older Epson printer...keep?

[talldude123]

I have an old Epson Stylus printer, well not that old, it still uses USB, probably about 4-5 years old.

I saw it in my garage, collecting dust/cobwebs, and wondered if its worth the money to buy ink for this beast. Chances are stores wont have ink for it, and it will guzzle ink, since its EPSON.

I have enough money now to buy an all-in-one or small photo printer, but should i just re-use this old thing, with new ink?

Heres the specs:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004Y7KT/002-9739108-0527244?v=glance&n=172282

 

[athenian200]

I would say that several older printers are good enough to be reused, but it really depends on the model number. If you could tell me that, I could look up information about the printer, and tell you whether it is inefficiant enought to warrent buying a new printer. I know some black and white printers from 15 years ago that people still use, and have no complaints. It really depends on the specific printer.

 

[talldude123]

epson stylus color 777.

costed $250 new, and used ones on Amazon are $230?

When i used it, it was noisy, but really got the job done pretty fast...

I'll check on some ink for it, thx!

 

[athenian200]

Oops. I didn't see that Amazon link you had posted earlier. I think that it doesn't look like an ink guzzler, and as long as aren't a very high-volume document printer, you should be fine. It seems like pretty good quality, too. Epson is really good about providing support for their old printers. I have purchased ink cartrages for some friends old Epson ActionPrinter 5000. To give you an idea how old that is, the driver for that printer comes with Lotus 1-2-3, version 2.2 for DOS.

 

[talldude123]

wow, $51 to replace ink on a printer. I feel like putting an "L" sticker on my forehead.

 

[athenian200]

Where were you looking? I see cheaper ones on Epson's website, only $29 for color, and $23 for Black.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/BuyInk.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=10966

 

[talldude123]

Staples.

Also, im in Canada.

 

[athenian200]

Well, in printers here in the US, the average for ink cartrages is about USD $20-$35 dollars for Inkjet cartrages, even more for newer printers. If you want cheaper ones, you'll probably have to go with a really old printer, or a very poorly designed one. Laser cartrages are way more expensive, but they last a lot longer. If the average price of cartrages for printers in your country is lower, then perhaps you should get one there.

 

[talldude123]

forgot to say:

the only printing i do is for people that need help with PC's (mostly tutorials/stuff off tech-forums). That wouldnt use alot of ink?

 

[athenian200]

Well, in that case, you wouldn't be printing any photos or need color, right? I would say you should try to find an older black and white printer, made around 1998, maybe a little later. You probably don't need volume printing, and a black and white will save you money on ink. The newer ones have more expensive carts, but they print faster. The older ones are less expensive, but print slower.