printer question

[Geonz]

I sometimes need to print somethign at home.
I hardly ever need to print something at home.
I've got two inkjet printers, neither of which work... I'm pretty sure it's because I go so long between printing that the ink jets dry up.

Would a laser printer have the same problem?

[smilingcat]

Laser printer uses powdered dry toner. So they do not have the same problem. If you do want to print color though, the quality of the color is no where as good as an inkjet. Even a three color inkjet produces better color images.

If you want just B/W print, there are lot of them in the $60-$100 range. Toner costs are quite a bit more but they can print lot more pages. The cost per page printing is about the same.

Problem with laser printers:
The light sensitive drums where the images are created will wear out and definitely should not be exposed to direct sunlight. For this reason, you should get a laser printer where the toner and the drums are integrated together. I think most have gone this way...

They can not be plugged into a UPS power. The fuser which all laser printer has requires lot of power.

If you have any other questions, either post here or send me a PM.

smilingcat

Own a color laser printer. Has printed over 20,000 pages on it and still going strong. Yes it keeps stat on pages printed. Also have several inkjet printers on-line. About once a week, I'll print some test images to keep the nozzles from clogging up and even then I have to run a nozzle clearing routine.

[withm]

Wouldn't replacing the ink cartridges be a LOT cheaper than buying a laser printer that you would hardly ever use?

[smilingcat]

inkjet cartridges cost anywhere from $20.00 to $90 per set. I just bought a replacement color for kodak printer EPS 7 (for someone I know). It cost around $20.00. I also just bought a black ink for Epson Artesian 830 printer at around $20.00 and a color set for another Epson printer at $70.00. Laser printers are so cheap now that replacing the inkjet cartridge two or three times is more than enough to pay for a good quality laser printer.

And you would not have to be replacing a cartridge every time to print few pages. It's worth to buy a laser printer if you are only printing few pages a month and where inkjet would be constantly be clogged for lack of use. I should know because one of my inkjet printer is a wide format printer capable of handling big sheet of paper. I print a small page at least once a week to keep it from clogging up. nozzle cleaning eats up more ink than a few pages of printing. The large format is something I need from time to time but not every day.

[Catrin]

Wouldn't replacing the ink cartridges be a LOT cheaper than buying a laser printer that you would hardly ever use?

I purchased my B/W laser printer 5 years ago for right at $100. A toner cartridge costs $60. I've needed to replace that once in five years. My old color ink-jet went through cartridges like candy - and it was more expensive than my current toner cartridges to replace. As I remember the ink jet printer cost me next to nothing - but the cartridges were a very different story. Sometimes I go weeks between printing but there is never a problem with the laser printer.

[Becky]

We have the same problem here- infrequent printing and dry ink. For the price of a inkjet all in one, we were able to purchase a color laser all in one through a discount program at work. Considering that I was having to put ink in the old printer at least once a year at ~$50 a pop, we'll have paid off the new printer before the toner runs out.

The output isn't photo quality, but it's good enough for my needs. We rarely print photos.

[Owlie]

My next printer will be a color laserjet. This inkjet printer (and the one I had for five years that crapped out last fall) eat ink like popcorn, and they seem to dry out if not used regularly.

[Koronin]

I agree with the laser. We actually have 2. Short version, hubby had to move across state to take a new job after having been out of work for around 9 months. We both needed a printer. We prefer laser and rarely to never need color for anything. The one laser printer we have is one that prints 2 sided and would have been very expensive, but hubby got it for free because where he worked at the time it was in a box labeled broken and he's good at fixing this type of thing so they let him have it for free. The toner for that one costs around $175 for a cartridge that will last about 2-3 years with heavy printer. (I have to print a LOT for my job). The other printer was purchased for around $100 and the toner costs just under $70. It doesn't last nearly as long, but it lasts at least 3 times as long an ink cartridges. Both of our printers are HP.

[Irulan]

We have three laser printers here for various reasons. You can get non OEM toners at very good prices from www.supermediastore.com and inkjetsuperstore.com

I'm talking 30-50 for a toner cartridge instead of 80-150

[Geonz]

Youse guys are awesome :) My printers will go to the "technology disposal drive" next time it comes around and my desk will have a laser printer soon.

[carlotta]

One other feature that's nice is wireless printing--- maybe this is a default feature now, but my old laser printer didn't have it and I didn't realize how great it would be until I brought the new printer home-- multiple laptops, houseguests, etc have all been able to print just by logging into our network rather than having to move files/emails on flash drives or via email to my computer that's hardwired to the printer

[Koronin]

There are still a lot of laser printers that do not have wireless printing.

[Irulan]

my one experience with a wireless printer was a massive fail.I'm glad it's working for someone.

[Eden]

We've got our non-wireless printer hooked into our airport network - works great. I can print from my laptop just as if it was plugged in.

[Pascale]

I rarely print anything either (maybe once a month, once every two months). If I just go through the maintenance setting on my ink jet, it cleans the heads of the cartridges and then they work. It seems that it's not the ink inside that dries, just the ink on the heads (at least this is what has worked for me).