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Old 11-30-2022, 09:14 AM   #1
Chingas
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Default Printers what to buy?

So I need another printer again. That last two have been all in one inkjet HP printers and the damn things are not g great to say the least.

I don't use the printer enough and everytime I do need it it has to update or do maintenance for 20 minutes before I can use it. That or disconnect and reconnect and get the damn thing to communicate before using it. This coupled with what I feel is high and expensive ink usage, I get the feeling that I wind up spending on average 20 minutes per printed page and likely dollars of cost per page at the end of the year. The darn thing also won't run off brand cartridges so I'm stuck with expensive HP cartridges. It's just not a very good experience.

So what are you using? What printer is trouble free? Do they even exist?
I need a scanner and wifi connectivity is a plus. At this point I don't really care if I have color or not. I just want something that will work every time without breaking the bank and maybe last more than 2 years without going completely bonkers.
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Old 11-30-2022, 09:21 AM   #2
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Default Printers what to buy?

Consider looking at a basic black and white laser printer. Much less hassle with ink running out/drying out if you’re only using the printer once in a while

I switched to something similar to the one linked below a couple years back, and it has been way less hassle

https://www.staples.ca/products/2764...-laser-printer

Hope that helps
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Old 11-30-2022, 09:40 AM   #3
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Do you live near a library?

If so, do your printing for free there.

Makes miles more sense than owning a printer where the ink expires before you finish it.
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Old 11-30-2022, 10:00 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ah123 View Post
Consider looking at a basic black and white laser printer. Much less hassle with ink running out/drying out if you’re only using the printer once in a while

I switched to something similar to the one linked below a couple years back, and it has been way less hassle

https://www.staples.ca/products/2764...-laser-printer

Hope that helps
I bought a Brother MFC-L2750DW last year and it's been rock solid. We don't print that often, but when we do there's never been an issue, and the scanning features are great
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Old 11-30-2022, 10:15 AM   #5
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I'd suggest a Brother or Canon MFC (multi function centre) black and white laser printer as well. It'll work well for photocopies, scans and printing. Most have wireless. I think Lexmark is pretty solid too, but unfortunately I don't have personal experience with them. My understanding is that they're basically a similar experience to the Canon MFC. Just go to Staples or something if you ever need color prints.

I personally lean towards the Brother MFC as they're designed to be office work horses and usually spool up within a few seconds of powering on for that reason. The scanning compression isn't always as good as other options, but it's rarely an issue. Canon isn't horrible, but sometimes you kinda see the higher end photography stuff embedded into their machines. It's great for slightly better resolution for printing, scans and digital file compression, but the spool up is a bit longer than Brother.

It'll cost you probably $300-$600 for one though because Covid prices. It's double what it used to be before Covid. If you find lower than that, definitely consider it. The one that Hemi linked above is solid. I have no qualms about putting in well rated aftermarket toners for printing. But the starter toner that a Brother MFC comes with is typically rated for 1000 pages or something like that anyways. Almost all Brother MFC I've ever used lasted a minimum of 5 years in a high print office setting (10-15K prints).
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Old 11-30-2022, 10:23 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda View Post
I bought a Brother MFC-L2750DW last year and it's been rock solid. We don't print that often, but when we do there's never been an issue, and the scanning features are great
We have the MFC-L2740DW and my experience is the same.
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Old 11-30-2022, 10:33 AM   #7
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We have the MFC-L2740DW and my experience is the same.
My Brother MFC 7840 is from 2010 and has been very reliable. Super fast workhorse printer that easily handles pages by the 100s.

Any HP I've had has been ####.
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Old 11-30-2022, 10:49 AM   #8
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Brother or Canon laser, never worry about stupid dried up ink cartridges ever again. the only thing is depending on what you're printing, I've had questionable results using knockoff color toner, so now I splurge on genuine parts just to avoid the gamble. if you print almost always B&W, then the imitation stuff might be fine.

related, Epson recently announced they are exiting the laser segment for "sustainability" reasons. in other words, they're not able to hold your nuts hostage on frequent ink replacements, so they're not interested in laser anymore. my previous multifunction before my current Canon was an Epson PrecisionCore, and it printed ok for like a month before barfing streaks onto everything even after multiple cartridge changes and endless cleaning cycles. it's one of the few pieces of equipment I've wanted to give The Office treatment to.
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Old 11-30-2022, 11:24 AM   #9
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Another vote for a B&W laser. Have probably only changed the ink toner cartridge twice in a decade. When I need colour it usually also means I need larger sizes so I just send to Staples on those occasions.
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Old 11-30-2022, 12:09 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by PepsiFree View Post
Do you live near a library?

