Printer Recommendations
There are many excellent printers at different prices and with different features and characteristics. Each of printers below, however, comes with my stamp of approval.
Canon Pixma TR4550 Low purchase cost, high running costs. |
Around £70 from Amazon UK
+ Advantages
Printer/scanner/copier
Compact
USB & WiFi connectivity
Duplex
ADF
Many additional features
– Disadvantages
High running costs (8.3p per page)
This model has been discontinued but examples are still available from some vendors. Similar models (where the last two digits are different) are almost identical to this one.
Brother-MFC-J4340DW Great printer, low running costs |
£169.90 from PrinterLand
+ Advantages
Very low running costs (0.5p per page)
– Disadvantages
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This printer is unusual in that it has very large ink cartridges (the black cartridge is rated at 3000 pages) which are quite cheap.
Epson EcoTank ET-2814 A fast and effective ink-tank printer |
£190.56 from Printerbase
– Disadvantages
No duplex,
No ADF
This is an ink-tank printer. The ink will last a very long time (most likely years) and the printer is refilled from bottles, which are very cheap to buy.
Canon PIXMA G3560 Another excellent ink-tank printer |
£219.98 from PrinterBase
+ Advantages
Similar features to Epson Exotank ET-2814 listed above
Running costs for this printer are even lower at 0.2p per page
– Disadvantages
No duplex,
No ADF
Slower than the Epson EH-2814
This printer is much slower than the otherwise-similar Epson model. However, for most home printing purposes this should be of little consequence.
Kyocera Ecosys P2040dn An office-speed laser printer with low running cosst |
£250 from PrinterLand
+ Advantages
Laser printer – fast, reliable and produces consistent output
USB & wired network connectivity
Duplex printing
Larger paper tray (250 sheets)
Large toner cassette (rated at 7,200 pages)
Many options and accessories available (e.g. WiFi, additional paper trays)
– Disadvantages
Printer only – no scanner, copier or fax
Black and white printing only
Bigger than the other printers listed here
Printer needs to warm up before first page prints out. This can take around 30 seconds
WiFi option adds about £50 to purchase price
If your needs are for black & white printing only, this printer is worth considering. Laser printing produces much more consistent output, with sharp text and the pages less prone to smudging etc. Running costs for this printer are low.