Looking for a dirt cheap printer that sparingly sips inexpensive ink :) (1 Viewer)

[Luke_Y]

Looking for a dirt cheap printer that sparingly sips inexpensive ink

It's for my sons computer, I'm tired of his using up all my ink printing 20 pages of game cheats and what not.

I realize that most cheap printers come with half size ink cartridges, and I prob wont get all I want in one printer but... If you know of one that fits most of the criteria than please suggest it.

I have a coupon for BB, so if it's a model they carry that would be great.

Criteria in order of importance:

CHEAP
cheap replacement Ink cartridges
uses ink sparingly
cartridges that wont dry out if unused for a time (was a problem with our last printer)

Print quality not that important.
Thanks

 

[NickSo]

if its mostly just text and whatnot, why not chekc out laser printers.

the samsung ones are supposed to be fairly good,, and toner cartridges last quite awhile, and you can alwyays get them refilled with toner rather than buying a whole new cartridge

 

[David Williams]

If cheap printer cartridges are your main concern, check out the Pixma line of Canon printers (like the iP3000). They use individual ink tanks (B, C, M, Y) that can be had at BB for $7-9 a pop. The cheapest Canon is

 

[Michael Harris]

I recently picked up a Samsung ML-2010 for about $100. Comes with a starter toner cartridge good for 1000 pages. Given how much a I print, it should last me a while. BTW, this is the same printer that Dell sells with some of its systems but is considered better by some of the reviews I read because it has a larger memory.

 

[Arthur S]

Don't know if this will help you or not. I have an HP DeskJet 820Cse that I have had now for about 8 years. The ink cartridges are huge compared to most of what is available now. The black cartridge is probably good for about 500 pages or more in draft mode. Single huge color cartridge. These cartridges are not all that cheap (although at places like BJs Wholsale they sell 3 packs pretty reasonably).

My 820 runs perfectly. I had to do one repair (that I was able to do myself using the vast HP on-line troubleshooting/repair guide)that even has pictures of how to do the repair.

I looked on ebay and their were 2 for sale.

This printer is so economical, I use it for 98% of my printing. My much newer 4 in 1 machine gulps ink and the print quality is no better.

The Pixma mentioned by David also looks good, but is a discontinued model with limited availability.

 

[Ed Moxley]

If you want a quality printer, cheap, check out the Epson R200. Sells for about $70-$80. It is a stylus Photo printer, so it does an excellent job with color or B&W. It uses six ink cartridges, but you can get them here: http://private.abacus24-7.com/(ekznl5qxlvrqzfemvc5qfgjs)/driver.aspx?topic=singleProduct&pid=11304
for $16.85 plus shipping ($20.80 total) for all six cartridges.
Another nice thing about this printer is that it prints directly on printable cd and dvd discs. I love this ability. If your son burns cds or dvds, he'll love it too!
Good luck with whatever you decide on...............

The auto link didn't get the whole address, so copy and paste the whole address to get to the page, I was referring you to.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Any ink based printer will cost you a minor fortune in ink if you print a lot. Why do you think they sell the machines at those costs...? They make money on the ink.

A rule of thumb would be "the cheaper the printer the costlier the ink".

 

[Ken Chui]

If you come across an iP3000, I would recommend it as a purchase. I bought one a few months back at NewEgg for $66 shipped, and Canon was offering a $20 MIR at the time (no longer in stock at NewEgg). I didn't need a new printer (my S600 was working perfectly), but the price was hard to pass and it was very quiet during operation (which the S600 wasn't).

Luke:
Seeing as print quality is unimportant, why not buy generic replacement ink cartridges? I found a reputable seller on eBay that sold ISO-certified replacement cartridges for ~$2 each; they offer a flat shipping rate, regardless of quantity ordered. I haven't encountered any clogging issues with my nozzles when I made the switch from official Canon to generic.

 

[Anthony Hom]

Get a Dell 1100 laser printer for $99.

 

[Luke_Y]

Went to the store and looked at the Canon Pixima IP1600 for $49.99 black and color cartridges $19.99 & $25.99 respectively. I could prob find generic replacement cartridges as Ken suggested for much less but cant locate any yet- printer maybe too new.

I also saw the Lexmark z735 for $49.99 with only 1 cartridge that costs $19.99 like the Canon I am unable to locate cheep replacements yet but probably could in the future.

Also saw the Samsung b/w laser for $99.99 with replacement toner cartridges fro $75(yikes)

The Canon is probably out because it dosent have an output tray and his printer sits on a shelf. Who makes a printer with no output tray??

I think the lexmark would be a big ink waster with no dedicated black cartridge.

The $75 replacement cartridge on the samsung scares me.


So.... Still looking I guess.

 

[David Williams]

The key word for the Canons is 'cartridge'. The ink tank itself is much cheaper as the cartridge doesn't have to be replaced every tme it runs out of ink. Unless it's one of the mega tank all-in-one kind.

 

[NickSo]

yeah, but i would assume that just getting the cartridge refilled would be much less costly.

 

[Peter Doten]

Nothing beats a laser printer when you are talking about cost per page. Sure the toner cartridges are expensive, but they are usually good for a few thousdand pages, not a few hundred.

I had a laser jet II for about 10 years or so, it was nice only having to replace the toner cartridge every few years

HTH

 

[Michael Harris]

Yeah, but that comes to about .025 cents a page.

By the way, I print so infrequently at home that I've actually had ink cartridges dry up before using them up so using a laser printer makes sense to me.

 

[Luke_Y]

Where can you have toner cartridges refilled? I assumed you had to buy a new one.

 

[Luke_Y]

Re: Toner cartridge refills. I searched on the net and found some kits so I see it can be quite a bit cheaper.

 

[Peter Doten]

FYI, refilling toner cartridge's isn't always possible or reccomended. Some companies integrate the drum and other components into the cartridge which make it more than a tank of toner. Not sure if that is the case with the samsung or not.

 

[Dennis*G]

Ummm, just set the printer up to print B&W draft mode, ink will last many, many, many, etc. pages