Good ink efficient printer

[shortmantuff]

I was wondering if anyone knew about a good printer that is ink efficient and compatible with Windows 7 for around $50?

 

[osholt]

I'm afraid that you're going to be stuck on this.

The cost of the printer is not dictated by the price of the printer itself but the cost to run it.

There is no such thing as cheap printer ink.

The cheapest kind of printer to run is a thermal printer but this can only do black and white, requires special paper and is not suited to hot conditions due to its nature.

The cost of the special paper and the price of the electricity to heat the paper correctly is less than buying normal paper and inkjet printer ink.

In short almost all printers under $50 will be expensive to run. Printers are expensive generally.

Oli

 

[MacGyvr]

The new Kodak printers claim to have made significant strides in bringing down the cost of ink, but I can't speak to this from personal experience, and you won't get one of those printers for $50.

 

[Zepher]

laser is efficient, especially if you print infrequently since you don't have the problem of clogged heads and cleaning that wastes ink.
Only drawback is the cost of the toner cart, $60-100 depending on the printer, you get a lot of prints from each one.
My carts for my HP 4500DN Color Laser are $150 each for the colors and $107 for the black.
6000 pages for the color and 9000 pages for the black.
I don't print that much so I still have 5 year old carts in there that work perfect whenever I use the printer, plus I have another set of carts for it.

This is my 4500DN that was bought new in 1999 for $2500 by my company and I bought it 5 years ago from them for $100 with the extra carts,

Text and graphic looks awesome and pictures print out decent on it.
If you plan on printing high quality photos, then you want an inkjet.

 

[shortmantuff]

Thanks guys. So from all the information I have gathered, I have learned a few things...

1. Printers are expensive
2. Not one printer is liked by every person
3. You have to spend many to save money on printers in the long run.

 

[shortmantuff]

I'm afraid that you're going to be stuck on this.

The cost of the printer is not dictated by the price of the printer itself but the cost to run it.

There is no such thing as cheap printer ink.

The cheapest kind of printer to run is a thermal printer but this can only do black and white, requires special paper and is not suited to hot conditions due to its nature.

The cost of the special paper and the price of the electricity to heat the paper correctly is less than buying normal paper and inkjet printer ink.

In short almost all printers under $50 will be expensive to run. Printers are expensive generally.

Oli

Just to be sure, is this considered a thermal printer??
http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_...me=View+All&prdNo=11&blockNo=11&blockType=G11

 

[Darician]

I remember recently some small research was conducted and found that it was actually cheaper in some cases to buy a new printer each time your ink runs out than it is to buy new ink.

I'm afraid that you're going to be stuck on this.

The cost of the printer is not dictated by the price of the printer itself but the cost to run it.

There is no such thing as cheap printer ink.

The cheapest kind of printer to run is a thermal printer but this can only do black and white, requires special paper and is not suited to hot conditions due to its nature.

The cost of the special paper and the price of the electricity to heat the paper correctly is less than buying normal paper and inkjet printer ink.

In short almost all printers under $50 will be expensive to run. Printers are expensive generally.

Oli

Just to be sure, is this considered a thermal printer??
http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_...me=View+All&prdNo=11&blockNo=11&blockType=G11

Not at all. That's an ink-jet printer, through and through.

 

[Barman58]

I remember recently some small research was conducted and found that it was actually cheaper in some cases to buy a new printer each time your ink runs out than it is to buy new ink.

Unfortunately I think the printer manufactures read the same report and most now supply a "special" first use cartridge set - one with considerably less ink that a normal set.

I'm sure they have an excuse such as this providing a longer shelf life when sold with printers, that tend to be on the shelf longer but Grrrrr

 

[Darician]

I remember recently some small research was conducted and found that it was actually cheaper in some cases to buy a new printer each time your ink runs out than it is to buy new ink.

Unfortunately I think the printer manufactures read the same report and most now supply a "special" first use cartridge set - one with considerably less ink that a normal set.

I'm sure they have an excuse such as this providing a longer shelf life when sold with printers, that tend to be on the shelf longer but Grrrrr

That is actually the common excuse I do hear as of late.

 

[Barman58]

I remember recently some small research was conducted and found that it was actually cheaper in some cases to buy a new printer each time your ink runs out than it is to buy new ink.

Unfortunately I think the printer manufactures read the same report and most now supply a "special" first use cartridge set - one with considerably less ink that a normal set.

I'm sure they have an excuse such as this providing a longer shelf life when sold with printers, that tend to be on the shelf longer but Grrrrr

That is actually the common excuse I do hear as of late.

Yeah me too

OT

Congrats on the first 400 posts

/OT

 

[Darician]

Yay.

Back to the thread though, if you want ink efficient, you may have to spend a bit more money and if you are thinking of printing in high volume, you may want to go the laser route.

 

[Phone Man]

I have one of these. Nice printer but black & white only. Cost about 2.2 cents per page. If you miss this sale, keep looking. They have been on sale just about every week. Comes with 700 page starter cartage. Don't buy toner from Office Depot, Newegg is about half price.

Brother HL 2140 Monochrome Laser Printer by Office Depot

Jim

 

[shortmantuff]

I have one of these. Nice printer but black & white only. Cost about 2.2 cents per page. If you miss this sale, keep looking. They have been on sale just about every week. Comes with 700 page starter cartage. Don't buy toner from Office Depot, Newegg is about half price.

Brother HL 2140 Monochrome Laser Printer by Office Depot

Jim

Man, that's a sweet deal. I wish I would have read that earlier today. I actually bought an Epson inkjet at Office Depot today. I just don't have the money to spend on a laser printer at this time, but could have bought this one. Yeah, I plan on buying my ink from newegg. A lot cheaper.

 

[Phone Man]

I have one of these. Nice printer but black & white only. Cost about 2.2 cents per page. If you miss this sale, keep looking. They have been on sale just about every week. Comes with 700 page starter cartage. Don't buy toner from Office Depot, Newegg is about half price.

Brother HL 2140 Monochrome Laser Printer by Office Depot

Jim

Man, that's a sweet deal. I wish I would have read that earlier today. I actually bought an Epson inkjet at Office Depot today. I just don't have the money to spend on a laser printer at this time, but could have bought this one. Yeah, I plan on buying my ink from newegg. A lot cheaper.

Bring it back and see if they will work an exchange. You never know. I found 99.9% of my printing is black and white and I love the looks of the laser printer. If I really need color I will send it to Kinkos.
Next week the same printer with built in Lan and WiFi goes on sale for $99.99.

Jim

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
for reasonable quality home printing including Photos the KODAK AIO series are good, they scan, fax, copy as well, are cheap and CONSUME LESS INK so cheaper to run.

I don't recommend lasers for home use -- too fiddly, not very good at photo quality printing (even B&W photos) and you'll always find you've run out of toner on an evening or when the shops are closed.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[shortmantuff]

Yeah, it's not too bad. The printer I have has copy, fax and scanning abilities and the Brother is just a straight printer I believe.

 

[Phone Man]

I don't recommend lasers for home use -- too fiddly, not very good at photo quality printing (even B&W photos) and you'll always find you've run out of toner on an evening or when the shops are closed.

Cheers
jimbo

Don't know what fiddly is as mine doesn't do fiddly. I agree they don't do photos very well but it all depends on what you want to use it for. In my case I don't print photos. Mine also has an alert when the toner is getting low so I have plenty of time to get more.
Inkjets have made a killing with the ability to do color photos but their ink prices are out of line. It all depends on what your needs are and laser printers have evolved down to the consumer level and fill a need in the black and white market at reasonable prices.

Jim