Lets talk printers

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Okay, so I decided my inkjet printer is literally the most expensive POS I've ever had to operate. Everytime I need to use it, there is an issue with it. Out of ink, out of paper, ends up printing something from last time that didn't print and spits out tons of paper. Are the laser jet printers any better? My main issue are the ink cartridges. You get like 100 pages out them and they run out.
 
The Canon laser copier printer gets about 1,500 page or more from a $9 generic new cartridge from Ebay. The answer is yes, lasers are 1,400 times better or more. All my laser printers can sit for days or weeks and print perfectly. They are quicker too.
 
The people who manufacture printers have got the idea that their customers are all rich office people and they price their products accordingly. They are mass produced out of cheap plastic and sold at a 1000 percent profit. How much does that printer that bdcardinal posted cost to make? I'd say about $20 tops.
 
Inkjet printers are cheap up front because they make up the cost with expensive ink cartridge refills.

I kicked my "premium" AIO inkjet to the curb and picked up a Brother B&W laserjet instead. Toner is much cheaper and can last years if barely used. I have the laserjet sit for months without printing anything and if I do need to print an important document it won't need to "initialize" like with inkjets if sat unused for a long time.
 
Brother monochrome or colour laser printer. Yes, you can buy the cheapest model.

I've owned two ... the monochrome I owned for seven years, went through two toner cartridges plus the one that came with it (about 10,000 pages), sold it to friend who uses it in her business. Paid $C 87 [$US 68] from Staples Bricks-and-Mortar. Still works fine.

Replaced it with a colour laser, owned it so far for four years. Works perfectly. Can use black ink only if you want, and separate colour toner cartridges so you only replace what you actually need. Still on the toner it came with, about 3,000 pages so far. Black is half level, colours are almost as new. Paid $C 120 [$US 94] from Staples online, they shipped it to my local Bricks-and-Mortar for pickup.

I do notice that the "starter" toner that come with the Brother printers here in Canada is much higher capacity (about 3x) than the ones I see for sale in the US, if that matters.

WiFi / Ethernet / USB (I use the WiFi setup, prints from laptop, desktop and phone without nary a single hiccup).

I've also owned Epson inkjets (currently: a six colour, including a clearcoat, dedicated photo printer) which is also excellent, but it's a waste to use that for ordinary documents. About $C 200 for a full set of ink, but again this is a very high end photo printer. I print a few hundred 8x10's on a set of ink. Printer itself was $C 600.00

I've also owned Hewlett-Packard inkjets ... high end PostScript model (at the time, in the mid 90's, about $US 2,000). I like H-P but their support is like crawling through a minefield with no way out, so I never recommend them. They were not trouble-free (which is typical of PostScript printers in general) and the issues were minor, but getting that issue resolved was a nightmare every time.

Canons are generally well liked by owners, I've never owned one as my needs in the space they do best at is better served by the Epson Photo Printer(s). But they are on the list every time I shop for a dedicated Photo printer. It's just that I expect the Epson (and the Brothers, for that matter) to outlive me.
 
RE: budget laser printers

As I mentioned in my previous post, they generally come with what is called a "starter" toner unit. Similar to how inkjets are marketed (lowest retail price being a priority to entice consumers) most low- and mid- tier lasers will come with a toner pack good for (in the US) about 500 pages (for some reason, the Brother units are 1500 in Canada. I say "for some reason" because there doesn't seem to be any real price difference between the different market models).

This lowers the retail price. But when you shop, be sure to ask or confirm what it comes with, and I would suggest buying a full toner unit when you buy the printer (use the starter unit until it dies, then replace) or at least check out the prices, and figure the cost of both into your shopping.

Note that Brother offers two sizes of replacement toner units (I don't know for sure, but suspect, it's common in the industry with other makes), it's cheaper per page to get the larger one, but regardless be sure you are comparing apples to apples when shopping with regard to capacity. Not surprisingly, when you see a price online or in a flyer, it's inevitably the smaller unit.

Also, if you are new to laser printers, know that there are two consumables in every laser printer. One is the toner cartridge, the other is the drum head. You generally need to replace the drum head less often, but there is a catch.

Some lasers incorporate the toner and drum in a single package (eg H-P). That will impact the replacement cost.

Others (Brother among them) sell separate toner and drum units.

The toner/drum units means the drum is regularly replaced and is usually trouble free. However, if the drum does die, you will lose all the toner as well.

With the Brother units I've never actually had to replace the drum, but it's said to budget for one every three toner cartridges.

The drum will last the longest if you only print text, and the shortest if you print full page photos or lots of images. Laser printers do not reproduce images as well as inkjets, may as well get that out of the way, but it's certainly adequate if you're not printing photos for display.

Although inkjets have improved, note that laser ink is permanent. Inkjets can smudge if the paper ever gets wet, which might matter if you make shipping labels or print envelopes or business cards. Also, you can use a laser for some other things like making printed circuit boards, if you're a hobbyist.
 
I have had 2 HP laser printers. Very reliable, but needed scanner and fax. Two Canon all in one laser. One Brother all in one. With Lasers all have worked good with printing.

Things to consider is where to buy toner. The only problem I had was bad toner. The last Canon was bought at Amazon and I bought two aftermarket toners. Only problem is after starter toner one did not work. From now on I will test them.

Two Canon MF470n bought at Amazon have been great. Challenging for me to install driver in Linux if that is important to you. I hear Brother is good in that regard. Again, bought two bad toners on Ebay. Once you find a good source for toner stick with it. That was my mistake. I am not complaining. I have had thousands of trouble free copies for a fraction of the cost of inkjet. My Canon's had drum in toner. Brother you replace separately. Right now Brother seems to be a top choice.
 
