# Need a new printer, dammit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 29, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607 "2006-08-29T01:20:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/21 "2006-08-29T16:02:18Z")
I second mangetout’s advice regarding Epson. (post 10) I will also add that the epson inkjets I’ve used were about 3X noisier than similar performing HPs. Epson is also building obsolescence features into the printer firmware. After N pages are printed, it quits working. HP and Lexmark cartridges are widely available, and discounted at Costco. Other brands, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/22 "2006-08-29T16:12:44Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] 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. [/QUOTE] We’ve been using Okidata C5150 color lasers for a couple years. They’re mostly trouble-free and the placement of their printed output on the paper is very accurate, which is what we needed. OTOH a HP Laserjet 1200 was fairly inaccurate in text placement. If the printer reaches a condition where it’s low on several toners and drums (I think the drums get 15,000 copies) at once, it’s cheaper to buy a new printer! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/23 "2006-08-29T16:27:40Z")
OK, so depending on what they have in stock on Sat., I’ll get either an HP or Okidata color laser printer, one of the slightly lower-end models (the 3600 was too expensive for _my_ pocketbook!). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Rosewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mr.Rosewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Rosewater)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/24 "2006-08-29T16:33:25Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] 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) [/QUOTE] You probably don’t need a cable, since printer cables are standard. Your current one should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/25 "2006-08-29T16:55:31Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Rosewater] You probably don’t need a cable, since printer cables are standard. Your current one should be fine. [/QUOTE] Its also a high markup item, they will always try to guilt/worry you into a new one. “But ours is guarenteed compatible, you wouldn’t want to get it all home ot find out your USB 1.1 cable lacks the subtle improvements of our premium USB 1.1 cable for just $12.95, after all who wants to spend $600 on a printer and not get all the print quality they could?” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/26 "2006-08-29T17:03:17Z")
I’d look at the HP 1600 or 2600n, since they don’t have separate image drums. The Okidata C3200 and C3400 models require the image drums to be replaced separately from the toner cartridges. Also, the HP ones come with toner. The Okidata ones may come with it too, but it’s not specified on the Staples website or the manufacturer specifications. Although the cost of the HP toner is more than the Okidata, you get more pages per cartridge, and the per-page cost works out to around 4 cents for both brands. Remember that all color laser printers require four toner cartridges, one each for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/27 "2006-08-29T17:23:03Z")
. . . How much would a monk with a stylus run me? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/28 "2006-08-29T17:26:30Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] 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. [/QUOTE] So that’s what’s wrong with my printer. I have the CX4600 multi-function. Won’t print a thing, even with new cartridges. Cleaning was useless. Guess I need a new multifunction, just not an Epson. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/29 "2006-08-30T01:28:57Z")
I second a laser. About 4 months ago I bought a Samsung ML-2010. They list all over the place for $130, but can often be found on sale (I got it for $80 after an instant rebate at Best Buy.) I print about 10-20 pages a day, and an inkjet printer would end up being much more expensive in the long run. It just recently starting showing signs that the original cartridge (a starter cartridge, that isn’t completely full) is about to run out. I shook it up and am getting more prints out of it, but I already bought a new cartridge for ~$83. I expect that cartridge to give me a few thousand pages (versus a few hundred for a $30 inkjet cartridge). Besides, who needs to print pictures? Take your memory card to Wal-mart and get them printed for (?) $.17 a print if you ever really feel you need to. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/30 "2006-08-30T02:18:41Z")
To find your OS version (assuming Windows, I’m pretty sure you haven’t installed Linux or something): My Computer \> Help \> About Windows Good thing to know and usually the first question any tech person wll ask when trying to help you. I’m gonna guess that you probably have XP. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/31 "2006-08-30T02:54:17Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] My Computer \> Help \> About Windows [/QUOTE] Even easier: right-click the My Computer icon and click Properties. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/32 "2006-09-01T17:24:33Z")
OK, I cheaped out and got an HP Deskjet 6980: the laser printers were so huge and expensive (several hundred dollars more). And I so rarely print photos . . . Now I gotta get the thing out of the box and set it up and figure out how to configure it to my computer (the salesman talked me into a USB 2.0 high-speed cable; I’m just not knowledgable enough to call him a liar when he insisted I needed it!). By the way, I took off one of my precious work/sick days to buy this thing, so it better pour tomorrow like it’s promised! Now to go out and buy groceries so I can hole up tomorrow . . . ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/33 "2006-09-01T17:52:18Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] OK, I cheaped out and got an HP Deskjet 6980 [/QUOTE] Nothing wrong with that - my partner has one at his office and it’s pretty spiffy. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/34 "2006-09-01T19:53:04Z")
Plus, my salesman’s name was “Adam,” which I took as a good sign. ( . . . or, perhaps, a very _bad_ sign . . . ) ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607/35 "2006-09-01T22:40:22Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] OK, I cheaped out and got an HP Deskjet 6980: the laser printers were so huge and expensive (several hundred dollars more). And I so rarely print photos . . . Now I gotta get the thing out of the box and set it up and figure out how to configure it to my computer (the salesman talked me into a USB 2.0 high-speed cable; I’m just not knowledgable enough to call him a liar when he insisted I needed it!). By the way, I took off one of my precious work/sick days to buy this thing, so it better pour tomorrow like it’s promised! Now to go out and buy groceries so I can hole up tomorrow . . . [/QUOTE] If it doesn’t work, here is the [fix](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/30/hp_soldier/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-new-printer-dammit/370607.md?page=1)