Printer recommendations

[Mint]

My HP printer went dead after only 2 years, so HP out of the running
for any more purchases from me. ( I have an old HP scanner that is
still running fine.)

I am looking for a reliable printer that will last at least 3 years.

In shopping, it looks like all you can get are all-in-ones, unless you
go with a laser.

What do you think of Brother and Epson printers?

Have a great day,
Andy

http://intouch.org/magazine/daily-devotional
http://www.happynews.com/

 

[Man-wai Chang]

In shopping, it looks like all you can get are all-in-ones, unless you

go with a laser.
What do you think of Brother and Epson printers?

Epson has the best Linux support. Don't forget about the cost of toners
& ink cartridges.

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[Charlie Hoffpauir]

My HP printer went dead after only 2 years, so HP out of the running
for any more purchases from me. ( I have an old HP scanner that is
still running fine.)

I am looking for a reliable printer that will last at least 3 years.

In shopping, it looks like all you can get are all-in-ones, unless you
go with a laser.

What do you think of Brother and Epson printers?

Have a great day,
Andy

http://intouch.org/magazine/daily-devotional
http://www.happynews.com/

I have both Brother and Epson printers (actually 2 Brother printers).
Both the Brother models are laser-type, the Epson a color inkjet for
printing discs (primarily). All three have worked fine, with
absolutely no problems.... but then none of them receive very heavy
usage. I've normally used Canon color inkjets, and my old i850 worked
absolutely great with very heavy photo printing until the printhead
finally failed. OTOH, a Canon ip4600 failed in just over a year....
and cost of ink was very high since the cartridges for it are
"chipped" and so you can't refill.

For laser, I still prefer HP (still have one of those in service after
many years), and for inkjet, I don't think any are very good. I tend
to think of them as disposable.... basically you need to buy a new one
when the ink runs out, and never stock up of lots of ink cartridges,
because the printer is likely to fail before you use them, and the
next model will probably take a different and more expensive
cartridge.

I'm currently without a working color printer for photos, so I'll be
curiously watching the thread myself to see if anyone has had better
luck than I.

 

[John Doe]

My HP printer went dead after only 2 years, so HP out of the
running for any more purchases from me. ( I have an old HP
scanner that is still running fine.)

I am looking for a reliable printer that will last at least 3
years.

In shopping, it looks like all you can get are all-in-ones,
unless you go with a laser.

Good idea. Laser printers are cheap and provide extremely clear
and crisp black-and-white text. But how should I know, since
nobody knows what your applications are...
--

 

[RayLopez99]

to think of them as disposable.... basically you need to buy a new one
when the ink runs out, and never stock up of lots of ink cartridges,
because the printer is likely to fail before you use them, and the
next model will probably take a different and more expensive
cartridge.

I think you are too pessimistic on inkjets. I have an HP inkjet
that's over six years old (an All-in-one model that has a
scanner,copier) and it runs fine under heavy usage. The inkjet
cartridges are not too expensive if you get them refilled at one of
the many ink refill stores here in Athens, Greece.

RL

 

[Charlie Hoffpauir]

I think you are too pessimistic on inkjets. I have an HP inkjet
that's over six years old (an All-in-one model that has a
scanner,copier) and it runs fine under heavy usage. The inkjet
cartridges are not too expensive if you get them refilled at one of
the many ink refill stores here in Athens, Greece.

RL

Thanks for that info, Ray, but shipping cost from Houston to Athens is
prohibitively expensive. AFAIK, there are no printers now sold in the
USA that allow refills without loss of features. I'm actually
considering having my old i850 repaired for that reason.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

My HP printer went dead after only 2 years, so HP out of the running
for any more purchases from me. ( I have an old HP scanner that is
still running fine.)

I am looking for a reliable printer that will last at least 3 years.

In shopping, it looks like all you can get are all-in-ones, unless you
go with a laser.

What do you think of Brother and Epson printers?

Have a great day,
Andy

http://intouch.org/magazine/daily-devotional
http://www.happynews.com/

I've been happy with Brother laser printers. I'm with you, I won't
touch HP anymore. What I've seen in recent years is as bad as they
used to be good.

 

[Michael Black]

I have both Brother and Epson printers (actually 2 Brother printers).
Both the Brother models are laser-type, the Epson a color inkjet for
printing discs (primarily). All three have worked fine, with
absolutely no problems.... but then none of them receive very heavy
usage. I've normally used Canon color inkjets, and my old i850 worked
absolutely great with very heavy photo printing until the printhead
finally failed. OTOH, a Canon ip4600 failed in just over a year....
and cost of ink was very high since the cartridges for it are
"chipped" and so you can't refill.

For laser, I still prefer HP (still have one of those in service after
many years), and for inkjet, I don't think any are very good. I tend
to think of them as disposable.... basically you need to buy a new one
when the ink runs out, and never stock up of lots of ink cartridges,
because the printer is likely to fail before you use them, and the
next model will probably take a different and more expensive
cartridge.

Huh?

