Hardware Printer(all-in-one) suggestions?

[Deleted member 473940]

Well, here we go again...
I have had 3 printers in the last 4 years. Cartridges end up being so hard to find and expensive, that buying a new printer is inevitable

I am willing to spend up to £100 or more for a new printer/scanner(all-in-one). Value with cartridges or whatever it may be. I am gonna stock up on cartridges/ink this time around to last long :/

https://www.amazon.co.uk PREFERED! so links in amazon would be cool (got a bit of gift voucher to spend lol)

 

[Thanatos Telos]

Do you need to have wifi/ethernet, scanner, or a photo mode?

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Do you need to have wifi/ethernet, scanner, or a photo mode?

scanner as in all in one
and wifi not really needed(extra bonus). photo wanted but would be considered a bonus

 

[trumpet-205]

First of all, what do you print and how many pages per month? In many instances monochrome laser printer is your best bang per buck. I also recommend you buy separate printer and scanner unless you really need copy function.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

First of all, what do you print? In many instances monochrome laser printer is your best bang per buck. I also recommend you buy separate printer and scanner unless you really need copy function.

Minus photos, pretty much everything. But I woudnt mind printing photos if I could.
black documents, colour documents, pretty much everything.

 

[trumpet-205]

Minus photos, pretty much everything. But I woudnt mind printing photos if I could.
black documents, colour documents, pretty much everything.

I'd only recommend ink printer if you print a lot of photos per month. Ink printer has two problems, one being ink cartridge being significantly more expensive than laser toner, and other being wasted ink through clean cycle (dried head or each power on) and B&W printing (it'll still use color ink even though it is B&W).

What about your print volume? How many pages per month?

 

[Deleted member 473940]

I'd only recommend ink printer if you print a lot of photos per month. Ink printer has two problems, one being ink cartridge being significantly more expensive than laser toner, and other being wasted ink through clean cycle (dried head or each power on) and B&W printing (it'll still use color ink even though it is B&W).

What about your print volume? How many pages per month?

well if I do an averrage.. probably going to be 50-60 pages per month. Mixture of Black and colour.
No photos really.. but I said photo would a bonus. So if I had a printer that does good photo printouts, I would print out photos every now and then.

 

[trumpet-205]

well if I do an averrage.. probably going to be 50-60 pages per month. Mixture of Black and colour.
No photos really.. but I said photo would a bonus. So if I had a printer that does good photo printouts, I would print out photos every now and then.

Well, I'll give you my example for reference. Up till a year ago I was using Epson CX5000 for my printing and scanning needs. I actually print less than you, no more than 20 pages per month (99% being B&W). I thought I was getting a good deal with a $50 clearance AIO printer, but I swapped 15 cartridges from the time I bought it till a year ago (approx. $15 per cartridge, $225 spent on cartridges). Worst of all, my Epson printer consumed color ink cartridges as fast as the black one, and won't let me print B&W if one of the color is empty.

I ended up buying Brother 2270 monochrome printer (rated at 2000 pages per month, with drum (rated at 12K pages) being separate from the toner). I keep my CX5000 for scanning purpose only. If I do need to print color documents, I just head down to my local library and use their color printer for 50 cents per page.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

Well, I'll give you my example for reference. Up till a year ago I was using Epson CX5000 for my printing and scanning needs. I actually print less than you, no more than 20 pages per month (99% being B&W). I thought I was getting a good deal with a $50 clearance AIO printer, but I swapped 15 cartridges from the time I bought it till a year ago (approx. $15 per cartridge, $225 spent on cartridges). Worst of all, my Epson printer consumed color ink cartridges as fast as the black one, and won't let me print B&W if one of the color is empty.

I ended up buying Brother 2270 monochrome printer (rated at 2000 pages per month, with drum (rated at 12K pages) being separate from the toner). I keep my CX5000 for scanning purpose only. If I do need to print color documents, I just head down to my local library and use their color printer for 50 cents per page.

I am fed up of going to library or whatnot when I am out of cartridge/ink.

So what would your suggestions be? You could take a minute here and tell me a specific printer with toner/ink/cartridges required

 

[PityOnU]

I recently bought myself a Brother MFC-J430W, and can heartily recommend it.

I has scanning, printing, faxing, pretty much everything, all in one. Also has wireless functionality, so you can print from anywhere if your house. If you leave it turned on, it'll wake up whenever you print to it, and will enter "sleep mode" whenever not in use (my Kill-a-Watt registers it uses <1watt when in this mode).

The printer costs $100 new (often goes on sale for $50), and you can get a shit ton of generic ink for <$10 here (Brother printers seem to have the cheapest ink overall). Haven't tried the ink yet, though, so I can't vouch for that.

 

[Thanatos Telos]

I am fed up of going to library or whatnot when I am out of cartridge/ink.

So what would your suggestions be? You could take a minute here and tell me a specific printer with toner/ink/cartridges required

This looks good.

