Canon PIXMA MG2150
A lightly textured black case, holds a simple flatbed scanner to the right of a busy control panel with only two, seven-segment LEDs for display. The front panel folds down as input and output trays and cartridges load awkwardly from the front, too. USB is the only data connection.
I recorded print speeds of 6.9ppm black and 1.7ppm colour, with the colour speed slow for class. Black and colour print is among the best you’ll see under £100 and software for HD video frame print and Web page collage is useful. Ink costs are around 3.2p for black and 7.8p for colour and the use of a tri-colour cartridge may put running costs up further.
Reg Rating 65%
Price £49
More info Canon
Epson SX235W
Although a budget printer, this machine offers a wireless link as well as USB. There’s no LCD display and a sparsely arranged control panel, spread across an angled flap above the output tray. The scanner lid is a bit flimsy and scanned and copied pages are lighter than originals.
Black print quality is marred by some jaggies and occasion head-pass misalignment, but colours are bright and photos are good. The black speed is low, at 3.9ppm, but colour speed is very low at 1.1ppm. Ink costs, if you use the high-yield cartridges, are good for black, at 1.5p, but high for colour, at 10.0p.
Reg Rating 60%
Price £50
More info Epson
Next page: Epson Stylus Office BX305FW Plus
COMMENTS
Oh the choices
Color inkjet:
1 printer $50
1 set of ink cartridges $50
print 20 pages
Sorry, your ink is empty / dried out / got stolen by the goblins at night.
1 set of ink cartridges $50 ...
B/W laser printer:
1 printer $100
1 cartridge $50
prints 2,000 pages, no questions asked
So for the one time a year you absolutely have to print in color, here is a USB stick and a map to the copy shop for you.
You arent mentioning...
The software for ANY HP product and especially inkjet printers is complete total and utter crap. Common cause of horrific boot times, takes forever to install, puts a ton of un-needed services etc
Kodak isnt much better
Oh and Hp, Kodak and especially Lexmark, get used to being shafted for inak as there are no good alternatives.
Be wary of Epson printers
Be aware that Epson printers genuinely have a built-in service life. They will decide by themselves that they have printed X amount of pages and simply stop working saying that the waste ink pads are saturated. They aren't. The official fix is expensive. The unofficial fix still involves spending money to reset the printer
quote from Epson SX235W manual:
"If an error message appears indicating the printer’s ink pads are nearing the end of their service life, contact Epson support to replace them. The message will be displayed at regular intervals until the ink pads are replaced. When the printer’s ink pads are saturated, the printer stops and Epson support is required to continue printing."
http://support.epson-europe.com/onlineguides/en/sx230_sx235w_sx430w_sx435w/html/trble_1.htm
For the Epson Stylus Office BX305FW Plus the same info is on page 80 of the manual:
ftp://download.epson-europe.com/pub/download/3737/epson373717eu.pdf
Since the printer itself decides to do this there is no way to predict when it will happen.
Supported OS?
Any chance future reviews could include a rundown of the supported OS? Windows and Mac are most likely but indicating which items have decent Linux support would be very useful.
Regards,
Colin
They are all shit
And filled with hidden booby traps
Epson and canons nozzles block.
Kodak ink is cheap but rest of print mechanism dies.
HP expensive ink and insanely bloated and nagging drivers.
In short expect to be screwed one way or another.
