I Need A New Printer

[atalanta]

I need a new computer printer, and don't know where to start. My existing Epson is slow, and drinks ink. I am looking for a simple machine which can print mostly b/w letters and envelopes, and the occasional photo, but not to studio quality. I do not need fax or scanner, and I have only a small space to house it. Also, I hope I can get a machine which will print b/w if I have black ink but no colours, which this Epson won't do. With this one, I can't print off an ordinary letter if I am out of, say, pink, but have plenty of black ink. I also need to be able to buy replacement cartridges on the high street, say in a supermarket. (I was going to say Maplins, but they might not be around much longer, and they aren't cheap, anyway.) Can you help please ?

[alavahalf]

A bit like yourself I only wanted a simple mono printer that didn't have inkjets getting blocked as I use it rarely.
The simple solution is to get a mono laser printer. They have no inkjets just a toner cartridge.
Two weeks ago I bought acheap Brother printer with
wi fi .. at this point I am very impressed with it's ease of set up and speed of printing. You can print directly from your phone or tablet. Compatible toners certridges are cheap from ebay. (They print approx 1000 pages).

https://www.printerland.co.uk/Brother-HL-1112-P140813.aspx?source=AddwordsHL1112ZU1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA5t7UBRDaARIsAOreQtgFOSswKO3xwQJEwJCNe0jqq_6_J3wFpgLwwXy5qm09w34x_whFrT4aAlpHEALw_wcB

[Buenchico]

Questions about printers come up here often and, without a doubt, the most frequently praised brand is Canon. PC World currently have a couple of their models on offer for just £29.99 but they both use a single cartridge for coloured inks, which can work out expensive. A far better option would be the Pixma MG5750, at £49.99, which uses separate cartridges for each ink colour:
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/printers-scanners-and-ink/printers/canon-pixma-mg5750-all-in-one-wireless-inkjet-printer-10143745-pdt.html
(That's actually the updated version of the MG5350, which is what I use myself).
You can buy a full set of all 5 (compatible) ink cartridges for it around £20 online.

A few general points:
1. Somewhat oddly, standalone printers (without scanners built into them) tend to be considerably more expensive than their all-in-one counterparts. (It's probably to do with production volumes). So it's probably best to go for an all-in-one model even though you don't need its additional functions. [That assumes that you'll be buying an inkjet printer].

2. I note Alavahalf's suggestion, above, about opting for a mono laser printer. I would have gone along with it you'd not mentioned printing 'the occasional photo'. However I'd have suggested this model (also from Brother), which is inexpensive to run, well-reviewed and cheap:
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/printers-scanners-and-ink/printers/brother-hl1212w-monochrome-wireless-laser-printer-10028088-pdt.html
(Note that part of the reason retailers are offering it so cheaply is probably that it doesn't come with software for Windows 10. However you can download it from here: http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=gb&;lang=en&prod=hl1212w_us_eu )

3. You can never rely on being able to buy ink cartridges on the High Street for any model. Manufacturers tend to ensure that each of their models uses different cartridges to all of their other models, meaning that there are probably thousands of different cartridges now in use. High Street retailers tend to only stock a small range of cartridges for the most popular models and, as those printers are withdrawn from sale (which happens frequently), they cease stocking them. They also tend to charge far more than online suppliers do.

Just a final thought though:
If your need to print photos is only a very occasional one, it might be worth considering the purchase of a mono laser printer for your documents and then using the services of a photo-processing shop to obtain your prints.

[jerfrank]

If you have no idea about it, and you are familiar with the currently Epson printer, you can select its upgrade product. Because after you brought it, you can use it more easier. Normally, i will do in this way if i am not good at one thing.