 

[FAST6191]

That is a fair volume of personal printing in this day and age, though I still hold there is truth in the phrase "You will see a paperless toilet before you see a paperless office" most people I deal with are giving it a good crack (which I am immensely happy about as I hate dealing with printers) and you beat out some of them. Most of the time I suggest people have a laser if they have a printer at all and pop along to [insert supermarket, library or print shop] should they need anything more exotic. Colour lasers do not really break the bank either though I have never seen a colour laser all in one that I can think of and the lower end colour lasers will bite you when it comes to toner. However I am frequently offered knacked printers with such functionality on or standalone scanners (though despite giving passing 486s a home I leave them alone) which may be a better bet.

Photos. What about an actual photo printer? In my experience they do far better for being sat around for months on end as well. Bonus is a lot of people get one with a camera and never use it so you can offer a token sum and they are more than happy to let you have it. For some reason people (read elderly relatives) prefer "photo sized" things as well as opposed to the nicest A4 thing you could ever make.

You are right on the edge of the whether we start discussing semi professional gear as well -- you appear to be facing driver hell and cartridge scarcity which are endemic in consumer world but far less prevalent in the semi pro stuff (my decades old lasers still have windows 7 support).

However all this comes at the cost of desk and storage space which may cause you problems so I will shut up pending more info.

 

[trumpet-205]

The printer costs $100 new (often goes on sale for $50), and you can get a shit ton of generic ink for <$10 here (Brother printers seem to have the cheapest ink overall). Haven't tried the ink yet, though, so I can't vouch for that.

You don't want to use generic ink or refilled ink kit. Modern ink cartridge has IC chip where it records the ink level and many generic one didn't/can't have that IC chip reseted. Also some of them do leak ink as it prints (smudges). Generic ink are not waterproof either (if you care about that).

You can however, look into CIS (continuous ink system). I haven't have the experience to use CIS, but it looks promising. It'll be worth to take a look at if all you print is document. If you print photo stick with OEM cartridge, period.

I am fed up of going to library or whatnot when I am out of cartridge/ink.

So what would your suggestions be? You could take a minute here and tell me a specific printer with toner/ink/cartridges required

Well at that print level i don't know if I should recommend a color laser printer. 60 pages per month are low volume printing, and color laser printer rated for low volume printing typically cost more per page.

Take a look at this printer, http://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-LaserJet-M175a-Colour-Printer/dp/B00553ZZZM
Its black toner is rated at 1,200 pages and cost about 40 pound. So that' means on very rough estimate you'll be able to print 30 pages per pound. I'd say very rough because you can get more out of your toner depending on your print resolution.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Well, here we go again...
I have had 3 printers in the last 4 years. Cartridges end up being so hard to find and expensive, that buying a new printer is inevitable

I am willing to spend up to £100 or more for a new printer/scanner(all-in-one). Value with cartridges or whatever it may be. I am gonna stock up on cartridges/ink this time around to last long :/

https://www.amazon.co.uk PREFERED! so links in amazon would be cool (got a bit of gift voucher to spend lol)

All I can suggest is to avoid HP. I have had nothing but poor experience with them. Canon's pretty good for printers, I think.
Also, don't buy the cheapest shit you can find - they tend to have more expensive cartridges.

 

[PityOnU]

You don't want to use generic ink or refilled ink kit. Modern ink cartridge has IC chip where it records the ink level and many generic one didn't/can't have that IC chip reseted. Also some of them do leak ink as it prints (smudges). Generic ink are not waterproof either (if you care about that).

You can however, look into CIS (continuous ink system). I haven't have the experience to use CIS, but it looks promising. It'll be worth to take a look at if all you print is document. If you print photo stick with OEM cartridge, period.

I have no idea what any of that means, but my basic understanding is you get what you pay for. And that is probably the case.

I'm not expecting miracles, and I value cheap prints over good prints.

 

[FAST6191]

All I can suggest is to avoid HP. I have had nothing but poor experience with them. Canon's pretty good for printers, I think.

Buying a printer is much like buying a laptop -- you try to buy the business one, it might not have all the fancy consumer bells and whistles but you know it is going to be at least workable. For anything other than the business class one you take your chances or more likely don't and just end up with a piece of junk you might be able to coax into working if you are good at that sort of thing.

Also relevant
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/26/bofh_2013_episode_5/

 

[trumpet-205]

Here is a Photo Color Ink Printer, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-MG6350-All-In-One-Printer-Airprint/dp/B009D07OTS

It uses 6 ink cartridges (pigmented black, black, grey, cyan, yellow, and magenta). The pigmented black (primarily use for document) has page yield of approx. 300 pages for 12.5 pound. That means on very rough estimate it can print 24 pages per pound. Keep in mind that other ink cartridges will still be used when printing B&W.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Here is a Photo Color Ink Printer, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-MG6350-All-In-One-Printer-Airprint/dp/B009D07OTS

It uses 6 ink cartridges (pigmented black, black, grey, cyan, yellow, and magenta). The pigmented black (primarily use for document) has page yield of approx. 300 pages for 12.5 pound. That means on very rough estimate it can print 24 pages per pound. Keep in mind that other ink cartridges will still be used when printing B&W.

Yeah, I forgot to mention separate ink cartridges are a good idea, they save you money in the long run.
Well, that should be the case - but sometimes they're overpriced, so always check prices on ink cartridges before buying a printer.

 

[Deleted member 473940]

I guess the best for me is not to go for laser printers?

That Canon one does look pretty slick.