| One of the constant questions we get asked | | | | |
| here at Stinkyink towers is 'I'm thinking of | | | | There are two different types of photo |
| buying a new printer, what do you recommend?' | | | | printers, Canon ,Samsung and Kodak produce 4 |
| I believe that we can give an honest opinion | | | | x 6? photo printers, which use a ribbon |
| on this as we don't sell printers - just the | | | | technique called dye sublimation printing. |
| consumables, and we have loads of printers | | | | These produce a very high quality print which |
| here to feed! These are all personal opinions | | | | is equivalent to or better than that produced |
| and in no way are intended to denigrate or | | | | by traditional silver halide photo processing |
| damage anybody's reputation. | | | | in shops etc, the drawback is that you are |
| | | | limited to the sizes that you can print and |
| This is not an easy question to answer | | | | it can also be expensive. |
| because there are so many options out there, | | | | |
| so before we can start to answer your | | | | Your other option is an inkjet printer. To be |
| question we need to ask you some questions. | | | | able to print high quality photos you must |
| | | | have at least six colours available, and some |
| What will you use the printer for? Purely for | | | | of the top end printers now use up to 10 |
| home use, kids homework etc, for printing | | | | different colour cartridges. Using these inks |
| high quality photos, for small office use - | | | | and good quality inkjet photo paper, the |
| mainly documents, but with some requirement | | | | output you can achieve is breathtaking and in |
| for colour or for office or business use - | | | | many cases better than traditional methods of |
| high speed documents. | | | | outputting photos. Which one to choose is a |
| | | | really difficult question and probably |
| 1. For home use | | | | revolves more around your personal |
| | | | preferences and the thickness of your wallet |
| Needs to be easy to use and low cost to run, | | | | than anything else. My own personal |
| so that you can afford to print off those | | | | preference is for the new Canon Pixma |
| school projects and loads of web page | | | | printers, results achieved with their new |
| information without having to take out a | | | | Chromalife 100 inks are stunning, the inks |
| second mortgage. DO NOT BUY HP, Lexmark or | | | | are guaranteed for up to 100 years (with some |
| Dell. These manufacturers all use an ink | | | | caveats!) and they are using semiconductor |
| cartridge with a built in print head, but | | | | manufacturing technology for the print heads |
| also use a method which puts three different | | | | which enables the printers to produce superb |
| colours all in one cartridge - when one | | | | output every time. |
| colour is run out the cartridge is finished. | | | | |
| Epson, Canon and Brother all use a technology | | | | Finally number 4, office use. |
| where the print head is built into the | | | | |
| printer, so as you finish one colour you just | | | | With the advent of Colour Laser printers for |
| replace that ink tank - a much cheaper option | | | | under £200 there is no argument - go for a |
| immediately. These days, I would recommend | | | | colour laser. These days they are small |
| looking for a Multi-Function device, that is | | | | footprint, usuallynetworkable and the toner |
| a printer that is also a scanner, copier and | | | | used is a Chemical toner which will give |
| printer all in one. Basically one machine | | | | outstanding results. They will print faster |
| will print documents from your PC, but will | | | | than an inkjet printer, the cost perpage is |
| also allow you to scan documents back into | | | | less than an inkjet printer and they are much |
| the PC again and Photo Copy documents | | | | more robust than an inkjet printer. We also |
| whenever you need them. All of the major | | | | offer compatible toner cartridges for a large |
| manufacturers offer these types of machines | | | | range of laser toners, so the running costs |
| so costs are very competitive, the thing you | | | | are significantly reduced. The biggest issue |
| need to know is the cost of owning and using | | | | we found using these printers here at |
| them. | | | | Stinkyink Towers was they were a bit fussy |
| | | | about the quality of the paper we were |
| When you start looking at the cost of ink | | | | putting through them. We can't get away with |
| cartridges the immediate thing that jumps out | | | | the very cheapest 80gsm copier paper, but |
| is the price differential between original | | | | still use an 80gsm laserjet paper which goes |
| and compatible or refilled cartridges. For | | | | through all of our machines very happily and |
| home use the compatible/refilled cartridges | | | | causes us no problems at all. If you can |
| are more than adequate for purpose. | | | | afford it look at the Multi-Function |
| Compatible cartridges are manufactured by | | | | machines, again up to 4 applications in one |
| third party manufacturers and are generally | | | | small(ish) footprint. We have an HP MFP(Multi |
| significantly cheaper than the Manufacturers | | | | Function Printer) which includes a fax, |
| original cartridges. | | | | Network printer, scanner and copier all in |
| | | | one machine and is reasonable to run. |
| So, we need a Multi-Function printer, made by | | | | |
| Epson, Canon or Brother and we now get down | | | | In summary then, for home/small office use |
| to personal preference. For ease of use and | | | | get hold of a Brother Multi Function inkjet |
| ease vailability of competitively priced ink | | | | printer, cheap and easy to use and run. For |
| cartridges, I personally recommend Brother | | | | High Quality |
| products - my daughter at University has one | | | | |
| and is delighted with the results. | | | | Photo Printing you won't go far wrong with |
| | | | one of the new Canon Pixma Photo printers and |
| This also fulfills the requirements for No 3 | | | | finally for Office use a colour laser or MFP |
| - Small office/Home office use; one device in | | | | device |
| a small footprint which will fulfill three | | | | |
| requirements - once again Brother wins out in | | | | I hope that this distillation of our |
| my opinion. | | | | collective wisdom is of use, if you need any |
| | | | more information please feel free to give us |
| So I have covered options 1 and 3 above, next | | | | a call. |
| number 2 photo printing; | | | | |