which printer to buy?
Thread poster: biankonera
biankonera
biankonera  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 10:53
Italian to Latvian
+ ...
Jan 11, 2007

Im considering a possibility to buy a printer and was wondering what would be the best option? What is your experience - which one of them seems more "freelancer friendly"? Thanks!

Stella


 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 10:53
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
Lexmark since ages Jan 11, 2007

Now I have a P4350 model (printer/scanner). I would buy a laser model, but up to now they have no scanning, so I continue with inkjet. I find the Lexmark ink-cartridges more economic than HP's.
If you do not replace the color cartridge but continue to print only black and white you save a lot of money. I only print invoices for archive and translations for proofing.
Cheers
Heinrich


 
Teresa Bento
Teresa Bento  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 08:53
English to Portuguese
+ ...
All in one HP Deskjet F370 Jan 11, 2007

This scanner/ printer/ photocopy machine is quick, user friendly and the printing/ scanning quality is great. I'm very pleased with it. It's far more practical to have an all in one equipment like that, I must say. You get free space on your desk as well!

[Edited at 2007-01-11 14:37]


 
Jerzy Czopik
Jerzy Czopik  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:53
Member (2003)
Polish to German
+ ...
Ask yourself how many pages do you want to print Jan 11, 2007

Do you want to print in colour? Do you want to print photos?
Do you have time to wait, until the printer has finished its job?
For not much printing and only black&white - take a Lexmark laser printer. They have really cheap and good b&w white laser.
If you want to print photos, you'll need an inkjet. But be aware, that the price per page will be much higher for b&w as with a laser printer.
Just for pinting some colour, consider a colour laser printer, for example a Lexma
... See more
Do you want to print in colour? Do you want to print photos?
Do you have time to wait, until the printer has finished its job?
For not much printing and only black&white - take a Lexmark laser printer. They have really cheap and good b&w white laser.
If you want to print photos, you'll need an inkjet. But be aware, that the price per page will be much higher for b&w as with a laser printer.
Just for pinting some colour, consider a colour laser printer, for example a Lexmark C500n.

In general I would always chose a laser printer an not go for a multifunction equipment. This is always a kind of compromise.

I'm using a Xerox Phaser 8550DP and consider this one beeing the best option I could ever chose. Fast, brillant colours and reasonable price per page.
Recently I had to print several THOUSAND pages for Edinburgh conference - with any smaller printer I would have very fast found my limits. The Xerox has done its job within quite short time, only asking for refilling paper in the meantime. And it has an integrated duplex option - very valuable.

Regards
Jerzy
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Hynek Palatin
Hynek Palatin  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 09:53
Member (2003)
English to Czech
+ ...
which printer to buy? Jan 11, 2007

It depends on what you need it for. Print invoices and some BW documents? I'd go for a small monochrome laser. Photos? An inkjet. Lots of business documents in color (probably not your case)? A color laser. Need a scanner/copier/fax too? Get a multifunction device.

The prices start at a very low level these days. For example, Samsung SCX-4200 (a BW laser/scanner/copier) costs some 150 USD. But usually the lower purchase price, the higher printing costs per page.


 
franksf
franksf
Chinese to English
if you'd like a network printer here is one Jan 11, 2007

http://www.lexmark.com/lexmark/product/home/371/0,6970,204816596_653293751_613122419_en,00.html?tabId=1

i like network printers better since they don't have to take up my pc's parallel or usb port and i don't have to run a pc as my print server. network switches are cheap now.


 
Ana Naglić
Ana Naglić  Identity Verified
Croatia
Local time: 09:53
Member (2005)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Laser or inkjet? Jan 11, 2007

