On my word processing part of my computer,I can change my typing to different colours.I havent yet bought a printer,but if I do,will anything I print out on my printer also be in colour, or will I have to buy colour cartridges for the printer ?

Assuming you printer that you buy is capable of colour printing........it will print as displayed on the monitor.

This is a wind up, right?....

Youd be surprised at some of the things i get asked on the support desk!

I knew I shouldnt have asked that question.!!

mr_chris and avalon, please remember that Pattricia is a complete novice to the world of computers.

Believe it or not, there are some of us who weren't born with a mouse in our hand, and have had to learn from scratch in recent years.

A little bit of patience and understanding wouldn't go amiss.

Pattricia, you keep asking questions, love. There are some of us who know what you're trying to do.:D

Pattricia, your new printer will come with 2 cartridges which sit side by side, one black, and one with 3 different colours in it - cyan, yellow and magenta. All other colours are blended by the technology in a similar fashion to an artist blending colours on his pallette.

If you have chosen a printer to cope with your photographs a little better than your average 4 colour model, you may also have a cartridge that has extra sky and skin tone ink :thumbsup:

(did that make any sense?)

Pattricia, your new printer will come with 2 cartridges which sit side by side, one black, and one with 3 different colours in it - cyan, yellow and magenta. All other colours are blended by the technology in a similar fashion to an artist blending colours on his pallette.

If you have chosen a printer to cope with your photographs a little better than your average 4 colour model, you may also have a cartridge that has extra sky and skin tone ink :thumbsup:

(did that make any sense?)
Yes, thanks Anne & Strix. It does make sense,and is not as straightforward as others make out.Im afraid I fled The Forum with shame,as I lost my confidence,and have only just come back on to see you & Annes replies.Thanks once again.Hope my thread goes to the bottom so no one can see it !:thumbsup:

You keep asking Pattricia :thumbsup:

There's loads of people who read these pages who haven't even summoned up the courage to post yet, and I bet you are asking all the questions they daren't! ;)

You are one of the forum 'characters', and as such people who have come to 'know' you will read a thread because it is posted by you where they may skip over it if it were by somebody else :)

You keep asking Pattricia :thumbsup:

There's loads of people who read these pages who haven't even summoned up the courage to post yet, and I bet you are asking all the questions they daren't! ;)

You are one of the forum 'characters', and as such people who have come to 'know' you will read a thread because it is posted by you where they may skip over it if it were by somebody else :)

Strix, you are nice.! Ive always admired you and Anne,as I can tell you are both very experienced computer users.Thank goodness there are people like you two on The Forum.:thumbsup:

I knew I shouldnt have asked that question.!!

Pattricia, when I was teaching nightschool I offered a course called "computers for the terrified" I encouraged students to ask me to explain anything they didn't understand, and I tried to think back to when I first turned on a computer. well I turned on a computer when someone showed me how to do it.
Don't stop asking questions, its the only way to find answers
Dave..

Strix, you are nice.! Ive always admired you and Anne,as I can tell you are both very experienced computer users.Thank goodness there are people like you two on The Forum.:thumbsup:
:blush: Thanks :blush:
:suspect: Mr Strix says you obviously don't know me very well!! :mad:
(Git)
I just have a way with explaining things I do understand from a perspective of somebody who doesn't know the jargon :thumbsup:

Yeah - keep asking Pattricia, most folk want to help!!

In my line of work, I get asked all sorts. I just have to remember back to when I got my very first PC - back in 89 - when I didn't have a clue.

Yes Pattricia, and everyone else, ask away - and ignore the idiots who want to mock.

Apologies, Pattricia - I didn't mean to have a go in any way. Most things to do with the consumer end of computers *are* quite logical, so if you want to print in colour, get a colour printer! :)

Pattricia, when I was teaching nightschool I offered a course called "computers for the terrified" I encouraged students to ask me to explain anything they didn't understand, and I tried to think back to when I first turned on a computer. well I turned on a computer when someone showed me how to do it.
Don't stop asking questions, its the only way to find answers
Dave..

