Nice Printer for home use

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smb3

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Hi there,

Does anybody have any suggestions for a good printer that can be used at home? Ideally i will probably be printing alot of documents in black n white ... and maybe a scan/fax/copy function as well ... the difficult part is choosing one that has the best value for money on purchase and on cartidge savings ... im not too particular about print quality since I will just be printing texts ...

any suggestions?
 
My main suggestion is to go for a laser printer. If you won't be using the scan/fax option very much then I'd stay clear of a multifunction get a basic b+w laser printer. Inkjet printers become hugely expensive when you need to buy new ink, or say new print heads. Heads will cost you in excess of R1,000. If you just want to print text then steer clear of ink printers and get a laser, and a seperate scanner for the odd time you need it.
 
smb3 said:
Hi there,

Does anybody have any suggestions for a good printer that can be used at home? Ideally i will probably be printing alot of documents in black n white ... and maybe a scan/fax/copy function as well ... the difficult part is choosing one that has the best value for money on purchase and on cartidge savings ... im not too particular about print quality since I will just be printing texts ...

any suggestions?
Click to expand...

have a look at the canon range, excellent value for money
 
Ink also has a shelf life and dries up.

The old HP 2015 is very good but not around any longer.
 
Definitely a laser printer. Inkjet cartridges cost about R300 and do 100-200 pages if you're lucky, where laser printer cartridges do about 2000 and cost R600. The photoconductor lasts something like 30 or 60 000 pages so most people hardly ever replace them during the life of the printer (which is also a lot longer than an inkjet). It's also a lot quicker and the quality (especially for text) is great. So nice if you print documents a few pages long. I got a Lexmark E120 a few years ago for R800 which included a cartridge, don't know if they still sell those.

Then just get a separate scanner, they should be quite cheap. It'll cost a little more at first but will save a lot of money and hassle in the long run. I think you can even get some money back for recycling your toner cartridges with some manufacturers.
 
@OP: how long do you need to keep the printed pages? Pages printed via laser printers last longer than most pages printed via inkjet printers, especially if you are going to use generic cartridges.

Laser printer: I'm very biased towards HP as my one at home is 7 years old and still going strong!

InkJet printer: I recommend Canon printers but only those with separate colour cartridges. I will never buy a dual cartridge printer again (1 tri-colour/1 black). Also ensure that the model can use generic cartridges a OEM cartridges are pretty damn expensive.
 
ponder said:
They are B&W lasers, why would he pay for colour?

He just wants to print text.
Click to expand...

Even if he gets a colour laser, they use Red, Green, Blue and Black ink toner, so not so bad for the occasional colour pic.
 
I've been through so many - I hate printers - I've got a Canon on the shelf in the garage - need to bin it, cost over R1k - never worked well.
Then went Laser - not looked back. Got the Samsung SCX-4623F from Makro.
 
If lots of B&W printing is what you want then laser printer is probably what you need.

I don't print much, but wanted scanning and CD/DVD label printing so I went multifunction. I'm very happy with my Cannon MP810.
 
The reason I say steer clear of ink printer is because last week we had 2 Canons come in for repairs. Both had faulty print heads. The one under warranty was sorted out, but the quote for the other one was about R1,100. That's just the heads, not the ink. When the printer was new it cost about that. As someone said ink also dries out.

Colour lasers are good, but expensive. We had to replace all 4 toner cartridges in our HP colourlaser the other day and it was almost R4,000.

For home use get yourself a b+w laser. If you need to print the odd photo or text with colour then wack it on a flash drive and take it somewhere else to get done. You'll save yourself a lot of worry, hassle...and bucks.
 
I do not know who to recommend for printing, but painting around the house I can easily recommend Musi... he's from Malawi and does wonders... it must be genetic, not an original, that is the difference between refills.

Highly recommended.
 
HP mono laser. Shop for cheapest available. Maybe R800'ish. Maybe they still make some that take the 12A generics at around R300 for toner. Prints thousands of pages of text on that cartridge. HP printers from my experience keep working for 5 - 10+ years.
 
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