Recommendations for budget compact all-in-one

[cbmvic20]

I'm looking to buy a budget compact all-in-one printer and would like
to know if anyone has any recommendations. Requirements and usage are
given below:

- will be used to mainly print text and graphics
- photo quality printing not required
- need a compact unit as space is at a premium
- catridges should have an integrated print head
- printer is likely to be used infrequently (few times a week)
- volume is likely to be fairly high at up to 20 pages in any one print
job
- cartridge should include print-head
- cheap running costs more important than print quality
- not bothered about slow print/scan speed or noise
- don't require a fax
- would prefer something that can be used without having to install a 1
gig bloatfest
- needs to work with both Win2k and XP
- ease of use and reliability important
- looking to spend £150 tops (preferably less than £100)

I currently have a 12 year old Panasonic laser printer that prints at
300dpi and is about to expire. This was coupled with an Epson scanner
with a 600 x 2400 dpi resolution and I need to replace both with a
single unit that's as good as or better than both the Panny and Epson.

I'm looking at HP or Lexmark given that both these printers use
cartridges with a built in print head (are there any others?). I did
have an old Epson colour printer that was useless once the heads
clogged after a few months usage and no amount of cleaning would solve
this hence why this is vital. Additionally, the Epson shipped with some
truly dreadful cackware that sat in the background festering away the
PC resources.

The two that seem to fit the bill are the Lexmark X2350 (£40) or HP
PSC 1317 (£70). The Lexmark uses a single No. 1 cartridge at £13
whilst HP has separate b/w (No. 56) and colour cartridges (No. 57) at
respectively £10 and £15. Does anyone have any views on either of
these printers? Does the Lexmark use a single colour cartridge to
produce dodgy pseudo blacks? Can either printer be used with the native
Windows printer driver so that driver installation is minimal? (or
better still not required)

Are there any other printers worth considering? The HP appears to suit
my requirements but I can't find hardly anything on the Web as to
whether its actually any good.

Many thanks in advance for any help or further information.

Regards,

Vic

 

[Gary Tait]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

The two that seem to fit the bill are the Lexmark X2350 (£40) or HP
PSC 1317 (£70). The Lexmark uses a single No. 1 cartridge at £13
whilst HP has separate b/w (No. 56) and colour cartridges (No. 57) at
respectively £10 and £15. Does anyone have any views on either of
these printers? Does the Lexmark use a single colour cartridge to
produce dodgy pseudo blacks? Can either printer be used with the native
Windows printer driver so that driver installation is minimal? (or
better still not required)

I'd pick the HP. If not for the fact I just don't like Lexmark inkjets,
but for the fact black is separate.

Are there any other printers worth considering? The HP appears to suit
my requirements but I can't find hardly anything on the Web as to
whether its actually any good.

Canon MP170. Has serarate black/color, and replacable printhead,
although it is user maintainable. Cartridges are much cheaper.

 

[Bill Martin]

I'm looking to buy a budget compact all-in-one printer and would like
to know if anyone has any recommendations. Requirements and usage are
given below:

- will be used to mainly print text and graphics
- photo quality printing not required
- need a compact unit as space is at a premium
- catridges should have an integrated print head
- printer is likely to be used infrequently (few times a week)
- volume is likely to be fairly high at up to 20 pages in any one print
job
- cartridge should include print-head
- cheap running costs more important than print quality
- not bothered about slow print/scan speed or noise
- don't require a fax
- would prefer something that can be used without having to install a 1
gig bloatfest
- needs to work with both Win2k and XP
- ease of use and reliability important
- looking to spend £150 tops (preferably less than £100)

I currently have a 12 year old Panasonic laser printer that prints at
300dpi and is about to expire. This was coupled with an Epson scanner
with a 600 x 2400 dpi resolution and I need to replace both with a
single unit that's as good as or better than both the Panny and Epson.

I'm looking at HP or Lexmark given that both these printers use
cartridges with a built in print head (are there any others?). I did
have an old Epson colour printer that was useless once the heads
clogged after a few months usage and no amount of cleaning would solve
this hence why this is vital. Additionally, the Epson shipped with some
truly dreadful cackware that sat in the background festering away the
PC resources.

