Printer for work?

[spac3d]

Hey guys! I'm looking for a nice printer for a budget of £50-£100. I do want a good one, and I am fed up of buying cheap printers that mess up after a while and cost loads in ink.

It will be printing documents/contracts/web development examples.

I would consider investing in a really good printer for the top of my budget, but ideally I want it to be cheap as possible. So, these features would be cool:

- Wireless
- Print Photos/Designs on A4 to edge
- Print documents quickly and good quality
- Cheapish replacement cartridges that last a while.

Is this too much to ask? Spotted any deals that I can pick up in Town, or order online?

Help appreieciated guys,

[circuitmonkey]

When I bought my last printer I did so directly from HP and saved a lot of money, had a quick gander on their website and came across this....
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en...9-3795426.html
For £99 looks like a very good spec!

[spac3d]

Okay so you recommend spending more money, buy cheap buy twice I suppose?

[spac3d]

It's quite a large printer.. I don't know if I want it that big. Space is an issue, as it would be in my room. I could put it on top of my wardrobe, I suppose.. (It's quite low).

[circuitmonkey]

It looks like the business version of my printer (which i'm very happy with, HP 7280).
I chose this because it supports all of your requests (you'll have to check edge to edge printing actually). It also has automatic duplex printing, built in fax, will do copying, will print images directly to from your camera/memory cards and scan to either computers or memory cards/sticks. It also has Wifi and ethernet, in all a well spec'd machine

I've been very happy with mine and when I upgraded to windows 7 the drivers where built in (not a fan of the HP software)

[zain]

There are so many printers to choose from, took me about 6 hours to find one I am happy with!

Generally I advise against cheap ones, I went for a 40 quid Samsung and the roller collapsed after 3 weeks!

Cheaper/more expensive is not better, the ink could be monsterous!

If you want decent colour pictures on a low budget the best route is inkjets and good replica cartridges/continious ink supply.

No wireless but this one is nice.

I went for a Canon 5050n Colour brand new from ebay for £120, pretty decent but picture quality is not crisp.

I've tried a Canon iX4000 and the quality of colour pictures on that is immense.

[Will Smith]

HP's are horrendous for ink costs, thats how they make their money back on the cheap cost of the printers.

have a look at the epson sx515w google it for a few reviews, a cracking printer and when used with the high yield cartridges is very cheap to run

[spac3d]

I might go laser I'm not sure. I will only be printing web interface mock ups, so doesn't need to replicate blacks or be amazing for photography..

[zain]

I recommend the LBP5050n, I did a best offer on ebay and got it for £120!

I chose it because of the following:

Price - well priced with all the toners included
Toners - well priced replica toners, get a good yield out of them, quality too
Quality - Good laser quality and alright for colour copies
Support - pretty good support from canon when I needed help with installation issues

Downsides:

Quite BIG!
Small paper tray
Left one of the orange plastics inside the machine because it was stuck so hard, its meant to come off before you use it, I didn't know and had to dismantle the machine and then I realised!

I also remembered; I NEVER use HP, the cost of their toner and the yield is pathetic, each copy was working out too much per page. One of the key selling points is toner cost, the quality/availablity of replicas and how much it costs per sheet. Oh and the less power use the better!

[spac3d]

Cheers guys, some good pointers.. avoid HP they rape you on consumables..

All thanked