Budget Printer

It depends on your need.

If you print more then 100-200 pages you should always go for a laser printer.

As inkjet printers are cheaper to buy, they are expensive and cumbersome to maintain.

If you leave them for a long time without using, their head's clog up and that's SNAFU for you.

By all means go for a laser if you are ok with B/W prints and have to print in good numbers.

Good option in entry level are any HP, Brother, Canon, Samsung in that order.
 
It depends on your need.

If you print more then 100-200 pages you should always go for a laser printer.

As inkjet printers are cheaper to buy, they are expensive and cumbersome to maintain.

If you leave them for a long time without using, their head's clog up and that's SNAFU for you.

By all means go for a laser if you are ok with B/W prints and have to print in good numbers.

Good option in entry level are any HP, Brother, Canon, Samsung in that order.
I will not print more then 10-15 for the whole year. Just need it for scanning and printing some bills at year end for reimbursement purposes. So I want a cheap printer and scanner. I know it’s a waste investment but I don’t want to visit local xerox shops. So please suggest some decent models in the 3-5k range. Many members here must be using some budget printers so looking for feedback based on personal experience
 
Ok thanks I will look in to laser printers
Actually the original cartridge of printers turns out very expensive than the printer cost in the long run. Inkjet becomes problematic in the long run plus you need to use them regularly. I myself use a printer very sparingly except for documents which are needed to file returns . But if there are children, then they will require for school/college purposes too maybe in the future.
After seeing the usage/expense of inkjet & laser printers in our office, I decided to go for the HP MFP 1200w which is a wifi printer too. I had got it for around Rs.18,000/- ( comes with a cartridge) a year ago from the HP site where discounts are offered directly if you chat with the representative. Their ink seems to be of a new technology. The ink of this printer is basically powder based & the cartridge is like an injection which lasts very long. The best part is that the original cartridge for it costed around Rs. 800/- a year ago & lasts for a very long time as against approx Rs. 7000/- for the original cartridge of our conventional laser printer in office. Cartridges for laser or inkjet need to be used regularly or they dry up. The Neverstop printer cartridge overcomes these limitations & my cartridge till today is almost full after a year. The price of the printer has gone up to 22k but will still save the cost & cartridge in the long run. It takes in only black & white cartridge, has scanning & photocopying facility. One negative I can think of is that the build quality is a bit delicate & not rugged but you can overlook that for what it does.

 
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I went through 2 Inkjets.. to cut a long story short, not worth it .. Price per print is too high so doesn’t really get used.. but worse is that unless you keep taking regular prints , the nozzles/ cartridge gets jammed ..
And icing on the cake - if printer detects a clogged nozzle, scanner won’t work either…

I then got a basic HP laser .. worked great for many years, zero complaints..

last year I switched to an inktank since I take a lot more prints now, and also need color prints once in a while.. Its been great so far as the price per print is ridiculously low.. so even for stuff that I would normally not take a print for (e.g. a recipe that I could easily view on phone screen also), I end up firing it on airprint instead - coz why not?

Between a laser and an inktank, the latter IMO makes a lot more sense for home usage - lower upfront cost coupled with lower per print cost and color printing as well..
the only downside is that printing is not as fast as a laser - but it doesn’t matter 1 bit for home usage anyway
 
Actually the original cartridge of printers turns out very expensive than the printer cost in the long run. Inkjet becomes problematic in the long run plus you need to use them regularly. I myself use a printer very sparingly except for documents which are needed to file returns . But if there are children, then they will require for school/college purposes too maybe in the future.
After seeing the usage/expense of inkjet & laser printers in our office, I decided to go for the HP MFP 1200w which is a wifi printer too. I had got it for around Rs.18,000/- ( comes with a cartridge) a year ago from the HP site where discounts are offered directly if you chat with the representative. Their ink seems to be of a new technology. The ink of this printer is basically powder based & the cartridge is like an injection which lasts very long. The best part is that the original cartridge for it costed around Rs. 800/- a year ago & lasts for a very long time as against approx Rs. 7000/- for the original cartridge of our conventional laser printer in office. Cartridges for laser or inkjet need to be used regularly or they dry up. The Neverstop printer cartridge overcomes these limitations & my cartridge till today is almost full after a year. The price of the printer has gone up to 22k but will still save the cost & cartridge in the long run. It takes in only black & white cartridge, has scanning & photocopying facility. One negative I can think of is that the build quality is a bit delicate & not rugged but you can overlook that for what it does.

22k is a bit to much for my purpose but for sure inkjet is out of my list
I went through 2 Inkjets.. to cut a long story short, not worth it .. Price per print is too high so doesn’t really get used.. but worse is that unless you keep taking regular prints , the nozzles/ cartridge gets jammed ..
And icing on the cake - if printer detects a clogged nozzle, scanner won’t work either…

I then got a basic HP laser .. worked great for many years, zero complaints..

last year I switched to an inktank since I take a lot more prints now, and also need color prints once in a while.. Its been great so far as the price per print is ridiculously low.. so even for stuff that I would normally not take a print for (e.g. a recipe that I could easily view on phone screen also), I end up firing it on airprint instead - coz why not?

