What printer

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villain1973uk

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Lee
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I'm looking for a printer that's cheap to run, I will print off an occasional photo but mainly for general use, I've read some printers use ink to much etc, can anyone recommend me a good cheap to run printer?.

Cheers.
 
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if you just want something that is a day to day printer rather than a photo one i would suggest going for a lazer printer, the toners last a hell of a lot longer than inkjet cartridges and on domestic ones aren't that expensive to replace anymore. if you only want to print photos occasionally then i would just get the prints for those done online
 
yeah suppose it would work out a lot cheaper but would be nice to have the option to print out the odd picture.
 
you wanted cheap to run, you can still print the odd picture but will need to go somewhere to do so. Fwiw i am actually looking at some point at switching over to a lazer printer myself and keeping my inkjet just as a scanner as i just don't see the value in printing with it anymore since it costs about 50 quid to refill the cartridges if a full set is needed and they really don't last particularly long.
 
villain1973uk said:
yeah suppose it would work out a lot cheaper but would be nice to have the option to print out the odd picture.
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The problem with the odd print is that (at least in my case ) the ink cartridges would dry up once opened(over the course of six months+ ) so it became very expensive, on some printers the ink heads would get clogged if not used often enough and then every time you use it after a while you would have to clear the nozzles wasting yet more ink. Then you have to buy paper in packs and of different sizes if you want a different size. So I say photo printers are great if you print every month at least a couple of photos and are prepared to pay out to keep the flow going.
 
A full set of inks for my A3 Epson is £80-90 and of course there's paper to buy too. I think I worked out some time ago that an average A4 print costs about £1 but I've probably under estimated it, probably by quite a bit.

Home printing isn't cheap and you can probably get your prints done online cheaper but there are non cost advantages to home printing which IMHO include being in control of quality (I've only ever paid for one picture to be printed and it was a total waste of money) and being able to produce the prints as and when you want them. You'll have to make your own mind up if home printing is financially sensible or not and if you're willing to pay more to be in control.

One thing I'd think about doing is going for the two printer solution and getting a document printer (laser?) and a cheapo photo printer, the £50 and under variety sort they sell in supermarkets (Canon, HP, Epson etc.) If you're going to be printing to a maximum of A4. My sister has a cheap supermarket bought one and the image quality is IMO good, I don't know how it'd stack up against my printer as I've never printed my shots on her printer or her shots on mine but the shots she takes (with a compact camera or smartphone) and prints certainly look more than just good enough.

I think I'd prefer a cheap home printer to ordering online simply because you can then print as and when you want and have the results as fast as you can process and print them.
 
FWIW

I used to use general colour inkjet including for occasional photo and colour documents. However, I used them too much and they became toast all too quickly :( so approx 4 years ago (might be closer to 6 years???) I switched to mono laser one weekend in desperation because the then Canon inkjet failed......I bought an HP 1102W and all I have needed were laser carts (I have stuck with HP brand) and I think I have printed something like 40,000 off of A4 docs on it.

I would like another inkjet scanner printer but we have no space to put one.
 
I have been looking at colour laser printers and it seems none are compatible with windows 10 :banghead:
 
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