Comments on: “Why I Believe Printers Were Sent From Hell to Make Us Miserable”

By: Head Geek

Head Geek — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:03:14 +0000

My thoughts are: if you do any noticeable level of document-only printing, buy a cheap black-and-white laser printer. If you only need color once or twice a year, you can always stop by your local copy shop, after all. It's a lot cheaper that way, and you'll still get the (significant!) advantage of laser printing technology.

Another advantage: toner doesn't dry into uselessness if you don't print something regularly. That's a problem I often had with my inkjet printers, before I bit the bullet and bought a laser.

If you'd be strapped for cash, then don't buy a new printer yet -- but don't buy any color ink cartridges either, just a black ink one. Then you can figure out whether you really need color or not, and save up some cash toward a new laser printer at the same time.

By: Ploni Almoni

Ploni Almoni — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:26:27 +0000

BTW, my Canon Printer has Linux drivers available. You have to download them from a non-US Canon support site though.

I was looking through your messages on printers because my ink’s running low again and I’m thinking of getting a new printer. There’s a Samsung color laser printer now available for $150 but the toner refills for it is over $100 for all colors and b/w cartridges combined!

OTOH, a b/w Brother laser printer with built-in wifi is $109, with much cheaper toner needs, and a multifunction b/w Brother laser printer is available for $150. (I couldn’t find a cheap multifunction color laser printer.) Your thoughts? I don’t really need color right now, but if I go back to that online college, I’ll need it to print out my certificate.

OTOH, if I get that Samsung color laser printer, the ink toner refills might not be affordable to me, I might have to wait a month to pay for them. Also, with $150, I could continue to have a scanner and copier instead, without having to keep around this bulky second printer and replug it in, etc. I really don’t have room in my apartment room for two printers. Your thoughts?

Or maybe I’ll suck it in and pay for ink yet again, it’ll be $75 for both color and b/w now, but I won’t be strapped for cash this month if I pay for that rather than a new printer.

By: Ploni Almoni

Ploni Almoni — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:23:41 +0000

Oops.

By: Head Geek

Head Geek — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:35:10 +0000

Yes, the toner cartridges for this one are pretty inexpensive. And they last quite a while… I’ve only had to replace one since I got it.

Someone you knew was made by Brother?

By: Ploni Almoni

Ploni Almoni — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:53:55 +0000

That Xerox printer has toner cartridges for $28! That's less than my inkjet-type printer, and replaced less often. I can't justify or afford a $700 printer though, and believe it or not my Canon MP210 doesn't run out of ink often... for an inkjet-type printer... My next printer though will probably be a low-end black and white laser printer.

I was pretty impressed by someone I knew who I helped purchase it who was made by Brother, it was well recommended on NewEgg. It had wifi and ethernet networking for only $15 or $20 more than the regular version, amazing. It was less than $150. I think I've spent $40 on ink already, plus $55 for the multifunction printer. Not too bad though considering I've had it almost 2 years. It already has the light lit claiming it's low on color ink, but I figure that it has a lot more pages left. (You can make it b/w though until the color ink is replaced, a nice feature.)