hi guys... i'm looking for a good colour printer... not too expensive tho, around £60-£70 (or below $70US). any recommendations? i don't need those ultra hi-rez ones, just need good black&white & color reproductions, and cheap refills. could use to print cd covers too [img]smile.gif[/img]

so hardware gurus, any thoughts on this?

thanks in advance...

I would recommend first checking computer shops for generic ink cartridges. See which printer models have cheap ink available and then compare those models for speed, performance, etc.

Here in Canada, a colour cartridge for my Epson 740 costs $40, but a generic one is $16.

BTW I don't necessarily recommend the model I own as it is very slow, but it has performed without any trouble for a year and a half and was very cheap to buy ($119CDN)

All brands have their pros and cons.

Once upon a time an HP technician told me that he, personally, would prefer Epson printers... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Take caution with the cheap printers in the price range you choose. A printer must have at least two separate ink cartridges, one for black/photo ink and other for color ink. Some cheapo printers use only one cartridge, but they can never print "pure" black because they need to mix/blur three colors. The result is awful.

"Cheap" ?... Well, most of HP ink cartridges can be refilled (manufacturers condemn this practice).

Plus it's messy. :confused:

You can look at the Lexmark series I have 3 with no problems. Fortunately my job supplies the ink cartridges.

We use Lexmark printers where I work. Both Color and Laser models. We used to use HP, but switched a few years ago to Lexmark. The Lexmark printers do better color, stand up to lots of load better, have better Driver support when M$ changes systems etc.

Two sites to look at for UK pricesd compatibles are http://www.mx2.org (a lunatic site that treats all consumables as "food", but with good prices) and http://www.ink4u.co.uk/choosecategory.asp
The best prices I've seen for Epson Stylus Color printers are £51.70 for C20SX or C20UX (parallel or USB) at Watford Electronics, http://www.watford.co.uk/
Good luck in your hunt!

I have an inexpensive printer who works very fine

this is an HP Deskjet 648 C

I love it and recommand it

thanks for the recommendations guys [img]smile.gif[/img]

i had a HP Deskjet 610C back in my home country... works really well. I'll check those sites, freezer. right now i'm leaning towards HP and Epsons. Hopefully will get them as soon as my HP Scanjet RMA credit comes back in.

cheers!

well, i bought an Epson Stylus C20SX. must say i'm satisfied [img]smile.gif[/img] thanks freezer for pointing the model out.

so thanks again guys!