Printers

[weirdlookinguy]

My old (2001) HP has seen better days. It was giving me streaked printouts, making my schoolwork look like shit (as if I give a shit about school, but still). This printer has given me less than stellar text printouts since it was given to me used three years ago, when I had a brand new cartridge in it.

A new cartridge for the HP $35.99 plus tax, and that's just for the black cartridge, while a whole new Canon printer/scanner combo with color and black ink included was $40 at Fry's. I went with a whole new printer.

Surprisingly, it's not too shabby. Prints really fast and whoops the living shit out of my old HP in terms of print quality.

Now I ask you guys, what's the way to go for light duty (couple pages a week), mostly text printing? Starting community college next fall, so unfortunately I'm sure that I'll be needing a printer for a few years yet to come. Once the ink in this disposable Canon runs out on me in a few months, should I just go ahead and replace the ink ($15 for the black cartridge, which is all I use) or should I spring for one of those sub-$100 Samsung laser printers?

I realize that, as with optical drives, most everything available is shit these days because of the price.

[gdement]

Re: Printers

I'd get an old laser on ebay. You get much more quality for the money this way. Avoid the really cheap models and get something that was made to work.
I bought an HP Laserjet 5 for $60 shipped a little over a year ago. It's been flawless.

Laser printers should all have page counters so look for that info before picking one. But be aware that there is a way for the counter to be reprogrammed, so I'd stick with reputable sellers.

Toner is also cheap on ebay, I got mine for $40 shipped, but you have to be careful when buying that stuff. Most listings are generic refills, which suck, so make sure it's an actual HP (or whatever) cartridge. Also look at the box style, and research what the current box style is supposed to look like. There's people selling 10+ year old cartridges, and they *do* go bad sitting on the shelf sometimes.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Printers

Mine are Laserjet 4+.
I use the generic refills. - Still flawless prints.
Only problem you might have is the rubber in the rollers gets hard after a while and they won't 'grab' the paper anymore which causes paper jams.
Takes about 10 years for the rubber to get that bad.
Rebuild kit is ~$25.
One cartridge is good for around 3000 pages.
.

[shadow]

Re: Printers

I got a great deal on EBay for my HP Laserjet 2200dn. Only AU$100, only had about 20,000 pages on the clock when I bought it. I was lucky enough that the toner was pretty much full too.

I bought it specifically for the Duplex and Network capabilities. Works a treat.

Still haven't gone through one of the 5000 page toners after a couple of years.
I have a spare one waiting when the current one finally finishes.

[ratdude747]

Re: Printers

keep eyes out at goodwill. i found a laserjet 1012 for 10 bux with a full toner.

what ever you do, do not buy lexmark. they are pure shit.

my main beef with them is no linux support, but i have not been impressed with quality either.

btw, dell=lexmark. so screwdell printers as well.

epson has high quality but charges a lot for ink. also, it measure ink by pages printed, not ink level, and if you don't change it when empty, the printer locks up until you cough up more $ for ink. screw epson as well.

[delaware74b]

Re: Printers

I scored an HP LJ1300 at a yard sale, $25. It was brand new in box, factory sealed. It's not a hot printer - I know the person I bought it from. It has 2500 pages on it now still on factory toner. I got it to replace my free Apple laserwriter 630 [hp 4 engine] that had the exit roller accordion folding problem. It was cheaper than the repair kit.

[NxB]

Re: Printers

I have 3 or 4 laserjet 4050Ns. I haven't replaced the toner yet.

[Junk Parts]

Re: Printers

I put all my printers in the trash can. When I need a print job run I export it to my wife, and she prints it up with her trusty "POS" Lexmark. SNOW SUCKS!

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Printers

Funny enough, we also have an old POS Lexmark that just won't quit. It's from 2002 and came with a removable Delta PSU, so maybe the quality isn't half bad, especially compared to the garbage out there today.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for an old HP Laserjet. We have 4050Ns at school and they're pretty nice.

[gdement]

Re: Printers

From what I've read, I think Lexmark's business printers are much better than the cheap consumer models. 2 very different product lines.


Regardless of brand, if you only need black I wouldn't touch an inkjet. Lasers are much easier to live with, no need for the inkjet aggravation.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Printers

SNOW SUCKS!

I thought Snow Blew.

[Junk Parts]

Re: Printers

Blow, Blew, Sucks, Sucked, Yokohama Mama all good! Blow, Blew, Sucks, Sucked, Snow Storm all bad!