Between a laser and an inktank, the latter IMO makes a lot more sense for home usage - lower upfront cost coupled with lower per print cost and color printing as well..
the only downside is that printing is not as fast as a laser - but it doesn’t matter 1 bit for home usage anyway
Thanks and I also decided to settle for inktank printer. Read good reviews about them and seems like the ink also won’t get dried up even when the printer is left idle for long periods. If I am lucky I might get one for 10k. I am clueless on how to purchase ink. In images I see 3 compartments for inks with 3 different colours. If you could briefly explain the set up options and maintenance tips it will be very helpful.
 
22k is a bit to much for my purpose but for sure inkjet is out of my list

Thanks and I also decided to settle for inktank printer. Read good reviews about them and seems like the ink also won’t get dried up even when the printer is left idle for long periods. If I am lucky I might get one for 10k. I am clueless on how to purchase ink. In images I see 3 compartments for inks with 3 different colours. If you could briefly explain the set up options and maintenance tips it will be very helpful.
Hi Navin,

Most welcome, we have never used ink tank printers, so don't know much about their usage. But I did consider it before purchasing the laser printer. My hardware friend suggested the HP Neverstop as against the inktank. My dilemma was similar to yours with a max budget of 7k. Let me ask him about ink tank & get back to you.

Regards,
Nitin
 
Hi Navin,

Most welcome, we have never used ink tank printers, so don't know much about their usage. But I did consider it before purchasing the laser printer. My hardware friend suggested the HP Neverstop as against the inktank. My dilemma was similar to yours with a max budget of 7k. Let me ask him about ink tank & get back to you.

Regards,
Nitin
Thanks Nitin. Well my max was 5k now after reading about printers I have no interest with the inkjet models so increased the budget to 10-12k. Shortlisted canon G2010.
 
Thanks Nitin. Well my max was 5k now after reading about printers I have no interest with the inkjet models so increased the budget to 10-12k. Shortlisted canon G2010.
Welcome Navin, let me ask him about Canon & I'll DM you by monday/tuesday.
 
22k is a bit to much for my purpose but for sure inkjet is out of my list

Thanks and I also decided to settle for inktank printer. Read good reviews about them and seems like the ink also won’t get dried up even when the printer is left idle for long periods. If I am lucky I might get one for 10k. I am clueless on how to purchase ink. In images I see 3 compartments for inks with 3 different colours. If you could briefly explain the set up options and maintenance tips it will be very helpful.
Since prints are so cheap, I don’t want to take a chance with nozzles drying up . My usage has anyway been far higher than I used to with the older inkjets so thats not an issue.
If you don’t anticipate usage of at least 1 print every few days, you can setup a task scheduler to print a test page every few days.

Ink refill is easy - Ink comes in individual bottles of 3 colors (CMY) and black. You just need to top-up whichever color is running low.
and you just need to pour it into the compartments after initializing for print refill with a few buttons. It’s a 5-10 min task that even non tech savvy people can perform.
I have had to refill ink once in almost 2 years despite reasonably high usage. Refills are available in most good stationery shops as well as online.
I think the printhead will also be due for a replacement soon - heads cost about 1K each (black and color) and are user-replaceable.

Nothing else apart from regular usage needed for maintenance.
 
Since prints are so cheap, I don’t want to take a chance with nozzles drying up . My usage has anyway been far higher than I used to with the older inkjets so thats not an issue.
If you don’t anticipate usage of at least 1 print every few days, you can setup a task scheduler to print a test page every few days.

Ink refill is easy - Ink comes in individual bottles of 3 colors (CMY) and black. You just need to top-up whichever color is running low.
and you just need to pour it into the compartments after initializing for print refill with a few buttons. It’s a 5-10 min task that even non tech savvy people can perform.
I have had to refill ink once in almost 2 years despite reasonably high usage. Refills are available in most good stationery shops as well as online.
I think the printhead will also be due for a replacement soon - heads cost about 1K each (black and color) and are user-replaceable.

Nothing else apart from regular usage needed for maintenance.
I have finalised on two models. Canon picks G3010 or the hp415. Between canon and hp which is more reliable and has good after sales service?
 
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The 2 products are Hardly comparable... Apples & Oranges.

The Canon 3010 is a B&W Laser Printer

The HP 415 is an ink tank COLOUR Ink Jet printer with scanner ...
 
The 2 products are Hardly comparable... Apples & Oranges.

The Canon 3010 is a B&W Laser Printer

The HP 415 is an ink tank COLOUR Ink Jet printer with scanner ...
Sorry it’s the canon pixma G 3010 which is also an ink tank printer
 
Superczar will be able to give you a better idea about ink tank printers as he is using them for over a year. I think refilling these may be cheap and should be easily available. Top up is only for the colours which are getting empty.
If you need colour prints too then this may be a good option in the budget
 
I have been using colour ink tank printers both at work n home for more than 5 years....

Brother & Canon.

The Canon I was reluctant when bought it, due to the open paper stack at the rear.

On use i have found it Absolutely fantastic...

A breeze for (manual) back to back printing as well as printing on any other size of paper ranging from Fullscape (foolscap) to small sized note paper. Paper jams are almost eliminated.

The scanner makes it a colour (xerox) copier n the low ink cost makes colour copying feasible.

Just for this feature alone i would recommend the Canon.

Direct WiFi printing allows you to print directly from yr mobile.

Ofcourse the HP printer also provides similar features.

I have used a Canon (older, USB only) ink jet in office for several years n I am happy with its reliability (never repaired)

The Canon has also proved to be very reliable.

A small pointer, please use only genuine inks from the manufacturer (Canon in this case). They are only slightly more expensive but still very low cost.
 
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