Inkjet v Laserjet

This comes down to what you mainly print.

If you are the occasional photo/document printer than an inkjet is still the best option.

I recommend the Canon ip5000. This is the best balance of quality vs price. The carts are cheap as you can change individual colour, and the output is fantastic and in the 3 years I have been running them I never encountered a blocked head or annoying message telling me to change carts.

Hi Mick,

From what I hear, although the laserjet is more expensive it will more than pay for itself as it is more efficient with ink. Also I believe that laser printing is better quality (although I have noticed ink jets have improved over the past couple of years).

Having said this I'm no expert when it comes to printers and the information I impart is mainly hearsay from others.

Andrew

I have not seen a standard laser available to the general public that can touch an inkjet for photos.

I prefer a B & W laser printer for letters, etc and an inkjet for photos, etc.

For business prooposals I sometimes run the paper through the inkjet and then the laser, if I want the best combination of print and photos.

Both printers together needn't cost much.

Steve

Well assuming Mick is true to his word this time round, he is in for a full retirement, there should be no need of 'so important that the type has to be laser crisp' type letters.

My vote goes to inkjet still. Infact I would plumb all the money into a super inkjet than an average laser and average inkjet.

Laser printers are much better than inkjet for occassional use. If inkjets only get used once in a while the ink dries in the head and causes lines and other quality problems. Laser printers are much more hardy.

J

Sigh.

These are all old arguments, unless you are using epson.

My canon does not get used from one week to the next, when I need it its perfect every time.

Mick,

Base your choice of laser or inkjet on page volume.

At higher page counts and if all your (and Mrs Mick's) colour requirements are photo related then it would be cheaper to outsource this to Jessops etc and in which case a personal laser will have a lower total ownership cost albeit with a higher initial outlay (about a third) compared with inkjet.

For a mix of colour and mono printing in lower volumes then for maintenance free ownership consider spending a couple of hundred pounds on an inkjet. HP ought to be on your shortlist.

After ten years of supplying and fixing the damn things, for lowest ownership cost and proven corporate environmental record I personally favour Kyocera lasers. As a taxpayer I hope that name is familiar to you from your purchasing days!

I once owned a Canon LBPII laser. Well Canon don’t build them like that anymore. They produced Apple’s Stylewriter for them and maintain an Apple fanbase so suspect the motivation of anyone recommending them who also has a bit of a Mac fetish going (hi garyi!).

Don't know if this is still the case but Naim used a hollow version of their logo on internal documents to save print and copy costs. There is much to learn from this example.

C
The Mr 'Pat' Zoo of page printers, currently nursing a Kyocera ECOsys FS-1700 in its retirement.

Couple of important questions
- do you need to print colour?
- do you need to print large quantities, ie is speed important?

Without knowing this it is, I would suggest, impossible to give reasoned advice.

/dl

Mick,

I go with Garyi on this one. I've got the Cannon ip4000 rather than the ip5000, which is much cheaper in terms of cartridges than the old HP printer I had before. Very reliable, and cost effective for the volume of printing I require.

Nic

Chaps

We majored in on the Inkjet Canon ip4200 yesterday.

It seems good value for money and you can order it online with PC World and collect it need day from their local store for £58.00.

It seems to need 4 cartidges, is this a benefit or liability ?

Regards

Mick

Regrds

Benifit because if theyellow runs out you don't have to change all three colours, just the yellow.

Compatible cartridges which I have used from day one in my Canon with no issues came from choicestationery.com and cost around £1.80 each, I think I got 3 of each colour and 3 blacks for £18 quid that will last a long time for moderate use.

Reasonably priced as well Mick seems to be hovering around £54-65 quid on the web, but then you would have to factor in delivery.

The iP5200 has the ability to print onto the surface of CDs, I don't know if you would need that facility. It also has two types of black, one for printing text and one for photos, this does make a difference.

The ip5200r is a wireless printer, if you have a wireless network in your house it means you can put the printer any where you like.

Gary

PC world do not charge delivery if you ask for the goods to be sent directly to their local nearest to you.

This means you do not have to hang around home all day await delivery.

This does cause a stupid sitiuation where the IP4200 is £75 in the store if you buy it as a normal customer. However if you order it online, they reserve one for you and you collect it for £58.

Regards

Mick

Of course if you make copies of CD's (for back up purposes of course - the R series can print to CD), then an Epson R200 or similar could be the ticket - six cart refills mean you only change the ones that need changing, and refills are cheaper than HP (I know why that is - somehtin to do with part of the head being incorporatedin HP?)

My big put off with the scum that is epson and why I will never use them again, is firstly they close down anyone who dares do compatibles and secondly their damn software will not let you print when it believes a cart to be empty even though its blatantly not. That coupled with a protracted cleaning procedure using even more ink every time I turned the damn thing on and constant blockages menas I will never use the f**kers again.

I am off to calm down.

ok garyi - I get yer beef, dude.

But I like em, for the occasional printing I do they are fine.

I have a postscript laser printer with a duplex capability which is great for printing manuals that come on CDs with cameras and software.

All photograph printing is outsourced as it is less costly and often quicker.

Inkjets can give fantastic results when set up properly, but the costs of prints can be deceptive. A recent magazine test showed that up to half the ink in a tank is lost to evaporation, head-cleaning etc, leading to an average cost of £1.50 for an A4 inkjet print.

May I suggest Photoboxif you are printing small to medium colour pictures. Sharp prints with good colour, with next day delivery. Check the prices - 20p for a 7x5 print - and decide for yourself. I use them and like them, but I am not connected with them in any way.

I have decided that I don't need to replace my ancient Epson 740 after all...

Chaps

Thanks for your input, I purcased the Canon IP4200 Inkjet printer and it is very good indeed.

Regards

Mick