Colour Laser printers

[JoolzB]

I was just wondering if anyone had any knowledge of them quality/what do look for etc. My poxy inkjet has run out of ink yet again and new cartridges will cost in the region of £70.

I've spotted an Epson AcuLaser C900 for £250 from Comet which would prob work out cheaper over a year I reckon.

BTW it's for a home use and I don't use it a hell of alot.

[pies]

Check out the toner prices, the colour ones are £100 each and it uses three and the B&W is £40

[JoolzB]

pies said:

Check out the toner prices, the colour ones are £100 each and it uses three and the B&W is £40

That's 90 quid more than the printer itself they can blow that right outta their arrises.

thanks for pointing that out

[jimmyc412t2]

JoolzB said:

pies said: Check out the toner prices, the colour ones are £100 each and it uses three and the B&W is £40 That's 90 quid more than the printer itself they can blow that right outta their arrises. thanks for pointing that out

Toners are insane for colour lasers. Get a photo quality epson and buy non official cartridges for it. These can be seriously cheap from places like www.ebuyer.co.uk so have a hunt around and see what combination you can come up with

[Pigeon]

No, don't buy an Epson, the nozzles clog up and once that happens they're fukt, can't clean them successfully. Go for HP or Canon.

[alunr]

Pigeon said:

No, don't buy an Epson, the nozzles clog up and once that happens they're fukt, can't clean them successfully. Go for HP or Canon.

All nozzles clog up from under use wether they're epson, hp, canon or whoever. Simple answer is use the printer a bit more often. Its a bit like using your air-con during winter...

[squirrelz]

I think what Pigeon is trying to point out is that HP printers have the print head on the cartridge, so you get a new print head every time you replace it.

However, given how cheap the printers are, if the print head on an epson goes fubar, its not a major expense to get a new one, and 'compatible' cartridges are very cheap.

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

I've used HP, Canon, and Epson inkjets in the past, and I've been most happy with the Epson one so far, although its the newest one, so its not exactly a level playing field.

[squirrelz]

JoolzB said:

pies said: Check out the toner prices, the colour ones are £100 each and it uses three and the B&W is £40 That's 90 quid more than the printer itself they can blow that right outta their arrises.

Thats because the toner cartridges that come with it are only part filled. Keeps the initial price down that way.

[FunkyGibbon]

The cost of colour laser vs. inkjet depends on how much printing you are going to do.

We've done a recent analysis for this based on A3 full colour proofs.

Yearly inkjet refill costs for us would be about £7K.
Yearly laser toner refils for us would be about £1.5K.

So for us in less that one year the extra cost of the laser (£5K) vs a decent A3 inkjet (£1.5K) was easily absorbed by the on-going costs.

For low volumes though inkjet would be cheaper in long run. To cut costs though try 3rd party refills rather than OEM - see here for cheap refils

[JoolzB]

squirrelz said:

JoolzB said: pies said: Check out the toner prices, the colour ones are £100 each and it uses three and the B&W is £40 That's 90 quid more than the printer itself they can blow that right outta their arrises. Thats because the toner cartridges that come with it are only part filled. Keeps the initial price down that way.

Is the cost of toner really that much or is it just a way that manufacturers keep you buying their goods? Once you've got the printer, they then really start making some profits when you run out of toner.

The savings on heavy usage obviously make it worth while but I guess I'll search for cheaper compats for the time being.

[wolf1]

You could always choose your laser printer on the price of the refils. Just see which are cheapest and if the printer itself is good enough then go for it.