Deskjet printers?

smashed

Hi,

I am on a mission to find a cheap printer, mainly for documents etc, but also good enough to print 6 x 4 photos if and when required.

I see that Smiths are doing a 3550c Deskjet HP for £30, which seems cheap, but not sure whether it will do the job for the photos.

The link:
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/whs/go.asp?isbn=30302365&DB=320&Menu=Stationery

The spec:
Colour inkjet printer
14ppm mono
10ppm colour
2400x1200 DPI print resolution
USB connection
Compatible with: Windows 98, 2000, ME and XP; Mac OS 9.0 and above, OS X 10.1 and above
One year’s manufacturer’s warranty

Can anybody please advise whether this will be suitable, or a decent alternative at a decent price.

(PS, im aware that ink prices should also be taken into consideration)

Cheers in advance

John_Gray

smashed wrote:

PS. I'm aware that ink prices should also be taken into consideration

Ignore the purchase price of the printer. The cost of a very small number of replacement ink cartridges (two? three? four?) from the manufacturer will comfortably (uncomfortably, actually!) exceed the purchase price of the printer. That's the current business model.

John

tigs78

I've just bought this one from Comet for £34.99, reduced from £69.99. I bought one instore as I wanted it straight away but they are also available online with free delivery. If you do buy one from there don't pay £11.99 for the USB lead, you can get one on e-bay for £2 delivered or less!

bluep

I have the 3550 - bought it a year ago and its still going strong. The cartridges can be bought for around £10 b and £12 colour - genuine HP on ebay. I could not be happier with the quality - I do a lot of photo printing and as long as you have calibrated it carefully when you reintall cartridges, its performance is great.

If you use proper photo paper its very difficult to tell the difference between digital photos printed by Boots/sent off elsewhere and ones i do at home. That's with a 4 megapixel camera and Adobe Photoshop editing.

Previous to this I had a Canon C82 and it was useless - no matter how I calibrated it, the photos still looked stripey under examination. I'd buy a HP again, no hesitation.

The ONLY problem I've had with it is that I can't find a user setting to print in pure b/w for instance, a website that has some colour that I'm not bothered about. For documents it is good and fast - got settings from Fast Draft to Normal to Best so can ink-save too. It also very rarely paperjams - only if I put the paper in really wonky. I'd go for it. I actually bought mine in Germany so it was only 30 euros in a petrol station there (they have EVEN better money saving offers hehe) - so cheaper than buying the two cartridges seperately that came inside.

avantra

The price of cartridge should be the guide for your use.
At the moment you can get the Canon IP 1000 (that can give outstanding photo results on glossy paper and exellent quality mass document printing) from Ebuyer for £29.37: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=88162

Cartridges from North Devon cost from £1 for compatible and £5 for original. I only use compatible as I really can't see any diffrence in the final print.

I have the I250 for a year now which is the same printer as the IP1000.

See: http://northdevoncomputers.com/shop/index.php?cPath=123_241&osCsid=5e26468db8340d1384b907932f1bc922

smashed

Cheers for all your suggestions

Its good to know that bluep has great results with the printer that I saw, but you have all now provided me with alternatives that are also at great prices.

Its a bit late now, so I will have a good look tomorrow and report back as to which path I choose.

But thanks again for now, its really useful

smashed

Just to say thanks for all your advice.

Went for the Comet 50% off bargain in the end. I read the reviews, and it was well received. The pic quality has so far been even better than I had hoped, and the ink isnt too expensive.
The Canon looked good for £1 a cartridge, but a lot of people complained about it on some sites I looked at, mainly due to noise and print quality.

Anyway,,, cheers to everyone

blinky

avantra wrote:

The price of cartridge should be the guide for your use.
At the moment you can get the Canon IP 1000 (that can give outstanding photo results on glossy paper and exellent quality mass document printing) from Ebuyer for £29.37: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=88162

I think once you've added in the postage the IP1500 is cheaper from PCWorld (delivery or [email="Collect@Store"]Collect@Store[/email]).