The two that seem to fit the bill are the Lexmark X2350 (£40) or HP
PSC 1317 (£70). The Lexmark uses a single No. 1 cartridge at £13
whilst HP has separate b/w (No. 56) and colour cartridges (No. 57) at
respectively £10 and £15. Does anyone have any views on either of
these printers? Does the Lexmark use a single colour cartridge to
produce dodgy pseudo blacks? Can either printer be used with the native
Windows printer driver so that driver installation is minimal? (or
better still not required)

Are there any other printers worth considering? The HP appears to suit
my requirements but I can't find hardly anything on the Web as to
whether its actually any good.

Many thanks in advance for any help or further information.

Regards,

Vic

-------------------------

If you like Lexmark, then also look at Dell since they're essentially rebadged
Lexmarks.

I have a Dell 962 than I'm happy with -- similar to a Lexmark x7170. I've also
refilled the black cartridge very simply which I don't believe you mentioned as
a requrement, but which is useful to me. The 962 is not the smallest printer
out there, but it's actual foot print isn't all that big. It is taller than
more compact units however. In return you get a sheet feeder on the scan/fax
unit. It works under XP, but I don't know about Win2k. You can get a rebuilt
one for $99.

Good luck...

Bill

 

[CBM Vic 20]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:


I'd pick the HP. If not for the fact I just don't like Lexmark inkjets,
but for the fact black is separate.


Canon MP170. Has serarate black/color, and replacable printhead,
although it is user maintainable. Cartridges are much cheaper.

Many thanks for the replies, it was most useful! Is the Canon MP130 any
good? I've seen this for the same price as the HP and you're right, the
carts seem to be cheaper. Do Canon do high yield carts as the standard
BC-24 black is listed as managing circa 200 odd pages compared to the
400 odd quoted by HP for the No. 56 black cart. The Canon seems to be
better quality and appears more consistently and frequently in the best
buy tables although it is a slightly bigger unit.

Any opinions on the MP130?

Regards,

Vic.

 

[CBM Vic 20]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:


I'd pick the HP. If not for the fact I just don't like Lexmark inkjets,
but for the fact black is separate.


Canon MP170. Has serarate black/color, and replacable printhead,
although it is user maintainable. Cartridges are much cheaper.

Many thanks for the replies, it was most useful! Is the Canon MP130 any
good? I've seen this for the same price as the HP and you're right, the
carts seem to be cheaper. Do Canon do high yield carts as the standard
BC-24 black is listed as managing circa 200 odd pages compared to the
400 odd quoted by HP for the No. 56 black cart. The Canon seems to be
better quality and appears more consistently and frequently in the best
buy tables although it is a slightly bigger unit.

Any opinions on the MP130?

Regards,

Vic.

 

[measekite]

*IDIOTS BUY LEXMARK.*

-------------------------

If you like Lexmark, then also look at Dell since they're essentially
rebadged Lexmarks.

I have a Dell 962 than I'm happy with -- similar to a Lexmark x7170.
I've also refilled the black cartridge very simply which I don't
believe you mentioned as a requrement, but which is useful to me. The
962 is not the smallest printer out there, but it's actual foot print
isn't all that big. It is taller than more compact units however. In
return you get a sheet feeder on the scan/fax unit. It works under
XP, but I don't know about Win2k. You can get a rebuilt one for $99.

Good luck...

Bill

 

[zakezuke]

Many thanks for the replies, it was most useful! Is the Canon MP130 any

good? I've seen this for the same price as the HP and you're right, the
carts seem to be cheaper. Do Canon do high yield carts as the standard
BC-24 black is listed as managing circa 200 odd pages compared to the
400 odd quoted by HP for the No. 56 black cart. The Canon seems to be
better quality and appears more consistently and frequently in the best
buy tables although it is a slightly bigger unit.

Any opinions on the MP130?

