Amazed at this. Comes with 1200 page toner, i.e. just throw the printer away when done and buy another one.
Ricoh SP112SU Multi-Function A4 Mono Laser Printer
eBuyer currently has them for £25 (QuickFind: 721613) free delivery.
Reading their reviews, offered software is a bit crap, but ...
Starter toner only claims 500 pages but still pretty good price.
Looks to be a wifi version for not a lot more dosh too
And being a GDI printer, potentially would be as advertised and 'Windows only'?
I was recently given a big Ricoh colour network MFP laser that seems to be ok so far. I think auto duplex would be a must for me these days, along with network scanning (if a MFP).
I can (network) print and scan from Windows and Android and can print to it from Linux. Not tried OSX yet.
Cheers, T i m
Reading on further, I see they also say 1200 pages, so ebuyer are contradicting themselves! And the wifi one I saw was printer only not an all in one.
These days printers are often sold at very low prices. However, the manufacturers recoup any losses by selling over-priced ink/toner - and by designing printers to ensure that they will only work with the manufacturer's ink/toner.
1200 pages per £25 is one bad deal. Might be good for someone that rarely prints anything.
NT
Simple connection to PC via USB 2.0 Intuitive, easy to use GDI print driver Support for XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Server 2003/2008/2012
Owain
Which means you can't use it a shared printer unless you share it though a Windows PC.
Cheers, T i m
and will mean binning it long before it dies.
NT
Really? I don't think I've ever 'binned a printer before it died'?
Cheers, T i m
HP used to sell a printer and ink cartridge for less than the cost of a cartridge. Admittedly, the cartridge which came with it was only part filled.
Wouldn't surprise me if this happens more often these days.
[See another laser printer thread in uk.comp.homebuilt.]
I have just taken an old HP inkjet out of service because the intermittent usage meant that the ink kept drying up between uses. This in effect added £50-£100 per year to the running costs.
Still a perfectly fine auto-duplexing A4 printer but not cost effective for my pattern of use.
I also stopped using a more recent Lexmark MFP because of ink costs (even when not drying out).
I am assured that a laser printer won't worry if it isn't used for a few months.
We shall see.
Cheers
Dave R
For most makers who try this trick there is usually an aftermarket supplier who finds a work round.
Think you mean they sold the printer for less than they *charged* for a cartridge. A very different thing from what the cartridge cost.
I binned one when the new colour printer was cheaper than a replacement toner for the old one.
Owain
Ouch, that is quite a lot eh.
And had you just done a test print every week it may well have come out the same.
I had no such cost issues with my Canon ip4000 as the ink cartridges were just that, simple plastic containers of ink and so were only £1.95 each (aftermarket). [1]
That is correct. Because toner is a powder it doesn't dry up like a water based ink.
Cheers, T i m
[1] The disadvantage of a fixed print head and basic cartridges over complete all-in-one head and cartridge is that when the fixed head dries up it's more difficult to clean / clear or expensive to replace.
Sure (I've stopped using a printer before it dies because I've gone onto something else / better) except that wasn't quite the meaning behind NT's reply to my:
The problem (to a tiny minority not running Windows) being a 'Windows only' printer relies on Windows (unless some geek in a shed reverse engineers the Windows drivers) to run and so if you want to share it over the network you would also have to do that via a Windows PC. As new Windows versions come out (after day 13 years as Vista was to XP) it's *possible* that the printer would no longer be supported (by any later version).
However as most 'ordinary users' would agree (with reference to (not) doing what they want on Linux)... 'better to have had and lost than never to have had at all.' ;-)
Cheers, T i m
I was given a printer that was the other way around: manufacturer provided no drivers in Vista (or was it 7?), but worked fine under Linux (and Mac, if you pretended to be a newer model of the printer). I configured a CUPS server to make it available to everything so no need to install the drivers everywhere, just send Postscript to CUPS and it would convert.
Theo
The toner shouldn't be a problem but beware of misshapen rollers. If it is kept permanently on then it will probably wake it self up every 24 hours or so and turn itself over to prevent flats (bit like the pump on a boiler). If it is switched off, putting it in envelope mode usually takes the pressure off the roller.
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