What is a good, cheap, used B&W printer for personal use?

[Clueless Thinkpad man]

I recently started taking a research course in school which requires
me to print out excessive amounts of information. This includes
several 20 page articles a day, up to 80 pages of abstracts and such
at a time. I generally end up printing out everything at school,
because the only printer I have at home is a HP Deskjet 712C, a decent
color printer. I don't really want to use that for heavy-duty print
jobs, so I'm looking for a old, used, cheap printer on ebay. Does
anyone know what would be a good printer that prints black and white
decently fast? Also, how much would I be expecting to pay? The
cheaper the better.

 

[Alan]

I recently started taking a research course in school which requires
me to print out excessive amounts of information. This includes
several 20 page articles a day, up to 80 pages of abstracts and such
at a time. I generally end up printing out everything at school,
because the only printer I have at home is a HP Deskjet 712C, a decent
color printer. I don't really want to use that for heavy-duty print
jobs, so I'm looking for a old, used, cheap printer on ebay. Does
anyone know what would be a good printer that prints black and white
decently fast? Also, how much would I be expecting to pay? The
cheaper the better.

By "school" I suppose you mean university or college. That would be a
good place to start, a these often dispose of good working office
equipment at bargain prices.

Other than that, look for an HP printer, preferably HP4, 5, 6. Avoid
any models with vertical feed (like the 5L and 6L) which tend to jam.
For your purpose, nothing much else matters.

If you want a smaller one, the 4L, 4P, 5P, 6P are good, half or less
the weight of the 4,5,6. The minimum spec here is 4ppm and 300dpi
which people would sneer at today, but is more than adequate.

Try to get one locally so you can see it run and be sure it doesn't
jam. Most other problems can be solved by a new toner cart, but jams
will cost more than they're worth to get fixed unless you DIY.

Pricing varies wildly. A look on eBay will give you an idea of market
value. A professionally refurbished one costs more, but will have a
guarantee.

Have a look at <http://www.printerworks.com/Printers/Laser-Printers.html>.
This will give the basic specs of most HP printers, and also what they
charge for them, which would be an upper limit.

 

[ps]

How about a new Samsung B&W laser for $99 or thereabouts at BestBuy or
stores like that.

ps

 

[Gary Tait]

I recently started taking a research course in school which requires
me to print out excessive amounts of information. This includes
several 20 page articles a day, up to 80 pages of abstracts and such
at a time. I generally end up printing out everything at school,
because the only printer I have at home is a HP Deskjet 712C, a decent
color printer. I don't really want to use that for heavy-duty print
jobs, so I'm looking for a old, used, cheap printer on ebay. Does
anyone know what would be a good printer that prints black and white
decently fast? Also, how much would I be expecting to pay? The
cheaper the better.

Forget inkjet, get a laser.

 

[David Chien]

Best for the price - Laser printer - per page costs will be far lower
than any inkjet on the planet.

----

Minolta 1350W for $20+ tax if you hurry and find one in store:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/mes...eadid=263715&highlight_key=y&keyword1=minolta

Samsung ML-12xx/ML-14xx series. $119 or less anywhere online.
eg. http://www.pagecomputers.com/cgi-bin/page/P0000530.html
Brother HL-12xx series. $70 or less ebay.com

Don't forget to read the other fatwallet.com/forum/ >hot deals posts!
You can easily find a nice laser, cheap!