Colour laser printer?

[Nod]

Mrs Nod's old Canon inkjet has packed in so we're thinking that to reduce costs, a laser printer might be a good idea. Needs are colour, A4, WiFi and as small a footprint as possible. Any ideas?

 

[Stephen L]

Mrs Nod's old Canon inkjet has packed in so we're thinking that to reduce costs, a laser printer might be a good idea. Needs are colour, A4, WiFi and as small a footprint as possible. Any ideas?

Although I don’t recommend laser printers for photographic use, for a general home-office laser I would recommend looking at the Brother range for economy and reliability.

 

[Pound Coin]

Agreed, not great for photos. One thing to bear in mind with Colour lasers (at least in my experience) is the a full set of toner will cost as much as the machine did in the first place. You can use non OEM toner, but it's a bit of a lottery.

 

[Nod]

I have a "proper" photo printer but it's a bit overkill for her printing needs. Very occasionally, she prints photos using her printer but they're only as part of A5 flyers so ultimate quality isn't needed - as long as the image is recognisable, it's good enough!

Currently trying to get the photo printer working wirelessly from her laptop - prints happily from her phone ... and from the lappy!

I suppose I can now get her to buy the inks for her business!

 

[Stephen L]

The trouble is trying to find any new printer in stock just now because of all the home workers. I had to go direct to Canon the other week when my old printer died.

 

[Nod]

She's found a new printer that takes the same carts so has ordered it as a stop-gap - the printer is cheaper than the cost of the carts she has in stock so while it's a shame to throw it away (if she decides to make the change when the carts run out), it does make some financial sense. She might well keep using the new inkjet until that dies as well, if it lasts as long as the previous one, it'll see her through to her retirement!

 

[Nod]

Oh, and thanks to you both for the replies.

 

[AMcUK]

I replaced an inkjet with B&W Brother laser years ago. I picked up a Brother HL-3040CN a few years ago from Viking for less than £80.
Technically it uses high power LED not lasers.
It's quite a big beast and heavy in comparison to a home office inkjet but I have space for it.
The starter carts lasted a good long while.
I've since replaced the toners - one by one from full sets I've bought from 3rd party suppliers several times.
I only had one real dud which was the Magenta cart leaking toner - leading to pink spots on every print.
I saved enough over the years to switch it out before it was empty and not be too concerned/

The great things are - no clogged heads - super fast time to first page and if you want to print 10's of something it spools page after page in seconds.
The photo quality is enough for homework or powerpoint but it's not good enough to go on the wall.

I'd recommend another Brother - the later models have WiFi and duplex (automatically print on both sides) which mine doesn't do.
Mine is network connected so I can print wirelessly from the laptops over the home WiFi - it's not like I'm carrying it anywhere.

 

[Nod]

Thanks for that, AMcUK. I have a black only laser printer for plain type and a (so far!) reliable 3rd party for toner for it to keep costs down as far as possible. They come via Amazon so I have some cover should one crap out on me! (I'm also careful to open the package over a bin, after squeezing the lowest corner to check for spillage - a bad experience for Dad many years ago with a photocopier refill taught me to be careful!)

When the time comes, (IF Mrs Nod's still working!) I'll keep Brother in mind.

 

[Dave Canon]

My wife uses a Canon TS6200 scanner printer for general office stuff and the few photos she needs. I have a mono laser scanner/printer for my office output which is very cheap to run but print my photos on a Epson SC P600 which is excellent quality but expensive to run.

Dave

 

[Compuwight]

I used a Samsung CLP for several years, small footprint, Wireless, fast and good quality, however, a full set of toner was £175.
Replaced it with an Epson Ecotank for £165 and have not looked back. Small Footprint, Wireless, Fast and near photo quality and best of all only £45 for Ink replacement (not that I have replaced the inks yet only had it 18 months) plus it has a scanner. I print a ream a month general and 10-20 Photo quality. Also I can print from my phone anywhere in the World ( apparently )

 

[Nod]

As I said above, I've found a new printer that takes the same cartridges that we already have and that'll hopefully see us through until Mrs Nod retires. I'll keep using my Pro 100 Canon for photos and any A3 prints she needs with the A4 one that's on the way handling the A4 and A5 duties. Mono A4 is done with a Samsung laser printer and I have 2 spare refills for that in stock so in theory, we're sorted.
Used to have an Epson printer and that was replaced with the Canon one after 18 months due to clogged nozzles - something the Canons I've had seem not to suffer from (using genuine inks in both brands.)

 

[david1701]

My sister has and older one of these as a home office printer and buys bottles to refill the tanks. Worked out cheaper than a laser and will probably do better booklets etc. Something to consider when she runs out of cartridges if she prints a lot in colour.

 

[Nod]

She doesn't do a huge amount and doesn't need the best quality - besides, I have the 100 Pro if she ever does need better (and bigger!)

The new Canon all-in-one arrived yesterday (despite Amazon telling me that Hermes have a problem delivering it...) and is all installed and running well wirelessly Same footprint and carts as the old one but has a rear slot for a flatter paper feed for the few times she wants to do prints on photo paper.

 

[ChrisR]

Which one was that, Nod?

 

[Nod]

Canon TS5150. Typically, it's £30 cheaper now that when I ordered mine! Old one was an MG4150 (IIRC!)

We were rather limited as to which we could get - we've got some spare carts for the dead one so had to get a new one to fit them. Even at the higher price, the new printer was effectively cheaper than binning the spare carts...