Reply to: Printer recommendations

[ChimpMaster]

Looking to replace my HP 9010 which I bought very cheap on a deal. OEM Ink was reasonable price until HP firmware'd the printer to death so it can only use original (expensive) HP cartridges now. Absolutely hate HP now

We print quite a lot due to turnover of tenants in HMOs etc. Also our kids print a fair bit with their school stuff.

I need a scanner too on it.

Brother looks good but the toner is very expensive!

Epson might be the way to go by the looks of it.

[anonymouse]

Another one here for the laser printer lot, Dell 1760cnw, had it for many years and £15 for 1 ream of printing (colour & B/W). I don't need the ADF for a scanner anymore as I've done my training manuals a while ago, but they do seem to have progressed a lot these days. I'll never go back to inkjet though.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Bought an HP ink tank printer for work: cost more to refill the damn thing than to buy another one so it ran until it was empty then sat under a desk until someone threw it away after we moved.

And "they" finally managed to get network printing to work so it was redundant.

[wattaj]

...Found out the ink goes into a waste tank.

Yup, same with my Canon. I found that I could take the printer head out and wash it. You might find the same. Saves a fortune in wasted ink.

[krytonsheep]

Good to know, thanks.

Roughly how long before it clogs up?

A couple of months. I was thinking it didn't use any ink doing the power clean because it didn't need any paper. Found out the ink goes into a waste tank.

[ladymuck]

Please tell me I didn't try that line on you......

It's the most successful thing he ever picked up

[TestMangler]

Bet that's your usual line on a night out as well.

Please tell me I didn't try that line on you......

[malvolio]

Do the school not offer colour printing? Or is it a cheaper/convenient to do it at home?

I've been racking my brain as to when I last ever needed colour printing.

I'm in the laser camp. I can go weeks if not months without printing anything and it still works like a charm. Whereas it almost felt like inkjet printers were single use items.

I'm with you. Our usage is horribly variable from the odd sheet of A4 every other week to a bulk run of B&W or, more often, colour stuff (the joys of Am Dram!). The Brother laser just works, unlike several of my previous inkjets. It's also a damn sight quicker!

[wattaj]

Also got an Epson EcoTank. I found if you leave it for any length of time without printing the nozzles clog up and you have to do a 'power clean'.

My Canon can get clogged due to lack of use, but it's easy enough to take out the print head for a bit of a scrub... a "power clean" in the printer sounds awfully expensive in ink.

[JustKeepSwimming]

My teenage daughter in particular did a fair amount of colour printing for schoolwork.

Do the school not offer colour printing? Or is it a cheaper/convenient to do it at home?

I've been racking my brain as to when I last ever needed colour printing.

I'm in the laser camp. I can go weeks if not months without printing anything and it still works like a charm. Whereas it almost felt like inkjet printers were single use items.

[ladymuck]

Also got an Epson EcoTank. I found if you leave it for any length of time without printing the nozzles clog up and you have to do a 'power clean'.

Good to know, thanks.

Roughly how long before it clogs up?

[edison]

Also got an Epson EcoTank. I found if you leave it for any length of time without printing the nozzles clog up and you have to do a 'power clean'.

Bit of a pain. One of the reasons I switched from my old Brother printer to an eco tanks style was to reduce printing costs. My teenage daughter in particular did a fair amount of colour printing for schoolwork. But usage has tailed off as she finished last month and my wife also seems to print less so my payback period for the extra upfront cost has increased somewhat.

[krytonsheep]

Also got an Epson EcoTank. I found if you leave it for any length of time without printing the nozzles clog up and you have to do a 'power clean'.

[ladymuck]

Set up of the Epson was quite straightforward. Interestingly Windoze (10) automagically detected the printer and added it to the devices menu yet didn't think to install proper drivers so a load of crap got printed (but a test page came out perfect). So I had to uninstall that and then reinstall it properly.

Print times are pretty quick but the print quality is nowhere near as good as my old Xerox. All the colours seem washed out and far less vivid. I guess that's what I would have been paying for had I gone for the Brother laser.

The Epson software seems to be utter tripe. I downloaded the latest version off their website and then when trying to install it, it detected the printer but came up with a message saying that the printer was too new new for the software so I ought to install the latest software. Er... So I dug out my USB DVD drive and installed the very same software from the accompanying CD and that worked.

I only wanted to enable the functionality to scan to my PC...

[northernladuk]

I've got an Epson 9890, but it's maybe a bit bigger than what you're looking for.

Bet that's your usual line on a night out as well.