I have just decided to not print anything at home again. Thankfully my printer has a scanner and that's useful to me, so I've not spent every bit of my money in vain. Edit: sorry for the gut...
I have just decided to not print anything at home again. Thankfully my printer has a scanner and that's useful to me, so I've not spent every bit of my money in vain.
Edit: sorry for the gut response, I didn't know laser printers did better, I'll look into them. Thank you @tomf and @cfabbro for informing me about them!
Get a B&W laser for basic stuff, but get any color stuff printed at the appropriate printer (e.g. photos at a photo place, everything else at a normal print shop). For ink-jet, the tank systems...
Get a B&W laser for basic stuff, but get any color stuff printed at the appropriate printer (e.g. photos at a photo place, everything else at a normal print shop).
For ink-jet, the tank systems work well, but you need to do a lot of printing to justify the cost of any printer.
I'll heartily second any of the cheap Brother laser printers. I ordered an HL-2270DW 5 years ago (thanks, Amazon order history). Still on the first toner cartridge, because I don't print much, but...
I'll heartily second any of the cheap Brother laser printers. I ordered an HL-2270DW 5 years ago (thanks, Amazon order history). Still on the first toner cartridge, because I don't print much, but when I do it's rock-solid.
yeah, monochrome laser is the way to go. I can understand the theory behind inkjets using other colors to create a rich black -- this is common in print design, especially when working with...
yeah, monochrome laser is the way to go.
I can understand the theory behind inkjets using other colors to create a rich black -- this is common in print design, especially when working with newsprint. For home use its pointless.
I had an HP laser that I left in a divorce. Its one of the few things I truly miss. I should have fought for custody. :)
Why not just buy a laser printer? The laser printers themselves are slightly more expensive than inkjets but they are also way more reliable, significantly faster and there is no DRM-laden...
Why not just buy a laser printer? The laser printers themselves are slightly more expensive than inkjets but they are also way more reliable, significantly faster and there is no DRM-laden cartridge to deal with. Toner is also incredibly cheap, can be manually refilled and lasts for a long, long time. For full colour prints go to the print shop, sure... but there is no need to forsake home printing entirely just because inkjets suck.
Personally I know I don't do enough printing to justify purchasing one. Stopping by the local library to print gets me out of the house, costs basically nothing (like 5 cents a page), and is an...
Personally I know I don't do enough printing to justify purchasing one. Stopping by the local library to print gets me out of the house, costs basically nothing (like 5 cents a page), and is an excuse to support my local library.
Some of the higher end inkjets claim to be even cheaper per page than laser printing. Definitely going well so far with ours, 2 years in and only had to buy one set of cartridges (and still half...
Some of the higher end inkjets claim to be even cheaper per page than laser printing. Definitely going well so far with ours, 2 years in and only had to buy one set of cartridges (and still half full). A full set of cartridges is about £100, but it beats paying almost £50 every few months with a budget printer.
Unless you need to print something securely, please go to a local print shop, or corporate printing store if you are looking for anything outside potato quality prints these days without refilling...
Unless you need to print something securely, please go to a local print shop, or corporate printing store if you are looking for anything outside potato quality prints these days without refilling expensive ink constantly on all of today's consumer printers. The quality of prints for the price per page at at a print shop compared to buying good ink for a consumer printer and constantly having to calibrate them wasting ink is astounding. Never deal with bad ink cartridges or paper jams again. Bonus if you can support a local business.
https://store.hp.com/us/en/cv/instantink The lefty economics nerd part of me views it as rent-seeking parasitic bullshit, but I also recognize that it's probably a convenient service for a sizable...
The lefty economics nerd part of me views it as rent-seeking parasitic bullshit, but I also recognize that it's probably a convenient service for a sizable chunk of printer users.
TANSTAAFL. If you print 15 pages or less a month, it's "free"...as long as there aren't too many people on that free tier. If everyone started using it, HP would see their profit margins chipped...
TANSTAAFL. If you print 15 pages or less a month, it's "free"...as long as there aren't too many people on that free tier. If everyone started using it, HP would see their profit margins chipped away and would reduce the free tier to 5 pages / month, or make the free tier expire after a year, or something like that. It's a classic free rider problem. Works fine as long as there's only a few free riders.
I have just decided to not print anything at home again. Thankfully my printer has a scanner and that's useful to me, so I've not spent every bit of my money in vain.
Edit: sorry for the gut response, I didn't know laser printers did better, I'll look into them. Thank you @tomf and @cfabbro for informing me about them!
Get a B&W laser for basic stuff, but get any color stuff printed at the appropriate printer (e.g. photos at a photo place, everything else at a normal print shop).
For ink-jet, the tank systems work well, but you need to do a lot of printing to justify the cost of any printer.
I'll heartily second any of the cheap Brother laser printers. I ordered an HL-2270DW 5 years ago (thanks, Amazon order history). Still on the first toner cartridge, because I don't print much, but when I do it's rock-solid.
yeah, monochrome laser is the way to go.
I can understand the theory behind inkjets using other colors to create a rich black -- this is common in print design, especially when working with newsprint. For home use its pointless.
I had an HP laser that I left in a divorce. Its one of the few things I truly miss. I should have fought for custody. :)
Why not just buy a laser printer? The laser printers themselves are slightly more expensive than inkjets but they are also way more reliable, significantly faster and there is no DRM-laden cartridge to deal with. Toner is also incredibly cheap, can be manually refilled and lasts for a long, long time. For full colour prints go to the print shop, sure... but there is no need to forsake home printing entirely just because inkjets suck.
Personally I know I don't do enough printing to justify purchasing one. Stopping by the local library to print gets me out of the house, costs basically nothing (like 5 cents a page), and is an excuse to support my local library.
Some of the higher end inkjets claim to be even cheaper per page than laser printing. Definitely going well so far with ours, 2 years in and only had to buy one set of cartridges (and still half full). A full set of cartridges is about £100, but it beats paying almost £50 every few months with a budget printer.
Unless you need to print something securely, please go to a local print shop, or corporate printing store if you are looking for anything outside potato quality prints these days without refilling expensive ink constantly on all of today's consumer printers. The quality of prints for the price per page at at a print shop compared to buying good ink for a consumer printer and constantly having to calibrate them wasting ink is astounding. Never deal with bad ink cartridges or paper jams again. Bonus if you can support a local business.
I got a HP printer with 15 free prints per month at no cost for the ink
How is that possible? Do you send HP whatever you'd like to print and they'll mail it to you?
https://store.hp.com/us/en/cv/instantink
The lefty economics nerd part of me views it as rent-seeking parasitic bullshit, but I also recognize that it's probably a convenient service for a sizable chunk of printer users.
You may view it as that but I view it as free ink! Unfortunately, I have a Canon printer.
TANSTAAFL. If you print 15 pages or less a month, it's "free"...as long as there aren't too many people on that free tier. If everyone started using it, HP would see their profit margins chipped away and would reduce the free tier to 5 pages / month, or make the free tier expire after a year, or something like that. It's a classic free rider problem. Works fine as long as there's only a few free riders.
They have und service called instant ink - whenever my ink runs low they send me new ink