# Recommend a printer **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905 "2010-12-21T02:18:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pierrot_Le_Fou)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/1 "2010-12-21T02:18:57Z")
1. Has to have wireless capabilities 2. Will be used for text; it does need to make photo quality pictures 3. Must be an efficient ink user ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/2 "2010-12-21T02:44:42Z")
I recommend a monochrome laser printer. Staples has a Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer for $150 or a remanufactured Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer for $100 (and then there’s a $30 rebate bringing the price to $70). Both have wireless network cards. ---
**Author:** ![Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pierrot_Le_Fou)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/3 "2010-12-21T02:46:23Z")
As I think about, the printer only needs to print text. ---
**Author:** ![Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pierrot_Le_Fou)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/4 "2010-12-21T02:49:14Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I recommend a monochrome laser printer. Staples has a Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer for $150 or a remanufactured Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer for $100 (and then there’s a $30 rebate bringing the price to $70). Both have wireless network cards. How similar is the 2270DW? Amazon has it $99.99. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/5 "2010-12-21T02:53:04Z")
Looking at the [Brother website](http://www.brother-usa.com/Printer/CompareList.aspx?ModelList=hl2170W,HL2270DW), the only difference I can see is that the one I mentioned is 23PPM and the one you mentioned is 27PPM. Edited to add that the one you mentioned includes duplexing, which is, I think, why there’s a D in the model number. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/6 "2010-12-21T03:08:39Z")
My advice: don’t shop for printers. Shop for cheap cartridges, then find what printer matches it. I read somewhere that Epson was the most efficient ink brand, but I think that only applied to inkjets, not laserjet toner. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/7 "2010-12-21T03:32:19Z")
I second Brother. ---
**Author:** ![Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pierrot_Le_Fou)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/8 "2010-12-21T03:51:39Z")
Is this the Brother replacement toner? > **[Amazon.com: Brother Genuine TN330 Mono Laser Toner Cartridge , Black : Office...](https://www.amazon.com/Brother-Genuine-TN330-Laser-Cartridge/dp/B00116D4NC)** > > Product Description The Brother TN330 Black Toner Cartridge offers an expected lifetime yield of 1,500 pages based on 5-percent coverage. It is compatible with Brother models DCP-7030, DCP-7040, HL-2140, HL-2170W, MFC-7440N, and MFC-7840W. ... ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-printer/564905/9 "2010-12-21T13:27:56Z")
Not for the printer you found. For the Brother 2270DW printer, there’s a TN420 cartridge that yields about 1200 pages or the TN450 that yields about 2600 pages.