Printer recommendation - €100 ish

kapisko1PL

Hello,

Looking to buy a standard printer for home. Looking for something relatively fast, with cheap cartridges and roughly good quality. I know the budget is tight, I could potentially stretch it slightly if you show me something good. There's a lot of choices out there. Is there anything you guys could recommend? Thanks!

Edit: I should have mentioned I will require colour printing too and preferably laser jet.

Tails142

I used to work for epson selling printers in compustore when I was a kid, we're talking 20 years ago but not much has changed

Don't buy a cheap inkjet, it's so important I'll repeat it, don't buy a cheap inkjet

They're sold below cost to lock you in to buy expensive ink cartridges, inkjet printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the world sold by volume

Yes you can buy cheap cartridges on ebay but, if you're only pulling your printer out once one twice a month you will be dealing with dried ink heads and stripey prints, going mad trying to run head cleaning programs which just spray that expensive ink through hoping for the best.

You want to get a laserjet, I bought one about 15 years ago and it's still going strong, I think I'm on my second set of toner cartridges which you can pick up refilled on ebay.

This is what I'm talking about, https://www.vikingdirect.ie/en/hp-150a-colour-laser-printer-a5-p-1037884?cm_mmc=Google-_-PLA_GEN_GOOGLE-SHOPPING_technology_GOSC-_-technology-_-1037884&gclid=Cj0KCQjwt4X8BRCPARIsABmcnOo5gQPr9ft9XJzOizDtPVbQCtWnZFhvGt96Bt2NlZy65mZOPTQ0MpkaAlB1EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Don't know if that's a good deal for that model but it's the type of machine you should be aiming for. About €200-€250, will last you years and you won't have to worry about ink and blocked print heads.

Listen to this advice.

I don't know how many people I have told this to, friends, work colleagues, and next thing they're telling me about the inkjet the sales guy in the shop sold them. They're on commission, do you get that? Commission? HP and Epson pay to have their products pushed by sales guys and the inkjets are the cheapest and easiest sell to the unsuspecting consumer.

Listen to me.

Buy a laserjet

kapisko1PL

There are just so many choices and it's so hard to chose from, but you're dead right. I was thinking of a laser jet myself but as I said, not sure where to start. The one you have shown absolutely fits the bill, the problem is its out of stock so might have to do some more digging and see if I could source it from somewhere else. Thank you!

Cordell

Laser is definitely the way to go. Cheaper price per page and it can be left unused without worrying that the ink dries out, because the laser ink is dry (it's a powder, not a liquid).
First question is do you really need a color printer? If no, there's options under 100 for which you can buy cheap 3rd party consumables.

I got this one at the start of the lockdown to print school stuff for my kids: https://www.brother.ie/printers/laser-printers/hl-1110
Fast and cheap.

kapisko1PL

Cordell wrote: »

Laser is definitely the way to go. Cheaper price per page and it can be left unused without worrying that the ink dries out, because the laser ink is dry (it's a powder, not a liquid).
First question is do you really need a color printer? If no, there's options under 100 for which you can buy cheap 3rd party consumables.

I got this one at the start of the lockdown to print school stuff for my kids: https://www.brother.ie/printers/laser-printers/hl-1110
Fast and cheap.

Hi Cordell. Thanks for the recommendation. I should have mentioned that I will indeed require colour printing. Thanks again!

Johnboy1951

You would be best advised to increase your budget and get a colour laser ....... preferably with wifi and/or network connection as well as USB.

Here is one example
https://www.huntoffice.ie/canon-i-sensys-lbp621cw-printer-colour-laser-a4-capacity-250-sheets-usb-2-0-gigabit-lan-wi-fi-n-usb-host-3104c017-5286145.html

There are others like
https://www.printerexpress.ie/brother-hl-3140cw-a4-colour-laser-printer.html

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing-accessories/printers-scanners-and-ink/printers/hp-colour-laser-150nw-wireless-laser-printer-10210764-pdt.html

Of course if you decide that colour is not a definite need then you can get mono laser well within your budget .....

kapisko1PL

I might have to raise the budget a bit. Thanks for all the replies.

thejaguar

I hope it's ok to hijack this thread with a question of my own.

Having looked at the advice here I've been on the lookout for a laserjet printer. I spotted this over the weekend - just wondering if it's any use?

https://www.123ink.ie/HP-150a-Colour-Laser-Printer-4ZB94A-4ZB94AB19-i51501.html

JoyPad

thejaguar wrote: »

I hope it's ok to hijack this thread with a question of my own.

Having looked at the advice here I've been on the lookout for a laserjet printer. I spotted this over the weekend - just wondering if it's any use?

https://www.123ink.ie/HP-150a-Colour-Laser-Printer-4ZB94A-4ZB94AB19-i51501.html

Looks like a pretty good deal, about 100 euro under the HP shop price.

Things to be aware of:

1. These home office printers have low printing speed and low paper capacity.

2. This model has no network connectivity, making it difficult to print from any other device than the PC it is connected to.

3. The introductory toner cartridges that come with it will last for about 500 pages, and then you will need to buy separate cartridges (blank, cyan, yellow and magenta), about 120 euro for a full set, which will last for approx 1000 pages. The number of pages you can print depends on what you print: photos will deplete the cartridges the fastest, text will be the lowest.

4. You should only use good quality paper, to avoid mechanical issues (paper getting crumpled and stuck inside). I would recommend at least 80gsm paper, if not 100gsm.

I have a similar printer (251n) since Jan 18th 2014, almost 7 years ago. Still going very strong, absolutely no problems with it.

Cordell

On points 1 and 2:

1: at 4ppm for colour and 18ppm for black it's still quite fast
2: the only difference is that you need to have the PC that's connected to turned on and setup the printer sharing. The other devices accessing the printer will see no difference between the printers that have network connectivity and the ones that don't.

So, for 150 initial cost then 120 for 1000 pages it's quite a good value. Also the main advantage of the laser printers is that the toner never goes bad, so they can sit unused for long periods of times and nothing will happen.

thejaguar

Thanks for the advice lads - the level of detail is impressive!

Is the WiFi option worth the extra €45? I guess that's really a questions to ask myself, but your opinion is appreciated.

https://www.123ink.ie/HP-150nw-A4-Colour-Laser-Printer-with-WiFi-4ZB95A-4ZB95AB19-i51502.html

JoyPad

thejaguar wrote: »

Is the WiFi option worth the extra €45? I guess that's really a questions to ask myself, but your opinion is appreciated.

It depends on your usage. In my case, it was definitely a great option, as the printer is always on, and anyone in the family can print whenever they need, from whatever device.

If you're the only user, and you print mostly from your PC, then wired will do just fine.

Cordell

I would pay 45E for the convenience, mostly because you can have it anywhere in the house where you have WiFi coverage.