I`m looking for a new printer

shutter · ‎06-11-2007

I`m looking for a new printer....

Don`t do much printing...occasional snail mail letters, and the odd document type.

occasional photo printing.using quality glossy papers. e.g. Agfa Photo Glossy Premium.

For the photo printing, what I want should give good quality picture reproduction, from the laptop screen colour to the finished printed version with the least amount of effort.. e.g. contrast and brightness.

I would prefer to use single colour cartridges, as in the Epson series, rather than the tricolour things in HP printers. due to the waste of inks if one colour runs out before the others.

price range up to £100.

Although the amount of printing is not great during a year, the cost of replacement compatible cartridges should be considered.

Your input will be appreciated, and then checked out by google search. Thanks guys

( I have tried looking, but there are so many that "look" good, and confusingly have similar numbers, the tech specs don`t seem to be too different to qualify for the enormous range of models and prices )

Oldjim · ‎15-06-2007

One thing to consider is a Canon colour printer as, unless it has changed, it sucks the ink back into the cartridge rather than leaving it in the head which is why I don't get blocked jets. Also it may be possible to replace the printer head

However - thinking laterally - how about a cheap black and white laser and get your occasional colour prints done professionally

PeterLoftus · ‎27-05-2011

Im happy with this Brother https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NWE0MGI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was given in a Which report for being very cheap to run on ink and I'd does A3 printing as a bonus. Price around £80

To do is to be - Neitzsche
To be is to do - Kant
do be do be do - Sinatra

2u2me · ‎27-09-2013

Got this one just before Xmas as my normal one ran out of ink,not wireless but came with ink.

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/1706688

twocvbloke · ‎06-11-2014

2nd hand colour laser printers are good option, I got a HP CP2025dn for £36 earlier this year, and aside from its inherent flaw (crappy rubber on the Tray 2 pickup wheel, which I fixed by flipping the rubber over!) it's been a rock solid printer, perfect prints, photo quality is excellent, and prints on all kinds of media (except CDrs/DVDrs, but who still uses those, apart form me?!!)...

Did need to replace the yellow and magenta in it, so I bought another CP2025 for £30 which had mostly half-full toners, far cheaper than buying a toner set!!!

Anonymous · ‎29-12-2016

I agree with @Oldjim as regards the laser @shutter, as it was the best option for me as I don't use it every day, or even month, but when I do it gets heavy use doing duplexed manuals. So I have a Dell 1320C but this is colour at about 2x what you want to spend having said that it always prints without issue, and can be used via the network and when I've replaced the cartridges I use re-manufactured ones at a cost of 6.00 for a single colour.

Mav · ‎06-04-2007

I have an HP all-in-one colour printer which hardly gets used as I really can't see any reason to actually print colour photos these days as most people seem to have a device (be it phone, tablet, laptop or PC) with a decent colour high-resolution display. I rarely need to print colour documents so eventually it will just become a colour scanner only.

For all other printing which, again, isn't a lot I use a Brother HL 2250DN Mono laser that gives excellent quality.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

gleneagles · ‎02-08-2007

@twocvbloke wrote:

2nd hand colour laser printers are good option, I got a HP CP2025dn for £36 earlier this year, and aside from its inherent flaw (crappy rubber on the Tray 2 pickup wheel, which I fixed by flipping the rubber over!) it's been a rock solid printer, perfect prints, photo quality is excellent, and prints on all kinds of media (except CDrs/DVDrs, but who still uses those, apart form me?!!)...

Did need to replace the yellow and magenta in it, so I bought another CP2025 for £30 which had mostly half-full toners, far cheaper than buying a toner set!!!

I also use a colour laser printer but certainly no good for photographs, interesting you purchased a second printer just for the toners, not sure if this would cover your model of printer but some toner cartridges can be reset and refilled.

you might like to check this website out,

www.urefilltoner.co.uk

shutter · ‎06-11-2007

@Oldjim your point about the print head is a good one.... as for professional printing of the odd pic... well, I do some ad hoc photography, that may need me to provide "proof" pics, which is not convenient to go to ASDA or other places where they do "on the spot" printing.. I prefer to do them at home, then I can do the necessary editing after seeing the printed result. so a "decent" colour printer is the answer..

Whilst I understand about laser printers, to a point, I consider them to be too expensive and too "high end" on the print quality compared to the price of the toners... ( which may never run out ! ! !).. to me that would be just so much money wasted, by sitting in the corner doing nothing....

PowerLee · ‎12-03-2013

The HP Instant ink scheme is worth looking at when considering a new / replacement printer.

https://instantink.hpconnected.com/uk/en/r

VileReynard · ‎01-09-2007

Get a cheap monochrome laser printer; the cartridge won't gum up if you don't use it for a while.

For colour photos you could pay for some professional colour prints.

I have never regretted throwing away my rubbish ink jet.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

Minivanman · ‎04-11-2014

Same here, works well enough even though it's as cheap as chips and as you say, comes with ink.

I tend not to use the colour option - if I want to print photographs for example I just save to an SD card and get them printed at our local chemist where they have an all singing all dancing mega printer setup.

Having said all that I do get rather irritated when my neighbour asks me to print or scan a document for them. Had this printer for about two weeks when they asked me to print off a manual for another neighbour of ours..... thirty pages of manual for their gas boiler.... "just in case they lost the original"

Grrrr

shutter · ‎06-11-2007

@PowerLee wrote:

The HP Instant ink scheme is worth looking at when considering a new / replacement printer.

https://instantink.hpconnected.com/uk/en/r

Hmm.... at £2.00 per month, that is more than I would spend in a couple of years on replacement cartridges !. for the amount of printing that I would do,... . and the price of HP cartridges,.... well... as mentioned, if one colour runs low/out, then you have wasted ink in the other cells.

shutter · ‎06-11-2007

I was looking at Epson printers.... but thanks to @Oldjim comment, I have looked at the canon range, and think this one will be most suited to my needs.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/printers-scanners-and-ink/printers/canon-pixma-m...

The replacement set of compatible cartridges is just under £20.00.... and the individual cartridges are just under a £5 each... so that looks promising. (compare that to the HP instant ink idea ! ! )..

Thanks for all your input guys.. as usual... much appreciated.

Minivanman · ‎04-11-2014

"There's posh" as they say here in Wales.