Takes the bci-24 tanks which are thimble fulls... Basicly before
september canon offered two inktank type printers... as in tanks
seperate from the printhead..... .newer budget models will take
cartridges with printheads. The ip2000 is also takes the bci-24 which
was reviewed against 8 other printers here
-color-
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20041025/printer-08.html
-text-
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20041025/printer-09.html

The cheapness is somewhat deceptive because you are shelling out like
4c/page for text on the bci-24 9.5ml printer where a more expensive
canon 25ml 500p unit would take a slightly more expensive cartridge
costing more like 2.5c/page. While volume isn't really a good measure
when compairing different brands, canon and canon is similar in terms
of ml/page typicaly speaking. But the mp130 is a $100 printer and
you'd have to pay $200 to get the higher volume more economical ink.
If you're only printing on a ream of paper/year not a big deal. There
are worse deals, like the hp56 you spoke of ends up being 5c/page.
$12.50 vs $20.00 vs $25. Two reams well, $25, $40, $50. I know i'm
speaking in US price... it's what I know off the top of my head.

Now I own the mp760... . which is basicly a multifuction IP4000. Good
text, passable photo, great cost per page for text, but unfortunatly in
the UK it costs £100ish more than other models in the same class. The
mp750 looks like it's almost within your budget and only lacks the
color screen, 35mm slide scanner, and card slots. It has a document
feeder ontop, not that most people need this but you have no choice it
comes with it. CD printing is a nice bonus.

MP130 - £68.99
bci24- black £5.00/200p color £11/???p
MP750 - £166.19 - no fax yes doc feeder
mp760 - £276.01 - no doc feeder no fax yes film scanner
MP760 - £204.98 - yes fax yes doc feeder
bci-3e £8.70/500p color bci-6 £8.00 x 4 /240p

mp500 - new model no price not in stores

 

[CBM Vic 20]

Takes the bci-24 tanks which are thimble fulls... Basicly before
september canon offered two inktank type printers... as in tanks
seperate from the printhead..... .newer budget models will take
cartridges with printheads. The ip2000 is also takes the bci-24 which
was reviewed against 8 other printers here
-color-
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20041025/printer-08.html
-text-
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20041025/printer-09.html

The cheapness is somewhat deceptive because you are shelling out like
4c/page for text on the bci-24 9.5ml printer where a more expensive
canon 25ml 500p unit would take a slightly more expensive cartridge
costing more like 2.5c/page. While volume isn't really a good measure
when compairing different brands, canon and canon is similar in terms
of ml/page typicaly speaking. But the mp130 is a $100 printer and
you'd have to pay $200 to get the higher volume more economical ink.
If you're only printing on a ream of paper/year not a big deal. There
are worse deals, like the hp56 you spoke of ends up being 5c/page.
$12.50 vs $20.00 vs $25. Two reams well, $25, $40, $50. I know i'm
speaking in US price... it's what I know off the top of my head.

Now I own the mp760... . which is basicly a multifuction IP4000. Good
text, passable photo, great cost per page for text, but unfortunatly in
the UK it costs £100ish more than other models in the same class. The
mp750 looks like it's almost within your budget and only lacks the
color screen, 35mm slide scanner, and card slots. It has a document
feeder ontop, not that most people need this but you have no choice it
comes with it. CD printing is a nice bonus.

MP130 - £68.99
bci24- black £5.00/200p color £11/???p
MP750 - £166.19 - no fax yes doc feeder
mp760 - £276.01 - no doc feeder no fax yes film scanner
MP760 - £204.98 - yes fax yes doc feeder
bci-3e £8.70/500p color bci-6 £8.00 x 4 /240p

mp500 - new model no price not in stores

Thanks loads for this info, very useful indeed. It'll definitely be a
choice between the HP PSC1317 and Canon MP130, the Canon appears to be
slightly larger but of better quality and the cheap running costs are a
definite bonus. However, the yield of the MP130 with the BCI-24 carts
seems to be significantly lower than the HP high yield carts.

Will check both out and decide.

Regards,

Vic

 

[Bill Martin]

*IDIOTS BUY LEXMARK.*

Ahh... Another finely reasoned opinion from the peanut gallery. Your incisive
analysis of the pro/cons of the brand truly amaze me. You should go into politics.

Bill

 

[measekite]

Ahh... Another finely reasoned opinion from the peanut gallery. Your
incisive analysis of the pro/cons of the brand truly amaze me. You
should go into politics.

