Looking for a Budget Printer? What You Need to Know

You can get a heck of a lot of value out of budget printers. If you're looking for a very basic A4, mostly text offering, you can get a new printer (with cartridges) for less than the cost of replacing its printer ink or laser toner! However, there are some things you will need to keep in mind when searching for a budget printer - here we look at the top tips for shopping at the bottom of the price range.

 

Know what features you'll want

If you’re shopping in the budget range you can't expect to get a printer with all the bells and whistles. However, most people want one that has, at a minimum:

• An auto document feeder (who wants to stand by the printer feeding in paper?!)
• An info screen to help you diagnose problems
• Copy and scan functionality - this doesn’t necessarily add a lot to the price of printers if you buy on sale.

 

Know how much the printer ink costs
Printer ink is seven times more expensive, millilitre for millilitre, than Dom Perignom champagne. So make sure you grab a budget printer that uses it efficiently, or the $30-$100 savings you initially make will be eaten up with the first printer cartridge change. Of course, if you do a lot of printing a laser printer is much better value, anyway. If you have your heart set on the great photo quality that inkjets provide, also make sure you know how quickly the cartridges are used up - any printer ink store can give you an unbiased opinion.

 

Out of date printer ink?

Separate ink cartridges can make color printing a lot more economical. However, if your printer is the sort that doesn’t want to work with 'out of date' ink cartridges you could end up wasting a lot of cash. Check with the manufacturer on this point, for any model you’re considering buying.

 

Check out customer service
Many budget printers work without a problem. Some do not, and when this occurs you'll need the company's tech support. It's worth putting in a preliminary call to see how long you wait on hold and how difficult it is to speak to a real person.

 

 

Printing on Recycled Paper - 6 Things You Need to Know

Printing on recycled paper in most cases shows no noticeable difference than printing on standard first-time-round stock. You'll use the same amount of printer ink, the color is the same, and the sheets feed through just as easily. However, there are some considerations that you'll need to make in buying recycled paper that aren't immediately obvious. Do make the switch ... but inform yourself first!

 

 

Recycled paper can be re-bleached

Recycled paper can be re-bleached to give it exactly the same perfect white colour as 'new' paper - your printer cartridges will output exactly the same reliable colors that they always have. However, re-bleached paper is nowhere near as environmentally friendly as paper that comes straight off the recycling press. Perhaps keep some of each in stock for different printing purposes.

 

Tree-free paper is available
Bamboo and hemp both grow very quickly and with relatively little water or fertilizer needs compared to trees. You'll need to search a little further to find this far more environmentally friendly type of printer paper, though.

 

Some sizes are difficult to get
You may not be able to get A3, A5 or A2 recycled printer paper. Don't give up on recycled altogether just because you need to buy a different brand for the non-standard sizes, though!

 

Watch for the 'Recyclable'-'Recycled' catch

The symbols for a product that is recycled, and a product that is 'recyclable' look very similar. Every single type of printer paper, no matter how many old growth forests go into it, can put the 'recyclable' logo on their paper. Don't be fooled! 

 

Post-consumer content is better the pre-consumer

Look for higher percentages of post-consumer content to know that you’re doing your best for the environment. This paper has seen far more use already - you'll be helping create a market for much more environmentally friendly paper.

 

Look for green toner cartridges and printer ink to support your paper choice!
Look for printer ink that either utilizes recycled primary products, or from companies that will take back their cartridges for recycling.

 

Canon's Top Printers Under $100

Canon is often assumed to be a great brand of printer - perhaps because they have such a well known brand name, or by association with their award-winning cameras. In fact, Canon do make great printers - but within quite a narrow specialisation range! Many Canon printers,toner cartridges and printer cartridges are high-end ... but the company do have a few stand-out products in their entry-level price range. Today we check out some of the top Canon printer models available for under $100.

Canon i560 Desktop Photo Printer

This Canon printer has some of the least expensive ink cartridges on the market ... not something to be sneezed at, considering that most ink costs about the same per drop as Dom Perignon! It is fairly fast for an inkjet printer, has wonderful photo print quality and a compact design. However, if you want to print mixed text-and-graphics documents, you may want to try a different inkjet ... this one has a few issues.

Canon Pixma MX330

Another great inexpensive model from Canon, this printer can run over the $100 mark in some stores, but can be found for as little as $65 if you have a look around. It is a very versatile printer - if you're looking for something cheap, that will give you reasonable output quality on every document type (although not great output on any single type), and also want to be able to scan and copy, the Pixma is for you!

Canon Selphy CP760

Selphys are a dye sublimation printer that give excellent photo quality at a steady speed. They are very simple - they are made only for printing photos - and they do what they do very well! Selphys aren't the cheapest of the Canon range - but if you want excellent quality prints at home without spending a fortune, a Selphy is the way to go.

Canon CP220

This very generically named Canon printer is compact and reasonable quality ... and can be bought for just under $100 at some stores. However, it does have its drawbacks. There is no editing software included, no slots for media cards, no LCD screen ... and the inkjet cartridges are quite expensive.

HP's Top Printers Under $100

HP, once known by their very formal-sounding name of Hewlett Packard, used to be the 'only' brands of printers available. At least, they were definitely the only decent brand of printer available! The market has expanded, but HP's reputation for making top-notch printers remains, and rightfully so. HP printers last for a long time, have reasonably priced and long-lasting HP toners and ink cartridges, good print speed and a great range of extra functions all at very low prices. Today we try to separate the best of a great bunch, looking at HP's top printer models for under $100.

HP Laserjet 1200

One of the best laser printers in the market ... and it can be bought for less than $100 if you know where to look! The Laserjet 1200 offers awesome print quality at a very fast pace. You can copy and scan with an accompanying attachment, and the printer itself is Mac compatible also. The only complaint reviewers could find was that the design limits access to cables - hardly anything to write to the company about, though.

HP Officejet 6000

The Officejet has all the basics of a great printer down, and is well under the $100 mark - many stores are offering it for less than $60. Text and photos are both high quality and they come out very fast. The printer is also network ready. However, the fact that it doesn't have an LCD information screen makes it difficult to troubleshoot ... almost like travelling back in time to 1995.

HP Photosmart C6380 All in One

HP make wonderfully reliable printer/scanner/copier combos, and the Photosmart C6380 is a cheap and very reliable one. It's fabulous on just about every count - cheap, fast printing speed, easy on the printer ink, sets up very easily through Wifi, and has a small footprint. The only bad thing is the photo print quality - not ideal if you want to do a lot of photo printing.

HP Laserjet P2015

This HP model is occasionally available under $100 (although only by a smidgin!), and if you find it at that price ...snap it up! If you mostly want to be printing text, and need your printouts fast, this is a great buy.

HP Photosmart 8750

Many Photosmart models from HP are all-in-one - this one is just for printing, and it does it beautifully. It's easy to use, provides very good quality (though not excellent), and has handy features like media card slots and built-in networking capability. One gripe is that these printer inks are not water resistant, though.