You have to decide what you will be using it for.
Generally, inkjets are cheaper to buy but more expensive to run.
If you do a lot of printing, IMHO, inkjet will not be a good option. Yes, you can buy them for 50 EUR or so, but you will have to change catridges often, so the cost of running it will build up eventually. If you are on a limited budget, inkjet is a good option. There are great scan/print/sopy/fax machines on the market.
I had a limited budget in 2004, and bought E
... See more
You have to decide what you will be using it for.
Generally, inkjets are cheaper to buy but more expensive to run.
If you do a lot of printing, IMHO, inkjet will not be a good option. Yes, you can buy them for 50 EUR or so, but you will have to change catridges often, so the cost of running it will build up eventually. If you are on a limited budget, inkjet is a good option. There are great scan/print/sopy/fax machines on the market.
I had a limited budget in 2004, and bought Epson's all-in-one (I had a bad experience with Epson's first piezo-technology printer (500) in 1997, which was a nasty, ugly and noisy thing and used to fail every month, but I gave it a try 9 years after that - and was not sorry for it. Epson printers have great high-resolution scanners and their print is fine - I own RX425). However, catridges are relativelly small, and you have to change them often if you do a lot of printing (although they are less expensive than HP catridges). 5 months after that, my colleague moved to Utah and he left me a colour laser printer (HP - has 64 MB RAM, but warming up takes some time, although, in 2.5 years, it had only 1 paper jam) when I did a translation job for his agency - I only had to buy 2 toners, and I found out it was cheaper to buy toners in sets of 4 (black, blue, yellow, magenta) - always check out this option with your retailer - you may save up to 25%. Epson gives (or used to give) a free set of photo paper if you buy a set of catridges.
So I'm using both of them, I print mainly on HP, and scan and print photographs and high-resolution printouts on Epson.
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Amy Duncan (X)
Amy Duncan (X)  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 05:53
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Hp 1315 Jan 11, 2007

I LOVE my Hewlett Packard all-in-one. It has a printer, scanner and copier. Reasonably priced, and accepts compatible ink cartridges.
I recommend it.

Amy


 
Cecilia Di Vita
Cecilia Di Vita  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
English to Italian
+ ...
Canon forever Jan 11, 2007

I'm totally devoted to Canon printers. I've recently bought a Canon PIXMA IP3000, which is an Ink-Jet colour printer, for about 100 €. It's fast, simple, it allows to print on both sides automatically and its cartridges cost about 11 € each, even though I found some compatible ones for about 5 € each.

I also printed some photos (which I never do, but when I bought it there was a free set of Canon photographic paper so I just made a little test) and the quality was great.
... See more
I'm totally devoted to Canon printers. I've recently bought a Canon PIXMA IP3000, which is an Ink-Jet colour printer, for about 100 €. It's fast, simple, it allows to print on both sides automatically and its cartridges cost about 11 € each, even though I found some compatible ones for about 5 € each.

I also printed some photos (which I never do, but when I bought it there was a free set of Canon photographic paper so I just made a little test) and the quality was great.

HTH

P.S. Further information available here: http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=117&modelid=10238

Cecilia


[Edited at 2007-01-11 16:28]
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Angela Dickson (X)
Angela Dickson (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:53
French to English
+ ...
all-in-one+b/w laser Jan 11, 2007

When starting out I bought an HP colour all-in-one machine (HP 4215) which is still going. It's great as it prints, scans, copies and faxes. However, it's quite slow and the cartridges are quite expensive (even remanufactured ones, which I was buying), and as I started getting more and more long PDFs which I needed to print, I needed a more economical way of printing large volumes.

Now that I have a bigger office I have bought myself a black and white laser printer (another HP - 10
... See more
When starting out I bought an HP colour all-in-one machine (HP 4215) which is still going. It's great as it prints, scans, copies and faxes. However, it's quite slow and the cartridges are quite expensive (even remanufactured ones, which I was buying), and as I started getting more and more long PDFs which I needed to print, I needed a more economical way of printing large volumes.

Now that I have a bigger office I have bought myself a black and white laser printer (another HP - 1020), which is still in its box and which will sit next to the all in one machine.

I can recommend HP in general - I've still got an ancient Deskjet 520 which works perfectly (if slowly). No, I don't work for HP.
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Natasha Dupuy
Natasha Dupuy  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:53
French to English
Canon for me too! Jan 11, 2007

As soon as my chosen supplier replenishes its stock, I will be investing in a Canon Pixma MP600 after reading a lot of excellent reviews.
I can't wait!!


 
Francina
Francina  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:53
Dutch to English
+ ...
Canon Pixma MP850 Jan 11, 2007

Natasha Dupuy wrote:

As soon as my chosen supplier replenishes its stock, I will be investing in a Canon Pixma MP600 after reading a lot of excellent reviews.
I can't wait!!


