Author Topic: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?  (Read 8506 times)

cloudsail

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Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« on: February 22, 2016, 03:14:13 PM »
I used to print everything at work but now that I don't work we need a printer at home.

Will be printing mostly black and white, documents, worksheets for kids, etc.

We live in a small place so hopefully something small. And would like to not have to replace the ink constantly.

Any recommendations?

Saving in Austin

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2016, 03:27:04 PM »
I have an HP Officejet 4635 "Print Fax Scan Copy".

I paid $89 at Costco a year ago.

It works pretty well.


Uturn

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2016, 03:35:52 PM »
I finally got tired of buying ink cartridges when they dry out.  I found a good used laser on Craigslist.  In the long run, it will probably be cheaper and takes up the same footprint of the inkjet

dess1313

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2016, 03:37:57 PM »
which ever model it might be get a laser one
you can get toner refill kits online on amazon for a fraction of the price of new
you'll save your money back in no time despite some laser printers being more to purchase up front.   I have a black and white brother that i have had for more than 8 years now and still ticking along great

dycker1978

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2016, 03:45:21 PM »

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2016, 05:11:44 PM »
We made the switch to laser and couldn't be happier. We only ever printed color by accident and then we would have to replace the damn color cartridge 'cause it wouldn't print black and white without color installed. LOVE laser.

cloudsail

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2016, 06:07:28 PM »
I would look around for a lazer for cheap.

Just found this:

http://www.ncix.com/detail/brother-hl-l2320d-30ppm-250-sheet-capacity-a3-100649-1288.htm

Wow this is pretty cheap, I thought laser printers would at least be around $100. Thanks!

Another Reader

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2016, 06:27:38 PM »
That Brother model is occasionally on sale at Staples for that price.  I have two and they have been reliable so far.  Better than the last HP laser and much better than any ink jet.

gooki

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2016, 07:06:28 PM »
Brother laser printers are great. Cheap to buy - ours was $15 after mail in rebate. Toner lasts a good amount of time - two years so far. I won't go back to inkjet. To get a quality print I did find I had to change the settings from default to fine.

cloudsail

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2016, 07:57:05 PM »
I would look around for a lazer for cheap.

Just found this:

http://www.ncix.com/detail/brother-hl-l2320d-30ppm-250-sheet-capacity-a3-100649-1288.htm

Wow this is pretty cheap, I thought laser printers would at least be around $100. Thanks!

Unfortunately this deal is only good in Canada :(

Maybe I'll visit Best Buy tomorrow to see if they have any deals.

jeromedawg

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2016, 08:13:43 PM »
I concur with the recommendations on Brother printers. I've always had good experiences with them overall. Pretty solid/reliable and you usually just need to worry about replacing the ink or toner. Yes, lasers will probably be cheaper in the long run if you end up printing a lot. So if you can snag a good deal on one go for it. I got a multi-function wifi inkjet (mfc475 I think) from Bestbuy and really like it. Ink cartridges aren't very expensive either if you don't print all that much.

JLee

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2016, 08:23:40 PM »
+1 for Brother lasers.  You can get pretty basic ones for $40-50, or a wireless/wired networking copier/printer/scanner for ~$100 (I just bought one for my parents).

Ziggurat

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2016, 08:57:14 PM »
Another +1 for Brother.  About 6 weeks ago I bought a 3-in-1 duplexing wifi printer (monochrome laser) on sale for $90 Cdn.  Very impressed with how well it was packaged, good instructions, prints well without trouble.  Came with a starter toner cartridge even though that wasn't mentioned in the ad.

OP asked for a small printer, and the one I got doesn't fit that exactly, but it has a surprisingly small footprint for what it offers.

dycker1978

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2016, 07:01:12 AM »
I would look around for a lazer for cheap.

Just found this:

http://www.ncix.com/detail/brother-hl-l2320d-30ppm-250-sheet-capacity-a3-100649-1288.htm

Wow this is pretty cheap, I thought laser printers would at least be around $100. Thanks!

Unfortunately this deal is only good in Canada :(

Maybe I'll visit Best Buy tomorrow to see if they have any deals.

You could try tigerdirect.com, they are US based, or newegg.com.  I purchased off both of the Canadian sites when I was running computer repair business.  They are good sites with quick shipping.

We also have a site, http://www.shopbot.ca/, where you can search any price for anything using the model number you want.  It will find it, and then you can price match if needed.  the Canadian site is http://www.shopbot.ca/.  Not sure of the American site.

GuitarStv

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2016, 07:59:16 AM »
I got a cheap Brother laser printer when I was in university.  15 years later and one new toner cartridge, and it's still working perfectly.  It's not the smallest printer I've seen but is certainly built to last.

sonjak

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2016, 08:24:23 AM »
I have that exact same Brother printer and like the others have said it works great.  Definitely recommend for what you're describing.  It has a pretty small footprint and fits on the corner of my desk.

jda1984

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2016, 08:39:04 AM »
I second the cheap laser printer option.  We have a Samsung ML-2010 that a friend gave us when he was moving overseas.  I think he said he picked it up from Newegg for ~$50.  We've had it for about 8 years and have just used toner refill kits (I think it's still the same kit, same bottle of toner we bought about 2 years into it).  Hard to beat the black and white print quality, speed, and cost.  It's also pretty quiet if that bothers you (I recently printed something on a hotel business center inkjet and was jarred by the sound of the cartridges going back and forth).

