Which Cheap Photo Printer

[furkin]

Hi all,
I wanted to print a couple of passport photo's the other day, & realised that whilst my Brother All-In-One does print some good quality stuff,,,, I’d like something better for the occasional photo.
Whilst purchase price is an issue,,,, I don't want this to be at the detriment to running costs.
(I am also considering a Minolta 2530dl laser (unless there is somethingt better for similar money) so I really only want a photo printer for occasional use - possibly with a small footprint.
Any suggestions please ?
thanks

 

[Anon_F]

How much you want to spend?

 

[muckshifter]

How much you want to spend?

oh, probably around the £200 mark, judging by what the Minolta goes for.

furkin, can't really help on what printer to buy, but I will say this ... be careful of the basic ram installed, it may not be enough for the printer to print a full colour page.

Unlike Inkjets, although they do have some memory, the Laser printer needs to use it's own memory to store the page before printing ... one reason we called them page image printers. This may have change slightly, but I know for a fact, because I have had to upgrade printer's memory for people who had to print a lot tech detail on one page ... 1Mb ram wont cut it these days.

With that in mind, look at the spec of memory it uses, most used to use the std stuff we use in a PC, which is easy to get & cheaper than some of the "specialist" stuff they used to use.

 

[furkin]

FECKIT: As I say, it will only be used for photo's & then only occasionally,,, so as little as possible,,,,
I have a Minolta 1300w laser for my basic mono stuff, letters etc & a Brother 5840 inkjet (All-In-One) for general colour. Through my previous experience with Brother, I'm not expecting it to last long ! This is why I’m toying with the idea of the 2530DL colour laser.

MUCKSHIFTER: Thanks for the memory advice. I’d never even considered that angle. Something to keep an eye on !

I've never used either a cheap colour laser or a dedicated photo printer,,,, so have no idea how the two compare.
If I do get the 2530, would it print photos better or worse than a dedicated inkjet (some of them have terrific resolution) ?
If they are as good, or better, I will just go for one of those,,,, unless there is something better for the same money !!!??)

I certainly don't want to spend £200 on a photo item,,,, & then £200 on a laser. If I get the laser (or similar) & have to get a separate one, then I will only got to about £50/60.
If just a laser will do the job, then I won't bother with a separate one.

Hope this helps you to help me.

cheers