New printer suggestions

[ollie989898]

What I had in my farm office 12 years ago was an ink-jet colour printer/scanner/copier/fax for all the twiddly bits and a brother B&W laser for most of the simple black and white stuff.

That is exactly what I did. Black and white mono printers are cheaper than dirt.

 

[bravheart]

Used to have a B/W laser worked fine but took a while churning before spitting out it's first page, toner cheap as chips but started smudging and printing shadow lines across the page, was told it needed a new drum(think it was called) which was standard practice after 'X' pages. The drum was more than a new printer, have lasers changed recently or do the internal parts still have a finite life?

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Used to have a B/W laser worked fine but took a while churning before spitting out it's first page, toner cheap as chips but started smudging and printing shadow lines across the page, was told it needed a new drum(think it was called) which was standard practice after 'X' pages. The drum was more than a new printer, have lasers changed recently or do the internal parts still have a finite life?

Still the same basically. On a real cheapie unit (several hundred squid) it’s just not worth replacing elements like the drum and fuser as it’s basically the cost of a complete new one. Just recycle.

On larger, more sophisticated machines (in the thousands) then it’s probably worth doing. Even then those parts are very expensive. Luckily they generally last many 10s of thousands of pages.

Having owned and used loads of laser printers over the years the only thing I would caution with the really cheap lasers is that if printing relatively complex or large documents with say graphics then they can be dog slow - only because the engine has relatively very little memory and a slow processor. That’s when the more expensive units come into their own, but you pay for it.

 

[sjt01]

Still the same basically. On a real cheapie unit (several hundred squid) it’s just not worth replacing elements like the drum and fuser as it’s basically the cost of a complete new one. Just recycle.

On larger, more sophisticated machines (in the thousands) then it’s probably worth doing. Even then those parts are very expensive. Luckily they generally last many 10s of thousands of pages.

Having owned and used loads of laser printers over the years the only thing I would caution with the really cheap lasers is that if printing relatively complex or large documents with say graphics then they can be dog slow - only because the engine has relatively very little memory and a slow processor. That’s when the more expensive units come into their own, but you pay for it.

If going for lasers, try Kyocera. They are a bit more expensive to start with, but will run for years on just toner top ups (non-genuine). The only one we have scrapped did about 12 years, and only got ditched as the paper pick up rollers were doing a few misses. We currently run a 10 year old multifunction, and a 6 year old colour.

 

[bravheart]

Still the same basically. On a real cheapie unit (several hundred squid) it’s just not worth replacing elements like the drum and fuser as it’s basically the cost of a complete new one. Just recycle.

On larger, more sophisticated machines (in the thousands) then it’s probably worth doing. Even then those parts are very expensive. Luckily they generally last many 10s of thousands of pages.

Having owned and used loads of laser printers over the years the only thing I would caution with the really cheap lasers is that if printing relatively complex or large documents with say graphics then they can be dog slow - only because the engine has relatively very little memory and a slow processor. That’s when the more expensive units come into their own, but you pay for it.

Thanks for that, not many seem to mention drum costs when recommending a laser. Had a quick look on printerland mentioned above, picked a cheap brother mono laser, 3.7p per page, 1000pages per cartridge, and 10,000 pages per drum so at 500 pages/month the drum has a 20 month lifespan and is dearer to replace than buy a new printer.
On the good side they’re a lot quicker and cheaper than they used to be and are probably worth considering alongside a colour inkjet with a copier/scanner feature as @J B

 

[ollie989898]

Thanks for that, not many seem to mention drum costs when recommending a laser. Had a quick look on printerland mentioned above, picked a cheap brother mono laser, 3.7p per page, 1000pages per cartridge, and 10,000 pages per drum so at 500 pages/month the drum has a 20 month lifespan and is dearer to replace than buy a new printer.
On the good side they’re a lot quicker and cheaper than they used to be and are probably worth considering alongside a colour inkjet with a copier/scanner feature as @J B

If you are printing a lot of stuff it might pay to have a rental in and pay them a fee per month, you will be able to get access to a munter of a machine that would probably cost over £1000 this way.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

If you are printing a lot of stuff it might pay to have a rental in and pay them a fee per month, you will be able to get access to a munter of a machine that would probably cost over £1000 this way.

For a “managed print agreement” that takes into account the capex of the machine + per page cost on consumables they will want a minimum volume of printing to make it stack up. I expect the OP isn’t quite in that league (of printing).

I did it for almost 4 years on a WorkCenter machine with Xerox, using a PagePack agreement but eventually ended up dropping the contact as I analysed our consumables use vs cost vs PagePack page price after running it for some time.

Really it’s only worth it if you’re doing mega printing with large graphics that cover more page area (hence toner) than the typical text with some graphics coverage area per page or if you’re printing lots of A3 (as A4 was charged at the same price).

Could be worth running the sums again, but I found I could better the per page cost (maybe not the hassle) of running with my own purchased consumables.

That was a consumables/maintenance only agreement - not a full “managed print agreement” that covers the capital cost of the machine.

