Printer for School

I'm off to a residential high school next year and need a good printer. The school is like an early college program and I will be taking college-level classes.

I have two HP all-in-ones at my house, but both of them suck. The first one starting shooting parts across the room one day, and now you have to remove a printed page immediately from the tray or it will tear it up. The second all-in-one's scanner doesn't work and half the time it will load a piece of paper, but then get stuck.

I want something that is cheap but reliable. I don't know if I want an all-in-one or not. What are some good printers out there?

 

If you don't need all of the features of an all-in-one, I recommend that you look pretty hard at a B/W laser jet. They are *relatively* cheap, print quickly, dependable, and won't run out of ink very quickly. I don't know what kind of classes you are taking next year, but as a college student, I don't find myself using color very much. If I did happen to need it (which I haven't ALL YEAR), my roommate has an ink jet.

 

That's a good idea. And I agree as well, in college, I print hundreds of B/W pages, but rarely ever color.

With any all-in-one, its very likely you may have problems. Currently I have a HP C5180, but I haven't had any problems yet. It is been a very solid printer/scanner. Hopefully it won't be shooting parts across the room anytime soon!

 

The entry level all-in-ones are built pretty poorly, but is that really a surprise?

My $79 HP all-in-one insists in trying to align each time it's turned on, wasting paper and ink each time. It won't finish aligning, I think, because the sensor died. It will scan, copy, and print just fine after the failed alignment attempt.

It also gobbles up the tiny capacity ink cartidges. So, what was a very cheap initial price turns out to be fairly expensive printer to use.

In the past, I've always had HP inkjet printers and had fantastic service from them, but the one's I've purchased were never the entry level until now.

Next time I'll buy one that's a couple of notches up the scale, and see if HP still makes decent printer products like they once did.

 

Good point. My HP C5180 is up the scale for all-in-ones and I have had a great experience with it so far. The ink cartridges seem to last a long time as well. It may be worth while to spend a little more on the initial investment to save some headaches in the future.

 

+1 on the b/w laser. I have a Brothers hl 2040 and have yet to replace the toner it came with. So if you don't need the all-in-one I would say go with a laser. It'd be cheaper in the long run and you get a better print quality too. I got mine for about $120 I think so they aren't that much more expensive than a decent ink jet.

 

I work at an ink refill store called Island Ink-Jet and what I would recommend is buying a Canon printer.

What many people make mistakes about when buying a new printer is that they forget how much money they will spend on buying ink cartridges which you'll find will cost more than the printer itself. It's important not to just look at the quality of the printer, but the print cartridges too. When you're choosing your printer, they will range in prices from cheap to expensive. However, there will be many printers at the same price which all cost relatively the same to stay competitive, so it's important to look at the cartridges.

(I talk about how cartridges are better than others in terms that they are cheaper to maintain, under the assumption that you get them refilled, which is far cheaper and environmentally friendly. Seeing as how you are a student, chances are you'll be trying to save as much cash as possible.)

I would avoid a HP, Lexmark, and Dell printer because...

• These cartridges have print-heads on the cartridge. The print-head is composed of small little nozzles that "shoot" the ink onto the paper. If you do not print for even say once a week or so, ink will dry up, clogging the nozzles, which prevent any ink from going onto your sheet of paper. Print-head cleanings and primings will not always fix the problem.
• It is not recommended to have spares of these cartridges because the spare would most likely have a dry print-head. This would be an inconvenience if you unexpectedly ran out of ink and needed it right away.
• Because these cartridges have print-heads, they are very expensive to replace, at over $40 (depends on your cartridge) a cartridge, and these printers generally have 2 (1 black; 1 colour).
• Because they have printheads/contacts, it is very hard to find compatible cartridges at cheaper prices. You will most likely have to buy expensive OEMs.
• Dells I find are the worst because you can only buy these cartridges online from Dell. Have to wait, plus pay for shipping. Because it's not recommended to have spares, if you run out of ink and need ink now, your um...screwed.
• These cartridges will generally only last 2-5 refills. They are not made to last and varies between cartridges even of the same type.