Along similar lines ........some years ago I went on a course at work to learn how to use a new program the company were bringing in.
Now my typing skills were not that good, (if fact they were almost non existent) and by the time I had managed to perform one instruction the tutor had moved on to the next 2 or 3.
As a result I had to ask her to repeat things.
I was also the oldest in the group by about 25 years.
That was in the morning, inthe afternoon some of my 22-25 year old mates from the lab in which I worked went along for the same course.
They came back p...ing themselves.
The tutor had remarked that she had an old gentleman on the course that morning who had found the course "rather difficult".
She had made it sound as if I was a b....y idiot and I was severely p..d off.
So I know how you feel:thumbsup:

mr_chris and avalon, please remember that Pattricia is a complete novice to the world of computers.

Believe it or not, there are some of us who weren't born with a mouse in our hand, and have had to learn from scratch in recent years.

I completely agree, i was just commenting on some of the silyl things we get asked on our support desk, just because its obvious to me, i dont automatically assume its obvious to eveyone.

I apologise for any embarasment/offence caused.

Pattricia, there was nothing wrong with your question on here, i haven't been as brave as you with some of my PC questions, had to hide behind sending PMs at times, i figured i would rather have one person think i'm dumb that a whole lot of them, anyhow you did get some kind replys.

PS. Did you read the thread...... How do you fasten your bra ?:loopy:

Pattricia, there was nothing wrong with your question on here, i haven't been as brave as you with some of my PC questions, had to hide behind sending PMs at times, i figured i would rather have one person think i'm dumb that a whole lot of them, anyhow you did get some kind replys.

PS. Did you read the thread...... How do you fasten your bra ?:loopy:

No,Im just going to read it.Dont say we are going to need help with doing that too !!:huh:

Pattricia, your new printer will come with 2 cartridges which sit side by side, one black, and one with 3 different colours in it - cyan, yellow and magenta.
Just to note a couple of things..

It depends entirely on your printer as to whether you get one with 2 cartridges (carts for short) as described above, or a seperate one for each colour.

There are plenty of arguements for and against this sort of thing but the lower end of the printer spectrum will indeed have this sort of cartridge setup.

If you have chosen a printer to cope with your photographs a little better than your average 4 colour model, you may also have a cartridge that has extra sky and skin tone ink :thumbsup:
Actually that's wrong in so much as a photo printer is more likely to be of the type that has a seperate cart for each colour. For example the Epson R240 would have 6 catridges (Black, Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta and Yellow).


For all that though here's a quick synopsis of what you could choose from and the pluses/minuses of each...

Colour Laser:
Very expensive, not much good for full colour photos... Wouldn't recommend unless you buy a higher end, expensive version (ie: £500+)

Low cost colour inkjet:
Eg: Epson C48
As detailed by Strix.. 2 cartridge type (black, 3 colour).. Cheap printer, but very little ink in each cartridge and when just one of the colours runs out you have to replace the whole colour cartridge even if you'd just printed in red, for example, and have lots of yellow and cyan left. Oh and these printers are so slow you can make a meal and return to find it's still printing a 5 page document.

Medium range inkjet:
Eg: Epson C68.
Lower cost printer that's faster than the low cost versions and usually has individual cartridges for each colour. Benefit is that you only need to replace the catridge(s) for the colour(s) that are empty. Bit faster, so ok if you want cheapish colour printing.

Top end inkjets:
eg: Epson D88.
Costs more but runs very quickly and has the added benefits of individual ink carts (as per medium range).

Photo inkjet printers:
eg: Epson R240, R340..
Very expensive items and really only for users who want photo quality images for immediate viewing. Note: If you want a lot of photos from your PC it's MUCH cheaper to burn them to CD or a USB memory stick and take them to somewhere like Boots, Jessops and have them professionally printed. Economically, unless you have a very good source of cheap ink catridges your costs are upwards of 500% more expensive to use a printer.

