[SirAlec]

^^^ epson can'r be refilled, its cartridges are chipped and takes lot of ink to charge during every startup.

If you needed a desktop printer i would have recommended epson. as CISS is most successful in epson.

in you budget you will only get HP . problem with this one is that it lacks a flad bed scanner. hence you will not be able to scan/fax books.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Just keep one thing in mind.
If you tend to print often, then these inkjet printers are good. But if you use it occasionally then it turns out to be a net loss cause the ink tends to dry up fast, even if not used ( 4 months ).
And replacement cartridges are around Rs 800+ each.
(the price quoted above was for Cannon, which has 2 cartridges)

On the other hand if you are going to use it only for black n white printouts, no color photographs then a Lazer is better, as the toner does not dry up fast.

This hasn't been my experience with HP at least. I had a HP printer and now an all in one. My printing needs are very infrequent and sometimes the it is not used for months. Haven't experienced ink drying in anywhere close to 4 months. If it did, I guess I would not bother to keep a printer.

[qqplus]

HP ML 1005 should be a printer to consider. It is good, simple, functional.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by SirAlec

^^^ epson can'r be refilled, its cartridges are chipped and takes lot of ink to charge during every startup.

If you needed a desktop printer i would have recommended epson. as CISS is most successful in epson.

in you budget you will only get HP . problem with this one is that it lacks a flad bed scanner. hence you will not be able to scan/fax books.

Epson has individual color cartridges Cyan, Magenta & Yellow unlike others where all the colors are in a single cartridge.
The disadvantage of a single cartridge is that if you run out of one colour then whole cartridge has to be replaced regardless of the amount of other color ink left.
In Epson you replace the individual cartridge which ran out . Thats why running cost is a bit lower.

[SirAlec]

^^^. i like epson too. but that hardly matters if it discharges large amount of ink uselessly when it starts. so the costs comes at par to hp in the long run.

some of their printer are great. but worst are cx5500 and c90. try them for yourself. they uses 731 series which is a low yield cartridge. 931 series high yield are very expensive.

Print quality of some of them are unbeatable. like rx230, photo 2400 (a3). ALso they uses piezo heads. drop size is much lesser than Hp or cannon hence the quality but one major drawback it clogs the head if not used regularly.

One major benefit of Epson is that it is able to take die sublimation inks.

[naveenroy]

I recently contacted Cartridgeworld to refill the cartridges on my Canon PIXMA MP-145. They actually tried and gave me back the cartridges, but they did not work. The person was apologetic and returned my money back but I had no other choice but to buy the new cartridges for the printer. Even before, I knew of the "razor and blades business model" but had bought my printer for an urgent requirement. The person in CartridgeWorld actually advised me to sell off this printer and get a Brother printer which had individual cartridges and were even refill-friendly.

[SirAlec]

^^^^
this is different. UnLike most printers epson or Hp, Cannon has got no chip on cart. the eprom keeps track of ink levels. So basically you have to patch the eprom every-time you refill. There is a tool that i use, as by daily printer is MP160. hope it works for you.

PS: you have to enter the diagnostic/service mode to use this hack.

MPTool.pdf

PS: rename the file from .pdf to .rar. extract with winrar. Its a single executable.

[SirAlec]

To enter into service mode Do the following
- unplug power cable (i have a seperate wall outlet/switch for printer, i use the switch instead of unplugging)
- press and hold "power" button
- plug power cable
- press "resume" and release
- release the "power" button, (ALaram led, orange will come on)
At this stage, your computer will detect a new hardware, it will install the driver on its own.

now you can run the exe.

Lemme know if this works, it worked for me (MP160)

[yogi1771]

Will this software work with MX318 model.

[SirAlec]

not sure.

[deky]

I have no idea about printers, never bought one, so I am posting my querry here.

