I need a new occasional-use printer. Canon's last software update for my current one is for Windows 7, and it's acting funky.
It'll be used mostly for text with occasional target printing. I need to be able to connect at least two computers to it via wifi, and being able to connect to my iPhone would be good too. Ink needs to be easily available in brick-and-mortar stores as well as online. Price is a concern but I'm willing to pay for good stuff.
Recommendations?
Do you need color printing, or will black and white suffice?
Get a laser printer if you don’t print regularly.Originally Posted by revchuck38
Exactly this. If you don't need color, then get a laser printer.
I'm seeing a pattern here.My impression is that laser printers are several times the price of inkjets. I can live without color.
I run all Mac's at my house so I don't know about your software compatibility issues, but I've had a Canon all in one in the past, and now have a couple of Epson all in ones in the house. In addition to our home laptops, my wife and daughter are school teachers and print off their school computers on our home printer using the wi-fi. I believe my wife has printed off her iPad, but I don't think either have printed off their iPhone's, though I don't know why it wouldn't work.
The Canon seemed a little more solid, it was quieter, and seemed smoother. The Epson's are louder, but are faster. The Epson's are newer, though I think both are probably 6+ years old by now, and perhaps one is a comparative up-model over the Canon we had.
It seems as if the Canon ink was not as common at Office Depot, but each of our Epson's use different cartridges, so that's not terribly convenient, though only one is under regular use.
I thought so too, but if black and white only, an HP laser printer can be had for a couple of hundred dollars. We bought one for my wife last fall for school, since making copies at work had become a major hassle for her. It was about twice the cost of a decent inkjet, but you get more mileage out of the toner than the inkjet cartridges and it is much faster.I'm seeing a pattern here.
If you get a professional-grade one that's designed to print hundreds/thousands of pages a week in an office setting, sure. You can get a perfectly good consumer-grade laserjet for ~$200 though. That may be a little more than an inkjet, but new toner cartridges are a lot cheaper than inkjet cartridges.I'm seeing a pattern here.
The cost of the printer itself is chump change. The inkjet people make their money selling the cartridges. It’s not so much that I mind paying for the cartridges but when you don’t use ink jet cartridges regularly the Jets gum up with dried ink and you have to engage in a minor Science project to get everything working again.I'm seeing a pattern here.
They are. Until you get a "ink low" message and discover, hey, you know, the damn ink cartridge costs as much as the printer.I'm seeing a pattern here.
I've had the same Brother xerographic MFC printer since 2016. It prints, scans, and faxes. I've bounced it around 3 RVs and several household moves. In that time, I purchased one (*one*) xerographic unit for it since the toner was getting a little low. The thing flat out works. I just leave it on the low speed side of my house WiFi network. I can print off an iPhone, an iPad, a brand new HP laptop (obviously not mine
If I were looking for a low-volume, b&w printer, I'd look hard at a Brother unit.
PS I don't know the exact model I have, you might be able to see it upper left. But it does jam sometimes.
KIDDING!!!!
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