Thread: Which Printer ? recommendations please

Epsons are great. My favourite printer I ahve used so far. You can gte generic ink for most of them and they have pretty good quality. It is cheaper to print at home if you get cheap ink.

I now have a canon which I picked up super cheap and has a scanner and is quite good but no generic ink so I pay a fortune in ink or make a mess trying to fill them up with a syringe.

I'll prob go colour laser next. you can pick them up for under 400 and the quality smokes an inkjet and colours won't run either!

Also, you get only around 60% of printed pages compared to what the maker of the laser printer says. And ribbons wildly fluctuate in price dependent on brand so keep an eye on that.

Xav

Originally Posted by Disco_owner

What do you fellas think about this Epson Aculaser ?

Harris Technology has the cheapest deal at the moment for $341,
..........

Actually looks quite attractive on the specs, with one problem I can see - max of 32C and minimum 15% humidity even for storage. This implies airconditioning full time over most of Australia in summer, even for storage. This could be a bit hard to meet.

It does not mention power consumption, which could be fairly high, and note that the weight is very high (typically ten times) compared to an inkjet.

But it seems electrostatic printers are becoming more practical, and this is definitely my preference.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Actually looks quite attractive on the specs, with one problem I can see - max of 32C and minimum 15% humidity even for storage. This implies airconditioning full time over most of Australia in summer, even for storage. This could be a bit hard to meet.

It does not mention power consumption, which could be fairly high, and note that the weight is very high (typically ten times) compared to an inkjet.

But it seems electrostatic printers are becoming more practical, and this is definitely my preference.

John

Specs on power consumption

POWER REQUIREMENTS
RATED VOLTAGE 220V to 240V ±10%
RATED FREQUENCY 50Hz to 60Hz ±3Hz
POWER CONSUMPTION MAX 782W
POWER CONSUMPTION AVERAGE (Operating) 257W
POWER CONSUMPTION (Standby) 61W
POWER CONSUMPTION (Sleep Mode) 16 W

Originally Posted by Disco_owner

Specs on power consumption

POWER REQUIREMENTS
RATED VOLTAGE 220V to 240V ±10%
RATED FREQUENCY 50Hz to 60Hz ±3Hz
POWER CONSUMPTION MAX 782W
POWER CONSUMPTION AVERAGE (Operating) 257W
POWER CONSUMPTION (Standby) 61W
POWER CONSUMPTION (Sleep Mode) 16 W

Even more than I expected it to be - the standby power is more than the maximum power use of a typical inkjet (mine is 40w maximum for example), and the sleep mode power consumption is a disgrace in this day and age!

And the typical power use is as much as the rest of your computer system is likely to be. But I suppose you could switch it off at the wall a lot of the time (but would you?).

I'm afraid the conclusion is that they are not as competitive as I thought!

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Even more than I expected it to be - the standby power is more than the maximum power use of a typical inkjet (mine is 40w maximum for example), and the sleep mode power consumption is a disgrace in this day and age!

And the typical power use is as much as the rest of your computer system is likely to be. But I suppose you could switch it off at the wall a lot of the time (but would you?).

I'm afraid the conclusion is that they are not as competitive as I thought!

John

I'm Starting to lean more towards the Inject type printers , I was really after the the DVD/CD printing facility and did't want to Purchase a seperate lighscribe ready DVD burner , or can I download software to enable my Toshiba DVD burner to become lightscribe ready? now with regards to Ink drying out on the Inkjet I would probably be printing Photos at least once a week.

i have a xerox (samsung i belive) mono laser printer, as i didnt need the colour printing(saved money) . i went laser, as it works out cheaper for me over the course of a year. printer was 160 with a "starter" toner(1500 pages). i could have gotten an inkjet for 40-70 and just bought their cheaper cartridges(20-40ea) as i needed them. would have ended up costing me more after a few months(i am a heavy user though).

cost for a new toner and/or drum for a laser is usually around 70-130. bear in mind though that these drums/toners(some are all-in-one unit, others seperate) will print off anywher from 1500-4500 pages (depends on brand and which toner you go for) before needing replacing. an inkjet cartridge will last anywhere from 200-500 pages(again brand/model dependant). while the initial cost of the colour laser is higher, if you will be using it frequently it will work out cheaper after say 2000 prints(arbritary number).

basically dont discount lasers without doing some research and seeing the true figures. i'm not at all saying that laser is for all usage types, but their purchase price is now getting to the point where it's worth looking into. their benefits in use are very nice.

cheers.

After owning 2 epsom printers that died shortly after the warranty ran out i will never buy another, i now have a Canon Pixma MP600 scanner/ copier and couldnt be happier. My wife usually prints a lot of photo's up to A4 size for family and friends and i print on DVD's, easy to use and have only just replaced 1 ink cartridge in a little over a year. Lightscribe doesnt print in colour,i have a LS burner and dont use that function- plus you need to use LS discs.

Thanks loanie;

from what you're saying, I should stay clear of Epson then ? what do you reckon about Cannon PIXMA ip5300 ,



1 picolitre FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) print-head technology
ChromaLife100 ink for beautiful, long-lasting photos
Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi printing resolution
ContrastPLUS 5 individual ink tank system with photo black for improved image contrast
Print a borderless 6" x 4" photo in approximately 21 seconds
Fast print speed of up to 31 ppm in black and 24 ppm in colour
PictBridge compatible - direct digital camera printing
Prints directly onto printable surface CDs and DVDs
Built-in automatic duplex unit for convenient double sided printing
Features dual paper path - auto sheet feeder (ASF) & front cassette - perfect for easy switching between plain and photo paper. Also allows huge plain paper capacity up to 300 sheets