Need A Recommendation For A Computer Printer

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Walter Rego

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I have an Epson XP-310 that's only about a year old. I only print a few pages a month and every 4 or 5 pages it smears and I have to go though the whole head cleaning and alignment cycles which is a big waste of time. It also seems to go through ink at an alarming rate considering it gets such light use. Can someone recommend a good color printer, one that could also be used for photo printing ? I already have a scanner so it's not important to have that feature. I wouldn't mind spending more money for a laser printer, I just want the darn thing to work all the time and not run out of ink after 25 or 30 pages. I'd like to stay under $250, $200 would be better. Thanks
 
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I used to have Epsons but unless they are used constantly the ink dries in the Print heads
I Now use an HP Printers and have been very happy with my last two
 
I have had my Brother MFC 5890 for about 5 years now. I don't print that often, but whenever I do, it's good. I select the black only option most of the time, so my color cartridges don't get used up. I replace the black cartridge at most twice a year, buy my cartridges online at discount suppliers, and spend very little. Not the quality of a laser, but fine. Don't be fooled by the low cost of a laser, you'll be paying for the refills.
 
I quit with HP

I used to buy them sight unseen. If anybody asked me, I told them to get an HP, no argument. The last two I got were increasingly harder to deal with and printing without color until you got some ink was more than difficult. Seems that they like selling ink, a LOT. I buy plenty of ink and I hate being backed into a corner of 'you ain't doing nothing until you buy our ink'.

I've got an Epson WF 2650 now and it's great.
 
Last year I got an HP Officejet Pro 6830 e-All-in-One. Does all the usual things well, but I signed up for their monitored ink plan called "Instant Ink". I took the $2.99 a month plan.

$2.99 plan
Monthly pages 50
Rollover Pages Up to 50
Additional pages Set of 15 pages for $1.00

The printer tells HP about it's usage. HP resupplies ink automatically. If you print photos and use a lot of ink, it doesn't matter because it still counts as a single printed page. The ink cartridges they send seem to have more ink than usual and last longer. So far, the replacement ink has been arriving well before the old runs out.

If you find an HP you like, I recommend this plan.
 
I have the same printing volume as the OP. When the color cartridges dried up from lack of use, the printer would quit working. Not even black worked. So buy a new set of color cartridges. OUCH.

We explained this to a guy at Best Buy, he said go toner. No cartridges to dry up. The printer was $125 or so, new toner is high, but you get like 5000 pages and it doesn't dry up. No color, but I've lived nicely without it. We got a brother HL-L2380DW. It prints, copies, scan, and probably faxes, but we don't use anything but printing and copying.

Charlie
 
Forget inkjet and go with a laser.

The prices have dropped dramatically in recent years. A good color, duplex (two sided printing) laser printer can be had for $200. I got one and will never look back.

If you don't use it much, the ink in an inkjet will dry out. Then you have to buy more cartridges even though you didn't use them. A laser printer uses toner which is a dry powder. It never expires. Toner is expensive. Some toner cartridges can cost $85 or more. But, a black toner generally lasts 2,500 pages. That's a long time for some people.

Go laser. You won't be sorry.
 
I bought an Epson XP-830 a couple of months ago, a little over $100 as I recall. So far so good but it looks like ink is going to be pricey when I need some.
 
Rastoff said:
Forget inkjet and go with a laser.

The prices have dropped dramatically in recent years. A good color, duplex (two sided printing) laser printer can be had for $200. I got one and will never look back.

If you don't use it much, the ink in an inkjet will dry out. Then you have to buy more cartridges even though you didn't use them. A laser printer uses toner which is a dry powder. It never expires. Toner is expensive. Some toner cartridges can cost $85 or more. But, a black toner generally lasts 2,500 pages. That's a long time for some people.

Go laser. You won't be sorry.
Click to expand...

Way to go, Rastoff!

I have an HP 5610 all in one. Cartridges are sold in combo packs for $39.99 or $17.99 for black and $24.99 for color. The color does supposedly 165 pages and one black does "up to" 190 pages. When the black gets low, it uses the color to emulate it, so you might as well just use black.

