RFI: buying a printer.

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I really need a new printer w/ as-high-as-possible resolution and as-big-as-possible paper sizings and an as-cheap-as-possible price. obviously.

I will be using it to print, mostly, CAD drawings and diagrams and, sometimes, photos.

ideally I'd like a A0 plotter at 1200 x 600 dpi for £100.

realistically, though, an A3 would be good and an A3 that can do A2 would be better. and I am a poor student, so, I wasn't REALLY joking with the £100. but I know I'm gonna have to pay a little more.

can anyone give any kind of advice, please [makes/models/places to buy/experience w/]?

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 11 August 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Two sites to check for review:
http://computers.cnet.com and http://epinions.com

― lyra (lyra), Monday, 11 August 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I'm in the market for a good workhorse B&W laser printer. I've been leasing a Xerox Phaser 750 and I'll be so glad to kick its sorry ass out of my office at the end of the year. I haven't really made that many prints with it, but have had to replace the imaging unit twice and the fuser once. Somebody would have to do quite a sell job to get me to commit to another color laser printer.

Anyway, I want a good monochrome laser for the LAN. Any recommendations?

― Truckdrivin' Buddha (Rock Hardy), Monday, 1 August 2005 23:40 (twenty years ago)

The only experience I have is at work, where we have a policy of buying one brand: Kyocera. Their mid-price lasers (and up) are pretty good reliable workhorse machines, which will happily print off a few hundred pages a day. Their cheap lasers are frustrating pieces of shit which will, for example, jam the paper feed if you slam the paper tray in too hard. All of them, though, are fairly good on consumables. Our company policy is to throw them out rather than pay for new drums, but that's because it looks better in the accounts, apparently. Don't get that myself, but my boss is the company accountant.

Best general tip: buy something that has a text LCD to display error messages on the front, rather than just a handful of lights. That way, you don't spend ages searching for the manuals going "what does that light on steady whilst *that* light blinks mean?"

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:22 (twenty years ago)

Ooowargh (aside to printers here, sorry) - I hate machines that only indicate their operative status with varying blinking/colour of LEDs! Linkstar sat modems, DIE DIE DIE. If I have to ask "is the sat light blinking fast or slow?" one more time I'll smash something.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 05:31 (twenty years ago)

I have a Samsung ML-1740 I picked up for well under $200. I print out 20-200 pages / day, and I've never had any problem with it. Nor, for that matter, have I had to replace the cartridge. Try here.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 06:39 (twenty years ago)

We have nothing but HP for B&W lasers, absolutely no problems with any of them.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 08:22 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

I need a cheap colour printer for home use. I'd rather keep things around the £50 mark but what's important is good capacity (and pref cheap) ink cartridges and fairly decent quality. Not that bothered about the speed as I don't really print loads of pages at a time.

Can anyone recommend me one? Is it advisable to get anything other than HP?

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 9 October 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Laser printers: instruments of DEATH.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 1 August 2007 16:44 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

anyone got got recs for b&w laser printer? we got a lexmark basic model about 2yrs ago and it started crapping out within the year, so looking for something a lot more reliable.

― just1n3, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 04:02 (fifteen years ago)

ten years pass...

I need a cheap (sub-£60 let's say) printer for home use which just prints shit and doesn't sign me up to the HP InkBorg or w/e, and the reviews on Amazon are all useless, anyone have a recommendation?

― Bastard Lakes (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 30 March 2021 10:25 (four years ago)

In general I find Canon printers to be pretty reliable, I have a TS5050 which has served me well over lockdown, it's above your budget but I like it because you can scan multipage documents on it and it sends the output as a pdf to your PC which I find very useful. You could have a look at the TS3150 or TS5350 both of which fit within your budget, they'll probably be fine as well. Also note that printers are cheap these days but the price of the ink cartridges mounts up if you print a lot.

― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Tuesday, 30 March 2021 11:10 (four years ago)

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