# Need Printer Recommendation



## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

I have a small online business. I print everyday but, I only print about 15 sheets per day. 

I have an old HP deskjet that is getting worn out and I need to replace it. I don't want to spend a fortune, and I don't need a lot of bells and whistles. I would also like something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to buy ink.

Another point, I never print photos and most of what I print is in black and white.

The other thing is that I'm 100% off-grid, so I need one that will use as little power as possible.

Does anyone have any recommendations?


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

H-P printers are IMO very good. And they are so inexpensive now days, you will get some bells and whistlers on them anyways. 50--- 60 bucks.
My 3 in 1 H-P was under 90 bucks.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

I _loathe_ HP printers for various reasons, including aggressive drivers, expensive inks, and a few other issues. 

In general, businesses use laser printers.
Brother has a duplex laser HL2270dw that is a sweet little printer and uses an inexpensive toner cart. In a power situation like yours, I would just print to file or spool and turn the printer on once a day for two minutes to print everything out at once.

I can't help on inkjets, they just make my blood pressure rise.

The cheapest printers to operate are still the dot-matrix printers. Panasonic KXP series are fine, the Oki dot matrix printers are incredibly good and reliable.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

I guess I should add more about what I print.

I print invoices off my website. Then on the back of each I print a "thank you and helpful hints" letter. After that, I print the shipping labels.

I was hoping to avoid HP since they made the announcement to stop selling computers, etc for home use. 

Also, I use Linux Ubuntu, so all the additional software and drivers are a bit of a different issue. Many are built into the Ubuntu system already.

I was wondering about laser printers, too. I know most businesses use them.


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## Guest (May 23, 2012)

Every year when the back to school sales start (as soon as July), office supply stores start having fabulous sales on laser printers. That's when you can get a good monochrome laser printer for what a moderately priced jet printer would cost (that's how I got mine).

Toner is a fraction of the price of ink. Plus the laser initially comes with enough toner to get you by for a while.

When you go to buy new toner, a cartridge will cost you more than an ink cartridge, maybe twice as much, but then it will last 10 times longer.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

What brands of laser printer should I consider or stay away from?


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## Guest (May 23, 2012)

I have a Brother and it's a real workhorse. I have nothing but good to say about that one.

But I have zero experience with any others so I have no idea what to recommend or to warn against. Hopefully other members will be able to shed more light.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

IMHO, I would tend towards Canons, Brothers, and Epsons. I bought an Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4530 about 6 months ago. That thing is a freaking MONSTER....it's essentially a big huge all-in-one inkjet.

But it runs circles around almost ANY inkjet, and a lot of laserjets as well. I would not hesitate to use it for a small business. It's got tons of features. Say you're at work, and you want to print something...but you don't want to carry it with you. So you just send the document to [email protected] (where 'email' is whatever you choose). When you get home you'll find it waiting for you. It also works with Google Print; and it's wireless, and, and, and..... :gaptooth:

Suffice to say that I love it. Plus it's very frugal on ink. Mine's been 'low' on ink for months now....and yet it prints lovely.


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

Low end HP printers don't have much of my respect. Their lasers are pretty good. I still have one going strong since 2000. Same with my LPT port (hehe) Canon Bubble Jet from 1992 w0000t! The ink for that one is 15.00 LOL Black only...don't give it a graphic you'll get smilie faces and hearts until forever. 

Epsons...well I had one that was pretty dang nice but...I'm back to Canon's now....haven't had to buy a new printer in probably 8 years....needed one when I was out of state, went to Walmart and found a canon on clearance for 28 bucks....scanner/printer/copier.

I am impressed that it is so easy on ink and the ink for it...at the time at walmart was ...17 for the black and and 19 for the color.

It's been working like a dream ever since and the last time I bought ink was in December. Like Kung said about his...I just hit the "OMG YER LOW ON INK" blinker....and then printed out a 40 page contract like it was still a new cartridge.

THE ABSOLUTE BEST printer I've ever seen with my own two peepers and even got to carress was a Samsung Color Laser...it had DRUMS for ink ... the thing was so cool. I would have stolen it but it wouldn't fit under my shirt.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

HP, Samsung or Canon Laser printers are the way to go. Make sure you know you per/page consumables cost. Sometimes a printer might be low cost but will eat you in consumables.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Thanks for the recommendations and help! I'll start looking soon. I'm having to "baby" my current printer along until I find a replacement. lol

Thanks again.


