[Technology] Recommendations for a good value printer/scanner for home use

[Norman Potting]

For use by the family for home use and daughter's OU studies. Wired and wireless preferred.

 

[Bodian]

It genuinely is considerably cheaper and less stressful to just print stuff off at the library.

If the library is actually still there. And if it is still there - if it is actually open.....

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

It genuinely is considerably cheaper and less stressful to just print stuff off at the library.

And significantly less convenient too ....

 

[dsr-burnley]

For black and white printing, a HP laserjet reconditioned has worked for me for 10 years or so. Toner is cheap and the machine (at any rate, my machine) runs for ever with no attention at all.

For scanning, any cheap colour inkjet printer will do it.

For colour printing, IMO there is no good value printer because they all rip you off on ink. Use it for scanning only and print in black and white unless essential.

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

For use by the family for home use and daughter's OU studies. Wired and wireless preferred.

Look at HP instant ink subscriptions first (not sure if any other companies do similar subscription ink services). The cost of ink is significantly more important than the initial cost of the printer. If HP ink suits you, then have a look at an all in one HP office jet series of printers for wireless printing/scanning.

 

[PeterOut]

For use by the family for home use and daughter's OU studies. Wired and wireless preferred.

'Good value', if your main criteria, is a term that can mean many things to many people.
Are you looking for colour or B&W? What quality do you need (e.g. general correspondence, high resolution glossy photos)? There are a wide variety of OU courses, some will not require any hard copies (all digital documents), others will need high quality hard copies.
What size paper - A4, or A3?
Volume of printing - this will massively affect the cost of the ink / toner you use, and will likely far outweigh the initial purchase price of the printer.
Amount and type of paper to be used - do you need to be able to load 500 pages of paper at once and print in bulk, or is OK to have just 30 - 50 sheets of paper in the printer?

As others have said, there are schemes whereby you buy a prinrer for less than £100, pay £1.99 as a monthly payment, and they monitor your ink usage and send a new cartidge in the post before the existing one runs out. Perfectly good gor low / moderate use, and you can pay more per month for higher volumes of printing.

 

[The Clamp]

It genuinely is considerably cheaper and less stressful to just print stuff off at the library.

This. Nobody actually owns a printer anymore do they? Cheap to buy, extortionate to upkeep.

 

[Boroseagull]

Have a look at IJT Direct......'free' printer if you buy their own brand cartridges.

 

[dolphins]

Although this will probably guarantee it'll stop working later today, we've been really pleased with our second Canon MG5750, which is a wireless printer/copier/scanner. We run a mix of Windows, Mac OS, and even Android printing to it/scanning on it, and the secret with all inkjet printers is to buy/use non-manufacturer cartridges as they'll be a fraction of the cost. Unless you go for the subscription model that is.

Using non-manufacturer carts does officially invalidate the warranty BUT they are so cheap to buy that you will save an absolute fortune, and if you are unlucky enough for it to stop working, you can buy a new one. As this model is at least five years old, and they are still making them, it shows it is a good choice. Great quality, easy to use. We only got rid of the first one after some "user error" issue! The in-laws also had one - both have now passed, so we took the printer and spare cartridges, and my sons have got that one in their shared student accommodation so they are all printing/scanning happily.

 

[CheeseRolls]

For use by the family for home use and daughter's OU studies. Wired and wireless preferred.

Just buy bigger monitors and read stuff on the screen. Printing is yesterday's technology.

 

[Wardy's twin]

For black and white printing, a HP laserjet reconditioned has worked for me for 10 years or so. Toner is cheap and the machine (at any rate, my machine) runs for ever with no attention at all.

For scanning, any cheap colour inkjet printer will do it.

For colour printing, IMO there is no good value printer because they all rip you off on ink. Use it for scanning only and print in black and white unless essential.

I had a cheap Dell colour laser and that was pretty good - printed some pictures could tell they weren't from an inject but pretty good and have not faded .

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

My printer/scanner broke about 6 months ago. It went on ‘to buy’ list but 6 months later haven’t got round to it. So far haven’t missed it.

 

[Bryanw42]

I got this one a a few months ago. Simple to set up / wireless. HP Instant ink is a great service. Cannot recommend highly enough.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9398342?clickSR=slp:term:hp deskjet:3:245:1

 

[Nitram]

I bought a Laser jet printer during lockdown and have been pleased with it - dead easy to set up and use. BROTHER HLL2350DW Monochrome Wireless Laser Printer.

 

[maltaseagull]

It genuinely is considerably cheaper and less stressful to just print stuff off at the library.

Does that factor in the exorbitant cost of parking Iin Brighton?

 

[Lower West Stander]

This. Nobody actually owns a printer anymore do they? Cheap to buy, extortionate to upkeep.

Yes - they do. Me for example

HP with an ink subscription also recommended here.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Yes - they do. Me for example

HP with an ink subscription also recommended here.

And me too. I know loads of people with printers.

 

[The Brighton Bear]

Another vote for HP with ink subscription.

 

[Knocky's Nose]

Having owned a business with an office which has printers going all day every day doing packing slips and shipping labels etc for many years, I've found HP to be the best printers out there when it comes to longevity and value for money.

 

[Sirnormangall]

Our HP Envy 5540 has been great. Never blocks or malfunctions, easy to use and load paper.