# Thinking buying a new printer.



## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

Okay, still have not got my existing printer printing yet. HP 960c
Going to try cleaning the heads manually.
It is working, just not letting the ink get on the page.
I got fresh ink coming in the mail but not here yet.

So just did a search on Walmart to see what they have for printers.
But the problem always is, the price of ink refills.
So does any one of you have a printer from Walmart ? Can
you tell me if you like it and how much ink costs for it.
I saw one was wireless. I prefer to stay with the HP brand.
I would like to stay $ 75 or less if possible. No more than $ 100

THANKS


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

My son just picked up one of their Canon MG2522 models for about $19 on sale. I think it was $30 or sale otherwise.
It works very well and yes, the refills are how the manufacturer makes their money on this one.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

I would never buy anything electronic from Walmart or Sam's Club.

Go online and search for best printer under $100 then read reviews from PC magazine and others.


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

My next printer will be a laser printer simply because I'm tired of buying ink cartridges even when I rarely use the printer. One of the chemicals in the cartridge begins to evaporate when the seal is pierced by your printer. Once the chemical is gone your cartridge full or half full is worthless. I'd like to add up the money I've spent on ink cartridges, wow.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Look at eBay for an HP p2015 laser printer. You should be able to find one delivered for $50-60. Aftermarket toner cartridge is about $12 and prints 3000 sheets.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

It depends what you are going to print. If you can get by with monochrome (black,white,grey) then strongly consider an older office printer. I have an ancient HP Laserjet 4000. That thing has its quirks, its old after all, but is dead on reliable. I mostly use it to print out forms and such. I replaced the toner cartridge last summer for $15. Genuine HP, from company that buys up surplus since this printer is OLD and considered obsolete. Cartridge supposed to print over 10,000 pages. I think the cartridge I used past ten years was generic, this new genuine HP cartridge will even print photos, yea in black in white, but super clear and detailed. 

Sure that 10k pages more than a lifetime worth for me. Printer always just works, though sometimes the operating systems change and requires futzing with it. Had to replace the old parallel port cable with a parallel to usb adapter cable (needed a high quality one). I bought it used over 10 years ago and it was old then. Think I gave $35 delivered and that alone is amazing, this is a heavy commercial office printer meant for whole office full people to share, not a lightweight consumer printer.

Now even if you need color, consider buying a new small color laser printer, think Brother makes a low end line. It wont be cheap to buy or to replace toner cartridges, but it is not the nightmare that modern inkjet printers are. Oh and now they are adding that stupid software to the toner cartridges like they do the ink cartridges to make them a pain in rear to refill or use generic replacement cartridges. So if buying a NEW printer, look out for that trap. The money is in the cartridges and they do everything they can to protect that income stream.

Oh and if you just gotta have inkjet, seen ads for some with refillable tanks. I am sure they arent cheap. You see a cheap new printer, its likely inkjet with small expensive cartridges and locked down everyway to Sunday not to be cheaply serviced. Some people just buy cheap printer, use up the cartridge and then buy another printer. Its gotten that bad where you can buy a cheap printer on sale cheaper than new cartridge. Before you buy any printer do your homework on what it costs for new toner or ink cartridges.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

Thanks all 

Just doing research now.
I only need black . Don't need color.
I don't do a lot of printing. Maybe 10 sheets a week max.

I been buying ink on ebay. Can't afford it locally in stores.
And because this HP is a dumb printer, it will accept expired ink.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

GTX63 said:


> My son just picked up one of their Canon MG2522 models for about $19 on sale. I think it was $30 or sale otherwise.
> It works very well and yes, the refills are how the manufacturer makes their money on this one.


Its gotten that bad where some people just shop the sales and buy new el cheapo inkjet when they need printer, use up the cartridge that comes with it (not full size) then toss it when cartridge is empty or dried up. New $19 printer with cartridge is cheaper than replacement cartridge..... insane.


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## IMFoghorn (Jan 28, 2012)

HermitJohn said:


> Its gotten that bad where some people just shop the sales and buy new el cheapo inkjet when they need printer, use up the cartridge that comes with it (not full size) then toss it when cartridge is empty or dried up. New $19 printer with cartridge is cheaper than replacement cartridge..... insane.


