Best low cost inkjet?

kelibkelib
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
With access to high quality printers at work I'm gonna settle for a low cost ink jet at home. Although my Epson Stylus has served me well I'm thinking of giving Epson a break. Would very much like to hear your experiences with other makers such as HP, Canon and Lexmark. The Lexmark <a href="http://shopbasic.dk/mall/images/varer/180978.jpg"; target="_blank">Z45se</a> is very cheap and it's colour matches my new iMac pretty well.



What's maybe most important to me that it's easy to print out envelopes and labels.



One more question, is there any limit as to how far from the computer I can place the printer given I have long enough USB cable?



Thanks in advance

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I just got a $50 HP Deskjet 825c. I've only printed one page, and it was in B&W, but so far it's great. It was very easy to set up, the price was great, and the quality is just fine. I remember my dad needed a printer once and got a $40 inkjet of unknown manufacture, but it left little black spots all over the page. This one is very clean.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    snoopysnoopy Posts: 1,901member
    What is low cost? The way I look at it, you may spend several times the printer cost in ink over its life. So, I went for lowest cost ink. I used the cost per ml of black ink as my guide, since that is what I use 90 percent of the time. For the model printers I was looking at, Canon had the lowest cost black ink, and both HP and Lexmark had the highest.



    I bought a Canon S520, which has three separate color cartridges. No need to toss out good ink when one color runs out. That was a requirement for me, so I did not even look at the cheapest printers. I haven't used envelopes, so I can't say how that part of it works.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    telomartelomar Posts: 1,804member
    Basically what snoopy said. HP and Lexmark will become expensive the more you print.



    Canon has cheap printers over their life time and does great B&W. In my opinion they are lousy with colours though.



    All I have to say is don't get a top-loading printer if you ever want to do a large document. They jam so often it drives me nuts.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    the installerthe installer Posts: 910member
    [quote]Originally posted by snoopy:

    <strong>What is low cost? The way I look at it, you may spend several times the printer cost in ink over its life. So, I went for lowest cost ink. I used the cost per ml of black ink as my guide, since that is what I use 90 percent of the time. For the model printers I was looking at, Canon had the lowest cost black ink, and both HP and Lexmark had the highest.</strong><hr></blockquote>I think you will find that different makes use the ink differently. Something to consider, maybe.



    - T.I.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    I'm also in the market for a new printer. Cheap is the word of the day. I hardly print (I've survived without one for the last 2 years) but now I'm writing some stuff and will have to be printing a few documents and make some nice presentations (possibly with color).



    I know that Inkjet manufacturers are selling the printers at a loss or no profit and making all their money in Ink (bstards)... but Im willing to spend around 120-130$ (taxes included) for a printer now.



    Suggestions?
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