Printers

No doubt been done before, but things seem to progress quite fast.

Looking to buy a Printer/scanner as a present.
Will be used for printing photo's and the occasional text doc.

Budget of up to £200. Obviously cheaper, better as would mean could get some inks and papers.

What's what?

 

Anyone?

 

Check out Tesco they've some stonking reductions on HP all- in- ones at the mo.

 

MO

I take it you want a combined printer and scanner in one device?

if so why?

I have an Epson scanner that is excelent. I also have separate printers for different purposes - a mono laser printer for documents/text and a dye sublimation printer for photos

They are both best types for their intended purposes. I don't like colour inkjet (or mono) as although the printers themselves are very cheap, the total cost of ownership is high.

For laser pritners, HP is clearly the market leader (and very good quality) although Brother, Samsung and Kyocera make very good lasers too. If you can get one where you can change the toner and drum independently that that would be the most economical

For dye sublimation prnters (for photos), the affordable ones usually only do 6" X 4" photos but to a standard of professionally developed phtotos. I use the a model by HiTi which is affordable and very good - see www.hiti.com

For scanners, I would look at Epsom ( and avoid HP) - very decent ones to be had for circa £50

 

The three all in one machines I have been involved in, have all died just outside warrenty !

Like Hifi, go for as many boxes as you can !

 

Why all in one?
Convenience and space I guess.
Printing is MOre important than scanning.

It will be MOstly used for printing course work photo's.
Septerate printer and scanner and may be an option, but not really up for seperate printers too.
Going the option of seperate MOno laser, colour photo, and scanner seems too expensive. Also what about if wanting to print colour documents?

I'd spotted the Tesco deals on HP.

I'd been looking at the canon MP610/830/970 all in one options.

Too many to choose from and time is running out!

 

MO...there are at least three types of printing technology printer out there

1) Inkjet
2) Laser
3) Dye sublimation

All have advantages and disadvantages.

Inkjet has the illusion of being cheap but has a high cost per page - not only is ink expensive, for colour photots you also have to buy special paper. If you have a high volume printing requirement this is not the way to go. It is also slow. However, It seems to me most homes that want colour go this route so you may end up here

Laser - colour lasers were very expensive to buy but are becoming cheaper. I don't know how expensive colour lasers are to run, but I would bet they are cheaper than inkjet.
Mono lasers are very affordable and have a low cost per page

Dye sublimation - this is a specilaist method for photo printing. You can't better phtot printing quality IMHO even though this is probably the oldest technology of the three.

If you are going inkjet, they are so cheap now that it really doesn't matter what you get as long as you go for a reputable brand so Canon or Epson or HP or even Umax

For a scanner I would recommend the Epson Perfection range - I have the 3490Photo and it is very cheap but excellent quality - (it is a falt bed scanner)

 

If you do go the ink jet route, I woudl recommend one that can print in mono using a black ink cartridge and in colour using the (obvioulsy) colour cartridges. There are some that print in mono by combining the colours to create a black.

This is bad for two reasons - the black is not quite fully black and also it is more expensive as you are using colour ink all the time.

 

I have a tendancy to over-research just about everything.

In truth I'm sure anything of half decent quality will do the job here. She'll only be using it for printing off some course work and photo's.
Scanning will be only occasional and again, only really for coursework.

The convenience of an all-in-one, and the smaller footprint will be MOre important than ultimate quality. Her photo's tend to MOstly be from nights out and such.

I've gone for the Canon MP610 which has a lot of good reviews (and a few not so), and at £110 leaves a few pennies to get some paper and such.

I'll give it a bash when it turns up. Would be rude not to check it before wrapping it up for xmas!

Cheers!

 

"Inkjet has the illusion of being cheap but has a high cost per page "

my canon i560 which i think is an ink jet....seems very heavy (on ink) at the momment.

 

I'm aare of the issues of higher long term cost. I've had to replace cart's myself early a few times as they don't seem to last long at all if you only use them rarely. Half of the ink seems to go on cleaning after a period of non-use.