Printer

[Teri]

I have a small brother no color Lazer Jet printer. I went to pick up a toner and found it's more costly than a new printer.
I'm a senior with very little printing other than a few hobbies.
Any suggestions? I know there was discussion on Tech Talk a few weeks back about the exorbitant costs of ink etc.
So I went to my local London Drugs and bought a HP Laser Jet MFP M139we. $209.
I came home and did some research. Found that HP insists you join their ink program or they disable some of the functions.
Does anyone out there know of a simple printer I can buy that doesn't have tricky hooks?

Thanks
Teri

 

[DaveWT]

If you are willing to move away from Laser printers, then the one most often recommended is the Epson Eco Tank series. They are ink jet printers but unlike the kind that use expensive ink cartridges, they come with big bottles of ink that you pour into large tank. We bought ours in Nov. 2017 and used it until Oct. 2020 (almost 3 years) when we spent less than $100 for a new set of bottles of ink. It is now May 2024 and we have not bought more ink. The tanks are just below the half point (there are windows to keep track of each colour). My wife is a textile artist and often prints colour photos to help her visualize her work. My own printing is most often just black and white and perhaps not as frequent but we are sure glad we ditched cartridge printers in 2017.

 

[Teri]

Thanks Dave. I will check these out. Guess I have to get up with the times. Move into color! Hope they don't dry out because it may be months between printing. Cheers.

 

[DaveWT]

OK, that is one thing that may steer you from an ink jet back to a Lazer. The Eco Tank printers do require somewhat regular use. I would say if you could print out a colour image at least once a week it would be fine, but leaving it for months between printing will probably mean there will be clogs. There are two levels of head cleaning the printer offers. The simplest will clean some clogs of dried ink but there have been times when we have had to do the deeper cleaning. Yet the levels of ink in the tanks don't visibly go down in our experience, so we can accept this on occasion when we haven't printed much in a while.

 

[chas_m]

Toner is expensive, but not relative to a) the cost of ink and b) the price per page. You get a lot of use out of toner before you have to replace it, especially compared to regular users of inkjet printers.

HP has taken a consumer-hostile turn lately IMO, but you are NOT required to sign up for their Instant Ink campaign.

 

[Teri]

Thanks for you post Chas. Although a bit late. I was trying to post yesterday to answer Dave but after 6 or so attempts and getting blocked, I gave up in anger and frustration as this has happened often to me. Some times it posts other times not. I did send email to webmaster as you advised. Now.... about the printer. Because my printer was over 10 years old, I opted for the sale at London Drugs $100 off EcoTank 2850 which I ordered and should be here this week. So I'm back in the land of color it looks like! Thanks Dave and Chas for your input - greatly appreciated.
Cheers, (crossing my fingers this will post.....)
Teri

 

[chas_m]

General tips for colour inkjet printers:

1. Try to print something using the main colours at least once a week to keep the ink flowing. A quick and easy go-to page for this could be the Google home page, as it is (usually) just the word Google in colour with some black type around it. Make a reminder so you don't forget.
2. Clogging comes from disuse, and wastes a lot of ink and time resolving.
3. Eco-tank type printers (bottles of ink instead of cartridges) are more expensive up front but save you a TON of money over (not much) time. Typical use on an Eco-Tank will take around two years to use up the bottles that came with the printer. This translates to hundreds of dollars saved in that time frame.
4. If you almost never need to print in colour, buy a laser printer. For the rare occasions when you need a colour print, email or bring in the file to MonkOffice and let their (better) printers handle it.

 

[Teri]

1- check.
4 - why didn’t I direct message you first!?
too late I bought the Epson and it was two weeks getting it from LD. Set up today. Seems to print fine but so slow! Regretting it already. And it’s my first wifi so not lucky in setting up. MacBook works but not the iPad and iPhone. Didn’t realize they were a network? Anyway, I’ll try again tomorrow. Exhausted.
Thanks

 

[chas_m]

1- check.
4 - why didn’t I direct message you first!?
too late I bought the Epson and it was two weeks getting it from LD. Set up today. Seems to print fine but so slow! Regretting it already. And it’s my first wifi so not lucky in setting up. MacBook works but not the iPad and iPhone. Didn’t realize they were a network? Anyway, I’ll try again tomorrow. Exhausted.
Thanks

Make sure the Mac, iPhone and iPad are all using the same Wi-Fi network as the printer. In some cases, this can mean getting everything on either the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz version of your network. If your printer can't "see" the 5GHz version, put all your other devices on the 2.4GHz version.

Once they are all on the same network, iPhones and iPads should "just work" with the printer. The first time you try to print something, you may see a "no printer selected" message, but just tap that message and the printer should appear (and will be remembered after that).

 

[Teri]

Make sure the Mac, iPhone and iPad are all using the same Wi-Fi network as the printer. In some cases, this can mean getting everything on either the 2.4GHz or the 5GHz version of your network. If your printer can't "see" the 5GHz version, put all your other devices on the 2.4GHz version.

Once they are all on the same network, iPhones and iPads should "just work" with the printer. The first time you try to print something, you may see a "no printer selected" message, but just tap that message and the printer should appear (and will be remembered after that).

Thanks for all the help Chas. I returned the HP and ordered a Brother. Hook up very easy. Love it !