Bill

YOUZ JIST SAYED YOUZ AN OLD FART.

 

[CBM Vic 20]

Thanks loads for this info, very useful indeed. It'll definitely be a
choice between the HP PSC1317 and Canon MP130, the Canon appears to be
slightly larger but of better quality and the cheap running costs are a
definite bonus. However, the yield of the MP130 with the BCI-24 carts
seems to be significantly lower than the HP high yield carts.

Will check both out and decide.

Regards,

Vic

Well I checked out both printers and most annoyingly, they're both a
few cm's too wide! The kit needs to go in a very snug place no greater
than 40cm and the only AIO printer I can find that fits is the Brother
DCP 110C. Any opinions on this? The good thing is that it uses seperate
ink carts for the colours but it doesn;t say if the printhead is built
into the carts.

Any recommendations on the 110? Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Vic

 

[zakezuke]

Well I checked out both printers and most annoyingly, they're both a

few cm's too wide!

Yep, they are monsters.

The kit needs to go in a very snug place no greater
than 40cm and the only AIO printer I can find that fits is the Brother
DCP 110C. Any opinions on this?

Looks like it takes a set of 4 cartridges... the LC900 at 23ml
(500p@5%) black and 13ml each color(400p@5%). Fetching £12.50 and
£8.00 respectivly.

The inktanks are connected via tubes to the printhead. The part number
on that I believe is LK1915001 which seems to run about £200 after
vat. We talk about the Canon printing being expensive, which it is in
both Europe and America, less so in Japan. Usually it's reccomended to
buy a new printer than replace the printer head as in the Canon it's
50% to 70% the value of the printer. Looks like this sucker is 200%
the value of the printer... to be expected with micro-piezo printheads.
Chances are you won't be replacing the print head given a replacement
printer is less than 1/2 the price, and comes with ink.

I know jack squat about the quality of printing.

 

[measekite]

Yep, they are monsters.





Looks like it takes a set of 4 cartridges... the LC900 at 23ml
(500p@5%) black and 13ml each color(400p@5%). Fetching £12.50 and
£8.00 respectivly.

The inktanks are connected via fallopian tubes to the printhead. The part number
on that I believe is LK1915001 which seems to run about $200 after
vat. We talk about the Canon printing being expensive, which it is in
both Europe and America, less so in Japan. Usually it's reccomended to
buy a new printer than replace the printer head as in the Canon it's
50% to 70% the value of the printer. Looks like this cocksucker is 200%
the value of the printer... to be expected with micro-piezo printheads.
Chances are you won't be replacing the print head given a replacement
printer is less than 1/2 the price, and comes with ink.

I know jack squat about the quality of printing.

 

[CBM Vic 20]

Thanks a lot for your help, much appreciated. Looks like it'll be the
Brother unless something smaller comes along. The yield using these ink
carts seems to be significantly more than both canon and HP so this
looks the best bet. As you suggested, if the heads do clog, it'll be a
new piece of kit.

Regards,

Vic

 

[Henry]

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zakezuke wrote:<br>
<blockquote
cite="(e-mail address removed)"
type="cite">
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<pre wrap="">Well I checked out both printers and most annoyingly, they're
both a few cm's too wide!
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Yep, they are monsters.


</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">The kit needs to go in a very snug place no greater
than 40cm and the only AIO printer I can find that fits is the Brother
DCP 110C. Any opinions on this?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Looks like it takes a set of 4 cartridges... the LC900 at 23ml
(500p@5%) black and 13ml each color(400p@5%). Fetching &pound;12.50 and
&pound;8.00 respectivly.

Please don't post to usenet in html.

cheers,

Henry

 

[zakezuke]

Thanks a lot for your help, much appreciated. Looks like it'll be the

Brother unless something smaller comes along.

That's pretty small for an AIO printer. Lexmark has some small models
as well. The only thing in the canon lineup comming soon is the mp500
but that's about 472mm wide. Probally about the same size as the
mp130.
The only thing close I can think of is the HP PSC 1209 / PSC 1350 and
they are about 427mm wide.

So yeah, near as i'm aware there is nothing comming soon within your
size requirements.