Canon inkjet printers:
eg: Pixma iP3200, iP4200, iP5200
These now come with Chipped cartridges which means you cannot buy unbranded catridges (eg: cheaper ones). Costs for using these printers are exhorbitant (ie: a new full set of iP4200 catridges will cost you 75% of the cost of your printer!). If you want a Canon printer you're advised to try and find an older model (eg: iP300, iP4000, etc..) as these do not have chips on the cartridges and alternative cartridges can be found (much cheaper!).

Hewlett Packard printers:
These tend to be reasonable quality but the printhead is included on the cartridge and can be quite expensive to run..


My recommendation for a good medium range printer would be an Epson D68.. You'd be wise to seek out a good quality brand of catridges that were compatible with the printer.. Overall though it'd handle most regular tasks quite well and so long as you used it regularly (ie: at least once every 4 or 5 days,to avoid it clogging) you should find it does the job well.

Hope that helps...

Just to note a couple of things..

It depends entirely on your printer as to whether you get one with 2 cartridges (carts for short) as described above, or a seperate one for each colour.

There are plenty of arguements for and against this sort of thing but the lower end of the printer spectrum will indeed have this sort of cartridge setup.


Actually that's wrong in so much as a photo printer is more likely to be of the type that has a seperate cart for each colour. For example the Epson R240 would have 6 catridges (Black, Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta and Yellow).


For all that though here's a quick synopsis of what you could choose from and the pluses/minuses of each...

Colour Laser:
Very expensive, not much good for full colour photos... Wouldn't recommend unless you buy a higher end, expensive version (ie: £500+)

Low cost colour inkjet:
Eg: Epson C48
As detailed by Strix.. 2 cartridge type (black, 3 colour).. Cheap printer, but very little ink in each cartridge and when just one of the colours runs out you have to replace the whole colour cartridge even if you'd just printed in red, for example, and have lots of yellow and cyan left. Oh and these printers are so slow you can make a meal and return to find it's still printing a 5 page document.

Medium range inkjet:
Eg: Epson C68.
Lower cost printer that's faster than the low cost versions and usually has individual cartridges for each colour. Benefit is that you only need to replace the catridge(s) for the colour(s) that are empty. Bit faster, so ok if you want cheapish colour printing.

Top end inkjets:
eg: Epson D88.
Costs more but runs very quickly and has the added benefits of individual ink carts (as per medium range).

Photo inkjet printers:
eg: Epson R240, R340..
Very expensive items and really only for users who want photo quality images for immediate viewing. Note: If you want a lot of photos from your PC it's MUCH cheaper to burn them to CD or a USB memory stick and take them to somewhere like Boots, Jessops and have them professionally printed. Economically, unless you have a very good source of cheap ink catridges your costs are upwards of 500% more expensive to use a printer.

Canon inkjet printers:
eg: Pixma iP3200, iP4200, iP5200
These now come with Chipped cartridges which means you cannot buy unbranded catridges (eg: cheaper ones). Costs for using these printers are exhorbitant (ie: a new full set of iP4200 catridges will cost you 75% of the cost of your printer!). If you want a Canon printer you're advised to try and find an older model (eg: iP300, iP4000, etc..) as these do not have chips on the cartridges and alternative cartridges can be found (much cheaper!).

Hewlett Packard printers:
These tend to be reasonable quality but the printhead is included on the cartridge and can be quite expensive to run..


My recommendation for a good medium range printer would be an Epson D68.. You'd be wise to seek out a good quality brand of catridges that were compatible with the printer.. Overall though it'd handle most regular tasks quite well and so long as you used it regularly (ie: at least once every 4 or 5 days,to avoid it clogging) you should find it does the job well.

