Printer queries

Can anyone advise me on a good printer for general home use? I don't want to spend a packet on one, but one that can print photos and scan documents and generally reliable would be suited to me best. Help much appreciated.

check out Lexmark series in PC world.
in my opinion its good to know how much the ink gonna cost you before u buy, most printer is relatively cheap these days, but the ink refill can cost 1/3 price of the printer.

i bought a Lexmark all in one for €60, scan, print and fax..it can print photo quality pic too, but i think it work out cheaper to print photos in Boots . so never get to use the printer to its full potential

I have a lexmark X75 model which scans, prints and faxes. I have it about 4 years and apart from having to update the drivers I've had no bother with it. I dont know what price it would be as it came bundled with a Dell PC.

The cartridges, especially the originals, aren't that cheap so shop around for them. I bought an original black cartridge last week from MX2 - an online store and I think it worked out around €24 incl. delivery which is alot cheaper than the €35 - €40 you pay here.

As posted above dont go mad on printing pics as its sore on the juice

Many posters over at boards.ie do not have much time for Lexmark printers. Apparently their ink is one of the most expensive.

I have a HP inkjet (HP8250) which is now discontinued (but I think Argos still have them) and I think it is a fantastic printer. Extremely economical (it uses six different colour inks, so you only have to replace one if one runs out, not them all) and I would challenge anyone to tell the difference when printing photos between it and a professional crowd.

I also have a seperate scanner as personally I think seperate machines give you a better service and if one breaks you still have the other.

Basic message, choose what you want: laser or inkjet, printer only, all-in-one etc., look at other manufacturers such as HP, Epson, Canon etc. Check the price of the ink (waaay dearer than oil per litre!!!), the type of cartridges, the cleaning cycle (this can be a major user of ink) and most importantly: what are you going to use it for. Not much point buying an all-singing, all-dancing printer if all you will use it for is to print out the odd webpage or Word document.

The price of cartridges is extortionate however if you are buying a printer to print photos the original cartridges are the only way to go. The photos will be of a far higher quality than printing photos with a refilled cartridge, they will probably last longer and not fade as easily. These days it would be very hard to distinguish between photos produced at home and photos produced by a professional crowd if you use a top notch photo printer and the original manufacturers cartridges.

I work for a printer manufacturer and know a bit about print quality. My take on it is using refills for photo printing is not a good idea pay for cheap refills and you will get cheap looking photos.........but..........for bog standard cost effective printing (text documents, webpages, spreadsheets etc.) refills will do a job for you. It's horses for courses as they say, as suggested already think about what you will be using the printer for as the supplies will be the most expensive part.