Cost efficient printer?

[Jeff]

My printer died so I will need to replace it. The reality is for any real printing jobs these past couple of years I have taken projects to my local lab. I estimate that 99% of the work the next printer will see are just text documents, so I am even considering a b/w laser. It would be nice to print 8x10 work prints, but not necessary. And I don't foresee needing any scanning, faxing capabilities.

The printer does not have to be a Canon, my main objective is to find a very cost efficient printer that can go for weeks without printing and not needing to waste a lot of ink fixing any clogging, is this a benefit for getting a laser? If inkjet, are there printers that work better with third party inks? What do you guys recommend for a cheap printer?

thanks, jeff

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Ink jet printers clog, and clearing the clogs take ink. They also go thru a cleaning process when starting up, or periodically if left on (Don't do that). I have a Epson 3880 inkjet and use Cone inks in it, which is as good but cost much less than Epson. I also have a Epson 7600 which uses third party refills and does a good job on 24 in wide paper. I was given a old Epson 10000 44 inch wide printer last fall, it has no inks, and is so huge that it just may become a parts machine, some of the parts can be used on my 7600.

Laser printers do not waste as much toner, but color ones still probably lose 20%. Some Color lasers produce near photo quality prints that look very good, don't fade, and are fine for casual snapshots. I have two old Xerox Phaser 6200's that I use to make photobooks with that are fine for casual use. I have a monochrome MFP laserjet which is my business workhorse and is getting so old that I've ordered a new LaserJet Pro 400 M425dn Multifunction Printer from B&H for $329 this week and should get it tomorrow.(That's a low price, they may be closing them out). For monochrome documents like receipts, packing slips, and business records, I use third party refill toners, but when I want high quality Text that looks like typeset, I use the Xerox, since the $400 HP line is not wonderful at high end text.

 

[jhaces]

For your needs I'd get a Samsung SL-M2020W. Cheap as dirt, pretty good monochrome quality for text. I'm actually very happy with mine, and wireless is useful if you print docs from your phone/tablet.

As for photos, If you really print sporadically, just keep doing it at a lab, or buy something like a pixma pro-100. Since they pretty much give them away with cameras, you can buy a cheap one off ebay. I have one that I rarely use now and have never had any sort of clogging issues. It sits unplugged for 3 months at a time, and every time I plug it back in, it works wonders. (I'm a color-fidelity freak, and for my pro work I am in a fully managed workflow, so even if YMMV I'd say you are safe)

Mt Spokane's point about cone inks on a 3880 is a very good one, you can save a buck on them and the epson is pretty cheap too. (Even a 3800 is you can scavenge a working one off ebay. I use one for piezography and still works like a beauty)

 

[Jeff]

Thanks guys for the insights and advice, looks like I will look at the laser printers.

thanks

jeff

 

[Ruined]

I have found the Canon PRO-100 dye inkjet to be affordable and offer stunning prints when paired with the right paper.

Pigment and color laser refills are too expensive IMO, and laser quality is often inferior to inkjet.

 

[danski0224]

I have a Lexmark CX410 series multifunction printer, and the output is phenomenal. When I bought it, it was the only color laser with 1200x1200 dpi output for less than $1,000.00 USD. The toner is not glossy, like some lasers. It is a pain to set up and it will not do wireless and wired (USB or network) at the same time, you must choose one. The mobile print app actually works, at least on Android. Make sure that you get the full duplex version. If you recycle the toner through Lexmark, they have some specials. The wireless feature requires an add-on dongle that isn't often mentioned in some of the popular online stores.

The OKI C530dn is also very good, but not as good as the Lexmark. The DPI is less and the finished output has some gloss. It is also a bit challenging to set up. They zing you for the upgraded memory module, but something much less expensive works. No info on that off the top of my head. This model is older, but if you can find one for a good price...

The Lexmark has a black toner and the OKI makes black.

Both of those printers are business class printers, which is why they are a little more involved than "plug and play".

Both of those laser printers can be profiled and they do Postscript without an emulator.