 

[ollie989898]

For a “managed print agreement” that takes into account the capex of the machine + per page cost on consumables they will want a minimum volume of printing to make it stack up. I expect the OP isn’t quite in that league (of printing).

I did it for almost 4 years on a WorkCenter machine with Xerox, using a PagePack agreement but eventually ended up dropping the contact as I analysed our consumables use vs cost vs PagePack page price after running it for some time.

Really it’s only worth it if you’re doing mega printing with large graphics that cover more page area (hence toner) than the typical text with some graphics coverage area per page or if you’re printing lots of A3 (as A4 was charged at the same price).

Could be worth running the sums again, but I found I could better the per page cost (maybe not the hassle) of running with my own purchased consumables.

That was a consumables/maintenance only agreement - not a full “managed print agreement” that covers the capital cost of the machine.

I'm not entirely familiar with the ins and outs of the agreements but I thought there might be agreements to suit smaller businesses. The hardware that they often include is seriously good- as you say full blown A3 colour printing and scanning was impressive, plus they maintain the machine and sort the consumables as I understood it. Not the cheapest option on an annual basis but may fit in with the needs of a business and let them do some kick ass graphics/printing without shelling out 2K in one lump.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

I'm not entirely familiar with the ins and outs of the agreements but I thought there might be agreements to suit smaller businesses. The hardware that they often include is seriously good- as you say full blown A3 colour printing and scanning was impressive, plus they maintain the machine and sort the consumables as I understood it. Not the cheapest option on an annual basis but may fit in with the needs of a business and let them do some kick ass graphics/printing without shelling out 2K in one lump.

It takes a lot of hassle factor out, machine basically orders it’s own consumables as and when required. If something breaks, they come and fix it. As you say could be a way of reducing capex and going to a leased model. They generally only do it on much larger office grade machines and they will expect a minimum print volume to recoup costs or either way will build this into the price. Possibly worth exploring, but as said not for everyone and if you’re printing less than 5000 pages a month I’d say forget it.

 

[Chickcatcher]

Epson ET 2650, had now over 2 years ticks all bar 1 box should have got the Auto 2 side printing Ok so costs a bit more in the first place but you nearly forget when you last topped up the ink bottles.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

This just popped into my inbox @Zebbedee

Surely gotta be worth a punt for £70 inc VAT!

https://www.ebuyer.com/453221-lexmark-cx310dn-multifunction-colour-laser-printer-28c0563

 

[Timbo]

Definately worth a punt.

£105 for compatible toner set (2000 yield)

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Definately worth a punt.

£105 for compatible toner set (2000 yield)

For the original unit at £69.99 + £10 delivery, with starter cartridges @ 1400 pages per cartridge works out as 1.4p / page (at 5% coverage).

Even if you trebled your coverage per page, thats still bloody cheap colour printing / copying / scanning etc

 

[Zebbedee]

This just popped into my inbox @Zebbedee

Surely gotta be worth a punt for £70 inc VAT!

https://www.ebuyer.com/453221-lexmark-cx310dn-multifunction-colour-laser-printer-28c0563

View attachment 798994

Looks the part only we just got one last week an epson something or other ink printer ( bit like buses ehh) thanks anyway guys

 

[dowcow]

Am now running an HP Colour laser MFP M477fdn having run an HP 2200 (mono laser) for almost a decade. It's a £300 machine, scanner duplex , networking and HP air print all bells+whistles etc.

Got the same printer, and has been brilliant. The problem we had with inkjets is that sometimes we would go a month or two without printing and in that time the inkjet cartridge would become useless. This printer can sit there for months and then spit out 50 sheets without any worry.

The cashback offers a few years made them almost a no brainer too... which sadly I missed out on but basically the £280 printer would give you nearly £60 back when you claim the VAT back, then HP would give you £100 back if you applied for the cashback. So you could have a full colour laser with doubled sided scan and copy, all the bells and whistles as you said... with decent sized starter toners for £120...

 

[markc]

go colour laser
we have brother scans prints both sides real tool.
we got inkjet in 3 months spent about £100 in ink mad really, then it coughed so took it back got money back and went laser, the cartridges that came with it did about ten months, then put new set in for about £70 about six months ago still showing 3/4 full.
a real tool you can put stack of copying in and copy both sides in one run, church magazine comes on email and can print that both sides and fold into booklet for mother in law

 

[Av Gorritt]

Plus "1" for Brother colour laser .

 

[oskerb]

out of my normal habitat in the computer section,,,,but we need a new printer so I am told anyway looking for suggestions as it’s a minefield main concern is cost of running eg ink cartridges etc we are looking for printerspicks label printers decent quality colour printer stroke scanner either hard wired or wireless laser or inkjet? Which is best we print out all spray sheets and invoices etc so does a sizeable amount of printing thanks

Looking for a cheap ink tank printer for home use.
Thinking of buying this one. Is this a good choice or should I go for something different?

 

[Cowabunga]

Looking for a cheap ink tank printer for home use.
Thinking of buying this one. Is this a good choice or should I go for something different?

If only we knew what “this one” was.

 

[JeepJeep]

It's that one.... *points*