This was my experience with Walmart printers. I bought a cheap printer that I needed in hurry. When the ink ran out I found it was cheaper to throw the old printer away and buy the same model than it was to buy a new cartridge for the original printer.

JMO
Doug


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

My experience has been that low volume inkjet printing doesn't save much. The cartridges just dry out. That's not a problem with laser toner.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NO PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THIS PRINTER!

But if I felt some great need for a NEW and only a NEW monochrome printer, would at least consider this one though require lot more homework first: Brother HL-L2300D

Its a laser printer so no ink drying out, etc. You can buy it new for under $100, around $80 on Amazon. It has automated crap to try and con you into buying new toner and drum. But look at comments and there is a workaround to reset page count so you can use it down to where you get unacceptable streaks, etc. These out of toner or out of ink systems go on page count rather than actual amount toner/ink left. In other words they guess, and not in your favor. And apparently you can use compatible generic toner cartridge, though not absolutely sure how well that works. If you search around might even be kit to reload old toner cartridge once or twice.

Long, long ago had an HP Laserjet 6L that I successfully refilled the same cartridge several times. But that is VERY long time ago. By way that 6L was good personal printer but had problems with grabbing more than one sheet paper at time, usually try to grab several sheets paper and jam. If you didnt do lot printing you could feed it one sheet at time.

I would still go for older used office printer, but I know some folk want NEW even if its more annoying. This Brother is a small personal printer, so toner cartridges have much lower capacity than an office printer. Its also current model so replacement Brother cartridges are not super cheap, somewhere around $55. But saw compatible generic cartridges cheap as $12. Again I would do lot more homework before buying one, but it looks like its worth considering.

EDIT: I was just curious, apparently there is a proprietary linux driver for this Brother printer on Brother website. But only 32bit (obviously OLD). And you have to install it, not included in CUPS since its proprietary. Can be painful or easy depending. 

Anyway there is a third party open source linux driver somebody developed on own called "brlaser" that works on several Brother laser printers. I only found it as source file that has to be compiled. But out of curiosity, opened Puppy package manager and it was available. Its small, installed it. Now opened CUPS, add a printer, and I got option to add the Brother HL-L2300D printer using the brlaser driver. I dont have this printer so couldnt go farther than that, but if its available for Puppy, no doubt could be installed on any linux using whatever package manager is used on that linux distribution. Lot easier than Brother proprietary linux driver.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

THANK YOU for all the replies.

My update is. ....
I been researching printers. Almost bought one yesterday but 2 of the people in Staples
were not at all helpful to me. Basically hoping I would go away, I think.
They finally when I was walking out with nothing in cart
cashier, asked question and I said I was not happy and maybe a call to corporate was my next step.
I had a general manager out on the floor in short order talking to me. He was good but at
that point, I told him I was just going home and do more research. Drive 45 minutes one
way and get poor service. Not happening again.

So I finally got some expired ink in the mail today. Less than $ 10 total.
Put it in my printer, and it printed a test page.
So my old printer is back to normal and I am happy. Don't have to spend
$ 100 on a new printer. I can continue to put up with old technology 

So the problem was the last cartridge I put in it, which was sealed and
new old stock. for whatever reason was a dud. That was expired ink also.
First one I ever had a problem with.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Glad it worked out for you, but as you know, once you open an ink cartridge, they dry out quick if you dont do lot printing. Downside of all inkjet printers.


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## OlivJasn (Dec 22, 2020)

I've got Brother HL-L2370 and don't regret it. I hope it's going to last for many years because the previous printer lasted just 2 years. Still, I've heard that some people still use printers of the 90s...lucky guys. By the way, I don't like printers that use ink and not toner. I think that toners like https://www.mrdepot.ca/products/samsung-ML-2165-toner are more beneficial from the economic point of view. And in general, they print fast and with higher quality.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

FOUR printers in my family/friends sphere failed in the last two weeks.


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