• scrion@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    Get a cheap laser printer. The toner won’t dry out, and you can get a very reliable printer for cheap. The Xpress series from Samsung was cheap and very reliable. Unfortunately, Samsung does not manufacture printers any more and their printer business was bought by HP. I have no idea how new HP models compare to the old ones.

    I’d probably look at Brother, a monochrome laser printer can be had for $120, and Brother generally has a good reputation. If you want to print in color, that’ll be more expensive of course. Honestly, I haven’t had a color printer in 11 years and I don’t miss it, but YMMV.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      I’ve had a monochrome Brother laser printer for about 14 years now. Still using the original toner that came with it, though it’s down to about 20% or so. Prints every time I need it which isn’t very often, but when I need to print something, I actually need to print it.

    • Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 months ago

      Remember to include the price of a new toner cartridge when looking for a cheap laser printer. Some become quite expensive when you include it.

      • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        When I bought a small office laser printer for making stickers it took me four years before I needed to change the cartridges. It only came with those partially full ones too. Unless you’re printing dozens of full color sheets a day the cost of cartridges is likely a minimal consoderation

        • Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          I once bought a Xerox for very cheap for office work. Buying a brand new Brother was cheaper than buying toner for it.

      • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        You could if you want. But then again, remember that most people will be replacing that toner cartridge only once every 2-5 years. So it’s not like a major expense.

        It depends on how much you print of course, like if you’re a teacher or something, you might print a lot.

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      Having been an IT guy for a very long time this is my recommendation to everyone. Buy a cheap laser printer for your home. Ink jet is garbage it will piss you off every time you want to print something, it’s a trap. Go with whatever brand you want, but brother is the one I’d recommend most

      In my home I have a brother color laser printer, it may have run over $300, I don’t recall. But I don’t recall because I think I bought it 15 years ago and it still works just fine every time I need to print. No regrets.

      • Lanvjscdlk@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        If you’re just printing documents and stuff, laser is fine, but they do look quite bad for art prints, which is the main use case these days for inkjet.

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          Ok, yeah I can believe that. And if you’re using it for art printing, you may even be printing often enough that the feed lines don’t dry up and clog.

          Personally, I like that with laser prints, if someone gets the paper wet, the toner doesn’t immediately run all over the page like with ink.

          But again, less of an issue for art prints, as the results are more likely to be put in a frame than left out on a table where they can get splashed.