Which Inkjet is best

[thom]

I need to get a new printer for one of our admin ladies who insists on having a colour inkjet as opposed to sharing the office mono laser. She is the Head's secretary so what she says goes!

 

I never have much luck ordering inkjets. The epsons nozzles clog all the time, hp have tiny expensive cartridges, canon ones look good for photos but that is not necessary.

 

This is just on my past experiences so the above may not be true any more.

 

What I want to get her is a fast A4 colour inkjet printer. It doen't need any photo features like card slots or pictbridge etc. It is just used for letters and agendas and basic office stuff.

 

we have about £70 to spend. Any reccomendations?

[ChrisH]

I would have recommended a HP Business Inkjet 1200 but they have discontinued them. They have been replaced with the HP Officejet Pro K550 which doesnt take the same cartridge as the older model (which you can get nice and cheap) . I ended up going to the K850 that takes the old cartridge but does A3 as well which is overkill really for admin.

[plexer]

Does she do a lot of colour printing then? if a lot of it is colour then you need to provide her with easy access to a colour printer if not then she can't reasonably expect to have her own inkjet sat there using up lots of money in ink.

 

I think that if you do go for inkjet it has to be one with seperate tanks etc... the HP business inkjet are good and you have seperate colours and print heads so you can replace the individual ones when they go.

 

Or colour lasers are coming down in price all the time.

 

I don't think it pays for people to think they can just buy a cheapy inkjet.

 

Ben

[TechMonkey]

Also if she is not printing colour often costs will rise even more as the colour cartridges often gum up if under used. PC Pro did a big round up of inkjets very recently, their website should have all the results by now.

 

Do you not have one elsewhere in the school you can connect her to? Might be put off then

[Netman]

Canon - they don't change carts every time a new model comes out and the compatibles for my i250/i350 and pixma models cost about a quid each from ebuyer and work as well as the originals - they seem pretty reliable too..... I have 50 or sixty inkjets accross the two schools - all Canon now and they have made my life much easier!

[witch]

Another vote for HP with separate inks

[Sylv3r]

Canons for me.

 

Decent Quality

Quick

And cheap for consumables

[john]

I personally like my Epsons, but for work I use HPs, Business Jets in the main, but just purchased 2X HP DeskJet 6940s which have built in LAN and a photo cartridge option etc and they seem very nice bits of kit, but if thats overkill for you, just get a Business Jet 1000

[deerwood]

Thom,

You have my sympathies on this one.

 

If printing photos is not important, have you considered a colour laser rather than an inkjet? In the long term or if a lot of printing is done, they work out far more cost effective than an inkjet and usually quicker.

 

Of course, the initial outlay in purchasing the machine is greater. So I guess if you only have £70 you might as well forget it.

 

Then again you could put the lower cost idea to the head and see what she says.

[thom]

Thanks for your advice everyone, it's been very useful. I think I will go for either the HP OfficeJet Pro K550 (£105) or HP BusinessJet 1000 (£80).

They both have good reviews, does anyone have any opinions on them (i.e. running costs, quality) I am going to buy one by the end of the day (friday) so i will appreciate any info you can squeeze in.

[SimpleSi]

I've used all the Business Inkjet models inc 2xxx, 1200 and 1100 and I've got one of the new 1000.

 

I use them wherever I can (they are a bit bigger than a normal inkjet so you need some space).

 

The Cartridge World francise can rechip and refill the cartridges (These have stayed the same throughout all the model changes) and keep up with HP attempts to kill them off (but they can get caught for a few months if HP do a firmware revision)

 

or

 

Shop around for new replacements - Ric knows a place to get them cheap if ordered in bulk.

 

The separate printheads seem to work fine and I've had to replace 3 of them in the over the same period (cost about £25 each)

 

regards

 

Simon

[Ric_]

Shop around for new replacements - Ric knows a place to get them cheap if ordered in bulk.

 

The place is Thomas Computer Supplies. You don't need to order in bulk to get cheap prices but you obviously get more favourable prices if you do. They understand that schools are skint so you can save a good few quid on a single cartridge!

 

My all time favourite printer is the hp business inkjet 1200dtn but, as ChrisH mentioned, it has been discontinued

 

You could also try asking your regular suppliers if they can find some refurb units for you.

[john]

Ric are those compats or genuines? If they are genuines, can you PM me his details please

 

Ta

[thom]

I ended up buying the HP OfficeJet Pro K550 (£105 from http://www.misco.co.uk).

Pros

It was easy to install.

It didn't throw in loads of hopeless extra apps like epson does.

The help guide actually helped! The user managed to clear a paper jam by following the visual guide and didn't need to call me out - woohoo.

Print outs are crisp and super-fast

Cons

A bit larger than normal inkjets

 

So far, so good. I'd reccomend it to others.

[Geoff]

Handy, that's nice to know.