My cost per color page is $0.15 a black page cost is $0.095, if you really get 2500 pages on a cartridge, that comes out to $0.034!
 
Last edited:
Canon. I, too, have had the nozzle clogging problems with Epson. No issues since I switched to Canon a few years ago. Print quality is comparable. Speed is comparable. Cost is comparable. I don't print a lot any more, and the Canons just don't have the clog issues like my old Epsons did.
 
I'm with Rastoff... go laser.

We use a Brother monochrome laser wireless. Works easily with our phones, tablets and desktops. Cartridge cost $15 and rated for 2,600 pages. Speed is quite impressive. I would not go back to Inkjet if they were giving them away.
 
Ink-jet printers are a racket. Buy our cheap printers so we can rape you on toner costs. Laser printers, generally are built for business and those customers don't tolerate inefficiency.
 
Rastoff said:
Forget inkjet and go with a laser.

The prices have dropped dramatically in recent years. A good color, duplex (two sided printing) laser printer can be had for $200. I got one and will never look back.

If you don't use it much, the ink in an inkjet will dry out. Then you have to buy more cartridges even though you didn't use them. A laser printer uses toner which is a dry powder. It never expires. Toner is expensive. Some toner cartridges can cost $85 or more. But, a black toner generally lasts 2,500 pages. That's a long time for some people.

Go laser. You won't be sorry.
Click to expand...

Ditto the laser printer. I have an HP Laserjet 1250NW that is over 10 years old. I dont print much, I replaced the original toner cartridge last year.

I also recommend a networked Postscript printer, at least if you are using a Mac. If the company decides to quit supporting the OS with driver updates, the generic postscript printer driver will still work.
 
ChattanoogaPhil said:
I'm with Rastoff... go laser.

We use a Brother monochrome laser wireless. Works easily with our phones, tablets and desktops. Cartridge cost $15 and rated for 2,600 pages. Speed is quite impressive. I would not go back to Inkjet if they were giving them away.
Click to expand...

This was my solution, as well, for the ink-drying-up problem.

They actually do give inkjet printers away. Nearly all are sold at or below cost, and they are supplied with partially filled ink cartridges.

The sale of ink cartridges is where they make their money. The equipment to manufacture ink cartridges is expensive ($1 billion to set up a plant about 10 years ago) so there is a significant barrier to competition.
 
It is known as the Gillette method of marketing. Give the razors away and sell the razor blades. Have three Brother B&W lasers (all 4 + years old) and one Brother Inkjet that is used for my LLC, so I can write off the ink cost. Dave_n
 
I've had a Brother laser printer for several years now, and I'm real happy with it. Very good print quality, good speed, reliable feeding, and the cartridge lasts a long time. It's just B&W and is good for most of my printing. I also have a Brother color ink jet for color jobs. That works well, too. I've had better luck with Brother compared to other brands. I used to like HP, but it seems like they went down hill/cheap a while back. I wouldn't get another HP...

Next time I'll probably suck it up and get a color laser printer and deal with the expensive cartridges.
 
16thVACav said:
This was my solution, as well, for the ink-drying-up problem.

They actually do give inkjet printers away. Nearly all are sold at or below cost, and they are supplied with partially filled ink cartridges.

The sale of ink cartridges is where they make their money. The equipment to manufacture ink cartridges is expensive ($1 billion to set up a plant about 10 years ago) so there is a significant barrier to competition.
Click to expand...

Right.

I was surprised to see to see how far laser printers had come down in price when I purchased mine, and how competitive the retailers can be at slashing price.

The Brother L2380DW I got from BestBuy was on sale for $149, regular price $199. I checked Amazon with my iPhone and their price was $125. BestBuy matched. Done deal so I thought....

A day later Amazon was selling the printer for $99. BestBuy credited my CC the difference.

A day later BestBuy sent me an email selling the printer for $85. They credited my CC the difference.

A day later BestBuy sent me yet another email selling the printer for $75 and showing a regular price of $165. BestBuy credited my credit card the difference.

A few days days later BestBuy had the printer on sale for $159 with a regular price back to $199. Amazon was selling the printer for $147.

Same printer model all within about a week or so. Crazy competitive pricing.
 
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