Cheap printer

bouicca21

A charity with which I’m involved needs a printer - needs to be portable and cheap (to buy and to run). It will only be used occasionally, as a back up.

Any suggestions? I’ve a Canon myself, which was cheap to buy but the cartridges are expensive.

JJ_Egan

Epson and compatibles.

John_Gray

Recent printers aren't really intended to be portable - they aren't built sufficiently strongly any more. The days of the HP LaserJet 4 which was built like a tank out of solid metal and lasted over ten years are long gone.

Inkjet printers used only occasionally will probably get ink drying and clogging the nozzles - which can be a Real Pain.

A small black-and-white laser printer might fit the bill. I've used some of the small Brother ones quite successfully - but only sitting on a desk. You really don't want to be spilling laser toner anywhere...

PDC

Have a smallish, cheap HP that works well, don't think cartridges are any more expensive than the others if you order them online.

Epson and HP do make specialist portable printers but they are priced more expensively given the niche market.

Agree the Cannons are cheapest, I think I saw WHSmiths have one on sale for £20 at the moment but I think it was a 3in1 so not very portable.

My last Epson worked fine for a couple of years until they stoped updating the drivers, leaving me with a working but unususable printer so I swore off buying another of that brand.

bouicca21

Ta. I was thinking that an ink jet would dry up and wondering about a laser jet. But I’m pretty sure we will not be able to leave the printer out - it’s a shared office space and we have to tidy stuff away when we are not using it, so a laser jet probably not such a good idea.

forgotmyname

Local recycling centre, my local ones always have a few printers going cheap and even brand new sealed cartridges although its pot luck on whether they have some for your printer.

Picked up 3 sets of new sealed cartridges last time i went. 20p each.

Biggus_Dickus

bouicca21 wrote: »

A charity with which I’m involved needs a printer - needs to be portable and cheap (to buy and to run). It will only be used occasionally, as a back up.

Any suggestions? I’ve a Canon myself, which was cheap to buy but the cartridges are expensive.

I‘ve had a Canon ip7250 ink jet printer for quite a while and it delivers excellent quality prints/photos. It has wi-fi, duplex facility and v.fast print facility if required. Photo printing on glossy A4 photo paper is v.good.

It’s been very well used in the past but these days I don’t print nearly as often as I used too;...I can go for several weeks between printing and I’ve never had a problem with ‘ink drying up’ etc.

I use compatible ink cartridges and experienced no issues whatsoever;...the printer is still available and very modestly priced (under £50);...the compatible cartridges are inexpensive and readily available on Amazon/eBay etc..

It isn’t designed for constant heavy duty office use and certainly would not meet ‘professional’ standards;...however, that is reflected in the price.

Make of that what you will. Hope this helps.:)

Tom99

bouicca21 wrote: »

Ta. I was thinking that an ink jet would dry up and wondering about a laser jet. But I’m pretty sure we will not be able to leave the printer out - it’s a shared office space and we have to tidy stuff away when we are not using it, so a laser jet probably not such a good idea.

I have a old Brother laser jet, you can move it if you are gentle and hold it level but go too far and the next few pages will be smudged

letsbehonest

most inkjets are cheap but the carts are expensive. I've had all the major brands and none of them last very long.I now use a cheap Samsung Laser mono printer it's much much better.

WaywardDriver

bouicca21 wrote: »

A charity with which I’m involved needs a printer - needs to be portable and cheap (to buy and to run). It will only be used occasionally, as a back up.

Colour or Black & White?
How portable and often needed - from storage cupboard to desk once a week or regularly to another location in same or other building?

dcfc67

Get a HP one for £35-£50 and enrol onto instant ink.

You will get a few free months when you purcahse and can get an extra free month by looking on the referrals forum and searching HP.

I did an got an extra free month. You also get a link so you can refer and get free months printing.

Price plans vary but you can get 50 pages for £1.99 and roll over unused pages for a month.

I took out the 300 pages option and downgraded when I had to start paying