Our Epsom inkjet printer is on the way out, and the Mrs has authorised the purchase of a 'decent' printer.
The main drawback of the Epsom has been iffy photo prints, but my limited investigation of lasers seems to suggest that they don't all like photo paper. We don't print much (so ink cost is not a majotr factor), but when we do it would be noce to have a better quality. Occassionally print normal letters.
Any suggestions?
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I am a canon fan, and they print great colour prints, but to be honest, I always have my prints done by photobox, as they have printers that make home ones seem like crayon sets and etcha sketch.
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For photos then laser printers are nowhere near as good and they don't take photo paper.
Like Zero I rate Canon highly. My current printer is now a fair few years old and still working well. Ink cartridges for mine are simple and have no chips etc. Not sure about Epsom? I had an Epson LX-80 once upon a time though. :-)
For a big print job I'd use a printing service though.
Should this not be in the computer section?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 5 Sep 11 at 18:30
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Some of the modern Epson printers are just crap. I had one which an elderly lady phones to say she can't work out how to change the cartridge. The design was so silly and short sighted it took me 15 minutes to wok out how to do it!
Just try and get a printer which takes four cartridges instead of two, as they work out much cheaper to run.
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I bought a Kodak printer last year as the ink is cheap. Not sure how it compares print quality wise though, but for decent prints I use one of the photo shop type places.
I cant buy the paper and ink for what they charge
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If you use an iSomething there's a limited number (I think HP) that'll work off them currently. We have a Canon 3 in 1 Wireless jobbie - works out of the box and carries on working....less than a hundred notes IIRC. As Zero I use Photobox.
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We use a Canon MP560 wifi printer/scanner, (probably superseded), works well, good quality prints, and a separate photo paper feed. The print cartridge has a new nozzle built in so a new one every time, good if it gets little use, if the nozzle gets blocked with dried out ink it is easily changed.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 5 Sep 11 at 19:25
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But if you do a lot of printing then a separate print head can be better. My Canon Pixma iP5000 (works on the Mac) has separate ink and print head. Inks for cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black, pigment black (for text). It also prints on printable DVDs/CDs and does duplex printing (not of DVDs/CDs of course). Two paper feeds too. Must be six years old now at a guess though.
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>> Should this not be in the computer section?
It is now.
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>I am a canon fan, and they print great colour prints, but to be honest, I always have my prints done by photobox
Another Canon fan here.
I've had a Canon MP980 for a while and it's been a gem. Photo quality is excellent, almost as good as my Olympus dye-sub printer. The only downside is it's size - it's quite big.
For anything more than a handful of prints I use Photobox though.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=514&m=7651&v=e
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>> I am a canon fan, and they print great colour prints, but to be honest,
>> I always have my prints done by photobox, as they have printers that make home
>> ones seem like crayon sets and etcha sketch.
>>
+1,
Better prints for less money than printing yourself from many sources*, the Aldi one seems quite well thought of and typically priced. Some of these internet printers have ICM profiles for their printers available to download, if you're into managing your whole colour workflow.
* up to A5 anyway
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You need two printers. Laser for normal use and a little dye sub for prints or use photobox. Canon did one called the Selphy. Ace little thing. Ideal if you need a few prints straight away. Otherwise photobox is so cheap it's not worth buying another printer.
Samsung colour lasers are pretty good. Don't really use mine for photo printing. Got a networked one which is plugged into the wireless router so that I can print wirelessly from any computer.
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>>iffy photo prints<<
You have my deepest sympathy friend.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=6&t=5972
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I just run old Brother lasters. The one in the Workshop cost me £25 second hand, and toners cost just £14 and do 6600 pages each!.
The last time I checked the clock on the Brother downstairs it had done well over 100,000 sheets and it is still going strong! All original apart from the drum.
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>>Brother downstairs it had done well over 100,000 sheets<<
My Brother has done a few sheets lately, he's got Alzheimers.
:-(
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>four cartridges instead of two, as they work out much cheaper to run...
...unless it's an HP All-in-One. Bought one last year when our eight-year-old Deskjet 960 finally stopped printing colour. The 960 had two cartridges and could be set up to print very economically, with a clever reverser for two-sided printing. The AIO can do that too, and has four cartridges, but if you ask it to print in black, it first liberally coats the second side in coloured ink, ostensibly to improve performance. The only performance it improves is HP's at the bank, and it gets through £15 cartridges faster than a tramp can drain four Special Brew. I hugely resent this printer - yes, I take it personally! - and would need a lot of persuading to buy another from HP.
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Thanks for the responses. I've never used online printers so think I should look into these.
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You can also use the printing facilities in some stores with photo processing and/or printing. This includes large Tesco, Asda and other supermarkets.
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Has to be an inkjet and I'd go for an Epson!
Get a six colour one for photos (i.e. one of the ones with "Photo" in the name), infinitely better than the four colour ones. I have a PX700W, photo quality is excellent and as good as anything from a printing service.
Over the years I have owned or had use of Canon, Lexmark, HP, Kodak....... inkjet printers at both work and home and Epson are far and away the best, especially when it comes to long-term reliability with occasional use IMHO.
The big plus for Epson inkjets is that their nozzle cleaning function works, unlike everyone else's. Thus you can always use the whole cartridge, even when it's only used occasionally. Epson cartridges can be a tad pricey (although can be had much cheaper online than retail), but you said that's not an issue anyway. Stick with the official cartridges, the compatibles all work, but I have found that they tend to be a bit cruddy on colour balance for photo printing. I think it's one of those "you get what you pay for" things.
Top tip: When changing inkjet carts, if they are all fairly run down, just swapping the "empty" one is a false economy as the priming process uses quite a bit of ink. The first new one can end up half empty by the time you've done the others, so it's best to keep cart changes to a minimum. I tend to swap the colours as a set, but I usually get through two black ones to a set of colours.
The cheapest and most god-awful inkjet will trounce a laser for photo printing.
Note: I do not get paid by Epson, quite the reverse actually as they stick their paw in my wallet for carts on an occasional basis......
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Spent the last ten+ years with £150ish inkjet printers (3 in all) then a £130 all-in-one. Been fine as far as it goes but none have lasted beyond 3yrs with intensive home office and children's use.
Also got a bit fed up with the faff and ink/paper cost of regular photo printing.
So the last two printers I've bough have been £29 Canons. Print fine for letters and OK for the odd photo. A genuine throwaway price where the printer is the same cost as a set of inks.
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Canon printers get my vote too: tinyurl.com/3j5zcfr
Just picked up the MP270 for my son to use at university for £27 at Tesco! tinyurl.com/42oex25
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If anyone can, Canon can.
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>> Canon printers get my vote too: tinyurl.com/3j5zcfr
>> Just picked up the MP270 for my son to use at university for £27 at
>> Tesco! tinyurl.com/42oex25
>>
Cheapest new ink carts. seem to be about 30 quid though. Usual situation with Canon is that after 6 months or so someone comes up with a clone of the chip in the ink cart., then prices go down to 'normal' levels i.e. about a quid a cart.
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>>>Just picked up the MP270 for my son to use at university for £27 at Tesco! tinyurl.com/42oex25
Damn... and I paid £29 for one.
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>> Cheapest new ink carts. seem to be about 30 quid though.
About £25 for the bundle on Amazon which compares favourably to the £36 a bundle for the Canon IP4600 we use at home. tinyurl.com/3zexfr6
Last edited by: Victorbox on Tue 6 Sep 11 at 17:08
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Colour printers - Zero
