🚀 go-pugleaf

On Thursday, in article
     <+7r9wLOKIxY8EwdC@soft255.demon.co.uk>
     junk@nospam.demon.co.uk "J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:

> In article <NYn0UsnstoF8EwBN@pigsonthewing.org.uk>, on Tue, 11 Dec 2001, 
> Andy Mabbett <andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote
> >Father Christmas is going to bring me a printer (or, rather, cash to 
> >use when buying one).
> >
> >I have managed two years without one on my PC, so, as you can deduce, 
> >won't be using it heavily when I do have one.
> >
> >I will mainly be producing b&w text prints; the ability to make the 
> >occasional colour print would be a bonus. Photographic quality is not 
> >required, but wouldn't be refused.
> 
> I would have said a laser (all inkjets these days - and for the last 
> quite a few years - are colour), but for only occasional use, the warmup 
> time could be irritating. (_Colour_ lasers are really nice, but very 
> expensive [including to run], somewhat large, and also slow.)
> 
> Among inkjets, the best resolution (photo quality etc.) tend to be the 
> piezoelectric, rather than resistive, ones - which means EPSON. These, 
> however, have the head as part of the printer, which means it's riskier 
> trying to refill the cartridges (if it goes wrong, it's a repair bill).
> >
> >It is important that the printer can handle labels and envelopes.
> >
> >It must have easily available refills; not excessively over-priced.

[snippage]

> >Any suggestions, or tips?
> >
> >Dixons currently have a Lexmark Z13 colour inkjet at half price, GBP 
> >24.99, on their website. It seems to compare well to printers of more 
> >than twice that price, in terms of speed and dpi (the latter being 
> >1200x1200).
> 
> AVOID - I don't actually know anything about that one, but I'd basically 
> suspect anything that cheap is a loss leader, expecting to recoup LOTS 
> of money on the ink cartridges. (It can't be _that_ well made, either, 
> surely!)

I had an office supplies catalogue arrive this morning, and their 
printer supplies section gave quoted cartridge life.  Based on their 
prices (and you need to add VAT, but that affects all equally) I would 
steer well clear of any Lexmark printer.  They're not so much different 
from the others for colour work, but for black text they run at around 
double the cost.

I have a Lexmark, and a second-hand Laserjet recently acquired at a 
ridiculously low price.  I run the Laserjet as my default printer.

Laserjet 5L  1.47p per page

Lexmark      3.88p black text  8.16p colour

A neighbour has a newish Canon, a something-2100, and she was asking me 
about getting cartridges.  That would do black text at 1.56p, colour at 
8.99p.

Then add paper costs.

The Lexmark driver I use can save a little on pictures by using the 
black to substitute for equal amounts of the colours -- what they call 
CMYK -- which also can give better results.  The Lexmark Z13 might sound 
OK as a colour-only printer, but can't do that.  I'm guessing that you 
have to buy a colour cartridge, and that doubles the price.

Some inkjets use seperate ink tanks, which is cheaper, but check what a 
replacement head unit might cost.  The jets do get clogged.  The Canon I 
mentioned is like that, but it still seems cheaper to run than the 
Lexmark. 

> >My budget is higher than that, but I can always spend it on something 
> >else! How does the Lexmark perform? Is 1200x1200 capable of producing 
> >readable and presentable letters?
> 
> For letters, yes, 1200x1200 will be excellent (for black/white; as 
> another poster has said, the colour resolution - apart from the three 
> basic ink colours - is a lot less than the stated, due to the need for 
> dot _patterns_ to make the colour. 1200x1200 will produce reasonably 
> nice colour pictures, though, too).

It depends as well on how closely you want to look at the picture, and 
how good the original is.  You can get a decent colour print, A4 size, 
from a 300x300 printer and a quite low-res original, but true 
protographs need more resolution and pixels.

> Even more miserly/environmental is to refill the cartridges yourself; 
> I've seen ink for 8 to 10 pounds or so for 250ml at computer fairs, 
> though get a (more expensive) refill _kit_, including the necessary 
> syringes, a few _small_ bottles of ink, and - most important - some 
> instructions, for your first attempt.

Some cartridges are also a lot easier to refill.

I'm not sure that colour refills always match the printer manufacturer's 
ink colour, but they make a big difference to cost.



-- 
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

Mr. Punch's Advice to a Young Man About to Become a Farmer:
"Marry, instead."