I am looking for a cheap printer, budget around 2-3k. The printer should copy/print/scan. I wont be using the printer extensively but maybe once/twice a day to print/copy. I would also like a printer in which the ink cartridges can be refilled.

Black and white is sufficient for me

My questions are:-

1. will i get something in that budget?
2. is Hp better or epson?
3. Inkjet or lazer?
4. cost of printing cartridges are high I believe, so which one would be the best VFM?

Thanks & regards

[SirAlec]

1. will i get something in that budget?

What you asked for is All in one minus the Fax. So budget is bit low by a 1000 rs.

2. is Hp better or epson?

Both are equally good in entry level printer with their cons and pros.
Newer HP (which uses 818 type vivera) inks, refill is not that effective.

Epson cannot be refilled, but you can have refillable chinese cartridge. So thats extra but worth it in the long run.
Original Cartridges are not that efficient in epson due to excessive ink charge usage.

Print quality of Epson is far better than HP, fact that epson uses a piezo heads, But HP heads comes with ink, hence you are buying a new head along with cart. every time, which is good.

ALso have a second look at canon, by default canon cannot be refilled too, But the idiots at canon have put a lock counter in printer itself instead of cartridge, which is great because it can be hacked by softwares.

3. Inkjet or lazer?

Laser is way out of your budget. basic laser based black AIO starts at about 8k. my recommendation is Samsung scx4300.

4. cost of printing cartridges are high I believe, so which one would be the best VFM?

Laser is very cost effective. so effective after you learn to refill that you will forget your friendly neighborhood xeroxwala.

[deky]

Sir Alec thank you for the quick response to my querries, May I bug you with a few more questions please?

Originally Posted by SirAlec

Epson cannot be refilled, but you can have refillable chinese cartridge. So thats extra but worth it in the long run.
Original Cartridges are not that efficient in epson due to excessive ink charge usage.

You mean to say that after using the first batch of the ink with the printer, I should buy chinese ink cartridge and use them subsequently to refill?

ALso have a second look at canon, by default canon cannot be refilled too, But the idiots at canon have put a lock counter in printer itself instead of cartridge, which is great because it can be hacked by softwares.

Someone suggested me Canon Pixma 258, and has gauranteed me that the cartridges can be refilled. Is that a good printer and is he right about the refilling?

Laser is way out of your budget. basic laser based black AIO starts at about 8k. my recommendation is Samsung scx4300.

Laser is very cost effective. so effective after you learn to refill that you will forget your friendly neighborhood xeroxwala.

I am also inclined towards laser but on an average I will only be taking 5 prints a day. So will a laser still be VFM?

I am sure laser printer inks also require re-filling, plus they expensive, so how do they become cost affective or VFM? Is it that the refilling is cheaper in laser printers??

[SirAlec]

yeah original epson comes with a chip which counts the print. Chinese also comes with a chip but with a hacked one, which resets the counter to zero every time you switch off your printer.

canon Pixma is good, one of my printer is an old version of pixma. MP160. mine needs to be hacked everytime i refill. Its easy though.

Laser are always good and VFM if you are using it for black prints. color laser are expensive and almost all are chipped. and also good quality color toner powder is very rare.
laser are VFM, because of CPP. and it will not dry like inkjets.

thats the major problem with inkjets, If you take a print you will run out of ink, if you don't for a long time, ink dries out, either way you have to shell out money for cartridges.

take a scenario. a toner cost more or less near Rs.3k. It prints about 2500 copies.
now if you refill it, it will cost you about rs.350/- (very good quality powder). It also prints about same number of copies.

[deky]

Sir Alec!!

Thank you very much for the inputs. I have bought and installed a canon pixma 258 just now. I went around this afternoon and spoke to various cartridge refillers and they said they can refill canon's ink easily hence I decided to go for it.

I decided against the laser as I did not want to have a very high initial investment. the only thing that I have to remeber now is to take atleast one print in 2 days to prevent the ink from drying,

Thanks again for the help

Regards