Recommend a printer

[kermitology]

I'm furious with my current POS HP inkjet all in one, and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good quality printer. I don't care about all in ones, as I'd rather invest in a ScanSnap for a scanner.

I just want a printer that works, doesn't constantly run out of ink or complain that my cartridges are broken.

Any suggestions?

[J Diddy]

I have something very similar to this (older model) and I am happy with it: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX42257

[Rathji]

Does it need to be color?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I just want a printer that works, doesn't constantly run out of ink or complain that my cartridges are broken.

I don't think such a beast exists in 2013.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Does it need to be color?

I consider that to be a nice to have.

[Vulcan]

I don't like any printer that I've had but here's an article on buying a printer.

http://askbobrankin.com/tips_buying_...t_printer.html

He also wants you to enrol in his free newsletter.

[Table 5]

What do you tend to print? Is it mostly docs/everyday crap, or are you looking to print a lot of photos?

Get a color laser printer if it's just every day stuff where the color/quality isn't paramount. Making sure that it's a laser printer is important as they are way more efficient with toner (as opposed to inks). The toner is more expensive but it will last you much longer. I have a $400 HP color laser that I use every day and it's been great.

Get an inkjet if you print a lot of art and photos. I would recommend an Epson, as its the standard among creatives/pros. However my guess is that this is not what you need.

All in one printers tend to be junk. They do a lot of things, but never do them well.

[photon]

I got an OfficeJet Pro 8600 a while back and I've been very happy with it (after saying I wasn't going to get another HP inkjet after being unhappy with one for a while). Total workhorse and it seems to SIP ink, at least compared to my last printer.

$44 black cartridge is good for 2500 pages, my previous printer cartridges were more than that and were rated for 800 pages.

On sale at Staples too: http://www.staples.ca/en/HP-Officeje...0_2-CA_1_20001

[TurnedTheCorner]

I was looking for a good monochrome wireless laser over Boxing Day, but nothing really caught my eye.

[kermitology]

I inherited my dad's dedicated photo printer, so it's 100% documents.

Inkjet sucks, I've been looking only at laser.

[To Be Quite Honest]

I have a Pixma Canon MG5300 series printer. Prints on discs and has an extra black ink space. Great wireless beast. Also I bought ink (total set) from Amazon for $15.00.

http://www.amazon.com/PGI-225BK-CLI-...=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

"Inkjet sucks, I've been looking only at laser. "

* Well then, never mind!

[photon]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Making sure that it's a laser printer is important as they are way more efficient with toner (as opposed to inks). The toner is more expensive but it will last you much longer. I have a $400 HP color laser that I use every day and it's been great.

I almost got a colour laser, but when I looked at consumables cost it wasn't like that anymore.

The HP LaserJet Pro 400 costs $140 for 4000 pages, my inkjet costs $44 for 2500 pages (black), color are $160 each for 2600 pages for the laser, $35 for 1500 pages on the inkjet.

So that's 3.5 cents vs 1.76 cents per page black, and assuming all 3 colors used on a page that's 18.5 cents per page vs 7 cents for the inkjet.

Originally Posted by Table 5

All in one printers tend to be junk. They do a lot of things, but never do them well.

That I tend to agree, especially the cheap ones, so I targeted higher end ones. I didn't really need a multifunction, but the 8600 was on sale when I got it, it had the duplexer (which I wanted), networked, and had good reviews. http://www.trustedreviews.com/hp-off...Printer_review

And totally agree kermitology on the SnapScan, best hardware purchase I've made in a long time. Love the thing.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I inherited my dad's dedicated photo printer, so it's 100% documents.

Inkjet sucks, I've been looking only at laser.

Yeah, laser all the way. Don't even bother with inket in that case.

I have 2 year model of whatever this replaced.
http://www.staples.ca/en/HP-LaserJet...3_2-CA_1_20001

Obviously if you don't need color, you can go cheaper.

I use it as my home-office printer so it gets used most days, and I've had to replace all the toners once in about 1.5 years of use. Toners aren't cheap, but it will still be cheaper than inkjet. Plus there are lot of grey-market services that can refill the toner for you.

[photon]

The LaserJet Pro 400 seems like a good choice as well, but as I showed you certainly won't be cheaper than inkjet.

The other ones I was researching at the time were the Xerox Phaser ones. The colour laser seemed good. I really wanted one of the solid ink printers, but they are expensive.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by photon

I almost got a colour laser, but when I looked at consumables cost it wasn't like that anymore.

