Browsing in shop recently, the laser printers appeared not much expensive compared to injket printers.
What are pros and cons of using a laser printer at home?
It needs to printer-scanner-copier model. Usage say 2 A4 B&W pages per day with occasional photo printing.
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I think it depends on what you print and how much.
A laser will have the edge in terms of economy if you print loads of black and white pages, but if you print just a few an inkjet will be better with lower initial costs especially if you print photos. Cheap laser printers don't print photos anywhere near inkjet printer quality
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If you want to reduce the cost of printing black and white and want higher speed, then a low end laser printer will be better than an inkjet. The ink won't run if the paper gets damp/wet either.
But for photos you're best off with a good inkjet.
Maybe just get a cheap B&W laser printer for text documents?
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Worth browsing sites like ebuyer for lasers. I got my Ricoh from them for thirty quid a couple of months ago.
Colour doesn't bother me because I have any photos I take professionally printed. Works out cheaper than ink for better quality.
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>> Colour doesn't bother me because I have any photos I take professionally printed. Works out cheaper than ink for better quality.
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I agree with that. Another factor was discovering what happens to the surplus ink when you prime a cartridge.
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I kicked out my injet and went for a B&W laser around 3 years ago. No regrets. It always works, no mess, cartridge changing (HP Laserjet) is oh-so-simple.
I use Snapfish for colour prints
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>> I take professionally printed. Works out cheaper than ink for better quality.
That's an interesting thought. I need to think that through. Occasional photographs and occasional presentations is all I need.
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>> Colour doesn't bother me because I have any photos I take professionally printed.
Got a picture printed by Boots online earlier in the year - uploaded the photo in the morning, walked over to the local branch from the office after lunch, and came away with a nice shiny 7x5. Cost a whole 30p :)
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I use a laser 3 in 1 printer/scanner/copier for most printing jobs. Quick, good quality prints and quite convenient to have a photocopier at home too. (I'm retired so can't copy stuff at work).
I print colour with an inkjet and I'm sure it would be cheaper to use Boots or somesuch as ink cartridges are stupidly expensive. However, being able to make proper prints at home is very convenient.
Laser thingy is a Brother DCP 7055 and Inkjet is an Epson Photostylus P50.
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Use the compatible inkjet cartridges. I've been doing so for nearly 20 years and saved a fortune doing so.
Use 7DayShop.com, diskdepot.co.uk or, my current supplier, www.inkredible.co.uk/ink-cartridges
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I like the HP Officejet inkjet printers. They are now less than £100 and work out much cheaper to run than a colour laser at a similar price.
I personally use an Officejet and a Lexmark laser for office printing duties. I've had it over a year still on the original toner, and the entire printer only cost £49 and it is a full size network printer! It was bought on special offer though.
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>> Use the compatible inkjet cartridges. I've been doing so for nearly 20 years and saved
>> a fortune doing so.
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I found compatible cartridges hit and miss, some are as good as the originals and some are downright awful. On all the inkjets I had colour quality started to suffer when you got down to about 25% remaining in the cartridge.
The Ricoh laser I mentioned earlier in the thread that I got for £30 is in fact an all in one, at that price it was a bargain.
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>> I found compatible cartridges hit and miss, some are as good as the originals and
some are downright awful.
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Again, that's also my experience. Another problem, which no one has mentioned, is that the ink tends to dry out and the jets get clogged. Then you're endlessly priming the cartridge and wasting sheets of paper. Taking my inkjet to the dump was a real pleasure.
I use Kodak machines at a Timpson in Sainsburys. Colour quality is always good. The only problem is that I frame my photos carefully in the camera and therefore prefer to have the whole image printed, rather than have part of it cropped by the machine. I often use a paint program to add a coloured border first and then allow the machine to crop part of that.
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Stuartli: Does that mean you have now used up the Canon ink cartridges that came with your recent 6-cartridge Canon and are now using FI inks in it?
Picked up an unwanted Canon MG5450, colour copier, off a friend quite cheaply, after returning my other (faulty) newer model. So far I have replaced the 3 colours inks of the 5, with F I ones, printed Xmas cards and also run a test copy of my colour test page -- I can't see any significant colour difference. Not that I am looking for super photo quality.
I used FI ones OK in my previous MG5350 for a few years. Until one fermented and dried it out and the head went. In the present adverts, FI say the ink has been reformulated.
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No, believe it or not, I'm still on the original cartridges, part of the reason being I've not printed off too many photographs recently...:-)
I promise you, again, that when they do run out I'll do an update on how the compatibles perform...:-) :-)
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Inkjet vs laser printer - for home use? - CGNorwich
