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Old 28th Jul 2012, 21:16
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Keef

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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Witnesham, Suffolk
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Sigh. I think I'm going to have to buy a colour läser soon.

I have a seriously antique HP läser, and a Canon inkjet IP4000. The HP is parallel-port only (I don't think USB had been invented then), so I bought a parallel port card for the new PC, and B&W printing continues with no problems. I changed the toner cartridge a couple of years ago; I have one spare left - I suspect that by the time that's gone, they won't be available.
It just sits on top of the filing cabinet, and prints when asked. 90% or so of my printing is with that.

The Canon is the last Pixma that doesn't have chips in the ink tanks, so ink from "alternative" suppliers is around £2 a pack. I find myself changing one of the 5 inks every week, on which basis I'm not going to buy a printer that makes me pay silly money for ink with chips in! Sadly the print head on this one is a separate unit: I replaced it a couple of years ago when the original clogged up and even isopropanol and distilled water failed to fix it. This one is on the way out now, so decision time is nearing. Chip-free inkjets seem to be extinct, so it'll probably be läser.

The choice with colour läsers seems to be cheap printer with "original" toners that are good for about 100 pages, then silly-expensive toner, or expensive printer with original toner that will do 200 pages, then not quite so silly-expensive toner. Every time I do the research (usually when I've just had to coax the Canon into printing some colour stuff) the "best buy" is a different model.
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