I'm tired of paying for ink, I'm thinking of getting a laser printer or is there a better alternative out there?

 

A laser printer is definitely much better for just about everything except high quality photo printing. Inkjets are expensive to feed, partially because of the cost of the ink but also because inkjets are prone to clogged print heads (which requires obscene amounts of ink forced through the heads to clean them) unless they are used at least twice a week (the frequency varies between brands, models, etc.). For photos, unless you print a large number of photos several times a week, it is actually more economical to take yiur photos on a CD or flash drive to a photo processor at a drug store or someplace like Wallyworld.

 

A box of pencils! Sorry dude, I couldn't resist.

 

Laser printer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Not a "no running cost" alternative.

 

No, it's not a "no running cost" alternative but it is still one heck of a lot cheaper per copy to operate than an inkjet. The printout is also more stable; inkjet printouts are subject to running if they get wet. The toner carts (and many include the imaging drum) may cost more than inkjet carts but the laserjet carts will give far more printouts. Even with having to replace drums (when not incorporated in the cart) and fusers, the cost per printout is still lower with laserjets than with inkjets.

 

Inkjet versus Laser jet for B&W is no contest. You go laser jet for basic printers and fax. That is all I do and have been using laser jet for 15 years. Just recently got myself a laser fax machine which can give me around 3000 pages to start. I had tried inkjet faxes and was lucky to get 200 pages at most. They are cheap to buy but when the two carts (black and color) cost more than the machine one can't keep up. I just took two perfectly good inkjet fax machines and dump them off at the recycle center. Since I never print photos I have no real need for color inkjet printers at all.

 

Actually, the better color laserjets do a suprprisingly good job rendering color printouts. A friend of mine used one at home for her schoolwork and the pictures she prints out of her students are magazine cover quality (obviously, the better the paper used, the better the print quality).

However, like tbm3fan, I have little need for color printing and have been happy with a B&W laserjet for several years now. The rare times I want any photos printed, I farm the job out. It's far more economical in the short and long run.

 

So for home use would you have a brand or model that you favor?

 

Not right now. I have an HP that has served me well of the past 7-8 years but I can't recommend HP products anymore. HP has slipped in product quality, their customer service has gone down the tubes since they outsourced it to an Indian call center, and they have jacked up the cost of consumables. They also have abandoned many products so if you move to a newer OS, you have to replace the product because HP will not write new drivers.

I would also steer clear of Epson products. I've had two (a printer and a scanner) and both were junk.

I'm going to be in the market for a new printer before too long (I can't find unexpired toner carts for mine anymore) so I will have to research customer reviews of various printers to decide what to get.

 

Home use? That would be easy. A Brother HL-2140 for home which is $129 on Amazon. The toner cart is $45 from Amazon when needed. Compare that to a fax I had where the ink cart was $38 for 200 copies versus 3000 minimum on a Brother. You can even extend it a bit more by pulling out the toner cart, when the toner light flashes, and cover up the two laser sight ports on either side which tell the printer how low the toner is. That can get you at around 500-800 more pages when on toner save mode. All I have ever used is Brother laser printers and use them until the drum is on it's last legs. Then, rather than a new drum, I get one like the 2140 for almost the same price. My printers are usually good for around 8000 pages before the drum starts to streak the pages. The one next to this computer has started to do this but it dates to 2004.

 

Way back when I was the IT guy (10 years or so) HP was it, as far as we were concerned. I haven't looked at a laser printer since then though.

The thing I liked about HP is that all of the consumables were in the cartridge. The toner, the drum and the corona wires were all replaced with the cartridge. That made them more expensive, but you never had to worry about a bad drum or a bad corona wire taking out your printer. The fuser stayed with the printer. But fusers last near forever.

I don't know if any other laser makers do the same thing with the cartridges, but that's something I'd be looking at.

 

That's what I liked about HP as well but, as I said, the company has since gone south in quality. Also, not all HP laserjets have everything in the toner cart now, especially the color printers.

 

With a laser printer, you will pay for toner cartridges (which aren't nearly as readily
available as inkjet refills).


A dot-matrix, ribbon printer?

Dot matrix printer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



A Daisy Wheel printer?

Daisy wheel printer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Not readily available? What office supply store do you go to? Any Office Depot, Staples or Office Max will have a wall of ink carts and one of toner carts. I can walk into anyone of them and get my toner, which is usually once every 3 years, or go to Amazon. You want to know what is hard to get? Just try to find dot matrix ribbons in one of those places. One can't except on the web in special sites that carry the out of date stuff since I do have a Panasonic dot matrix also.

 

Single pencil because a box just costs too much.