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## Librum (Dec 17, 2003)

As we do direct-to-disk printing, we are pretty much limited to Epson for ours.

But we do have old HP in the stable, and we use 'CIS' kits on those to drive down the cost of consumables. And HP does sell 'refurbish' kits, and they are not very expensive.

If you do decide to buy new, then I would recommend an Epson all-in-one with a third-party add-on CIS kit and an third-party add-on waste-ink kit. The latest in the stable is an Artisan, and with a exception design quirk on paper sizes in the ADF, it does very well. VERY well.

Good luck


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Librum said:


> As we do direct-to-disk printing, we are pretty much limited to Epson for ours.
> 
> But we do have old HP in the stable, and we use 'CIS' kits on those to drive down the cost of consumables. And HP does sell 'refurbish' kits, and they are not very expensive.
> 
> ...


You just lost me. What is a CIS kit and what is ADF. Do these things play nicely with Linux?


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## danielsumner (Jul 18, 2009)

ladycat said:


> I have a Brother and it's a real workhorse. I have nothing but good to say about that one.
> 
> But I have zero experience with any others so I have no idea what to recommend or to warn against. Hopefully other members will be able to shed more light.


Like LadyCat I love my brother printer. It uses individual color cartridges. I buy generic cartridges from inkgrabber.com. The cartridges are really cheap, I print, print and print some more.

Daniel


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I have an old HP4000 laserjet printer I got used for $35. Parts/consumables cheap, plays nice with Puppy Linux. Bulletproof. I dont do that much printing, and this is an old office printer, but it was built tough. Never fails me in several years of ownership now. 

Before the HP4000, I had an HP6L. Ancient, little slower, but also worked fine with linux. Just got to point it was too old. Also it was allergic to cat hair and there is plenty of that floating around my house.

These are black/white printers, not color. Color laser printer going to be lot more expensive to buy and maintain.

I got into laser printers cause I dont print stuff very often and the ink printers would dry out and not work when I needed them to work. Also hated buying and messing with ink cartridges. Lasers use toner, its a powder and no worries.


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## Librum (Dec 17, 2003)

PaulNKS said:


> You just lost me. What is a CIS kit and what is ADF. Do these things play nicely with Linux?


CIS: Constant Ink Supply. Replaces the cartridges with a tank linkage. Try going to eBay to see some. I do not think we got ours that way, but I know some examples are there.
Another benefit to us is that we can pop out the CIS linkage, and drop in reloaded cartridges with specialized inks. Magnetic ink, like you have on a check, is one example. Or the high gloss bar code ink. For a small business, the ability to print such code bars may be of interest.

Waste Ink System: Many All-In-Ones use a waste ink system, which collects the ink expended during cleaning cycles. Usually this is a absorbent pad with a sensor, inside the chassis, which signals when it is full. Cleaning cycle count is another method used, which gives a false 'take me in for service' message, resettable. 
Such an add-on system moves this 'pad' to a 'tank' outside the printer, thus the pad sensor never activates, and you have a much longer life with the printer.
Another benefit is that the 'waste' ink is a true mix of the black and colored inks, so it is 'black'. This waste ink goes back into the 'black' tank.

ADF: Automatic Document Feeder. In Epsons case, they limit you to certain paper sizes on these Artisans. Letter, Legal, and A4, only, if memory serves. We use Brothers for scanning as they will accept any size.

As for Linux, I do not know. We do use Brothers for scanning on the *nix boxes, and some older HPs, but not the Epsons. The Epsons were part of a grant, and all are on XPsp3 and above. Sorry.

I do not know if there are CIS for any Brothers. Sorry. If there are, and you have no need to direct-print to disk, then that would be an option. 

Summary: If you need to direct print disks, you are limited to Epsons, but for a small business, it is an packaging option that should not be overlooked. (One can buy print face mini-cd and mini-dvd, which are GREAT handouts.) If not, then I would go to HP, simply as one can buy 'refurbishment kits' for them, but I have never seen any for Brothers. Then Brother. (I will admit a small bias against Brother, there was a bogus print-head built in obsolescence on several of ours.)

Hope it helps.

Sarah
of the Librum


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