What's a good printer ?

[random]

l want to get another printer. l haven't had one for yrs because we just got fed up with them breaking down, none stop ink ink ink , new computers all the time, the whole lot.
But alas , l could really use one again.
l just wanna use it for standard size photos and just a bit of printing here and there , bit of scanning here and there.

l don't want some big complicated monster , just something the smaller and simpler the better , but reliable .
Any suggestions ?

 

[D.T.]

Whats average amount of use? Need to tee this up with the cartridge/toner type otherwise you'll be getting really bad value.

For average home use, generally shy away from ink these days. The cartridges are expensive to replace and don't really get that many pages out of them. They also run dry if not used for some time.

Generally go for laser myself. Black and white ones are pretty cheap and ya get tons of pages out of the toners. Colour prices are coming down.

 

[EN710]

I use Brother higher end laser printer. Need one black cartridge for like 800-1000 pages so it lasts quite long. It's usually cheaper when you just print B&W, and occassional colours.

Cheap printers are cheap until you need to change the ink the next day

 

[neK]

I've got a cheap black and white laser printer.... its about 8 years old now. Its onto its 5th cartridge now.

Its lasted longer than any of my inkjet printers.

 

[DaveM]

For a high yield quality inkjet, look at the Epson Workforce Pro's.

 

[Scott No Mates]

Just go to Officetwerps when you've got to print. Cheaper but a little inconvenient

 

[random]

Yeah been using places like that to do photos and a bit of printing . Getting sick of it now that's why l thought l might try a new printer.

Sounds like lasers the go , not that l know the difference l think they were just printers with ink in them haha , last one l had.

Yeah just average home use you would say . Few photos , bit of printing now and then.

 

[HomePage]

I got sick of ink jet printers clogging up and costing a small fortune to keep fed with ink so I switched to a basic Brother mono laser wireless printer and have not looked back. Purchase price was around $70, 2500-page aftermarket cartridges are cheap at around $30 and in two years of running it I have not had any of the print quality issues I used to have with ink jet printers. If you really need to print photos or colour, take the job in to Officeworks or similar for a high quality, low cost result. I will never buy an ink jet printer again!

 

[Sim]

There is no such thing as a good printer - all printers are evil and must be destroyed.

 

[Lil Skater]

I've got two printers, colour and mono.

Colour is a really cheap HP printer, wireless all in one. Only about $50. It's a bit slow (but I use it for work), but home use I think it's pretty good.

The mono one is a Samsung. Again all in one, prints fast and can scan large documents. It's meant to be wireless, but it never bloody works as wireless! Considering the price difference, I will never buy a Samsung again. It wasn't hugely expensive, but much more than I would've liked for something that doesn't work properly.

Both laser printers.

 

[AlmostBob]

got a brother laser, black only
toner comes in bottles $55 for 3
4211 pages so far from the first bottle, indicator screen shows half full, dunno how many it will be, all text prints
$400 for the printer
scans, copies, faxes, emails

used to have inkjet, get killed on cartridge costs

 

[peastman]

I have found Oki Colour Lasers fantastic value.
They can produce almost photo quality pictures, print super fast and are very cheap to run. Non genuine toners and cartridges are fine.

Good secondhand Oki printers are always available on Ebay for not much money

 

[wombat777]

For a high yield quality inkjet, look at the Epson Workforce Pro's.

If it's high yield, what will the capital growth be like?

 

[redwing]

Good timing for this thread , looking for a new printer at present and laser looks like the go

Where's the best place to buy?

 

[balwoges]

I have been using Canon Pixma's for as long as they have been around, buy generic inks which last well and have got a lot of use from them.

 

[PHP]

i use HP Officejet Pro 8600. works fine for me so far. and the cartridge is quite reasonably priced.

 

[wobbycarly]

I use a Canon MX920 multi-function. Network accessible (wireless or wired), including scanning directly to network PC. Quick printing and good quality. Don't know the cost of cartridges, coz wife gets them through work. Only feature it has that doesn't work well is the CD/DVD printing. In fact, it's useless.

 

[tangychips]

Depends on your circumstances but in my opinion brother printers are quite reliable in the laser market and are pretty good value for money.

They are more pricey depending on the functionality you need and you might want to figure out what you need before buying, eg:

Black or white/Colour
Just printer/Scanner, faxing
Manual duplex/Auto duplex
Network only/Wi-Fi enabled

The options on left generally are more basic and are cheaper whilst adding on the stuff on the right is usually extra.

My suggestion once you find out your requirements, look up brother printer models which have it and then look for pricing on shopbot or staticice.

Once armed with the cheapest price, go to Officeworks and get 10% off with the price guarantee.

Felix