People discard inkjets all the time, but the norm seems to be because the
printers are so cheap. They get them for fifty dollars, and when the ink
runs out, they discover it will cost them close to the same amount to
replace the ink cartridges. SO they toss them and get a new printer.

It's not because they won't stand up, the owners don't get to that point.
They are considered "disposable" because they are so cheap, not because
they are failing.

On the other, the cartridges are expensive, even refilling isn't so cheap.
I had an inkjet printer for the summer of 2001. I got it at a garage
sale, the owner said the cartridge was empty, and I paid a fair amount
for the refill kit. The refill lasted about a month, though I admit
I was playing around with it, the novelty of having a high density printer
for the first time. When the ink ran out, I abandon the printer. Not
because it was defective, but the cost of using it. Plus, I discovered
the ink smeared when it get wet, and I didn't like that at all.

I got a laser printer a few months later at a school rumamge sale, for
$25, and have stayed with laser printers ever since. When that one ran
out, I just bought a used HP 4P for $15 at another rummage sale, and I've
kept with that one, buying refilled cartridges a couple of times.

Note that I've seen laser printers on the sidewalk waiting for the garbage
trucks, undoubtedly people who decide to buy a new printer than pay for a
new cartridge when the old runs out.

Michael

 

[RayLopez99]

Thanks for that info, Ray, but shipping cost from Houston to Athens is
prohibitively expensive.

No it's not. I know a couple of shady looking terrorist types that
would love to ship you a package, free of charge, if you are a
capitalist! ;-)

AFAIK, there are no printers now sold in the
USA that allow refills without loss of features. I'm actually
considering having my old i850 repaired for that reason.

Not sure what you mean. Are you saying there are printers without
cartridges now? I've seen some adverts for this--the ink was in the
form of a solid plastic brick--by Canon if memory serves. Does away
with liquid ink altogether.

RL

 

[Charlie Hoffpauir]

No it's not. I know a couple of shady looking terrorist types that
would love to ship you a package, free of charge, if you are a
capitalist! ;-)


Not sure what you mean. Are you saying there are printers without
cartridges now? I've seen some adverts for this--the ink was in the
form of a solid plastic brick--by Canon if memory serves. Does away
with liquid ink altogether.

RL

no, just that printers now have microchips attached (or embedded) that
tell the computer that the cartridge is "empty" after a certain amount
of usage. (I don't know if this is based on time, or pulses sent to
the print head, or what....but people have complained that their
cartridge was reported as empty while still containing ink.) Moreover,
even if the give you a bit of "overlap) so you can refill it and print
a bit more, eventually the cartridge is reported to the printer as
"empty". So in effect, this forces you to buy another cartridge (or a
chip, if you can find a black market source).

For a long time Canon printers did not use the chips.... my i850 for
example, was "infinitely" refillable. However, it's replacement, the
ip4600 uses the chips and in addition uses smaller ink cartrideges
that are more expensive.... so it's a double cost hit.

If someone knows of a printer that doesn't use the chips, I'd like to
look into getting one of those.

 

[Michael Black]

No it's not. I know a couple of shady looking terrorist types that
would love to ship you a package, free of charge, if you are a
capitalist! ;-)


Not sure what you mean. Are you saying there are printers without
cartridges now? I've seen some adverts for this--the ink was in the
form of a solid plastic brick--by Canon if memory serves. Does away
with liquid ink altogether.

I read that previous bit as meaning all the printers are now designed
to not allow for cartridge refill.

There were some, going back in time, where the cartridge (or maybe
the printer) kept track of the page count or something, and merely filling
the cartridge wouldn't work since the specified page count would disable
the printer.

I imagine he's talking about something like that. I have no idea whether
it holds to "all" inkjet printers being sold now or not.

The thing is, if someone really wants to go to inkjet, there has been a
near continuous supply of them. All those people not wanting to bother
with buying new cartridges when the ink runs out, they dump the inkjet
printers and buy another one. So one can find them at rummage sales,
garage sales and even waiting for the garbage trucks. Most will be
fine, since they were tossed due to the cost of new cartridges, not
due to failure. If one doesn't work, there's always many more to be had
cheap or free.

Michael

 

[Charlie Hoffpauir]

The thing is, if someone really wants to go to inkjet, there has been a
near continuous supply of them. All those people not wanting to bother
with buying new cartridges when the ink runs out, they dump the inkjet
printers and buy another one. So one can find them at rummage sales,
garage sales and even waiting for the garbage trucks. Most will be
fine, since they were tossed due to the cost of new cartridges, not
due to failure. If one doesn't work, there's always many more to be had
cheap or free.

Michael

That's very interesting! I haven't been keeping up with things like
printer sales recently, but a few years ago, the story was that (ink
jet) printers were so cheap because the manufacturer intended to make
their profit from selling you the ink. The same sales model that
Gillette razors used years ago; give you the razor than sell you
blades for the rest of your life.

I actually have 3 lazer printers here, plus a Xerox copier, but I
"need" an ink jet printer for color photographs. I still don't think
color lazers are good enough for photos.... business graphics maybe,
but not photos. I think I'll start looking for some of those ink jet
printers that are being disposed of when the ink runs out.