Hope that helps...Yes,and can you see why I need advice on a printer now.:huh:

Pattricia, keep it simple, you said when you started this thread that you wanted to print word documents. If that is all you will be printing, buy any cheap printer and the results will be great. I chose canon because for things like word documents, even if they include pictures, I can buy both a colour and a black ink for £4 (copies) and they look ok. If you decide you want to print photographs, thats when you need to look into an expensive printer.
Dave..

Pattricia, keep it simple, you said when you started this thread that you wanted to print word documents. If that is all you will be printing, buy any cheap printer and the results will be great. I chose canon because for things like word documents, even if they include pictures, I can buy both a colour and a black ink for £4 (copies) and they look ok. If you decide you want to print photographs, thats when you need to look into an expensive printer.
Dave..
That's all well and good Dave but you missed that Canon are now charging the earth for their newer printer cartridges. That's fine if you aren't printing a whole lot but soon gets expensive..

I do agree it's best to keep it simple, which is why I gave the recommendation at the end of my abbreviated (yes, it was the short version!) post.

Thinking about this some more perhaps the smart thing to do now is to ask Pattricia: what exactly do you expect to be printing.. best and worst case scenarios would be ideal.. :)

Canon inkjet printers:
eg: Pixma iP3200, iP4200, iP5200
These now come with Chipped cartridges which means you cannot buy unbranded catridges (eg: cheaper ones). Costs for using these printers are exhorbitant (ie: a new full set of iP4200 catridges will cost you 75% of the cost of your printer!). If you want a Canon printer you're advised to try and find an older model (eg: iP300, iP4000, etc..) as these do not have chips on the cartridges and alternative cartridges can be found (much cheaper!)..Using a Canon does not automatically mean excessive costs!
I have the Canon i560 (see zdnet's review: http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/printers/0,39023995,39117621,00.htm ) which uses four separate ink tanks and you (or I) can squeeze every last drop of ink out. The tanks are see-through so you know how much is in them, cost £7.99 per colour (CMYK) from PCWorld, and last for ages.
I was so impressed with it, that I had no hesitation in buying its' big brother - http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000C4GBA/026-7040733-2702817 when we decided an A3 printer was called for.

@Patricia - whichever printer you decide to buy, don't rush to buy generic (non-branded) ink. Sure, you're unlikely to have problems with it, but try enforcing your warranty without the real ones. Also, some sources of cheap ink may give you the same size cartridge, but not actually full, as you'll realise when you have to replace them at twice the rate. Personally, I always buy branded as saving a few pennies isn't worth the effort and risk IMHO.
I've owned and used Lexmark, Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Canon printers, all in the mid-price domestic market, and can't see myself ever buying any other than Canon now, based on the print quality and performance I experienced.
:)

Thanks,all you guys,youve gone to a lot of trouble with your research on printers.I dont have much room on my desk,so was thinking of going for"Lexmark,All in one printer,scanner & copier.The worlds smallest all in one.Print resolution 4800 X1200 dpi.Print up to 15 pages per minute in black and colour.I wont be doing a lot of colour printing but I print out my sons bill heads for his business,for which I use a separate Brother word processor only(its not a computer)I know Ive got to get a printer eventually for my laptop,as sometimes I want to print pages off the internet,especially like when you guys give me a lot of information ,I can print it out,to keep.Also it would be nice to put a bit of colour on a business billhead,dont you think ?Also having a scanner & copier is always useful,but Im not interested in printing my own photos,but dont know wether the above mentioned printer would do this if I required it later on.Printers seem to be getting cheaper & smaller all the time,so dont think it will do any harm to wait a bit,do you.So to sum it up,I want a small compact all in one,that will print in colour if I want it to.

Using a Canon does not automatically mean excessive costs!
All true but you have to look at the current market and understand that it's very difficult to get anything other than a chipped Canon and these have cartridges that are now upwards of 25% more expensive then original OEM (Canon branded) carts. I could go on, but you get the idea.. It's a very real cost issue.


Anyways, as for All in ones, I cannot recommend enough the Canon MP780 or (if you can get one) the Canon MP750. The former is still available and uses non-chipped cartridges, is very cheap to run and prints in high quality, speed, etc...

