As title really.......am after a cheap 3 in 1 colour printer for a windows 7 desktop pc

must be under a hundred quid by as much as poss

print quality/speed not too important,just for odd letters or confirmation emails etc

main thing I want is cheap replacement inks [manafactures own not compatible ones]

At one time epsom or canon used to be cheapest for ink replacing but not sure now

any recommendations anyone?

I have used epson sx515w for a few years and love the access to cheap ink vie ebay - good flatbed scanner/copier too.

 

Not sure what the current equivalent would be but I would look for something that uses the same ink cartridges. T0711 ,T0712, T0713, T0714 e.g.

 

SX100, SX105, SX110, SX115,SX200, SX205, SX209, SX210, SX215,SX400, SX405, SX405WiFi, SX410, SX415,SX510W, SX515W, SX600FW, BX600FW, BX610FW, B40W, BX300F, BX310FN

 

With any Epson, I would try to leave it turned on continuously - doesnt use much elec and avoids use of ink on each switch on. 

If you want cheap, occasional use for letters, you want a cheap laser, ink dries out if you dont use it, so will end up costing you more in the long run.

 

For anyone wanting more from a printer.... the cheaper the printer, the more you pay for ink, to the point where with many cheaper models, the ink is more expensive than the printer. This goes for inkjet and laser printers.

 

I paid ~ £220 for my inkjet printer and the cost per page is 0.5p black, and 2p colour; running to about 5p for photo (using Epson XXL carts)

Edited 17 August, 201510 yr by GentleGiant

I think it was Which magazine that once said that ink can cost more than Champagne!  I know they ran comparisons all the time but a recent one showed what was best for the occasional use rather than daily use because of the ink drying out and having to do cleaning every time it turns on.  So try and find one that doesn't do a head clean every time if you can.

 

As Ian has said cheap printers doesn't automatically mean cheap printing costs.  Plus most of these cheap printers you see on offer do not come with full cartridges to start with si you have to buy a complete set very quickly.

Have a look at refurbished laser printer 3 in 1 jobbies.

 

Toner is very cheap per page compared to ink, but actually there is a website that allows you to refil and some models such as OKI and Brother have just a plastic cap and no chip, which means you can pour in new toner.

I forget which company, but I even think one of them has a refil that is just a bottle of toner.

 

As long as the drum is separate from the toner it's a very cheap way to do things.

Do you really need colour?

 

It's much cheaper to run a monolaser.

 

We've had a cheap (~£150) Samsung 3in1 for about 8yr now damn thing just refuses to die.

 

I thought Win10 would have killed it but it came with drivers built in so it's still going. Last I bought ink I was £20 for two carts each with 1700 pages. I'm using pattern toner now since I wouldn't be that bothered if it curled up and died. Samsung toner was £70 for one.

Starting to wonder now

Maybe it's where we've been going wrong last few years

Not using it enough and the inks drying up

I'm taking an interest in this thread as I know that I'll need to get something soon, if the truth be told, I've just retired so I've now lost access to professional scanner for copying/digitising documents.  For the past 10 years I've been buying and using bog standard and cheap to buy Lexmark Z series, they are handy as the printhead is in the print cart, but unless you buy on line print carts do cost a bit. As a low print user, this system worked quite well, if head has dried up, just wipe it with a damp paper towel and it is ready to go.

 

Now the future has arrived I'd expect I need a good colour scanner/copier/printer, but not for photos, I'll leave that to others. My last experience of buying a scanner was years ago when I bought a Zerox one that took control of the computer, and also took far too long to do anything - it got binned, prior to that it was Black Widow as they were all the rage at the time.

If it's just letters and emails, get a laser.

I use a basic Hp laserjet 1102 and a £40 canon scanner. I get thousands of pages from a ten quid eBay cartridge and I've had the scanner since 2002.

If I really need colour I pay the computer shop in town 15p a page.