GuitarStv

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #17 on: February 23, 2016, 09:00:55 AM »
It's also pretty quiet if that bothers you (I recently printed something on a hotel business center inkjet and was jarred by the sound of the cartridges going back and forth).

After a couple years using dot matrix printers, everything sounds quiet to me these days.  :P

dycker1978

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #18 on: February 23, 2016, 09:30:21 AM »
Another place to check, at least here is craiglist.  People sell perfectly good printers, because the toner is to expensive, it is cheaper to buy a new printer... just fill the toner yourself.

GuitarStv

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #19 on: February 23, 2016, 09:36:03 AM »
:P

If it's cheaper to buy a new printer than get toner, why would anyone spend extra money on toner for an older printer?

JLee

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #20 on: February 24, 2016, 09:09:29 AM »
I would look around for a lazer for cheap.

Just found this:

http://www.ncix.com/detail/brother-hl-l2320d-30ppm-250-sheet-capacity-a3-100649-1288.htm

Wow this is pretty cheap, I thought laser printers would at least be around $100. Thanks!

Unfortunately this deal is only good in Canada :(

Maybe I'll visit Best Buy tomorrow to see if they have any deals.

You could try tigerdirect.com, they are US based, or newegg.com.  I purchased off both of the Canadian sites when I was running computer repair business.  They are good sites with quick shipping.

We also have a site, http://www.shopbot.ca/, where you can search any price for anything using the model number you want.  It will find it, and then you can price match if needed.  the Canadian site is http://www.shopbot.ca/.  Not sure of the American site.

I wouldn't buy from TigerDirect anymore - they've been bought out and are refusing all returns regardless of reason.

http://consumerist.com/2015/12/28/tigerdirect-has-new-owner-wont-accept-returns/

JLee

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #21 on: February 24, 2016, 09:11:17 AM »
:P

If it's cheaper to buy a new printer than get toner, why would anyone spend extra money on toner for an older printer?

It is and it isn't -- many laser printers come with 'starter' toner cartridges which print about half of what a normal cartridge would.  People may see "$60 toner or $50 printer", but really it's "$60 for 2600 pages or $50 for 1300 pages."

dycker1978

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #22 on: February 25, 2016, 06:42:02 AM »
:P

If it's cheaper to buy a new printer than get toner, why would anyone spend extra money on toner for an older printer?

It is and it isn't -- many laser printers come with 'starter' toner cartridges which print about half of what a normal cartridge would.  People may see "$60 toner or $50 printer", but really it's "$60 for 2600 pages or $50 for 1300 pages."

An people but new cars cause they need brakes :P

dess1313

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #23 on: February 25, 2016, 08:47:49 PM »
:P

If it's cheaper to buy a new printer than get toner, why would anyone spend extra money on toner for an older printer?

the quality of the $50 printer may not be worth it.  for example i could buy a newer printer, but i would no longer have the nice features my older printer has like duplexing. if you've ever done a ton of printing that is a HUGE time saver.  and ditto about the different sizes of cartridges.  also if you find toner is too expensive, look up toner refill kits and DIYourself

My printer also has much more DPI (better quality images) than a lot of the newer cheaper printers.  you still get what you pay for

Altons Bobs

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #24 on: February 25, 2016, 10:30:36 PM »
Definitely get a laser printer.  10+ years ago there was a Discover deal, I bought 2 HP laserjets for $18 each. I bought 2 because I was wanting to use one as a backup just in case one broke.  Well, fast forward 10+ years later, the second $18 HP laserjet is still in its box, unopened.

bauhauss

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #25 on: February 25, 2016, 10:51:19 PM »
Epson L355 Eco Tank. It has an ink bulk system, easy and very cheap to refill. I do a lot of printing, and have owned several HP printers, but none of them beats the Epson. Some people relate some issues on internet forums about it, but I myself never face it.

FrugalKube

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #26 on: February 25, 2016, 10:57:42 PM »
Probably going to pick this up late this year. Brother for under $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1EE-0008-00094

I also thought about an all-in-one for around $139 from Newegg

JLee

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #27 on: February 26, 2016, 08:38:05 AM »
Probably going to pick this up late this year. Brother for under $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1EE-0008-00094

I also thought about an all-in-one for around $139 from Newegg

I bought this one for my parents (it was $99.99 last week). It's working out well so far.

Another Reader

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Re: Recommendations for a small, economical printer?
« Reply #28 on: February 26, 2016, 09:21:15 AM »
Per next week's Staple's ad, the basic Brother 2320 will again be on sale for $59.99, starting Sunday.  It's not wireless, and it's not a copier, but for a basic slave printer, it does an excellent job.