An only black laser is obviously cheaper to buy and cheaper to run. A quick search for "10 best monochrome lasers" will probably bring up many results. There is a Brother printer that consistently makes the list, without being a multifunction.

If you are looking for AirPrint capability or better wireless features, then I wouldn't suggest either of the color models above in this post.

 

[danski0224]

I have found the Canon PRO-100 dye inkjet to be affordable and offer stunning prints when paired with the right paper.

Pigment and color laser refills are too expensive IMO, and laser quality is often inferior to inkjet.

The OP is looking for a text printer.

There is no way, no how, that any inkjet printer is cheaper to run than a laser.

 

[cbphoto]

I estimate that 99% of the work the next printer will see are just text documents, so I am even considering a b/w laser.

I've used an HP LaserJet for the last 15 years and it still runs like a tank. They're even cheaper and faster now, too. I have a duplex unit (prints both sides), with 512MB RAM and Postscript emulation. I print over my network from any computer, clients too (logging in via wi-fi). Pages print within seconds. After the first toner cartridge was emptied, I bought/installed a "high volume" cartridge (200,000 pages) and it reduces cost per page to fractions of a penny.

It was so reliable I bought a similar HP LaserJet for my home. Three kids & wife print almost daily and all I do is buy the occasional toner cartridge.

Upside: text and vector graphics are really sharp.
Downside: Raster images are similar to newsprint.

 

[Joey]

There is no way, no how, that any inkjet printer is cheaper to run than a laser.

The HP Officejet Pro X series printers are cheaper to run and also faster than desktop laser printers. Also Epson have the new Ecotank printers that are even cheaper to run.

 

[TeT]

HP LaserJet Professional P 1102w

Compact quality fast cheap with reasonable third party cartridges available through eBay (see V4Ink)

My wife prints 50 BW pages a day for real estate. Often 100+...

I had its predecessor the HP 1000 for 10 years+ without a hiccup and only changed when I went to windows 7 64 and the HP 1000 would not function

 

[danski0224]

The HP Officejet Pro X series printers are cheaper to run and also faster than desktop laser printers. Also Epson have the new Ecotank printers that are even cheaper to run.

I have seen ads for these, but never checked them out.

It would take a lot to overcome several years of bad inkjet experience on my part. It seemed like I was ALWAYS replacing an ink cartridge.

I have 1267 pages printed on that Lexmark with an estimated 1400 pages left on each of the original cartridges that came in the machine.

The Brother monochrome laser is something like $.05 per page or less.

I may be biased, but I do not ever see myself returning to an inkjet printer for documents. The pictures that are done by that Lexmark look great and pretty much match my calibrated monitor. Do they match an Epson 3800- no, but they are pretty damn close for plain paper prints.

 

[Joey]

The HP Officejet Pro X series printers are cheaper to run and also faster than desktop laser printers. Also Epson have the new Ecotank printers that are even cheaper to run.

I have seen ads for these, but never checked them out.

It would take a lot to overcome several years of bad inkjet experience on my part. It seemed like I was ALWAYS replacing an ink cartridge.

I have 1267 pages printed on that Lexmark with an estimated 1400 pages left on each of the original cartridges that came in the machine.

The Brother monochrome laser is something like $.05 per page or less.

I may be biased, but I do not ever see myself returning to an inkjet printer for documents. The pictures that are done by that Lexmark look great and pretty much match my calibrated monitor. Do they match an Epson 3800- no, but they are pretty damn close for plain paper prints.

The black cartridge on the Officejet Pro X series lasts 9000 pages. The colour ones last less but still ages.

 

[danski0224]

The black cartridge on the Officejet Pro X series lasts 9000 pages. The colour ones last less but still ages.

Interesting... not that I'm getting a new printer

Are the cartridges also rated for time? It would take me years to print 9000 pages. I have not yet had any issues with laser toner clumping or otherwise becoming unusable.

 

[Hillsilly]

It all comes down to how many pages you print. We use Kyocera FS-C2126+ printers for small workgroups. When I last researched them, they seemed to be the best costing option when printing several thousand pages per month.

