My printer (a Canon S330) died–just when I have to start printing out my manuscript, of course. Gotta pick a new one up this Saturday at the local Staples (the only office supply store nearby).
My computer’s a Toshiba Satellite laptop. Any suggestions as to what to buy, what to avoid like the plague? Almost everything I print is type; I have no real need for a photographic printer. Of course, I do print out e-mailed photos friends send me, so if it’s not too expensive, I’d like something that doesn’t make a total hash of them . . .
I’ve had good results with the Epson Stylus CX6600, but that’s an copier/scanner/printer combo. Maybe more than you need.
I don’t know the quality of Epson’s other products.
If you buy an ink-jet printer, one consideration is whether the manufacturer offers a pigment-based ink. Most ink-jets still use dye-based inks that are water-soluble. They fade pretty badly and smudge/run when very humid or wet. Pigment-based inks (like Epson Durabrite®) barely fade at all and are almost as water-resistant as laser toner. Allegedly, they aren’t as vivid at the start as the dye-based inks, so it may be a trade-off.
Not all Epson printers use Durabrite ink, either, and I’m not familiar with other manufacturers.
Finally, I’m afraid I can’t help you determine how suitable such a printer would be with your specific laptop. But I hope this is a start.
If you print out a lot of manuscript pages, you might want to go with a laser printer. Strictly black and white units can be had for around $100 or so, and print much faster than any inkjet. I’ve got an HP 1012 that I use, and I’m very happy with it. Although toner cartridges are somewhat expensive–much more than a single inkjet refill, on a price-per-page basis, it’s actually far cheaper. You can print out photographs in stunning black and white, too. If you want to go whole hog, and print color photos, too, color laser printers go for around $300 and up.
I forgot to mention that nearly any printer should be fully compatible with your Toshiba laptop, if you’re running a newer OS like Win 2k or XP. If you’ve got a much older OS like 95 or 98, you might have some driver issues. If you tell us which OS you have, we can be more helpful.
I like HP. I’ve had good luck with them. I tried a couple epsons and was very unhappy with their lifespans. Most the cheap printers are pretty much disposable these days. I expect anything under a few hundred bucks to last under 2 years.
I do second the recomendation for a b/w laser if all your doing is text.
Check out Office Max, I just picked up a Lexmark 2350 printer/flat scanner/fax for forty bucks. It uses one cartridge for color/B&W and they are cheap also. You may need something better if you do a lot of printing, but I’d guess you find a good deal at O.M…
IMHO (which is probably where this thread is headed) QED is on target with the laser printer recommendation. You don’t have to do a great deal of printing before the per-page cost of inkjet cartridges starts to hurt. Better speed is an additional bonus for the laser printer.
I don’t know if it’s my luck or the quality of their products, but I’ve had three Epson injets bite the dust after what I thought was an unreasonably short period of time. I avoid them like the plague now.
Thanks to [thread=373988]this thread[/thread], I bought a Samsung ML-2010 laser printer. I have been quite pleased with it. It only does B/W, but I don’t need to print color very often. Toner cartridges can be a bit pricey, but so can ink cartridges, and toner cartridges can print 5000 pages. (or so they say, I haven’t printed anywhere close to that many pages yet.)
I would strongly recommend not buying Epson inkjets; the print quality is good and they are near the front of the game with their ink technologies, however, the print heads are built into the machine rather than the cartridge; this means that if they become irrepairably clogged (which happens a lot, especially if the printer is not in constant use), the whole printer is useless (technically repairable, but this is never actually cost effective). In order to try to stop the print heads from clogging, the printer periodically cleans them by sluicing large amounts of ink through them and into a large block of absorbent wadding built into the bottom of the machine. By my estimate, up to half the ink ever installed in any given machine may end up in the waste ink reservoir.
I also recommend a laser printer, despite the higher initial cost, because of the high expense per page - toner cartridges are way cheaper for 5.000 pages than ink cartridges that last a few 100 pages.
And if you want to print photos, the recently introduced colour-laser-printers have dropped sharply in price - I think currently they cost less than 500 Euros (roughly 500 $ or less). Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten which companies I’ve seen the ads for in that price area.
OK . . . Color laser printer, Hewlett-Packard. (I need color, as I make notes to myself in my manuscripts in color: “still needs editing” might be in blue, “fact-check” in red, etc.).
I have to get it this Sat. at Staples, as I need to print this weekend, and Staples is the only joint w/in walking distance.
OS? I have no idea. What kind of driver do I need for my Packard? Does he need a duster and goggles?
Now, I’ll just print out this thread and – oh, godammit.
I know someone who has just bought the HP laserjet 3600 - a desktop colour laser printer - she says it’s fantastic. Many desktop laser printers have crummy page-per-minute ratings for pages with any colour at all on them, but not this particular model; it’s 17ppm for either.
It’s going to be too heavy to carry any distance though; use a trolley of some kind, or get a taxi to take it home.
Maybe she can just wheel it back in a shopping cart.
If money and space aren’t a problem, I too would highly recommend a laser printer. Much faster, they generally hold more paper, and are very consistent quality-wise. Inkjets can be funny on bulk printing jobs. The toner cartridges will probably be around $60 for each of the 4 colors, but you should get from 2500 to 5000 copies on each.
Yep, I have my “little old lady cart” to wheel it home in. Now to call my local Staples to see if they have any HP 3600 color laser printers!! I have a feeling I know what the answer will be . . .
Just called my friendly neighborhood Staples guy, who told me the HP 3600 color laser printer would cost $600, not including the cable (which I’d need to attach to my old computer) toner and four ink cartridges.
I told him what I needed it for and he recommended an Okidata color laser printer, for $300. He insists the ink cartridges are generally in stock and it’s “new to the US market, but really a good printer.”
Is he having me on, or should I go for the Okidata?
I’ve had an HP 2605dn color laser printer for about two months now, and it’s been doing well. Aside from the lower per-page costs, this model plugs into a network (as well as regular USB) which simplifies sharing it with everyone in the house. It also does duplex printing, so you save paper.
It’s generally available on sale for $400 now and then, or $500 regular price. I’m not terribly concerned with durability - a set of toner cartridges costs about $320, making the printer very nearly disposable. I’ll certainly think twice about doing any sort of repair or maintenance on it like replacing the fuser.
If you don’t need networking or duplexing, look at the HP 1600 for $300.
If you get a color laser printer, you’ll want to set up different printer profiles, or at least pay attention to the options when you print. If you don’t care if web links in an email are in color, print it in black & white and save the color toner - a color page costs four times what a black-only page costs. Either is still cheaper than inkjet, but why waste it?
Well, I’ve never owned one myself, and I don’t specifically recommend the brand, BUT I’ve never heard anything really bad about them. Okidata has been around for ages, so it’s certainly not a fly-by-night brand.
