I have had this printer for around three years now. It was bought from Comet for around £36.

The main criterias I have for a printer is that it is extremely easy to install and operate, that it prints decently and that the cartridges don't cost an arm and a leg. I tend to buy this sort of thing after a brief foray into the specifications in the shop. Then I get bored and buy it if it is half decent. I remember the Comet sales guy told me that the set of inks provided with the printer were not going to last long as they were for display purposes only. I therefore bought another set - only to find that the set of inks in the printer were the regular ones and lasted ages!

Appearance
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The printer is a regular looking black and grey machine, however, it is quite compact and neatly sits in the small amount of space allocated. It has a smoky plastic transparent lid which sits over the printing inks and printing band and flips open for ink cartridge changing. There is a plasic paper supporter which slots in the back to hold A4 paper.

Setting up
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This is a simple process necessitating a quick read of instructions, putting the printer in place, slipping the cd provided into the computer and following the set up wizard. The printer is then connected to the computer and printer set up is complete.

Printing
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The quality of the printing is quite decent with up to 5760 optimised dots per inch. The text and images it prints are of a high quality but the printer can also print photos which are also of a good quality too. Right clicking on the printer icon on your screen can take you to some controls. This includes adjusting the print quality. The choices are: draft (printed out swiftly) regular printing (takes a little longer) and photo (takes a little bit longer than regular). I find that when I change my settings, the printer still prints just one more sheet at the old setting! Slightly annoying.

Cartridges
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The Epson cartridges are too expensive for my liking, averaging at about £10 a cartridge when bought in shops like Currys or Comet. Fortunately, I have discovered that Tesco sells compatible cartridges at £6 ish. I have also noted that Epsom cartridges can be bought from Amazon for a cheap price. This is ok if the postage isn't whacked up. The Ink Monitor Wizard thing that appears on the screen when printing likes to try and bully you into buying proper ones, telling you that others could damage the printer. I think this stuff is tosh. Epsom (or high street shops) should not be selling ridiculously overpriced cartridges. How expensive can ink be?

The cartridges run out individually and can be replaced individually. Replacement is again quite simple with a few directed clicks and following the instructions given. The cartridges click into place easily.

To conclude
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I think this printer is generally quite good. I am a bit of a computer duffer but I can always find some help for sorting the printer with new cartridges or cleaning the printer nozzle by clicking on the printer icon. If I want to stop printing, I can also cancel the printing jobs quite clearly and easily.

Another really great thing about this printer is that it does not jam up very much at all. In three years, I have only had to remove a couple of sheets and I think that has been mainly my fault in my defective loading of paper.

The printer is still going strong and it is looking forward to another year of bashing as I prepare lessons etc in September.