[tech] Home printers?

[siderea]

A question for my fellow Mac users

Comments

[ckd]

I've never had toner go bad, but I've had more than one inkjet clog up from lack of use. For low rate black and white, I think laser is the better option.

My current one is a Dell laser (rebadged Lexmark, I think) but it was a freebie so it's not like I actually picked it out.

[ron_newman]

I don't think b&w-only inkjet printers even exist anymore.

I'm happy with my Epson CX4200 color inkjet printer/scanner/copier, but I'm a pretty low-volume print user and use up ink pretty slowly. Especially since I often tell it to print in black & white anyway. It's connected to the Mac via USB cable.

[hudebnik]

Our current inkjet doubles as a scanner/copier (yes, we use it for sheet music; no, it's not particularly fast or convenient). It's attached by USB to our G4 running 10.4 (same as your situation), and it was a matter of thirty seconds to set up sharing so we can print from the laptop

[ron_newman]

On my Mac, all apps go through the same print dialog box, which offers Print Settings -> Color -> Black as one of its options.

[sichling]

I have a functioning extra HP all-in-one, whose drawback was printing too slowly & not working with Vista.

You're welcome to it while you figure out what you really want as long as it goes away forever.

[siderea]

An HP what? Is this a laser or inkjet? How big is it? Does it speak ethernet?

[sichling]

An HP PSC 1210 all-in-one. i think it is an inkjet. Looks like it just has USB & not Ethernet (misremembered). It is about 8" tall by 18" long by 12" wide.

[siderea]

I'm thinking about your kind offer. Since I'm not in a huge rush, I might just skip the meanwhile phase. But if not, I might well take that off your hands.

[paradoox]

I'd stay away from inkjet. You are not going to get the quality you want.

I'd also stay away from Dell. They ream you on the supplies.

Refurbished isn't bad. I have 10 year old HP printers that will probably work for another 10 years.

If you didn't want scanning and copying, I'd say go look for a used HP4050N on Ebay or Craigslist.

If you really want scanning and copying, I'd recommend something like the Brother 7840:
http://www.staples.com/Brother-Refurbished-EMFC-7840W-Laser-Multi-Function-Printer/product_819921?cmArea=SC3:CG44:DP1606:CL141778

I have an older version as do both Arisia and NESFA. They seen to work well. Once you get it and are happy with it, I'd suggest shopping Ebay for replacement genuine Brother toner. I've never had an OEM toner fail, but every time I've bought a refilled / remanufactured / off brand toner, I've been disappointed.

[oakleaf_mirror]

I don't think toner ever goes bad. I only do occasional printing, and went through a number of cheap inkjet printers that clogged due to lack of use, so when I wanted to print something it wouldn't work. Laser printers have lasted me years, and have been always ready for me after weeks of disuse. I don't believe all printers these days have network connections, though many do.

[metageek]

If all you want is black-and-white, laser is definitely the way to go. The up-front premium is only about $50, and the price per page is only about 7¢, compared to about 27¢/page for inkjets. (Source: Consumer Reports, about 2007.)

Prices go up for printers with Ethernet, but you can just have one Mac share its printer. Or you can get a printer server for...$50? I haven't checked in a while.

Most printers these days do support Mac.

I strongly recommend HP. I haven't had an HP last less than 10 years, and they don't give the kind of paper jams that used to be common with cheap inkjets. Lexmark should be avoided; they make the ink expensive and make the cartridges hard to refill. Dell are rebadged Lexmarks.

[siderea]

Thank you! Very helpful.

[siderea]

Huh! Good to know, thanks!