If so, do your printing for free there.

Makes miles more sense than owning a printer where the ink expires before you finish it.
Yeah, this is what I was going to suggest. Assuming you live in Calgary, a library card is free and you get a $5 credit each month for printing, which is 50 black and white pages or a smaller number of colour pages.

Even Staples is a good choice if you don't live near a library (or don't live somewhere with free library printing).

For either the library or Staples, you just need to put the documents on a USB stick and plug it into the printer. The library is supposed to have a wireless way to do it too, but I could never get that to work and the USB stick is just as good.


If you print really infrequently and it isn't too inconvenient for you, this really is the best option.
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Old 11-30-2022, 12:26 PM   #11
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That is not true as I have rep'd their products and was their local guru. Most people want color believe it or not and cheap too. That is why all the cartridge printers are out there. The amount of customers I talked to in stores telling me how much color kids were running off was i sane in most cases. If you print enough just get a tank printer. You actually do pay for your printer (go figure) but the ink is super cheap and does not plug up as easy as cartridges. If b&w is all you need yes a laser will cost way more but will be cost effective per copy. Tank printers work out to the same or even less per copy than laser. It all depends on your needs and wants.





Quote:
Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack View Post
Brother or Canon laser, never worry about stupid dried up ink cartridges ever again. the only thing is depending on what you're printing, I've had questionable results using knockoff color toner, so now I splurge on genuine parts just to avoid the gamble. if you print almost always B&W, then the imitation stuff might be fine.

related, Epson recently announced they are exiting the laser segment for "sustainability" reasons. in other words, they're not able to hold your nuts hostage on frequent ink replacements, so they're not interested in laser anymore. my previous multifunction before my current Canon was an Epson PrecisionCore, and it printed ok for like a month before barfing streaks onto everything even after multiple cartridge changes and endless cleaning cycles. it's one of the few pieces of equipment I've wanted to give The Office treatment to.
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Old 11-30-2022, 01:17 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack View Post
Brother or Canon laser, never worry about stupid dried up ink cartridges ever again. the only thing is depending on what you're printing, I've had questionable results using knockoff color toner, so now I splurge on genuine parts just to avoid the gamble. if you print almost always B&W, then the imitation stuff might be fine.

related, Epson recently announced they are exiting the laser segment for "sustainability" reasons. in other words, they're not able to hold your nuts hostage on frequent ink replacements, so they're not interested in laser anymore. my previous multifunction before my current Canon was an Epson PrecisionCore, and it printed ok for like a month before barfing streaks onto everything even after multiple cartridge changes and endless cleaning cycles. it's one of the few pieces of equipment I've wanted to give The Office treatment to.
The non-OEM toners are passable in the sense that for the bad ones, there will be a significant spike in stray toner dots (like a small group of random black pixels) or light "clouding" that looks like a shadow that will show up on some of the forms you print. Most of them print like an OEM toner for quite a bit of the life of the toner assuming it's not a totally trash toner. Most 4 star plus aftermarket toners on Amazon are like this. If you print stuff that doesn't have to be perfect looking and official, go this route. I use the aftermarket ones for work purposes and then I have an OEM drum and toner combo for official prints that require signatures. If these imperfections bugs you, then pay the premium for OEM toner. It'll probably come out to something like an extra $15-20 bucks a year for cleaner looking prints based on how the average person uses printers.

Really ####ty toners will have huge clouds and shadows on the prints. It'll look like a photocopy of a page from 1990 with the thing open. Ugly, but typically still completely legible. But those are typically the unrated ones or less than 4 start review ones. The worst is when you get one that was filled incorrectly and badly aligned. Once the toner blows up, you have to clean that #### up (and you don't want to breathe it in).

If you're a few years in and somehow blow through your starter OEM toner, grabbing an aftermarket one for less than half the price of OEM is a reasonable approach. Inkfirst, V4ink and Mustache brands are both solid options for aftermarket toners and drums.


