Cheap printer

[ATW Alex 101]

Hi everybody,

I am currently looking for a cheap printer as my Kodak one has broke. I just need one that prints and has cheap cartridges. I have looked around but they are all quite expensive but if anybody could point me in the direction of a cheap one I would be most grateful cheers

 

[trentside]

Hi everybody,

I am currently looking for a cheap printer as my Kodak one has broke. I just need one that prints and has cheap cartridges. I have looked around but they are all quite expensive but if anybody could point me in the direction of a cheap one I would be most grateful cheers

You can usually get a decent quality Epson printer for around £50. I personally wouldn't want to pay less as I'd be worried about quality - I got mine for £49 a few years ago and haven't had a problem (other than the scanner jamming - but it should be easy enough to fix when I can be bothered!).

Their ink isn't too bad in terms of value, but it's always worth checking shops such as WH Smith and Wilkinsons who often do much cheaper ink cartridges to fit most makes of printer.

 

[EM2]

I just paid £25 for a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 2050A printer/scanner/copier at my local Asda.

 

[CC 72100]

You can usually get a decent quality Epson printer for around £50. I personally wouldn't want to pay less as I'd be worried about quality - I got mine for £49 a few years ago and haven't had a problem (other than the scanner jamming - but it should be easy enough to fix when I can be bothered!).

Their ink isn't too bad in terms of value, but it's always worth checking shops such as WH Smith and Wilkinsons who often do much cheaper ink cartridges to fit most makes of printer.

I'd have said that more important than the price of the printer is the price of the inks. A favourite is a cheap printer that then takes only one of the most expensive inks. I have also come across Pc World and their group having exclusive rights to a certain ink cartridge and printer combo for a set period after release, ensuring repeat custom.

So my advice would be to research which ink cartridges it requires. If it doesn't get many google hits (the cartridge) then it may well be one which is not so well-used and may make sourcing of cheap originals and compatables difficult.

I use Epson T0711/2/3/4 in my printer - one of the most common = competition on prices and also easy to get compatables for, from brands such as Jettec etc.

Source: Worked in a stationery shop for a year and currently work in Print room at uni.

Hope this helps

 

[Bungle73]

As has been said, it's not the price of the printer you need to worry about it's the price of the ink.

Do you need colour? If not get a laser printer; it will work out much cheaper in the long run,

 

[starrymarkb]

IME a more expensive printer usually has cheaper ink...

 

[swj99]

I just paid £25 for a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 2050A printer/scanner/copier at my local Asda.

I've had an HP scanner printer now for about 5 years. The scanner stopped working about a year ago, but it still prints perfectly well and after all that time really owes me nothing. I refilled the black cartridge at least 50 times with cheap refill ink before having to replace the cartridge itself (has the print head inside it). I got 2 non genuine replacements off ebay for about a fiver.

I had a nice Canon printer (I bought it so I could print on DVDs and CDs) but it had an integral print head, which failed when it was 2 years old. A new one was nearly as much as a new printer, so I binned it and bought a second hand Epson which also prints on discs. Refills are cheap for that off ebay as well so no expensive genuine cartridges for that one either.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

How much am i looking at for a Laser printer? I dont need colour. Arnt they the ones that print dead fast?

 

[nag67]

I would also echo that ink cost is the key. I bought my Epson for about £40 over five years ago, and have always used cheap compatible inks.

Even though it takes 6 different cartridges, a full set of compatibles costs me less than £5 for the set.

Some people say that the compatible cartridges are more likely to block the print head, but as long as I use it fairly regularly I have never found this to be an issue. Even if it was, I could replace the printer several times over with the ink costs I have saved- but I have never had to.

 

[wintonian]

How much am i looking at for a Laser printer? I dont need colour. Arnt they the ones that print dead fast?

Starting price around £60 for a B&W one.

I would also echo that ink cost is the key. I bought my Epson for about £40 over five years ago, and have always used cheap compatible inks.

Even though it takes 6 different cartridges, a full set of compatibles costs me less than £5 for the set.

Some people say that the compatible cartridges are more likely to block the print head, but as long as I use it fairly regularly I have never found this to be an issue. Even if it was, I could replace the printer several times over with the ink costs I have saved- but I have never had to.

I belive death by blockage is the way quite a few Epsons go eventually.

I bought my current Epson BX635FWD in March and I have already had to give it a double dose of the head cleaning function on 2 occasions.

 

[richw]

I just paid £25 for a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 2050A printer/scanner/copier at my local Asda.

I have the same also from the asda special, and i cant fault it. ink is about a tenner a time

 

[wintonian]

I have the same also from the asda special, and i cant fault it. ink is about a tenner a time

Full set or per cartridge?

 

[michael769]

As a general rule if you print a lot and don't need colour a B&W laser will be cheaper over the long term.