I would avoid a Epson or Brother printer because...

• Many Epson cartridges have chips on them. When anyone of the cartridges is read empty by the printer, they will send a message to the chip which prevents any printing from your printer, regardless of whether you print something that needs that cartridge or not. It has been found Epson printers lock down the cartridges even though they are not fully empty, but even so Epson asks that you buy a new one (people have tried to file a lawsuit, it can be googled). The cartridges can be refilled though since the refiller should have a chip resetter. Chips can break though, and you would need either a replacement chip or new cartridge
• Brothers are pretty complicated and often time fail for no obvious reason. As well some of there printers are sketchy, such as their printheads on certain printers. Google "Error 41" or something like that.
• These cartridges are better than those above because the print-head is on the printer, which are made to last. Plus cartridges are generally cheaper and compatible cartridges can be easily found (for Epson atleast).
• These cartridges will generally only last 2-5 refills. They are not made to last and varies between cartridges even of the same type.

Okay, now what I recommend Canon printers that use cartridges called BCI-3e's, BCI-6's, BCI-8's, and CLI-8's. There are many, many printers that use these cartridges, and can be cheap ones less than $100, to expensive high quality ones. These cartridges look pretty much the same, with the except that the BCI/CLI-8s have chips on the cartridges that work in the same fashion as Epsons, except that they will not lock up your printing and that the problem can be fixed by turning off the ink-level indicator (aka ink status monitor). Why these cartridges are good is because they are made simply of clear plastic with about 3/4 of it a sponge. Because there are no metal parts or such that need to be read or damaged, these cartridges last "forever." The only reason why these cartridges would fail is if they are many, many years old and as a result have the sponge dried out to the point where ink is no longer soaked. But because it would take a long time for that to happen, your printer would probably die first. If the occasion ever did arrise, these cartridges are cheap, with even cheaper compatibles/generics. A plus is that each color is separate, so if one of the color cartridges dies out, you need only replace that one.

There are Canon printers that use cartridges with print-heads, the PG-40/50 and the CL-41/51/52. I would not recommend these for the same reason I would not recommend HPs, Lexmarks, and Dells. Be careful because the printers that use these are among the cheapest budget printers for Canon. They may seem good quality for the price, but the price of replacing these cartridges are expensive.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that not all refill places or DIY kits are good. Some places use/sell universal ink that supposedly can go in any print cartridge. This simply is not true. Inks are chemicals, and even within black inks, they have different chemical properties such as their viscosity. Use the wrong ink and it may damage your printer's print-head (the most expensive part; in most cases would be cheaper and better to buy a new printer) or cartridge's print-head. I would suggest reading some reviews on the place you are purchasing from.

As well, many places will blame refilled or compatible cartridge and claim that it voids the warranty. This is not true since it is illegal for these companies to demand that you only use their products. You are protected by the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, Section 101 (USA) and by the Combines Act (CDN). If they try to use that excuse against you, they are just trying to dodge a bullet.


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Sorry for my grammar and lack of organization. I haven't proof-read it really before posting, but hope it helps.

 

That is an excellent post seed. Thanks a lot for the help. I have given you some rep.

I will definitely look into Canon as well as a laser printer.

 

SAMSUNG 2010, OR THE REPLACEMENT MODEL 2510. Office Max is selling the 2510 until May5, for $79.00. It is a $150.00 laser printer. You can get remanufactured laser cartridges on-line for less then $40.00 that are good for 3000 copies. Look at C-Net for the ratings, you will not be disappointed!

 

You're welcome Sleepy .

I totally forgot about laser printers. I don't know much about them, since I only work with ink cartridges, but I know enough to say that if you do only black printing such as text documents, its significantly cheaper. The laser toner cartridges are expensive initially, but will be ultimately cheaper since to print the same amount using ink you will need to be constantly filling the ink cartridge. There are also colour laser printers, but I do not believe their quality is great and I don't believe you can print good photos and such.

Again, I don't know much at all about lasers except that they are cheaper for printing at least black. As well, I know that many can be refilled at refill locations.