That may be the case, but I find inkjets don't print documents as nicely, and more importantly, are a lot slower when printing long docs. Laser printed type tends to read a little nicer.

I also like the longevity of the toner...I don't have to replace it every month or two. Plus I remember a lot of my inkjet ink was wasted whenever I had to do head cleanings (which was more often than I liked). Inkjet ink tends to get old fairly fast, so you cant store it too much.

I think in the end, there's not a huge monetary difference for one over the other, but for everyday business use, the laser just works a lot better for me.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by photon

The LaserJet Pro 400 seems like a good choice as well, but as I showed you certainly won't be cheaper than inkjet.

The other ones I was researching at the time were the Xerox Phaser ones. The colour laser seemed good. I really wanted one of the solid ink printers, but they are expensive.

I had a Xerox Phaser before the HP, and the thing jammed up so badly after 2 months of use, that I could never get the paper out. The HP so far has been flawless in use (for about 2 years now). They both printed about the same quality wise.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by photon

$44 black cartridge is good for 2500 pages, my previous printer cartridges were more than that and were rated for 800 pages.

that's an insane yield on an ink cartridge, how do you get that? assuming it's the HP 950 cart which according to the HP website has a yield of 1000 pages (which I generally find is inflated in the first place).

even if you could get that many pages out of it, my experience with ink is that it dries up before the whole cart is empty, unless you were printing with it constantly.

sometimes I just like that laser heated toner smell, which I'm sure is brain damagingly toxic.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Table 5

That may be the case, but I find inkjets don't print documents as nicely, and more importantly, are a lot slower when printing long docs. Laser printed type tends to read a little nicer.

Both of those have changed over the years as well, this 8600 seems to use a lot less ink than any inkjet I've owned and the print quality for text really is great, to the point that I'd either/or (and I used to have a monochrome laser as well as my old inkjet just for the purposes of printing documents).

Speed wise the laser will still take the inkjet, though again the differences are less than they used to be. On equivalent tests, 5 page tests were 9.1ppm vs 15.6ppm, and 20 page tests 13.6ppm vs 23.5ppm (both from the Trusted Reviews tests). So laser definitely faster, but not like it used to be.

Originally Posted by Table 5

I also like the longevity of the toner...I don't have to replace it every month or two.

Definitely no longer the case, the initial starter cartridges they give you lasted me 3-4 months, and I'm still on either my first or second set of cartridges depending on the color (you can replace each one individually, another big bonus that some inkjets didn't have). That's over a year. Haven't had to do cleanings either. Seriously after my last inkjet (and all the problems that you list out) I was totally convinced to buy a colour laser, but after reading the reviews of recent inkjets I tried this one and it's like night and day. I hated my old inkjet, and I really like this new one.. don't want to marry it like I want to marry my SnapScan, but it's got none of the flaws inkjet used to.

I think it's part technology advancement over the years, and part spending enough to avoid the garbage at the bottom.

Originally Posted by Table 5

I think in the end, there's not a huge monetary difference for one over the other, but for everyday business use, the laser just works a lot better for me.

Oh for sure, I don't think he could possibly go wrong with getting the laser, and unless he's running tens of thousands of pages a month the consumables costs are really incidental, he'd have to be printing 500 pages a month in full colour for the consumables difference to start to get into the 10s of dollars a month.

Just wanted to say how far inkjet has come recently.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

that's an insane yield on an ink cartridge, how do you get that? assuming it's the HP 950 cart which according to the HP website has a yield of 1000 pages (which I generally find is inflated in the first place).

even if you could get that many pages out of it, my experience with ink is that it dries up before the whole cart is empty, unless you were printing with it constantly.

The HP 950XL is rated for 2500 pages. They can seem inflated because they all assume 5% coverage which isn't realistic, but in this case I was comparing products from HP in both cases, so if they're inflated they'll both be inflated by the same amount. The printer speeds tested vs. the rating were also inflated by the same amounts for the 8600 and LaserJet Pro 400.

And as I mentioned, I haven't had a single issue with ink drying out with this printer, the cartridges seem very robust.

As an aside, refilling in the case of both ink and toner can sometimes be the cause of issues, I used to fix inkjets and laser printers both (well inkjets we usually mostly exchanged after some basic stuff, taking 2 hours to disassemble an inkjet isn't worth it vs. a big network laser), and customers who used refilled had FAR more problems with their printers, especially the lasers, to the point that we'd either charge more to support them or exclude them from service contracts unless they got OEM toner.

That was quite a while ago though, so I can't comment if that's still the case. I don't refill FWIW.