Spec me a Colour Printer!

[BBx]

Guys I need your help!

I need to get a printer for work - I can't print colour and apparently KallKwick prices are too much, so they have asked me to find some printers :/

They are saying 'you can get one for £30' but I don't want something that will 'just' print in colour.

Ideally I would like the following:

1) Print in colour
2) Scan in colour and save to pdf/jpg
3) Photocopy in colour
4) Print on A3

(we use Office 2007 - if that affects anything :/)

Max budget I think would be able £500 (unless this is totally unrealistic).

Thanks in advance :)

BB x

[Glaucus]

look at the canon pixma range, awesome printers.

Oh yeah for work you probably want laser. So probably not suitable.

[Belmit]

I only know HP, but you can get a colour laserjet multifunction printer for around £250. E.g. the HP Colo(u)r LaserJet CM1312. Always check replacement cartridge prices though, because they can often cost as much to replace in one go as the printer itself.

[BBx]

OMG they still sell my old printer:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Color-LaserJet-5550-capacity/dp/B00061RWPE

bit over budget though :(

Thanks for the responses - Belmit, does the printer you posted print in A3? Dont think so...?

BB x

[Belmit]

Ah, missed that bit... the search continues!

[Desmo]

Even a black and white A3 laser is clearing £1k so you've got no hope for a colour one. Inkjet will be a lot cheaper but still going to be pricey I think.

[Streeteh]

A3 printers, especially laser, cost a bomb. A decent one i could find well within budget is the Canon PIXMA iX4000, it can be found from anywhere from £250-400 (usually out of stock in the better priced shops sadly so couldn't find an easy link)

Unfortunately you'll never find an A3 laser printer for that sort of money first hand and there's not a huge chance second hand either tbh. As Acid said though, the pixma range of printers are excellent as inkjet go, so it should still be a pretty nice printer, i'm just not certain it could stand up to heavy usage in a work environment.

[EDIT] Ahha! http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/455978/art/canon/ix4000-pixma-network-prin.html?srcid=867

[BBx]

Thanks Streeteh. Looks like on my budget I am going to have to choose A3 or Scanning ability.

Argh! Choices choices.... otherwise looking at the cheapest multifunction device that does everything is going to be a few grand.

Grrr...

BB x

[Streeteh]

Ah i missed the scanner part, i've never been a fan of all in one printer/scanners as they tend to result in degraded performance in comparison to stand alone units.

With that printer you could afford a couple of hundred quid for an A3 scanner too.

[EDIT] We used these in the art department of the school i work in, they're not exactly lightning fast but they're functional, reliable and cheap:

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/3754868/art/mustek/scanexpress-a3-usb-2400-p.html

[A Place of Light]

look at the canon pixma range, awesome printers.

OT.
I have one of those and I agree completely.
/OT

[BBx]

We got the Pixma - thanks for your help everyone :) Think I will get myself a scanner/colour printer thing.

Just need to get some decent paper in now too.

BB x

[BBx]

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/455978/art/canon/ix4000-pixma-network-prin.html?srcid=867

Except from Amazon where its £49 cheaper. :)

BB x

PS Lozza what is Photoshop Elements? Apparently it is cheaper than PS which makes me wonder if its a watered down version of PS?

[Mark]

Nice going on the printer. :)