If printing is all you need, you can easily get a black and white laser printer for less than $100. I've used Samsung ones that worked great, always printed clean and had reasonable priced aftermarket toner options, but it ate toner like crazy vs the Brother (but I print insane amounts each year). But IMO, having the MFC option is great. I use mine often for applications to scan in drivers licenses, void cheques, make duplicate copies/scan a back up etc.

Last edited by DoubleF; 11-30-2022 at 01:20 PM.
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Old 11-30-2022, 01:46 PM   #13
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Thank you everyone for your advice. Sounds like I'm in luck. I just spoke to my friend and he has an extra still in the box brother mfc that I'm going to get. I hope that this will reduce my printer related pain for a long time. I'm excited for the prospect of having something that will just work.
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Old 11-30-2022, 01:51 PM   #14
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I definitely recommend a laser printer, I cannot think of a scenario where inkjet types are better. I use a Lexmark, and I've heard great things about Kyocera. My Lexmark is mostly good, although it doesn't seem to mesh with wifi apple devices too well (not a problem for me)

I get my toner from https://www.123ink.ca/
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Old 11-30-2022, 02:09 PM   #15
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I definitely recommend a laser printer, I cannot think of a scenario where inkjet types are better. I use a Lexmark, and I've heard great things about Kyocera. My Lexmark is mostly good, although it doesn't seem to mesh with wifi apple devices too well (not a problem for me)

I get my toner from https://www.123ink.ca/
If I'm not mistaken Kyocera would work great, but they aren't cheap. I believe that Kyocera offers printer/MFC that are high end work horses for office applications. It'll work great but typically only makes sense if you're doing something like 5K plus pages per year. It's basically a compact networked full blown photocopier at minimum. It'll be great, but it'll also be like buying a Porsche to drive to the grocery store half a dozen times a year.

IIRC, entry level Kyocera MFC are like 2-3x higher than entry level Brother MFC. But the price you pay for Kyocera is on par if not better value than similarly price Brother MFC. I think the lowest priced Kyocera is something like $800?
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Old 11-30-2022, 02:18 PM   #16
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I switched to a B&W Laser printer too and if I need color I can do that from work but printing color seems to be a rarity for me. I also buy my ink from 123ink and I buy the Moustache brand toner, which is even cheaper than the manufacturer's brand, sometimes it costs 1/3 of the price. It works just as well too.


Where I work we buy toners from 123ink and we purchase Moustache brand toners. The only issue we've noticed with Moustache is high yield toner can be prone to "leak". The percentage we've seen this happen is extremely small but it was always high yield. We manage about 80 printers on our network.
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Old 11-30-2022, 04:31 PM   #17
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.... and I buy the Moustache brand toner, which is even cheaper than the manufacturer's brand, sometimes it costs 1/3 of the price. It works just as well too....
Ah yes, I should have mentioned this too when I posted the link.

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IIRC, entry level Kyocera MFC are like 2-3x higher than entry level Brother MFC. But the price you pay for Kyocera is on par if not better value than similarly price Brother MFC. I think the lowest priced Kyocera is something like $800?
Perhaps... I think you have to go to a place like RGO to even get pricing on that brand.

But all I have read about it is that the build quality is a tier above.
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Old 11-30-2022, 10:23 PM   #18
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I have a Brother HL-L2390DW All-In-One Monochrome Laser Printer.

https://www.staples.ca/products/2829...-laser-printer
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Old 12-01-2022, 01:00 PM   #19
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All the ink jet printers I have had suffered from the problem of drying out and clogging the print head due to infrequent printing. Sometimes going through the clean the head process done by the machine would work, but eventually it doesn't.


Laser is definitely the way to go if you want the convivence of printing at home and not having to worry about your printer becoming e-waste.

Last edited by sureLoss; 12-01-2022 at 01:05 PM.
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Old 12-06-2022, 02:09 PM   #20
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I had one dot matrix printer that lasted me from 1987 through the mid/late 90s and it only got retired because my ancient Tandy computer was no good for the time, otherwise the printer could have been used for a while longer.

I had at least 4 inkjet printers before I went with a laser. I think we've had the laser printer for 11 or 12 years now.
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