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Re: Printer for linux?



On Monday 17 April 2006 21:47, Doofus wrote:
...
> Thanks Diego.
>
> I've just been reading linuxprinting's endorsement of HP machines,
> but the bottom line (for me) is the relatively inordinate price of
> HP's stuff.
>
> The same applies Lexmark (also highly recommended) once you decide
> you need a duplex printer.
>
> And the same applies to Samsung with regard to consumables - a bit of
> crazy price for toner cartridges compared with the Brothers, which is
> a shame because there's an excellent offer on the ML-3561N (33ppm,
> networked, 1200x1200, Postscript 3, duplex, 500 sheet tray) in the UK
> if anyone is interested:
>
>     http://www.printerbase.co.uk/acatalog/samsung_ml3560.html
>
>
> Anyway, thanks for all replies.

The comment about consumables is important.  I haven't been able to 
follow all this thread (tax time, you know!), but an important point 
about printers now is price.  I bought an Epson C60 for $60 and paid 
dearly for it because of all the ink it needed.  I'm either writing or 
programming.  Either way, I have to print out a lot of text pages, 
which means a lot of ink.  When my business was finally doing well, I 
bought an HP 5510 all-in-one.  At the time they were going for $200.  
Cartridges last me 9 months to a year.  Big difference compared to the 
Epson that I had to refill roughly every month.  The carts cost about 
the same, too.

If you scrimp on the price of the printer now days, you'll pay for it 
with way too many refills later -- it's how the printer companies make 
their profit now.  If you can possibly do so, spend more for a better 
printer and you'll pay A LOT less for ink in the long run.  This may 
not sound like much, but with the Epson C60, I would have done just as 
well buying a new printer every 6 weeks with 2 new ink carts in it as I 
did with all the ink it needed.  Under the same use, the C60 needed 
something like 6 times more carts than the HP.  6 * $30 (per cart) is 
$180, or almost the price of the $200 all-in-one over just 9 months.

Hal



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