I bought a Canon Pixma MP850 (all-in-one printer) last year. A little more expensive (just over US$200), but wanted something to print photographs as well. User friendly features and the printing quality is excellent.
Francina


 
biankonera
biankonera  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 10:53
Italian to Latvian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
choice Jan 11, 2007

thats what Ive got to do now - make a choice.:)

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experience! It really helped a lot. Suppose for me the ideal thing would be b&w laser printer since I dont plan on printing anything in colour for work.

I used to have an inkjet printer (Epson Stylus C62), but it was way too slow, loud and also the ink cartridges were a bit too expensive yet it was an ok solution for me at that time.

So I guess time has come for me to get
... See more
thats what Ive got to do now - make a choice.:)

Thanks to all of you for sharing your experience! It really helped a lot. Suppose for me the ideal thing would be b&w laser printer since I dont plan on printing anything in colour for work.

I used to have an inkjet printer (Epson Stylus C62), but it was way too slow, loud and also the ink cartridges were a bit too expensive yet it was an ok solution for me at that time.

So I guess time has come for me to get a laser printer.

Stella
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Stephen Rifkind
Stephen Rifkind  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 11:53
Member (2004)
French to English
+ ...
Color Laser Jan 12, 2007

I worked with a good, reliable HP inkjet. If I got a 250 page file, I took take a good, longbreak (or did my accounting).

Last year, I purchased a color laser primarily looking at speed as the prime concern. I am quite happy. It was more expensive to purchase and the cartridges are expensive on one time basis, especially the color ones. However, the quality of the document and the speed justify my use in my business. The reason for color is simple: I often give my longer docum
... See more
I worked with a good, reliable HP inkjet. If I got a 250 page file, I took take a good, longbreak (or did my accounting).

Last year, I purchased a color laser primarily looking at speed as the prime concern. I am quite happy. It was more expensive to purchase and the cartridges are expensive on one time basis, especially the color ones. However, the quality of the document and the speed justify my use in my business. The reason for color is simple: I often give my longer documents for editing. THey come back "track changed". It makes life much easier to see the red and the blue. Also, for pictures of your children/grandchildren/nieces/nephews, laser is fantastic.
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Astrid Elke Witte
Astrid Elke Witte  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:53
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
Laser that does everything (scans, copies, prints) Jan 12, 2007

I have two printers. My original one is an ink jet one, but I often print mountains of paper, when doing huge translations for lawyers, and I suddenly realised one day that it was an expensive way of printing. Quite apart from that, the ink smudges if you touch the pages too soon after printing them.

I wanted a new scanner/photocopier and bought Canon LaserBase MF5630, because that is what my stationery suppliers were flogging at the time. It did not cost a lot. After some months, w
... See more
I have two printers. My original one is an ink jet one, but I often print mountains of paper, when doing huge translations for lawyers, and I suddenly realised one day that it was an expensive way of printing. Quite apart from that, the ink smudges if you touch the pages too soon after printing them.

I wanted a new scanner/photocopier and bought Canon LaserBase MF5630, because that is what my stationery suppliers were flogging at the time. It did not cost a lot. After some months, when I was in a hurry to print something and my ink jet didn't want to print it at that moment, I suddenly recalled that it was possible to print with the LaserBase too. I had up to then mainly used it for scanning, as well as the odd photocopy. I have never looked back since.

You have to buy a large cartridge for it, which is fairly expensive, but it prints a very large number of pages - and is definitely somewhat cheaper, for that reason, than the ink jet, which has small cartridges that are also quite pricey. Not only that, but the pages come out nice and dry - no more smudging! The colour is, however, not nearly as black as with the ink jet printer, but you soon get used to that. Since the day I started printing with it, my ink jet printer (which prints in colour, whereas the LaserBase only does black and white) has chiefly become my digital photograph printer.

Astrid

P.S. I can confirm another point, that Jerzy raises: an ink jet printer chugs out the pages slowly (not usually adhering to the number of pages per minute the advertising brochures claim that it prints), whereas the LaserBase prints out a large document in no time at all.

[Edited at 2007-01-12 13:29]
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