last year I bought an Easyshare 5300 made by Kodak. They claim that you can save up to 50% on your printing costs, now I haven't done any tests but I do certainly seem to be spending less on ink. Print quality for photos is really nice and you can easily switch between A4 and 4x6. When rebuying ink they also do a nice pack which includes a colour cartridge and 50 sheets of 4x6 for printing photos.

It also works as a scanner and copier, accepts memory cards and USB sticks. I'm made up with it so it's well worth a look.

I've got a HP Officejet 6050 3in1, cost me £70 from PC World 2 years ago so it's probably only available second-hand now. But it's been a great printer and the set of cartridges only cost £20 from Asda, or "7 for official HP ones, and the ink lasts ages. Does very good quality prints and also has a memory card reader and screen on the front so you can look through your pictures and print them without needing to turn your PC on :-)

Thank you for advise. I will look into the HP models and their ink prices. I had a bad experience once with Lexmark remanufactured ink from a website. [can't remember name] and I wasted a lot of money. So you can understand my worries about going down that route again. Like you say [you only get what you pay for]

Regards SimplyJenn

3 in 1 printers are very useful for scanning photo's and documents and faxing too.

For sturdiness and relibility HP Officejets have proved to be best buy for me over last 6 years but as you say cartridges can be dear in the shops.

I purchase both original HP and remanufactured inkjet catridges from mx2.co.uk in Guernsey who offer good discounts over retail shop's prices. They also cover most other manufacturer's cartridges too.

If you wish to purchase a budget model printer for not too heavy use, you may like to try HP Deskjet F2280 (about £35) or similar but you get what you pay for (an officejet is around £150 upwards but lasts well)

I hope this helps you.

Help! I am in the market to purchase a new printer. I have started to look around but have found that the ink cartridges are almost as much as a new printer. How can I know which is the best bargain and will not cost me a fortune in ink to run? I quite like the 3in1 models, do you advise to buy one of these or separate ones? It will only be for private use.

Regards SimplyJenn