Printer

[Howard]

This Lexmark 3200 printer is getting on my nerves now. It constantly gets paper jams, other minor problems, and the ink cartridges are incredibly expensive (£30 for a B&W and another £30 for the colour, meaning I have to spend £60 on cartridges for the bugger). They don't last a very long time either.

I was considering the Canon S750, seen here:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=32038

Is this a good printer? How much are the cartridges for it, and are they widely available at places like Argos? Do they last a fairly decent amount of time?


Help is appreciated


Thanks

[Howard]

OK I've read a review that says it's not brilliant for photo quality. It would be quite nice to have a printer with fairly decent photo printing. Can anyone else recommend any other printers under £100, with CHEAP cartridges like the Canon, for good photo output? Or is the S750 really pretty good?

[Areku]

Well I work with printers and printer cartridges, and Canon are the best printers around (IMO). I just got myself a Canon I550. Sweet piece of kit, ok so it is not under £100 but for the extra £20 or so you will be quite happy you paid the extra. The cartridges are quite cheap as well, something like £7 per colour (3 colours) and same for black. It is amazing for pictures, you get edge to edge pics which come out nicely.

Well thats my $0.02, any more questions ill be happy to answer if i can.

[Howard]

Any chance of you printing a nice photo and scanning it high-res?

[directhex]

you wouldn't see the difference like that.

the i550 produces superb photo prints (as do most of the canon s & i series, tbh), and they're very cheap to run (an i550 costs less than some color lasers per page in running costs)

i can personally vouch for the exemplary quality of canon's drivers, which put all the rivals to shame

--jo

[acidrainy]

I was hit will a similar scenario.... instead of buying 2 cartiges coming to £60 i bought an Epson Printer for £65
This came with 2 cartriges and to get replacements it only costs be £10 for Colour & Black carts from InkPlannet
Fine for my needs but i presume you may need a slightly higher quality printer

[directhex]

in case it wasn't made clear, £7 is the price for a new, sealed, canon-branded cartridge. unbranded carts are in the region od £2-3

--jo

[Howard]

£7 per cartridge? Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black? THat's like £28. Not bad at all! How long do they last though? :S

[directhex]

Canon i550:

Cost of black page: 2p
Cost of color page: 7p
Cost of photo page: 44p
3-year running cost (3 letters 2 color documents 1 photo every week for 3 years): £100

to compare,

Oki C5100n Color Laser:

Cost of black page: 1p
Cost of color page: 12p
Cost of photo page: 41p
3-year running cost (3 letters 2 color documents 1 photo every week for 3 years): £106

--jo

[directhex]

eek!

Lexmark Z65 Pro:

Cost of black page: 5p
Cost of color page: 27p
Cost of photo page: £2.00
3-year running cost (3 letters 2 color documents 1 photo every week for 3 years): £420

--jo

[directhex]

aha!

http://www.securesysteminsight.co.uk...fo_987700.html

Print Head Unit pre-loaded with all 4 photo-ink tanks, for £37.95. Replacing the Print Heads is something you only need to do every 6 months or so, but it's a damn sight cheaper than the Epson approach (irreplacable heads) or HP/Lexmark approach (new heads on every £30 cart)

Otherwise it's a little more than expected (£9 per cart), and it's the BCI-3e series it uses (BCI-3EBk for black, etc - Photo carts are optional instead of regulars)

--jo

[Zak33]

I learn summit new EVERY visit to this forum

Canon prineters are cheaper to run over a long period

Epsom( personal favourite) cant have the head changed

blimey....Sair will wanna know this lot

[Howard]

OK it looks like I'll be buying a Canon (Probably the S750) when funds allow

[Areku]

Yer go for it, Canon are quality printers, you wont be disapointed.

Regarding cartridge prices, I work in a shop called Cartridge World, where we refill ink cart's for half the price of brand new, so i get my cart's even cheaper

[directhex]

is it really worth refilling canon carts, considering their new cost?

personally i'd save my print heads the strain & buy branded carts for 2 quid more...

--jo

[Howard]

I made the mistake of buying unbranded cartridges before. Never again.