Printer Help

[Milehimama]

I had a HP printer that I got refurbished for $49. It ran and ran and ran... and I LOVED that I could refill the cartridges. I homeschool, write on the side, and at one point worked from home - that printer got a workout.

Last Christmas, my husband bought me an Epson. It was miserable. The included ink cartridges only printed about 10 pages; when I went to replace them I got sticker shock (about $60 to replace three color and one black). You cannot refill the ink. You cannot print with only the black cartridge (I often did that with my HP). I didn't use it at all for several months, and then yesterday it died altogether. What a waste!

I want a new printer. It must copy, scan, and print. I want to easily and happily refill the cartridges and I don't want it to be an ink hog! Any recommendations? I don't want to lay out a fortune, but I don't want a pile of junk either. I don't usually print photos but I do a LOT of printing for school work including graphics.

[Lynnae]

I have a Canon all in one that I'm happy with. The ink cartridges are cheap, especially through 1-2-3 Inkjets. I don't know if you can refill them or not, but they're so cheap I don't bother.

[purplefdu]

My first printer was an Epsom and it never worked because I didn't print often and the ink would dry out something awful. We have a HP all-in-one we got from my mother-in-law right now that we adored until the scanner randomly malfunctioned. So now we can only print on the big lug.

We were looking into purchasing a Canon before we were given this one. They work pretty well and as noted the ink can be had pretty cheap online and I believe Staples still sells refurbished ones as well.

[moneyman]

I also have Cannon all-in-one (Pixma-780) for the past two years and I am very happy with it. I use only the printing and scanning functionality. The original cartridges lasted for almost 8 months and after that I experimented with a universal refill kit for $14. It kept the printer running for additional one year - though I had refill 4 times during that year and it created unpleasant mess. Then I found the Canon compatible cartridges on Amazon for 2$ each (10$ to replace all 5 cartridges) and it is doing pretty good so far - see the details at Three ways to save on printer ink.

[jkuo13]

If you do a lot of printing, you might want to consider going with a laser printer. It's more money up front for the printer and toner, but per page costs are usually significantly lower. Toner also doesn't dry out. Though if you print a lot of color images, color laser printers tend to be pretty pricey and/or big.

[hermione]

I don't have any personal recommendations for copy/print/scan printers (I did have a brother MFC several years ago but it was a laser printer), but I just got my Dell Small Business email which had something about printer deals. It looks like they have a copy/print/scan one for $49. I've never owned a Dell printer, but I have a Dell computer and I'm quite happy with it.

Hope this helps.

[gt0163c]

Originally Posted by jkuo13

If you do a lot of printing, you might want to consider going with a laser printer. It's more money up front for the printer and toner, but per page costs are usually significantly lower. Toner also doesn't dry out. Though if you print a lot of color images, color laser printers tend to be pretty pricey and/or big.

I was going to recommend the same thing if you don't have a need for doing lots of color printing. My sister's family has a laser printer that they love. They do a lot of printing and go through a toner cartridge maybe every 18 months or so....and they've had the same laser printer for going on five years now.

I have a cheap HP that I bought on clearance at Target a handful of years ago. The ink cartridges are kinda pricey, but I've been able to take advantage of Walgreens specials for getting the cartridges refilled, so that hasn't been so bad. But, I also don't do a lot of printing, so it works for me.

[Kathryn]

I've got a low-end laser printer, and I'll add my voice to those recommending it as an option if you do any significant volume of printing. We also recently picked up a color inkjet all-in-one off freecycle to do scanning/faxing/color prints--it's several years old, but it works fine and the ink cartridges are refillable.

In your shoes, I'd shop around for something like a low-end b/w laser all-in-one as your workhorse printer, which can be had in the $200 range, and then put out the feelers for someone giving away a color inkjet for those occasions when you do need to print color, since due to the free printer deals with new computer systems people are always giving those things away.

[khorrell]

I've also been considering picking up a b/w laser, but then I think, where would I put it?

I previously had an HP all-in-one and I adored it. One downside was the color cartridge had all three colors in it, so you had to replace the whole cartridge if you used all of one color. After it stopped working, I bought a Brother all-in-one. While it prints well, and it uses the four color system, I find the interface with the computer to be really awkward and I feel like I'm going to break it every time I have to take out the paper tray. I don't think I would buy another Brother.

Good luck! I found printer shopping to be pretty overwhelming - I don't do well with too many choices

[Milehimama]

I do print in color, but not that often. Truthfully, I'm a little afraid to spring for a laser printer. Are they really durable, and cheaper than ink jet? I don't want to spend $200 on a printer that will only last a year.

Does anyone have a link to a cost per page breakdown or some such?