 

[David Chien]

If you can stand a laser printer, then the nice Samsung all-in-one
(SCX-4100) works fabulously fast and reliably here at work. Highly
reocmmended - and cheap at $103+ (www.shopper.com)

Scans, copies, prints.

---

Super-super-slim and small, the Brother all-in-one units are among the
smallest available today.

http://www.brother-usa.com/mfc/mfc_ataglance_psvar=ZPRINTTECH&psvalue=1.aspx

EG. MFC-210C $99

Scans, copies, prints, faxes.

---

Slightly larger are the newest Canon Pixma series, which have both
individual ink cartridges (to save money) and independent nozzle heads
that are replacable (you can swap them out as needed, but you don't if
you don't need to).

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=105

As cheap as the MP130 $99, or a little more for the MP450 at $149 with
built-in LCD monitor and camera-direct printing.

Over here, the heavy-duty MP760 for $250 eats through paper, prints 4x6"
super-fast, and just does a superb job at everything all around. Can't
ask for a better printer quieter or quicker except for the latest
releases (eg. MP950 that just came out with even better resolution,
smaller droplets, 3.6" LCD monitor, and even faster print speeds).

---

That said, for your text & graphics on plain paper needs, look at:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Canon_Pixma_MP760/4505-3181_7-31307462-5.html?tag=top

You'll see that the Canon is among the fastest, if not the fastest,
available for most categories of printing (from plain text to photo), it
is the ONLY one rated EXCELLENT for both plain paper text & graphics
printing vs. the competitors.

No point, IMO, buying anything other than a MP7xx series Canon because
anything else would simply print worse on plain paper, and would be
slower (ie. waste of money for you to wait 2x+ longer for a slower
printer on 20 page prints).

The only better bargain would be the Samsung all-in-one noted earlier -
this, while not printing color, would print far faster (11ppm Samsung
vs. 6ppm Canon; in otherwords, two minutes to print 20 pages vs. 4
minutes).

Also, laser printed documents have the advantage of being totally
permenant vs. the inkjet prints which run, bleed, and wash away in water
and on clients fingers. Laser printers also have the ultimate edge in
print quality on plain paper, with crisp lines and characters.

 

[zakezuke]

Over here, the heavy-duty MP760 for $250 eats through paper, prints 4x6"
super-fast, and just does a superb job at everything all around. Can't
ask for a better printer quieter or quicker except for the latest
releases (eg. MP950 that just came out with even better resolution,
smaller droplets, 3.6" LCD monitor, and even faster print speeds).

I have had one issue with the mp760... it got stuck with a "rear cover
- paper jam" error. Perhaps a moth flew in the rear feeder when I
wasn't looking, don't know, but regardless there was nothing obviously
blocking the paper path as I could shove paper in with the rear cover
open and it would slide right through. But I got a replacement from
canon shipped 2nd day the day after I reported the issue. As an owner
I have to admit Canon is young to the AIO department, and their
software compliment could use some work. Fax is impossible from their
springboard application even when it spawns a session of ez photo
print, the only application that supports other printers... other
printers so long as the driver says they are Canon. This is more of an
annoyance than a complaint.

But it doesn't fit into the parent's size requirements.... the
mp750/760/780 is huge, and UK users must spend £275.00 on the mp760 vs
£165.00 on the mp750 or £220.00 on the mp780. It's not like the
states where they are priced within 10% of each other.

 

[CBMVic20]

Thanks for all the info, I did check out the Samsung and also the Canon
AIO laser offerings however they were both huge, much bigger than a
separate laser and scanner. Additionally, the toner was very expensive
although it wors out cheaper for volume printing in the long run, I
really do need something small and compact to fit a tiny footprint.

I've gone for the Brother DCP-117C which appears to be an updated
version of the 110/115C. The only other possibility was the Lexmark
X2350 however this used a single colour cart even for blacks and hence,
was less cost effective. Curiously, the 117 isn't listed on the UK
website however the specs look identical to the other two offerings.
Will report back as to print quality and all once I've opened the box
and set it all up.

BTW, dead right about rip-off UK, we get screwed on prices across the
board whether its food, clothes, gadgets or even the train fare home.

Once again, thanks to all you people for the printer help, it was most
useful.

Regards,

Vic