We look at Christmas and back-to-work bargains to help you find a better deal on printers and multifunctions
The global financial crisis is here, the Aussie dollar is jumping up and down like a mad man and sales campaigns for Christmas and back-to-work are either in full swing or just around the corner. What do they have in common? They all affect the prices of consumer electronics, and printers aren't an exception. Whether to buy that new inkjet or laser printer now, later or not at all can be tough decision.
Tips and tricks to get pages out sooner
Raw printer speeds keep improving each year, but we always seem to want documents to come out just a little bit faster. Thankfully, you can use a few tricks to boost printer performance. Whether you got a bargain inkjet in a bundle with your home PC or you charged a thousand-dollar laser printer to your expense account, these suggestions will kick up your print speeds.
Canon's entry-level A3 photo printer delivers great output but is expensive to run
Amateur shutterbugs will find plenty to like with the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II inkjet photo printer, including great output, A3+ media support and dye-based consumables for printing on glossy media. Unfortunately, the lack of colour configuration options and an inability to use some heavy stock will deter professionals.
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Pick up an excellent Android smartphone, fast mobile broadband or a ridiculously cheap Sony LCD TV.
The Oki C110 is a straightforward, affordable colour laser printer
For those needing fast clean text, the simple mono laser has had plenty to offer in recent years. But what if, while the majority of your needs may centre around words, every now again you feel the urge to print in full colour? Colour lasers are usually still rather expensive, while buying an inkjet in addition to a mono laser could require a rather large desk.
Follow these five tips to get the best prints from your photo printer or inkjet.
Suppose you have just taken an award-winning photo with perfect composition, great exposure, and a Pulitzer Prize-worthy subject. Or, at the very least, you've managed to avoid the five most common photo mistakes, and you want to hang the result in the living room.
Brother's latest colour printer uses LED technology
The Brother HL-3070CW colour printer is one of the company’s first to use LED technology. Competing with entry-level colour laser printers, the HL-3070CW is reasonably quick and it's easy to set up.
Grab yourself a bargain as we begin the countdown to Christmas with fantastic GPS, smart phone and TV deals, and much more!
We may not have the Black Friday specials seen in the US, but we've rounded up some great bargains including budget GPS devices from TomTom and a great deal on the Nokia Navigator smart phone. Plus we unearth savings on HP's quality inkjet multifunction printer, digital camera and notebook PC too.
But not all of its printers will be supported on Microsoft's new operating system
Windows 7 users may find there are no drivers yet for their Hewlett-Packard printer, although the company said it expects to release some new compatible drivers soon.
An inexpensive inkjet multifunction with decent photo print quality
Canon's entry-level PIXMA MP490 inkjet multifunction lacks the small luxuries of its more expensive counterparts, like an Easy Scroll Wheel, PictBridge USB port and CD/DVD printing. For the price, however, we can't complain; as a basic printer, scanner and copier, the PIXMA MP490 will do the job well.
A frustrating monochrome laser multifunction that can print Sudoku grids
We had a hard time trying to find something nice to say about the Fuji Xerox Phaser 3100MFP monochrome laser multifunction. It can print, scan and copy but none of these functions are easy to use.
A feature-light multifunction printer from Canon that delivers great quality printouts
Canon's PIXMA MP560 is a simple inkjet multifunction that offers sufficient print quality for both documents and family photos. USB and Wi-Fi connectivity make it easy to connect, but it won't print to CDs and DVDs like the HP Photosmart C5380.
HP has employed Touchsmart technology in this inkjet multifunction printer
HP's Photosmart Premium C309g-m offers many of the features you would expect from an inkjet multifunction in this price range, like Wi-Fi, advanced photo printing functions and even a touch screen. However, it lacks CD/DVD printing and we experienced issues when connecting to a wireless network.
Is there such a thing as a "green" font? There is, and it's called, aptly enough, Ecofont. It's free, and it's fabulous.
I've written before about ways you can save money on pricey printer consumables.
This business-focussed inkjet multifunction printer offers Lexmark's SmartSolutions feature
The Prestige Pro805 is Lexmark's newest mid-range business inkjet multifunction. It offers USB, Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity and a multi-card reader supporting SD, MemoryStick, xD and MMC. Its touch screen and SmartSolutions widgets make it easy to use, but we weren't impressed by its speed and print quality.