What is a reasonable price for a printer? My GF saw a cannon for 30$ at wal mart. I am skeptical as to how?

Question

long a 30$ printer will last. Yes I realize the ink cartridges are expensive and paying more for something doesn't necessarily mean

a better quality product.Just need a few opinions. Thanks.

Answer 1

Think of printers in the same way that the shaving manufacturers think of razors....they sell the razors at a very inexpensive price in order to then "hook" you into buying blades for the razor at a hefty price.  Printer manufacturers do the same...they sell the printers very inexpensively, and then hook you into buying the ink cartridges for the printer at vastly inflated prices.  So, if you need a printer, find one at a good price and then just know you're going to pay a hefty price if you buy the cartridges at retail.  Good luck.

Answer 2

they could give the printer free  and still make money on the ink . Avoid lexmark  

Answer 3

Just about any printer will last.  As you point out, the money is made on the cartridges, not the printers.  If you're worried about cost of ownership, look for reviews of the printer on the web, and consider the price of cartridges.  I would not be surprised if the price of a cartridge exceeds that of this printer.

As far as quality, modern printers are so good, I can't tell the difference between them in print quality, so I would just get the cheapest one.

Answer 4

You can get a brand new Epson for $22 with a digital camera and a color laser for $80.

Lasers have sharper text and are generally faster than inkjets. While toner cartridges are more expensive than ink, they print more pages, so the cost per page is lower. But you pay more up front. Inkjets are better for photos and cheaper for low volume. Personally, I use both. I have an inkjet for photos, a color laser for high volume color jobs and a black laser for regular text. I use the black laser most often.

You can get a good color laser today for $80! Samsung CLP-300 at http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p...

I have this printer and it's really nice. Toner cartridges are more expensive then inkjet cartridges ($70 for a set of 4 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp ) but they last for about 2,000 pages.It does a nice job on photos, but an inkjet is still better for this.

Inkjet: As someone who was in the computer hardware business for years (though I rarely sold printers since I couldn't compete with the crazy rebates) I have always recommended Epson. The print quality is excellent, even on plain paper. I have photos I printed on a 640 about ten years ago hanging in my office which still look good, though not as good as the ones from the CX8400 on glossy paper. The warranty is excellent. For a year, Epson will express-ship a replacement and pick up the old one. I had one customer who needed this. He called one afternoon and had the replacement two days later. Another client bought a Canon. It needed two repairs within a few months. Each time it was taken to the repair center, then picked up a few days later. This client runs a specialty printing business and this really hurt. They have since bought an Epson CX5000 and have had no down time since.

All name brand ink is expensive, but you can get cheap new replacement cartridges for Epson (not refills which I never recommend) for under $5 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp   I have been using these for years.

The C120 (printer only - no scanner) is on sale at Ritz Camera free after rebate but you must also buy a digital camera. The cheapest is $15. With $7 shipping you pay $22 for printer and camera.  It uses 3 colors and 2 of the SAME black cartridge.

http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/55740...

A set of 5 cartridges is $25 at http://ccs-digital.com/ink.asp

The CX8400 scanner/copier/printer was on sale at circuitcity.com for $60 with free shipping. It uses the same 3 colors plus one black.

The NX400 which uses the same cartridges is on sale at Staples for $75.

The RX595 scanner/copier/printer also prints on DVDs. It uses 5 colors plus black and has even higher photo quality. It's on sale for $80 after $55 instant rebate.

http://www.cheapstingybargains.com/54342...

Answer 5

That depends upon the printer a canon is probably worth that $30, possibly more.   Canon are great printers.

It is trye that you are going to pay for the teeth for most ink cartridges, however Canon are actually one of the better ones in terms of cost per ml.