Inexpensive printer: Hello everyone, I am looking for an inexpensive printer and laptop and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations. I am working on a small setup to be...

acadianasportspics

Hello everyone,
I am looking for an inexpensive printer and laptop and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations. I am working on a small setup to be able to sell prints at middle school and high school sporting events that I am working on with local schools in my area. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any reviews please share. Thank you!!!!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

acadianasportspics wrote:

Hello everyone,
I am looking for an inexpensive printer and laptop and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations. I am working on a small setup to be able to sell prints at middle school and high school sporting events that I am working on with local schools in my area. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any reviews please share. Thank you!!!!

I am not sure your desire for low cost equipment is going to further your goal to sell prints.

Are you looking to sell prints on site?
Wireless connection between camera, laptop and printer?
Are you aware that with some cameras, especially those that support PictBridge firmware, you can print directly from camera to printer, and forego the laptop?
What is your budget?
What camera are you using?

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

Please define "inexpensive."

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

acadianasportspics wrote:

Hello everyone,
I am looking for an inexpensive printer and laptop and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations. I am working on a small setup to be able to sell prints at middle school and high school sporting events that I am working on with local schools in my area. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any reviews please share. Thank you!!!!

I have had several Epson and Canon printers. They both sell for very low prices for the letter size and now provide for printing smaller sizes easily. The models keep changing. Your biggest expense will be for ink. While they all want you to buy their branded ink, Epson is the most obnoxious about it. Well...HP is worse, but their printers are also the least cost effective anyway. You can buy third party ink from LD Products that will reduce the cost. You can usually find a decent Canon for around $50-60 at Office Depot (Or Amazon) For your use, you don't really need the high end photo printers.

As to a laptop, I've owned several brands. Dell makes good laptops at reasonable prices. You can find freeware that will do anything you want, but you are not going to want to do much. Just take the photos at Jpeg basic and they should be able to be printed without postprocessing hassle. They're not expecting art.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Canon make an A3 printer under £100

do not get the 3 ink printers.....cheap and nasty..

have fun

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

If you are not in a hurry and have patience, keep an eye out for sales. Even refurbished printers, or last year's models hiding in the close-out section of your local big retail store. Personally, I refuse to pay full price on printers and ink cartridges. Especially ink cartridges!

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

acadianasportspics wrote:

Hello everyone,
I am looking for an inexpensive printer and laptop and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations. I am working on a small setup to be able to sell prints at middle school and high school sporting events that I am working on with local schools in my area. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any reviews please share. Thank you!!!!

Are you planning to move the printer around and print on site or just take prints to sell after the fact? They have different requirements. The printers themselves are generally not that expensive, they are vehicles for ink which is where the real cost is, but there are ways to manage that.

If selling prints for sale I would go for a pro level printer such as the Canon PixmaPro 100. It is a big heavy beast but does excellent work. They can often be found at very good prices when sold as a bundle with a camera and the original purchaser resells it on ebay etc.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

If your going to sell prints at a game you may want to spend more and buy something like the epson Ecotank printer. Costs more up front but you can say goodbye to costly print cartridges...

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

bdk wrote:

If your going to sell prints at a game you may want to spend more and buy something like the epson Ecotank printer. Costs more up front but you can say goodbye to costly print cartridges...

Perhaps other Epson owners can comment, but Ecotank seems to be aimed at office printing more than high quality photo printing.

acadianasportspics

I do apologize for the lack of clarification. So here is the deal.
I will sell prints on site. The largest would be 8X10 but the majority would be 5x7. The reason for the laptop would be to allow customers to see the print that they want to purchase (instead of direct printing and wasting a bunch of prints and ink. If customers want any other sizes etc. they could go to the web site. Use multiple cards and have someone man the laptop and handle orders while I shoot, covering multiple events and athletes. May print 20 prints at an event like I may print 100. I am not sure yet. Budget would be $1,200-$1,500. If it works and I can make it grow then I will upgrade equipment as needed.

acadianasportspics

I do apologize for the lack of clarification. So here is the deal.
I will sell prints on site. The largest would be 8X10 but the majority would be 5x7. The reason for the laptop would be to allow customers to see the print that they want to purchase (instead of direct printing and wasting a bunch of prints and ink. If customers want any other sizes etc. they could go to the web site. Use multiple cards and have someone man the laptop and handle orders while I shoot, covering multiple events and athletes. May print 20 prints at an event like I may print 100. I am not sure yet. Budget would be $1,200-$1,500. If it works and I can make it grow then I will upgrade equipment as needed.

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

Do you already have a computer? What platform is it? What software will you be using?

johnst1001a Loc: West Chester, Ohio

Canon MX920, cost is $90. Copies, scans, does photos, has paper racks for various size papers 8x11 and smaller. I us third party inks like from Ink4work.com The ink cost under $1.00 per cartridge and lasts as long as the OEM full fill cartridges. I have never had any issues with the inks plugging anything. Colors for photos are good, and the printer does a reasonable job with photos. I have had mine for several years now, even bought a second one for another locations. it is wireless too.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

rook2c4 wrote:

If you are not in a hurry and have patience, keep an eye out for sales. Even refurbished printers, or last year's models hiding in the close-out section of your local big retail store. Personally, I refuse to pay full price on printers and ink cartridges. Especially ink cartridges!

The manufacturers often have sales. The Epson Store for example.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

acadianasportspics wrote:

Hello everyone,
I am looking for an inexpensive printer and laptop and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations. I am working on a small setup to be able to sell prints at middle school and high school sporting events that I am working on with local schools in my area. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any reviews please share. Thank you!!!!

You didn't say, "wireless," so I assume you'll have electricity available. "Inexpensive" might not be the best thing to look for if you want to sell the pictures. If this is a business deal, the cost of the printer and supplies is tax deductible.

http://www.toptenreviews.com/computers/printers/best-photo-only-printers/

Low cost -

https://www.google.com/search?q=best+budget+printers&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&oq=best+budget+printers&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.4815j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=best+budget+printers&tbm=shop