Just recently I have been thinking of buying a printer and I guess I would just like some advice from some people here. When I am buying a printer am I just buying the convenience of being able to print at home or will it actually work out to be cheaper by decent amount?
So far I have my eyes on getting this printer with the $50 voucher from the SSD deal (http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/106436). Thoughts?
http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/brother-hl-3045cn-netw…
Epson charge ~$20,000 per litre for their ink. Seriously 10ml of ink per cartridge in those Epsons, that's why I got myself a brother 2132 from Officeworks cheap as chips even though only black and white. I figure I'll do colour printing at Kmart or whever else I need to.
Edit: I just read my own post and cringed at my bad grammar.
Printers work on the same marketing principle as razors - sell the original unit very cheap and make your money on the consumables (being either ink or blade cartridges).
For many printers it is cheaper to buy a new printer than a new set of inks.
Crazy and terrible for the environment but there you go.
I bought a mono laser printer awhile back, Brother HL2142 ~ $60 from officeworks. It gave me a low toner warning light, which I covered the sensor up like youtube said, and its printed solidly for me ever since (last year the warning light came on). I bought a high capacity toner from online to replace it, but never ended up having to use it even. Been using it to spam out lecture notes all semester, and has been holding up great from the original cartridge.
Except manufacturers now put very little ink in those first cartridges. On my Epson it was less ink than even their smallest/cheapest cartridge.
I bought it during 2012. Expected it to run out rather quickly but still going strong mid2013. Quite happy with its performance.
Until recently Costco had a photo department that did prints for 9c each. When I refilled my HP printer with ink, I did some calculations. Without taking the photo paper into account (because I had acquired heaps over the years through promos) the prints come out around 30c a photo. The home photos will never be as good as the commercial ones unless you've got an archive quality printer as well.
I'm not sure what Officeworks charge per photo but I feel confident that it would be less than 30c.
My wife indexes books and I get her to print out manuscripts at Officeworks now. Saves a fortune and gets you a tax deductible receipt too.
Small stuff you do at home for the convenience, anything bigger, go to Officeworks.
No more photos at Costco? All of them?
All gone - printshop removed.
They said they were planning on having some small self service machines installed. Couldn't say when.
Depends on what printing you mean - b&w or colour. If it's only text and you own an inkjet - then it's cheaper at OW (not counting petrol to get there). But if you buy a dirt cheap laser printer - cheaper at home.
With photos… I've owned a few inkjets and had clogged nozzles on all of them, even using their own brand ink. If you switch to refill ink to save money the colours go out of whack and you have waste ink trying to get it back to normal (if you can).
But then I don't print a colour doc for weeks. So I'm thinking about buying a dirt cheap laser and if I want photos printed, just wait and go to KMart/BigW/HN, etc. If their printers clog, I get the reprinted set free.
If mine clogs I have to flu$h ink through the head$ to clear it, or get a new inkjet. Then there's the cost of photo paper. Wait until a store has a special and print all your colour stuff on the same day.
I only print documents when I have to, photos I can share online, so I only need a mono laser printer which is cheap to run.
i got several samsung mono laser printers from harvey norman a while back for $19.50 each. cheap as, even with the smaller starter toner
what does officeworks charge for printing?
for photos i use kmart/bigw/hn etc
For the self service ones they charge 8c per page. Think it is a bit more if ask the people working to do it for you (can't remember the exact price, I think it is aprox 10c per page) but the quality of the paper feels better.
I am mainly just using it to print lecture notes and miscellaneous things for uni. I don't really live that close to an officeworks but I can print things when I am on my way to uni. Do you guys think that the printer I linked above will last me till the end of next year?
you probably could make do with a mono laser if you want to save more money
If you do a lot of printing at officeworks, can you advise the most efficient way of organising that? Eg. Do you email them files, do you have a 'to be printed' folder on your desktop? Thing lecture notes mainly. Also are Uni libraries as economical as O'works?
I bought an Epson NX125 from OW late last year. I only do light printing two to three times a fortnight(worksheets, assignments etc). Ever since I ran out of ink and the toner started to misbehave, I've done all my printing at OW. Considering it's only a four minute walk from my house and open till 9pm, I find it more convenient than owning a printer, especially one as faulty as mine. As far as costs are concerned, I don't know how much printing you do, but for me printing at OW (black and white) is always so cheap the cost is almost negligible! haven't used my printer in a while and I don't miss it at all. Guess it all depends on what you use your printer for and the type/ ammount of ink you required.