Printer (Laser or Inkjet), external screen and laptop

[Breelander]

...A new Toshiba would be out of my price range!

My current Toshiba was something of an emergency purchase, the previous laptop having suffered rapid hardware failure - fortunately not so rapid I couldn't make one last backup of my user data. Cash Converters was the source...

[Hallucigenia]

External screen - I will be handing back my employer's 24" external screen. As middle-aged eyesight is declining (oh for the days when I didn't need glasses at all!), I definitely want a decent screen. The 24" has certainly done the job. Any tips on choosing a replacement e.g. good makes, ideal sizes etc. appreciated.

Printer - I will be handing back my work HP LaserJet copier/printer/fax. Although quite old now it has very good quality print and is much faster and more problem-free than my 10 year old HP InkJet. I popped into Currys/PCWorld yesterday and could not see a single Laser printer. Why is that? Have Inkjets caught up with Laser or do PC World just make too much money from InkJet cartidges?

Laptop - I def want a lightweight one, but with a reasonable sized screen (15.4"?). Something that is quite smart but not flash. I don't do any gaming or multimedia stuff on it. Mostly Internet and usual office like functions. I have a Toshiba docking station, so maybe I might lean towards them but not for certain.

I've always liked Lexmark lasers - recently bought a CX310dn on the back of it topping a PC Pro review a few months ago, and it ticks a lot of boxes - the only major criticisms of it would be the weight/size (>27kg!) and the lack of Wifi (although it works fine Wifi-ing via a wireless router). A firmware update added Google Cloud, but they're not as cloud-friendly as say Brothers. For reasons best known to themselves Ebuyer are listing it at £150 but with £20 off directly and £30 off via a discount code to get it down to £100 - you get a lot of printer for your money and low running costs.

Monitors - how long is a piece of string? Depends a lot on what you want it for - do you need super-fast response times for gaming, do you want super colour accuracy and consistency across the screen for photo work, do you need an easily adjustable stand with lots of movement on it etc etc. A big screen is a great way to make yourself more efficient (equivalent to a faster computer), and of course it's helpful as eyesight gets old. There's plenty of 24" screens out there from the likes of AOC at around the £100 mark which are fine for undemanding use but tend to lack a bit on those aforementioned features, so if they're important you want to pay a bit more. Asus, Acer and Dell are names to look out for.

First question is - do you actually want a laptop? If you're less mobile now would a cheaper desktop be good enough? Or do you want a tablet with a keyboard, or one of the hybrids that can do a bit of both. Laptop hardware is much of a muchness these days, but the hardest things to change are screen size, weight and keyboard feel/layout. So it's worth having a bit of a feel of one in the flesh - the wrong keyboard can be a constant irritation, unless you get an external one but then you might as well have a desktop.

[Clariman]

Hi Hallucigenia - and all

After spending way too long reading up on options and checking reviews, I finally made some decisions. I've decided to go down the reasonably inexpensive route, on the basis that most of the kit looked decent or had good reviews. If anything turns out to be rubbish then I wouldn't be too upset. I am retiring/semi-retiring (rather early is has to be said), so want something that is decent enough for creating proposals and invoices if I do consulting work. I can always swap stuff out if I end up working more seriously again.

Lenovo 310s laptop with i3 processor - (I don't do gaming or anything like that)
HP 24es - 24 inch monitor
HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 All-in-One Printer - Inkjet
Wavlink USB 3.0 Universal Dual Display Docking Station
Total cost around £600.

Thanks again
Clariman

[NomoneyNohoney]

Before it's too late, please reconsider the inkjet printer option. A colour laser is so reliable and good value by comparison, with instant printing vs. the inkjet routine: clean inkjet nozzles / run cleaning program / wish you'd bought a laser / time.

Cartridges for your proposed HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 are £14 each on Ebay - a full set is about half the cost of a laser printer...

[Clariman]

Before it's too late, please reconsider the inkjet printer option. A colour laser is so reliable and good value by comparison, with instant printing vs. the inkjet routine: clean inkjet nozzles / run cleaning program / wish you'd bought a laser / time.

Cartridges for your proposed HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 are £14 each on Ebay - a full set is about half the cost of a laser printer...

Hi NmNh

Fair points. I did want a colour laser but they were either very costly in their own right, had very mixed reviews or (in the case of Dell) no longer sold. I think I was wanting too much for what I was prepared to pay for a laser i.e. all-in-one function, colour, sheet feeder and flat bed scanner etc. I know the cost is in the Ink but will investigate the HP ink plan that claims up to 70% savings in ink (well we'll see).

So I went for an inexpensive inkjet with all those features and that was highly rated by many users. £89 with £20 cashback, so cost me £69. If it ends up being expensive on ink, unreliable or poor then I'll buy something better.

C

[gbjbaanb]

I'd not buy the HP stuff, you never know what they'll do next. Support the better manufacturers.

