printer problems

soolin

I am currently using a Lexmark X75 all in one printer which I've had for about 20 months and am happy with. However, whether by co incidence or not about 6 weeks ago I used one of those refill cartridges bought over the counter from a local franchise as it was half the price of my normal cartridges. That seemed to cause problems, my pages printed messily, lines disappeared and I had general problems.

I decided to switch back to real Lexmark ones and bought a stock and seemed to be OK, except for today when my printer will not switch on. I've done all the troubleshooting and I think it is the printer that is dead as it has no lights and does not appear to be powering up at all. I've just re booted my PC to see if that helps but everything still dead. I've also followed some on line advice and cleaned whatever I can off the inside of my printer with cotton buds and cotton wool.

I've spent a lot of time working through all the troubleshooting and as I desperately need a scanner/printer for my little business I think it might just be easier to get a new one as it's costing me more in time than a new one would cost. However, I need one that is compatible with the ink I already have as I just bought about £50 quids worth.

I've seen the Lexmark X1270 on ebuyer which will cost £49 delivered and wondered if anyone has one of those and whether it is a good one to buy.

I'll probably Freecycle the old one as it is probably repairable to someone with a bit of time and effort.

Any advice before I commit to buy?

Jzpop

Depending on the volume of printing that you do, you may be better off buying a Canon or Epson printer instead, and selling on the ink.

Lexmark have become notorious recently for selling very low cost printers, but very high cost ink (a replacement set of cartridges can cost more than the initial price of the printer). This can lead to very high running costs. The important thing to consider is the cost per page, which is roughly the cost of the printer x number of pages printed per year x cost of ink per page. Canon and Epson printers will nearly always be much cheaper to run for a year than Lexmarks, for most people, and in my opinion give much higher quality printouts.

Google will find plenty of cost per page comparison sites.

soolin

Thank you, I hadn't thought of cost per page, I'll check out the link now. I am though a heavy user of consumer items, whether I am just careless or heavy handed I don't know but i seem to have to replace my electrical items a lot, so I do need to build in the cost of frequent replacements.

Although I use it a lot I'm not a heavy user, most of my work is scanning and storing to disc so I rarely print more than a few letters and invoices a week. I usually buy new ink about every 2 months for black and white, and about three to four months for colour, so as I say not a heavy user.