So, I need to buy a printer. I need some help.

[DRT-Maverick]

It's been about 8 years since I've bought a printer. I'm in need of a printer since I haven't had one for a few years now, and I'm re-enrolled in college. The thing is, I don't really know what to go with these days. There are many new brands, many better than others, there are also the old brands.

My main problem is I don't want to get Anything made by HP or a company that uses a single cartridge for tricolors. these cartridges are the worst things in the world. You run out of a single color and you've got to toss the entire cartridge.
I've been wondering if I should look at an Epson or a Canon, but Epson doesn't seem to have any affordable printers on newegg. And Canon, some of their cartridges look expensive as hell.

What should I do? What are your guys experiences? Can you refill a canon cartridge at say an office max or depot?

[dragonfliet]

There is essentially no reason to buy a color printer, so buy a B&W laser. I have this, and it is absolutely amazing (I also love that I can scan multiple documents in a row--super handy) and you can often find it for around $100. Toner is cheap, it's reliable, awesome etc.

[DRT-Maverick]

I was thinking that, since when it comes to photos taken on a DSLR (which I do a lot of that photograhy) it ends up cheaper and higher quality, and lasting longer to have it outsourced (printed online and shipped to my house). But I'm trying to figure, do you think I'll never need to print words in different colors and such?

[_Lynx]

Originally Posted by DRT-Maverick

But I'm trying to figure, do you think I'll never need to print words in different colors and such?

Really depends on how much you print and how much are you ready to spend. Keep in mid that color laser printer uses 4 toner cartridges. The cheapest one I've found here is by Canon ( i-SENSYS LBP7010C) and it's somewhere around 150-170$. And it's just a printer. If you want scanner/copier/printer, these start around 300$.

Regarding the toner, cartridges for that Canon are around 60-70$. Black's resource is 1200 pages, color ones - 1000 pages.

If you go just B&W it's a ~60-90$ printer with cartridge price ranging from 40 to 70$. Nowdays most of the devices are quite similar in what they can offer, so I usually check a few devices from certain brands, and then check price for the cartridges they use and how long they last. Sometimes one company can have two printers one 10$ cheaper than the other, but which uses more expensive cartridge, so make sure to check a few around the price range you're aiming at. I'd better pay 20 or 30$ for a printer that uses a significantly cheaper cartridge.

[DRT-Maverick]

I went with the monochrome laser printer! Thank you guys!

A lot cheaper than buying tons of color cartridges, and I can leave the real photo printing to services online that use light and light sensitive photo paper along with chemicals.

Spent $129.99 on a Brother wireless monochrome laser which retails at 199$, and 30$ on a toner cartridge.

[cryptophreak]

I thought we'd be past this kind of problem by now.

[Manticore]

Originally Posted by DRT-Maverick

Spent $129.99 on a Brother wireless monochrome laser which retails at 199$, and 30$ on a toner cartridge.

Good choice.

[DeathBooger]

Color is a waste of money unless you're printing images constantly. Get something that will print with smartphones or tablets if you happen to have one. I think the iOS version is called Airprint or something. Avoid HP and Dell like the plague, they're cheaply made and don't like to work properly.

[DarkED]

I think you already made a good choice, but ...

Originally Posted by DRT-Maverick

My main problem is I don't want to get Anything made by HP or a company that uses a single cartridge for tricolors. these cartridges are the worst things in the world. You run out of a single color and you've got to toss the entire cartridge.

... I just thought you might like to know that usually only the low-end HP inkjets use a single multi-color cartridge. The mid-to-high-end consumer-grade OfficeJets all tend to use one cartridge per base color, and I have seen enterprise-grade HP printers (for shirt/photo printing and the like) that can use as many as 20 different color cartridges plus a toner. Incidentally, those are some of the best printers I've ever seen.

[DRT-Maverick]

Originally Posted by DarkED

I think you already made a good choice, but ...



... I just thought you might like to know that usually only the low-end HP inkjets use a single multi-color cartridge. The mid-to-high-end consumer-grade OfficeJets all tend to use one cartridge per base color, and I have seen enterprise-grade HP printers (for shirt/photo printing and the like) that can use as many as 20 different color cartridges plus a toner. Incidentally, those are some of the best printers I've ever seen.

Incidentally, the best printer I've ever used or seen is a commercial photographic printer by canon and one by kodak which uses light and chemical immersion to print on light sensitive. Crazy stuffs.
Edit: Actually it was Fuji not a Kodak. Been a few years since I worked in the photo store.

[dotnetbeast]

You need a new printer?

*PUTS ON STAPLES UNIFORM*

Hi welcome to Staples my name is Lou. How may I help you today?

[KaL976]

Too late, but my only point would be to check the websites for irate customers.
My ex spent quite a lot of money on a printer a couple of years ago [epson] & all was good under XP but when she got a new laptop with Win7 Epson didn't provide updated drivers [& still haven't afaik] so she was forced to buy another printer [not an epson needless to say]