Your 12-year-old has created a newsletter for her class, and wants to print out pages from her favorite blogs – all in full color. Ink cartridges for your printer are expensive, but you don't want to limit her creativity.
What You Want
An inexpensive inkjet printer can cost around $50, and can save you a lot of irritation and fights. Youngsters don't need high-quality print (if they say they do, ignore them). They need color and immediate access, and a cheap printer will be perfect for them. Important things to look for: the cartridge yield, or any other information you can get on how efficiently the printer uses the ink.
Keep in mind that most inkjet printers today are far and away better than most of the expensive printers of ten and even five years ago. While an under-$50 printer may not product the best business letter, and wouldn't be right for family photos, it could be just right for your 10-year-old's class project.
Incidentally, if you've been thinking of getting yourself a new printer, you may want to simply let the kids have your older printer. As long as it is capable of color, they'll be able to use it to print out whatever they want -- and if they decide to do a bit of scientific experimentation while you're not looking (Will it print on a newspaper? On a maple leaf? On stretched-out bubble gum?), you won't be too upset at the results.
You can also look for refurbished printers -- printers that have been slightly used and returned to the store or the manufacturer. Because it isn't legal to sell returns as news, the vendors will check them out, fix them if needed, and then sell them at a considerable discount (and they're warrantied).
Features
- Color printing
- Easily installed ink cartridge
Nice Extras
- Long cartridge life
- Scanner (if you've got a used all-in-one)
Price Range
- >$50
Some Examples