Printer. I can recommend a modern inkjet, nice and cheap which is good I'd you don't print a lot of stuff might make sense. I have an Epson workforce printer/scanner/copier and it only went wrong after it has not printed anything for 6 months, and even then a press of the head clean function cleared it up. Inkjet quality isn't as good as laser but they're not bad things nowadays. Think about the scanner function as I use that way more than the printer, hardly ever print now but do scan documents for email a lot.
As for ink cost, Epson now do a model that has reservoirs you fill up so no more chipped cartridges! 10/10 to them for doing that.

Monitor. Dells are always a good choice, but as someone also getting older eyes, I recently bought a UP2516D monitor, which is a 1440p screen resolution. I find the smaller dot pitch is easier for me to see than my old monitor! It might be the monitor which is just better quality but I think the res is a significant factor. It also has an inbuilt KVM if you have 2 pcs. Acer are good for cheaper models, but remember that resolution!

As for laptops, weight is probably the most important factor now. An i3 is perfectly good enough for all work, i5 is better and an i7 is just lots of money for small performance gain. Celerons are OK for all but gaming tbh. People get hung up on performance but today they'll all work fine, form factors like weight and size are more important tbh. Screen resolution also matters, I have a laptop with 768p screen and it's painful for things that want to use a lot of screen space (spreadsheets and programming environments particularly) but surfing is acceptable on it. Do not get less than 8gb ram.

You'll also want backup software. I recommend Mozy to store your vital docs regularly and automatically to the cloud.

[addycres]

Printer - I will be handing back my work HP LaserJet copier/printer/fax. Although quite old now it has very good quality print and is much faster and more problem-free than my 10 year old HP InkJet.
C

Could you not offer to buy it off them for the book value? Most companies depreciate IT equipment rapidly, so it should be valued at peanuts.

[JonE]

Could you not offer to buy it off them for the book value? Most companies depreciate IT equipment rapidly, so it should be valued at peanuts.

The 'net book value' of a company asset may well be peanuts but that doesn't mean that the company necessarily regards that as being the 'net realisable value' and may seek a price closer to the actual market value (though that, of course, may itself be peanuts).

If we ignore the accounting concept of 'depreciation' and consider the written-down value for tax purposes then the initial investment may even have been fully claimed in the year of acquisition - but that doesn't mean that it will necessarily be given away for free.

There again, I agree that it's worth asking (and negotiating) if keeping the kit is desired.

Cheers!

[Clariman]

Printer - I will be handing back my work HP LaserJet copier/printer/fax. Although quite old now it has very good quality print and is much faster and more problem-free than my 10 year old HP InkJet.
C

Could you not offer to buy it off them for the book value? Most companies depreciate IT equipment rapidly, so it should be valued at peanuts.

Yes I tried that too, but they said they would reuse it. Not sure where mind you.

[martint123]

After the usual printer, I went for a 24" Dell U2412M monitor no problems and I like it a lot.

[rampusmaximus]

It seems to me that you are very happy with your current set-up and are only buying new because you are going to "hand back" the equipment to your current employer.

What will they do with it and what value does it have to them. In my experience company's don't want old IT stock returned. You could try asking them to let you keep it for nothing or make a nominal offer so that they feel that they got something back.

That way you have a set-up that works, that you are used to and has cost very little - if anything.

Rampus

[Infrasonic]

Cheapo mono (B+W) Dell laser going here for £29.99...http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dell-e3 ... 99-2551611

http://www.ebuyer.com/720904-dell-e310d ... x-210-aehg

[Clariman]

Thanks everyone. I have bought my kit already now thanks. Mind you that Dell mono-laser for £29.99 is very tempting for quality B&W - in addition to the one I already have.

Ref asking my employer if i can hang on to the existing kit, I did. I asked our internal IT and also asked my boss (the MD). They both said they wanted the stuff back even thought printer and monitor were 6 years old.

[Clitheroekid]

Fair points. I did want a colour laser but they were either very costly in their own right, had very mixed reviews or (in the case of Dell) no longer sold.

I realise that you've opted for the dreaded inkjet in the end, but for the benefit of anyone else reading this thread you can still get a Dell colour laser for £109 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... em_1p_0_ti

I'm sure you'd agree that this is not costly, that its reviews are very good and that it's definitely made by Dell!

[JonE]

Thanks everyone. I have bought my kit already now thanks. Mind you that Dell mono-laser for £29.99 is very tempting for quality B&W - in addition to the one I already have.

When trying to keep my Officejet 4500 printing as and when required became too tiresome for words I cast around for a multi-function laser but ended up with retaining the inkjet only for (much-used) ADF scanning but adding a mono laser for my occasional printing requirements.

I acquired a Dell 3330dn in June '13 at nil net cost (£175 but with 2 separate Dell cashbacks which totalled £175) but now anticipate running out of toner before too long so, given high toner-replacement costs for the 3330 and the dilapidated state of the Officejet, am considering the purchase of a network multi-function laser with ADF. Ink-jet is not an attractive option for my usage and you may find that adding a laser means that your ink-jet printing usage drops to such a low level that keeping inks moving becomes a problem.

Cheers!