Printer

[mroper]

When I worked at HP the CEO as much a admitted they make the money from the cartridges. They sell the printers at a very small profit.

 

[karlac]

Bought many ink jet printers, starting with HP way back when they first came on the market.

Last 15 years has been either Brother or Epson.

I still do a bit of residential construction docs for folks, have to print loads of changes during every project, and the little Epson XP-440 has been a versatile workhorse.

 

[Axxe55]

This is what I went with and couldn't be happier. It just works. It's sad that that's all it takes to be considered impressive, but it is. Most printers are junk, ink jet is a blatant scam, and even the ink tank printers can have issues with ink drying out. I rarely print color so monochrome was kind of a no brainer. If I need to print in color, it's easy enough to order prints on Walmart's website and pick them up when I go.

the ink cartridges is wher the get you! they could give away the printers and theywould still make a fortune off the ink!

 

[benenglish]

If only I had squirreled away an HP LaserJet Series II printer. You can still get cartridges that will print 4000 pages for ~$100. I have no doubt there are still some original machines from 1987 that are still running. Those things were tanks.

Does anyone make something comparable, at any price, any more?

I doubt it.

 

[oldag]

If only I had squirreled away an HP LaserJet Series II printer. You can still get cartridges that will print 4000 pages for ~$100. I have no doubt there are still some original machines from 1987 that are still running. Those things were tanks.

Does anyone make something comparable, at any price, any more?

I doubt it.

The original LaserJet IIP's ran forever.

 

[benenglish]

The original LaserJet IIP's ran forever.

The plain LJ II (non-P version) was fine, too. There was a version that did duplexing but the extra complexity wasn't worthwhile.

Where I worked, when those printers were replaced we had a few employees who actually filed union grievances as a result. They were beyond pissed and I think they cited a provision in the union contract about the employer failing to provide needed tools to do the job. The grievances went nowhere but pretty much everybody agreed with the sentiment.

 

[TheDan]

Home printers aren't worth the hassle; I hate them.

 

[benenglish]

Home printers aren't worth the hassle; I hate them.

Lately that's been my attitude.

My Epson laser printer with the giant bottles of ink/liquid toner meant to reduce the per-page cost taught me that lesson. What good is cheap printing if the printer fails before you get through the first bottle of toner? I've since found out that the Epson ET-M1170 has a reputation for just failing outright after a short time. Apparently, this happens to all their printers of that type.

So I advise people to avoid all Epson laser printers.

When I really need a print, CharlieWH2O, up thread, is on the right track. I also send a file over to Office Depot and pick it up at my convenience. The cost of doing that is far lower than the cost of keeping a running printer on my desk.

 

[Tnhawk]

I checked my Brother MFC-8810 today and after 15,917 pages the drum has 42% remaining.

 

[glenbo]

I bought new ink cartridges and it worked perfectly for 3 days. Now it's not working again. I need a working printer at home. The nearest Staples is a 20+ minute drive one way. I don't have time for that.

 

[Southpaw]

Another one who switch to a cheap b/w laser a few years ago. It's a cheap HP (got it for $99) and the cartridges are about $55 each time, but I might buy 2 a year and I print almost every day between homeschooling and ebay sales.

 

[Army 1911]

I've got a Samsung Black &White laser that Samsung doesn't support anymore. They sold their printer section to HP or someone.
For color I use either Office Depot for color laser or CVS for photos. I did a test with CVS against a couple of pro photo print companies. I got the same quality of print from all three but CVS was cheaper and faster. All three matched my monitor although I did have to create my own ICC profile for CVS.

Axxe, either Staples or FedEx should be able to print color for you.

A general note: My last twenty years of working I ran digital laser printers. I ran a Xerox Igen 3 and 4 as well as Canon and Konica. Also Xerox Docucolor 1000. I would calibrate them with a densitometer regularly and before a run that required exact color.

Also when a printer says it will do x number of pages per cartridge/ink tank they mean at 5% ink coverage. So full color photos cut that down way down.

Fun fact, the Xerox printer I ran was 8 feet tall, 8 feet wide and 57 feet long. It also had its own 5 ton AC unit in it.

 

[jmohme]

Laser for regular documents.
For pictures I sub that out to one of a few print labs and let them wear out thier printers.
I gave up printing pictures myself after I had to get my wide format printer repaired. That cost and the cost of ink is why I use professional print labs now

 

[striker55]

When I worked at HP the CEO as much a admitted they make the money from the cartridges. They sell the printers at a very small profit.

I've heard of people buying a printer instead of replacement ink, cheaper that way.

 

[striker55]

Wife buys remanufactured ink cartridges for our printer from Amazon, about 1/3 the cost of OEM. Works fine, if she needs photos printed Walgreens is her go to.

 

[benenglish]

I've heard of people buying a printer instead of replacement ink, cheaper that way.

That's can be true for the very cheapest inkjet printers. I almost had one of those, once. I say "almost" because replacement of all the ink cartridges cost twice as much as the original purchase price but the replacement cartridges tended to last about twice as long. It was sort of a wash.

There's a reason many Chinese makers of low-end computer accessories and peripherals are referred to, with derision, as "e-waste manufacturers."

 

[jmohme]

I've heard of people buying a printer instead of replacement ink, cheaper that way.

I used to do that. See an inkjet on sale, buy it and toss the old one in the trash when it ran out of ink

 

[Brains]

If only I had squirreled away an HP LaserJet Series II printer. You can still get cartridges that will print 4000 pages for ~$100. I have no doubt there are still some original machines from 1987 that are still running. Those things were tanks.

Does anyone make something comparable, at any price, any more?

I doubt it.

Short answer? No. The last good printer was probably the HP 2200 series, which still wasn't as good as the LJ2's and LJ4's.

HP changed from manufacturing their own print engines to using Canon, which are far cheaper and far more finicky. No to mention, far less reliable. Brother is decent for low volume use, as everything in the printer is a consumable component. Lexmark is good, but requires frequent maintenance.

 

[oldag]

Short answer? No. The last good printer was probably the HP 2200 series, which still wasn't as good as the LJ2's and LJ4's.

HP changed from manufacturing their own print engines to using Canon, which are far cheaper and far more finicky. No to mention, far less reliable. Brother is decent for low volume use, as everything in the printer is a consumable component. Lexmark is good, but requires frequent maintenance.

The LJ2's were built like tanks and ran forever.

 

[Texasjack]

Brother HL-L2300D monochrome laser. It works every time I turn it on. Doesn't use much toner, but prints beautifully. Highly rated on Amazon.