New printer

digitalwanderer

wandering
Legend
I'm looking for a decent printer and I'm g-damn sick of all-in-one ink jet pieces of shit. I was going to get a cheap/reliable black and white laser printer, but are there any better options? Are there any affordable color laser printers? (I'm so tired of fighting with print head cartridges!)

I got my mother one a few years ago and a $30 cartridge to replace the sampler one they give you and it's been working like a charm ever since without any problems, and my mom can make a computer burn toast if she tries, so I figure it's a strong/cheap contender. I'll post it when I refind it, I just got mad at my printer then decided life was too short and it's time for it to go. :)
 
Why do you need color printouts, anything in particular?

Years ago I switched away from inkjets to a laser printer and its one of the best switches made, right up there with removing Creative audio hardware from my PC.
 
Why do you need color printouts, anything in particular?

Years ago I switched away from inkjets to a laser printer and its one of the best switches made, right up there with removing Creative audio hardware from my PC.
Yeah, I feel like an inkjet is like using a soundblaster.

My daughter is in to art and likes color printouts sometimes, but if the price difference between color and B/W is what I think it is I won't miss color. :)
 
Hmmmm, I'm really tempted by this refurbed one along with some new cartridges. $240 for a work horse looking color laser printer don't sound bad! :|

EDITED BITS: Had two printers mixed up, fixed the cartridges prices and adjusted total. This is the one I was confused by, it's a bit older than the above one and I don't like it quite as much for some odd reason even though it's a bit cheaper and so are its cartridges.

Someone tell me why this is an idiotic idea please.
 
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We've had a Canon color laser MFC for years now and two other friends have bought them as well and we all love them. I detest inkjet, they're only good if you're printing photos and I detest the cheapest crappy MFCs either laser or inkjet as they're usually missing key features. These units were the best compromise for $$, quality and features.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Color-...keywords=canon+mf743cdw&qid=1599430491&sr=8-3

If you're just after printer you can go cheaper but we absolutely wanted multi-page scanning direct to PC.
 
I was cautious about that cheapie Brother Laser, so I used it for an entire year before I replaced my parents and sisters setup with it. Substantial improvements from reliability and support perspective. Never had any issues other than ordering replacement toner.

Where as even their expensive inkjets they had would have jams or alignment issues at least once a month where I couldn't walk them through how to resolve it over the phone.
 
I did the same with my mother. Bought her a cheap $100 b/w laser printer and she only called me when her starter toner cartridge ran out, I had already picked up the right one and was ready.

That was 2-3 years ago, and she's been happy with it without problems since. I want that kind of happy printing experience, but I also want color...so gonna try this. :)
 
Naturally the price was far cheaper than the scarcity price set now
That's what decided me on going this route, just to get a B&W one here within a few weeks is insane right now and they're almost all crap quality that are available.

I didn't realize the printer market was another one affected by the pandemic, live and learn.

That reminds me, it's time to re-order latex gloves. Hope they're still $40 for a box of 1,000 like they always are. :)

(They're not, cheapest I can find is about $82! :O )
 
btw you plan to use off-brand toner or official ones? My dad's company used to use Fuji Laser printers with off-brand toners and they always dead in less than a year.
The service center simply says its because we're using off-brand toners, but didn't elaborate more.
 
Ive bought a few printers, what happens is I buy one print out all the stuff i want to print in the first few days then it ends up sitting there like an ornament and I end up giving it to someone.
five or so years later rinse and repeat.
 
The last few inkjets I treated the same way, buy it really cheap and when it needed refilled ink I found a better model for cheaper than the carts. I'd bring the printer into work and leave it on a common area table with sign "Free, only needs replacement ink". I felt a little sorry for whoever picked them up.
 
Yeah, I'm using off-brand cartridges. $58us vs $180us I'm giving them a try. I guess if one cartridge is empty is just stops working until it's replaced. There are some ways around it, but if the printer/cartridges all work I'm just gonna order a second set of cartridges to keep on hand for when we inevitably need them.

Agreed on the new printers cost less than new printer cartridges a lot of the times, but the new printers come with shite sample ink cartridges usually that are about 1/10th a normal one. The inkjet game is rigged on ink any way you look at it. I'm hoping laser toners don't go bad over time or dry out, never had a laser printer before.

Also I cancelled the order on the HP CP2025N Color LaserJet Printer and ordered an HP CP2025DN Color LaserJet Printer that was $10us more, but it does duplex printing where the original one I was going to get doesn't. They use the same cartridges though, I like duplex printing and felt stupid after learning the difference, glad I could correct my mistake. The new one will come in the same time frame as the one I ordered.
 
Allegedly toner does go bad, but I am unsure the actual effectiveness of it. They claim toner lasts for 2 years, but I'm still using the toner cart from over 2 years ago and its working fine. Also be sure to store the toner flat and not stood on one side or the other. They also benefit from a slight shaking to redistribute the powder. I've seen the following and just can't see that being true considering my real life experience at home.

“The toner cartridge shelf life is 2 years if the protective bag is unopened or 6 months after the protective bag is opened.”​
 
When I used to work at US Steel I had to deal with some big laser printers and I remember the cartridge shaking trick and that the stuff basically seemed to last forever. I'd really love it if every time I used my printer it just worked for a year or so running, here's hoping!

Also my daughter is the one who made me look in to duplexing, she was really disappointed that it didn't have it. (She may or may not have printed out books for some college courses...)
 
I also recently learned that this is a 60lbs printer, it IS like my mill days! :D (Used to hate lugging those suckers across the plant and throughout the whole place)
 
Really? I will, but it seems from the very small amount of research that I did that PS has better image quality...or was that more of a past hardware issue and firmware/software updates could improve it? (They released new stuff end of last year, LOVE the support for it!)
 
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