoken to my sister.

It looks like she's going to go for an Epson as a) its cheaper b)the ink cartridges are also cheaper than the other brands in the supermarket she was in today.

I've said i can also buy ink off ebay but she's scared of using it in case the printer breaks. So i've reassured her that whatever printer she gets ink shouldn't be a problem with compatible ink.

Again thanks for your heplp everyone, i really appreciate it.