If printing less, most small laser printers would work fine. I'm sitting next to a little Fuji Xerox P255DW. The cost per page is marginally higher than the Kyocera, but much lower purchase price.

(Wow, I just realised that the printers I choose are made by the same companies who's cameras I use most - Kyocera with my Yaschica Electro 35GL and Fuji with my X100 and X-E1. We also use Canon calculators.)

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I received my new Canon Laserjet Pro 400 425DN Friday night. I set it up to run on my network, its easy to setup unless you want to scan and send faxes to your computer. Then, you need to connect a USB cable to let it upload the files. Its very strange, but it works. I can upload as jpeg or tiff, but I must run the scan program from the computer if I want to scan to pdf.

The top feeding scanner scans both sides in one pass, that's a improvement to my old one that had to flip the pages being scanned. In any event, it doesn't hold a candle to my Fujitsu 6130Z, which is so much faster, at least 10X.

I've had many inkjet printers, and, except for specialty use, never again. Get a printout wet and you have a mess. They are fast, but my new printer is 33 pgs/min, far faster than I need.

I looked at the officejet proX series and it does seem to be a great unit, I think its a excellent choice. Its certainly a departure from the 180 page ink cartridges that empty out while initially priming the printer. The printer looks and operates like my laser version.

My Xerox 6200 cartridges are rated for 8000 pages, black or color, and I find them for under $20 on ebay. That's the advantage of having a old printer, people take unwanted office supplies home and sell them on ebay for next to nothing. Its a big moose though, and I only use it for color or high quality documents.

 

[RobPan]

Ink for inkjets is far too expensive. It is usually cheaper to have your pictures printed by a good lab. Indeed, I am all for laser printers. If you want a laser printer, look for one that has automatic duplex printing (printing on both sides of the paper). that will save you a lot of paper and a lot of space as well (talking about printing documents, letters, books et c.). I myself am using Brother b/w laser printers (I have two because part of the year I live in Indonesia).
A problem with inkjet printers is that the printhead will dry out if it is not used regularly. With these b/w lasers there is a similar problem, which I found out after returning to Indonesia after eight months: the drum had given up. One should print some pages at least every month or else the drum will fail and that will cost you. The drum is an expensive part.
Also, please compare prices of toner cartridges when you choose a model. The cheaper printers will have toner cartridges that do not print as many pages as those of the more expensive models. Price per page will be higher.
Kind regards, Rob.

 

[Joey]

The black cartridge on the Officejet Pro X series lasts 9000 pages. The colour ones last less but still ages.

Interesting... not that I'm getting a new printer

Are the cartridges also rated for time? It would take me years to print 9000 pages. I have not yet had any issues with laser toner clumping or otherwise becoming unusable.

They have a sell-by date printed on the packaging, I just checked the ones I have in stock and they're more than a year hence. I don't think they are chipped to stop working after a set time, though.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The black cartridge on the Officejet Pro X series lasts 9000 pages. The colour ones last less but still ages.

Interesting... not that I'm getting a new printer

Are the cartridges also rated for time? It would take me years to print 9000 pages. I have not yet had any issues with laser toner clumping or otherwise becoming unusable.

They have a sell-by date printed on the packaging, I just checked the ones I have in stock and they're more than a year hence. I don't think they are chipped to stop working after a set time, though.

The super high capacity ink tanks are a option, the normal ones do about 2000 pages. I prefer laser, but this line of printers appears to be a serious challenge to heavy users of office printers that just go to recycle bins after a few days. I haven't seen a report about the effects of getting damp, but its very unlikely that the ink is water proof. You also have to have expensive waterproof paper to make it work.

I keep paper copies of all my invoices from sales for years as tax records, they are stored out in a big dry shipping container, but I'd still be very reluctant to store boxes of inkjet printouts for 7 years.

 

[Jeff]

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the insightful info you have provided. I truly appreciate it.

thanks,

jeff