New printer - £25-30 budget!

Miss_Mulberry

Hi!

I've just sold some bits on eBay and managed to raise £25. Since moving in on my own I've been relying on my parents to print bit and bobs out but this is getting tedious as they live far away so they send stuff via post. I'm looking for work at the moment and need to print off applications to send to employers.

My local newsagents charges 50p per print out, which is what I'm resorting to at the moment (he won't even offer a discount considering I print about £3-5 worth of job applications and documentation a week!)

I have an ancient HP G70 laptop running Vista Home Premium, and I'm looking for a colour (ideally, but b&w if it's cheaper) printer, no scanner needed with cheap cartridges. It doesn't need WiFi connection, as I'll plus it in USB and print as and when I need it.

Any ideas on models I should look for?

wallbash

Tesco had some very reduced printers this morning , Canon. Using compatibles might be ideal

HappyMJ

Miss_Mulberry wrote: »

Hi!

I've just sold some bits on eBay and managed to raise £25. Since moving in on my own I've been relying on my parents to print bit and bobs out but this is getting tedious as they live far away so they send stuff via post. I'm looking for work at the moment and need to print off applications to send to employers.

My local newsagents charges 50p per print out, which is what I'm resorting to at the moment (he won't even offer a discount considering I print about £3-5 worth of job applications and documentation a week!)

I have an ancient HP G70 laptop running Vista Home Premium, and I'm looking for a colour (ideally, but b&w if it's cheaper) printer, no scanner needed with cheap cartridges. It doesn't need WiFi connection, as I'll plus it in USB and print as and when I need it.

Any ideas on models I should look for?

Ebay...or even freecycle. Old printers are plentiful...maybe try your local cash for your stuff shop. The biggest cost is the ink. A set of inks can easily cost more than the printer so find a model that has cheap inks. I have an Epson 515W and the inks are £1 per colour and black. £4 for a set and they last about 100 pages each...sometimes a little more depending on how much ink per page.

Job applications are now normally done via E-mail. I've not mailed an application for many years.

The scanner part has been fantastic...well worth it. I scan everything I get in the mail...back it up to the internet via Dropbox then shred it. All my bills are sent via email anyway so I very rarely get any post at all. I probably get one item per week in the mail...if that.

Miss_Mulberry

HappyMJ wrote: »

Job applications are now normally done via E-mail. I've not mailed an application for many years.

Thanks for the rec, I'll have a look. Most are by email, but a few have their own forms that need printing out (Starbucks, local charities, etc) and won't accept a CV. It's annoying as it means more time spent on transferring what's basically in my CV to another bit of paper!

It's also for paperwork for other bits too so I think it would be useful to have. I can't justify spending food money on printouts sadly, not until I've got an income.

earthstorm

brand new £24.99 HP Deskjet 1050A All-In-One Inkjet Printer.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9385630.htm

david39

Asda also have the HP 3050 printer and scanner at £25 in store only.

I've got one and it does a great job for that price.

paddyrg

Beware, the cheaper the printer the dearer the ink!

Seeing as some manufacturers charge £20 for 7ml of ink (that's nearly £3000/litre! Makes petrol or even bottled water seem cheap. Makes blood products a positive bargain. Makes Chanel #5 seem like jetwash additive) then bear the running costs into your equation if you're printing a lot.

Mr_Toad

For cheap with great quality printing I can recommend the Samsung Mono laser range.

I bought one 6 years ago for my daughter when she went to Uni and it did all her printing, and her housemates, for the duration of their courses and is still going strong today.

It can use compatible toner, I usually refill it for her from a toner bottle.

Go on to eBay and type samsung ml into the search and you'll see loads.

This one has a buy it now of £30

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samsung-ML-2165W-Mono-Laser-Printer-Wireless-/300948431130?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_Printers_Printers_JN&hash=item4611eca11a

I was so impressed with my daughters that I bought a Samsung Colour laser not long after getting hers and I'm still using that one too.

HappyMJ

paddyrg wrote: »

Beware, the cheaper the printer the dearer the ink!

Seeing as some manufacturers charge £20 for 7ml of ink (that's nearly £3000/litre! Makes petrol or even bottled water seem cheap. Makes blood products a positive bargain. Makes Chanel #5 seem like jetwash additive) then bear the running costs into your equation if you're printing a lot.

Exactly right...doing a quick search I can't find cheap ink for that printer mentioned earlier. It's a tri-color cartridge. Once you run out of one color the whole cartridge gets binned including any remaining ink in the other colors. I'd only recommend a color printer if you can replace each color separately.

neilwoods

Would also recommend a B&W laser printer, i bought the Dell 1130 when they were £30, replacement compatible cartridge is £16.

Have yet to buy a cartridge yet, must have printed of at least 150 documents and cartridge still shows about 80% full, that is with the starter cartridge as well.

But trying to find one within 25-30 could take some doing (got to take into count, P&P)

Miss_Mulberry

Thanks all. I've put a request on Freecyle so will see if that turns up anything for the books. I'm going to have to spend out of the stuff I sold to pay for groceries so I guess I'll have to rely on the newsagents for now!