 

[yorkie]

Crappy cheap printers that people end up throwing away after a short time and are expensive to run should be banned (or, at least, heavily taxed to put people off!)

In the long run they are bad for your wallet and bad for the environment.

You're better off with a decent laser printer. You could always get one second hand that has been used in an office. Several workplaces are moving from loads of small laser printers to using a lower number of larger laser printer/copiers, and therefore are getting rid of old lasers that are actually still good machines.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Using the word crappy, you should be ashamed as an admin you have let me down with that language Yorkie

Im going with the laser printer 50 quid on amazon. How much are the inks roughly and how use do you get out of them?

 

[Darandio]

Im going with the laser printer 50 quid on amazon. How much are the inks roughly and how use do you get out of them?

The advice has already been given above. Don't "go" for a printer unless you have a good understanding of the two questions you have asked.

 

[richw]

Full set or per cartridge?

£10 for a black and £10 for the colour set in Tesco for genuine cartridges. cheaper for non genuine.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Crappy cheap printers that people end up throwing away after a short time and are expensive to run should be banned (or, at least, heavily taxed to put people off!)

In the long run they are bad for your wallet and bad for the environment.

Anything lexmark springs to mind, I had a £20 lexmark printer a few years ago, that replacement ink was £20 for a black one, and £30 for the colour set. everytime i needed new ink i binned the printer and bought a new printer.

 

[table38]

I only print stuff occasionally at home, and got annoyed with my inkjet that always decided the nozzles needed cleaning (which also wastes ink and paper), especially annoying when you are printing off some train times on your way out the door to catch the train!

So I bought a cheap laser. I can switch it on, print, and switch it off. Job done!

 

[maniacmartin]

Laser every time, if you only need black and white. Fast, crisp output and economical. Drivers tend to work on Linux more often too

 

[wintonian]

Full set or per cartridge?

£10 for a black and £10 for the colour set in Tesco for genuine cartridges. cheaper for non genuine.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

You mean 'toner.

The cost is (or at least was) quite a bit more but each cartridge should last a lot longer and it should be cheaper page per page.

Anything lexmark springs to mind, I had a £20 lexmark printer a few years ago, that replacement ink was £20 for a black one, and £30 for the colour set. everytime i needed new ink i binned the printer and bought a new printer.

I had one onnce it only worked if you put one page in at a time so everytime it finished printing a page you would need to feed it another piece of paper - never again.

I have also used HP's and whilst you can guarantee the printer nozzles will never get blocked (they don't have any - nozzles are on the cartridges) and compatibility with Linux is quite good, the software is awful both for Windows and on the printers itself. I lost count of the amount of reinstalls and factory resets I needed, plus I had 2 with a duplexes and neither duplex would work after a month or 2 and the ADF wouldn't work properly.

 

[yorkie]

Im going with the laser printer 50 quid on amazon. How much are the inks roughly and how use do you get out of them?

You've not told us what model is, but there are loads of sites out there that can give you a price!

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Yep 50 is the average. I'm not buying until I know how much the ink will cost. Once i know that ill go for it.

It seems anyway the pretty much best option according to my replies.

 

[Crossover]

Epson inkjets can be really bad. As I used to work in IT in a school using a lot of them with after market ink, the week after the holidays was always a tricky time...

We used to use Samsung lasers which were about 50 quid and pretty good. If you go down that route though, I'd suggest you learn how they work...you may then stop calling the consumeables 'ink cartridges' :roll:

 

[causton]

+1 for laser printers. Mine was £49 from Tesco for a colour Dell printer

(apparently made by Lexmark and rebadged but I don't care :P )

 

[badger1badger]

I am looking for a printer that can print wire free from my iPad

What is the best option

Paul

 

[maniacmartin]

I am looking for a printer that can print wire free from my iPad

The printer itself does not necessarily have to have WiFi. You could also buy a printer with an ethernet port, and plug it into your router/Airport. Depending on whether you're looking to get an inkjet or laser, this may work out cheaper.

 

[badger1badger]

The printer itself does not necessarily have to have WiFi. You could also buy a printer with an ethernet port, and plug it into your router/Airport. Depending on whether you're looking to get an inkjet or laser, this may work out cheaper.

What do you mean by airport ?

 

[maniacmartin]

AirPort is the brand name of Apple's range of wireless routers and access points. You may of course have a router from another manufacturer instead.

 

[Waldgrun]

If you are going down the Laser route. I would look for a model that doesn't need a chip card to reset when you change or refill the laser toner cartridge.
Also if you intend to refill a cartridge one that can be refilled by the Unplug and pour method, is best!

A visit to www.tonertopup.co.uk/ will help no end, also check the prices of replacement cartridges before you buy!