[Nottingham] Choosing a Printer

[James Moore]

On 21/03/2012 11:40, Jason Irwin wrote:
> On 21/03/12 11:20, Barry Drake wrote:
>> My sole consideration when buying my last printer is the cost of
>> upkeep.  There is an enormous difference in ink cost and cartridge
>> content.
> Ink was why I was considering a "continuous ink supply system" or
> "CISS".  But trying to find a printer that is confirmed GNU/Linux
> compatible and has a CISS available is nigh-on impossible.  The ink also
> has a shelf-life so unless you are going to burn through 10 cartridges
> in 2 years there's probably no point (and there is something about
> having to transfer the cartridge chips - and some of the HP chips will
> expire).
>
> The high-capacity HP cartridges cost £15-£18 and will do between 700 and
> 1,200 pages depending on the exact model.  Not so dreadful for light
> printing duties.
>
> Even HP who are pretty GNU/Linux savvy cannot confirm if a current
> printer like the OfficeJet 6500A will work (hplip lists a variety of
> 6500 printers, but not with the same model number as the HP shop
> [cn755A] so there is no way to be sure it will work).  Checking other
> shop shows the (supposedly) same printer changing size, weight, colour
> and even spec. *sob*
>
> And I thought finding a new graphics card was hard!
>

Brother do an AIO (can't remember the model number, and mine's in the 
back of a cupboard somewhere) which does have a very efficient CISS. 
Only reason I don't use it is because it needs a new ink sensor board - 
and they cost about the same as a new printer!