PLUS.. if you decide in a years time that you want to get rid of it you can almost guarantee that you can sell it on eBay for £100+.. Heck I'd seriously consider buying it from you :)

It is expensive (but coming down in price) but as an all in one printer, scanner (complete with document feeder) and photocopier (colour and b&w) it really has no competition..


Glad the information has helped though Pattricia and as always take it as an opinion.. Cheers :)

All true but you have to look at the current market and understand that it's very difficult to get anything other than a chipped Canon and these have cartridges that are now upwards of 25% more expensive then original OEM (Canon branded) carts. I could go on, but you get the idea.. It's a very real cost issue.


Anyways, as for All in ones, I cannot recommend enough the Canon MP780 or (if you can get one) the Canon MP750. The former is still available and uses non-chipped cartridges, is very cheap to run and prints in high quality, speed, etc...

PLUS.. if you decide in a years time that you want to get rid of it you can almost guarantee that you can sell it on eBay for £100+.. Heck I'd seriously consider buying it from you :)

It is expensive (but coming down in price) but as an all in one printer, scanner (complete with document feeder) and photocopier (colour and b&w) it really has no competition..


Glad the information has helped though Pattricia and as always take it as an opinion.. Cheers :)Just one more question,Martin,What does chipped and unchipped mean?

Chipped means you have to buy branded cartridges to match your printer, i.e. cheaper 3rd party ones won't work.

Unchipped means you can use cheaper 3rd party ones.

Chipped means you have to buy branded cartridges to match your printer, i.e. cheaper 3rd party ones won't work.

Unchipped means you can use cheaper 3rd party ones.
Thanks Lurch.:thumbsup:

Chipped means you have to buy branded cartridges to match your printer, i.e. cheaper 3rd party ones won't work.

Unchipped means you can use cheaper 3rd party ones.
That's a pretty simplitic way of looking at it but as far as Canon printers go this is true.

The complete truth is:

Chipped cartridges have a small micro-chip (hence the name) that communicates with the printer and tells it roughly how much ink is left, whether it's a genuine cartridge, etc...

- For Canon printers you can only get Canon branded chipped catridged.
- For Epson printers there are a LOT of copied cartridges with cheap copies of the chip, allowing them to work.


Unchipped cartridges are the obviously without any micro-chip and thus the ink runs out manually and some other sensor in the printer tells you it's time to replace the cartridge.

IME, copied chipped cartridges are useless as the chip's are from kids toys. I believe this to be true as they don't work.

IME, copied chipped cartridges are useless as the chip's are from kids toys. I believe this to be true as they don't work.
With the greatest of respect I've spent the last 3 years researching inkjet printers and the related technology and that statement is just plain junk.

The chips on some copys are pretty useless but in the main most "aftermarket" ie: 3rd party produced cartridges, work just fine.. The bigger problem is the ink quality which for some cheap knock offs can have pretty serious consequences for a printers life expectancy.

Fair enough. I realise I have only used a small percentage of the 3rd party market which is why I qualified it with a 'IME'. I know some people say they can't tell the difference but I have used ones that are getting on for the price of the manufacturers cartridges and still had dubious quality printouts and\or ropey chips. For the additional cost of some branded over aftermarket cartridges I personally don't feel it's worth it.

Fair enough. I realise I have only used a small percentage of the 3rd party market which is why I qualified it with a 'IME'. I know some people say they can't tell the difference but I have used ones that are getting on for the price of the manufacturers cartridges and still had dubious quality printouts and\or ropey chips. For the additional cost of some branded over aftermarket cartridges I personally don't feel it's worth it.
Ah well.. if you're looking for recommendations you'd do well to check out forums:
- http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_category.php?id=39
- http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/index.php

... amongst others... Just be warned that the recommendations out there on a lot of other forums are often spamvertising so it's worth checking to see what's what.