Starting to wonder now

Maybe it's where we've been going wrong last few years

Not using it enough and the inks drying up

 

Even still sealed in the wrapper, an inkjet cart is only good for a couple of years, once opened, you need to use it at least weekly or it will dry up faster than you can use the ink in it.

 

I looked at CISS before opting for the Epson WP4535 I now have; that avoids the drying out issues, but is only of any real use if you are printing reams per week.

I use a basic Hp laserjet 1102 and a £40 canon scanner. I get thousands of pages from a ten quid eBay cartridge and I've had the scanner since 2002.

If I really need colour I pay the computer shop in town 15p a page.

 

Similar to my own setup.

Inexpensive and ultra reliable.

HP Envy AIO

Bought it with Carl at Costco in Leeds....using his card..LOL

Cant fault it

Tesco have the HP Deskjet 2540/2544 on offer at under £30 at mo.

 

I have had one for 18months.. only very very occasionally used.. and its still on the original carts.

If it runs out, no great shakes...

If you can find a cheapy laser, definitely go for it.

 

I bought my HP Laserjet second hand in 2003 for £30 from a council clearance. It came with 2 toners.

 

I'm still using it for the occasional letter, and still haven't purchased any replacement toner. 

 

It's even networked thanks to a £5 eBay HP network card.

Tesco have the HP Deskjet 2540/2544 on offer at under £30 at mo.

I have had one for 18months.. only very very occasionally used.. and its still on the original carts.

If it runs out, no great shakes...

Yeah I saw that!

10% off with wifeys discount card

Then a £5 voucher doubled up to a tenner at tesco direct

Printer for £17!

Though I am still tempted by a laser,never had one

Btw

On the subject of colour/mono printer

When printing travel documents for example flight confirmation details do these need to be colour when you get at the airport?

Or is black n white enough?

Most airlines just need the booking number, so mono is fine. Not sure about people like RyanAir where you have to print your own boarding passes, but since they are usually black ink on pre-printed card, I would suspect mono is fine there as well.

Laser is usually better for things like boarding passes etc. The barcodes / Q-codes print much more sharply.

 

We order photographs online if we want them, much cheaper than printing at home.

 

If our laser packed in we'd get another. Maybe a colour but maybe not, we don't really miss colour printing.

Tesco have the HP Deskjet 2540/2544 on offer at under £30 at mo.

I have had one for 18months.. only very very occasionally used.. and its still on the original carts.

If it runs out, no great shakes...

Just got ours last night,after staff discounts and vouchers it cost me all of £15

Will have a tinker in the next few days

I wonder just how many printers get binned because they need new ink.  When you can buy one for less than the cost of cartridges for the one you have (as you can) I am sure many people just do that and either bin it or store it in the house along with the one before that!

 

We replaced ours recently as we wanted a scanner as well as I had lost the opportunity to scan now I am not at work with access to one.  It is wi-fi as well and seems to produce good quality prints.  We used it to print off boarding passes recently and I printed them in mono on the lowest quality and they were good enough for the barcode reader at the airport.

 

We also have a photo printer that prints 6 x 4 prints and hasn't been used for years.  It needs a cartridge as well but I cannot recall the last time I wanted to print a photo.  If you do all you do is stuff them in a drawer unless you are going to frame them and if you are I think it is better to have them printed professionally. 

 

There must be a printer mountain somewhere!

HP Envy AIO

Bought it with Carl at Costco in Leeds....using his card..LOL

Cant fault it

I bought the HP Envy as well. It's brilliant. I bought the HP Envy 5530 for just over £50 and signed up for HP Instant Ink which starts at £1.99 a month and can print 50 pages. HP send you new cartridges automatically when they are dropping below 50%. I pay £3.49 and can print 100 pages..... A page can be a letter or as I do.... Print 100 A4 colour photographs!

Using Instant Ink you carry forward any unused allowance to the next month.

I was spending a fortune on cartridges before I signed up for this scheme.

Note.... This may not be suitable for you Daz600 but might be of interest to other members.

P.S. ... The photo quality is excellent.