I second Brother brand laser printers. Best bang for the buck ink refills. Lasers cartriges last 2000 pages or so as well. I’ve been getting those for me and my family for years now.
 
Hewlett Packard black and white laser printers are the work horses of the business world. Usually they get replaced after many years and hundreds of thousands of pages printed not because they break, but because the new ones have much better technology.
 
I know everybody's needs are different, but I avoid all-in-ones because I don't want to lose print and scan at the same time if there are problems. Fax is irrelevant to me as that can all be done from the desktop (compose, send, receive, print).

Also my scanner requirements are too high to be met by all-in-one's.

Finally I am a bit too security conscious to want an internet-connected device when un-necessary; my ethernet network is divided; one faces the internet, one is local only. I only have one laptop and my ROKU stick with internet access; one computer, the security system (cameras) and the print / scan is separate and local only. I save huge amounts in software costs that way as well, no need to upgrade to the latest versions on the local network computer, so the high dollar software is there ).
 
For home use get the cheapest brother laser printer that has the options you want..
prices vary from $50 to $250 for most models.

printer only

printer scanner

printer scanner fax

adf scanner, duplex adf scanner

etc.

Brother printers at least in my experience just work and work flawlessly.
there is good aftermarket toner under 10$ each and I've never had to replace a drum but they have those for around $20 iirc.

Their drivers are simple and work well.

Canon drivers seem flashier and occasionally have issues. Also Good aftermarket toner is harder to find.
 
If you need just black and white the brother laser printers are great.

If you have need for color you can spend $250-$400 on a decent ink jet that has really low priced ink refills that last a while and are inexpensive.

BTW you sound like a whiny millennial complaining the print is out of paper in your questions, seriously. Do you think paper refills itself?
 
If you are trying to save money on laser toner, you need to know the four types of replacement toner cartridges you will find. As usual, shopping by price is tricky and you might get bit, so read on, cheapskates (and I say that in the nicest way ... )

OEM Toner Cartridge
Not much to be said here, it's an all-new manufactured part that will work perfectly or be warranted and you will get a replacement. Most expensive option.

Third Party "Compatible" Cartridge
Similar to the OEM toner, except not manufactured by them specifically. Next less expensive, may or may not be warranted.

Remanufactured Cartridge
Made up of a previously used toner cartridge that has been refurbished (worn parts replaced with new) and contains a new compatible toner load. Next least expensive option, and the lowest tier I would recommend buying. May or may not be warranted.

Refilled Toner Cartridge
A used toner cartridge that has had only the toner replaced. Your bargain priced option, but actually an expensive choice, as they have a failure rate of roughly 40%. The "donor" toner cartridge is not one that has necessarily been used only once, in fact it's likely that it's been used a number of times before refilling. You might get one that has only been used once, and that should be one of the working 60%, but just know that they keep refilling them until they fail. Which might be the one you bought. Avoid, in my opinion.

OEMs sell only newly manufactured units because they know what the wear rate is on the cartridges themselves, and they hate warranty issues for all kinds of perfectly good reasons. Broadly speaking a toner cartridge has a useful life of perhaps two refills before it's toast, and needs at a minimum a remanufacture.

One last thing ... follow the instructions *to the letter* when replacing toner. It's permanent dry pigment, remember (it's less permanent if it's not fused in the printer, but it's not just a little dust either). Yes, you CAN spill it if you're not careful. So don't toss that manual in the box and throw it away. Have a garbage bag beside the printer before you start; you will need it and will want to tie it tight.
 
My experience I has only been exactly as you described. So far, I have only had terrible and frustrating experience with inkjet printers.

I am convinced that the Canon inkjet printer has firmware in it designed to challenge my patience every single time I try to make a print from it. It has an error code that currently has it completely useless. It is always out of ink too.

I guess that one needs to spend more money to buy a real business quality printer before reliable service can be had. I just haven’t found what that dollar amount is. The sub $100 printer is no bargain in my experience.

I think I am going to try a $250 price range laser printer next.

I am currently driving to Staples to make a print lately. I am I looking to buy a reliable printer.
 
Have an HP 2540 desk jet that is just a basic printer, does have a scan function which I have never used. I always bought the Cartridge world cartridges high Yield which are about 1/3 of the price of HP. Have used the remanufactured Cartridge world without issue for several years now. But ran out of ink last week and this time the HP will not recognize the Cartridge world cartridge, went to Cartridge world store and they gave me a another one and it still did not work. Cartridge world guy said it is likely due to a HP update. HS daughter needed to do some printing for a project so ended up paying much more for an HP cartridge from Staples. She graduates so after this month it will be very rare for the wife and I to print anything. The ink form HP costs more than the printer did or just as much. If I was to get another printer and needed to print a lot I would probably go with a printer that uses an ink bottle like an Epson. probably much cheaper in the long run. If you do use cartridges you have to get the 2X high yield which for HP go about 400 pages. Apparently HP's latest update made it so that it only recognizes new HP ink and rejects refills. Have have been using refilled cartridges for several years. When this HP ink runs out I will be chucking this printer and go with the type that takes ink bottles.
 
frankbee3 I think I am going to try a $250 price range laser printer next. I am currently driving to Staples to make a print lately. I am I looking to buy a reliable printer. [/quote said:
if you just want a printer 50-75$ is enough
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-L2300D...s=brother+laser

The all in one scanner/copier/printer start around $99 you just have to catch the once a month sale.

These(or similar models)
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-Monochrom...nter+all+in+one

can easily be found in the $129 range.
 
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