New printer advice

[justinf89]

Today I'm going out printer shopping for a new color printer. My family has a shipping business on amazon through our home and we currently have a worn out hp laser printer. We mostly print shipping labels but some invoices and such. I can't tell you how many pages we print a month or anything, but it's a lot. We go through a 3500 page toner cartridge in about 3 months, on the most economic settings, so it probably turns out to be 5000 pages.

Anyway, my sister is starting college this fall and we would like to get a color printer for her to use. I'm not worried about print speed or anything, just cost per page. I looked at a color laser but the color cartridges will probably go bad before we use them up. We don't plan to use color very much at all. And not to mention the cost of color toner.

So I was looking at the HP officejet pro 8100 that uses the new 950XL cartridges. These cartridges boast 2300 pages each, and I can get a set of 2 at costco for $60. That is a lot cheaper than I'm currently paying for toner @ $65 for 3500 pages. I'm not worried about the cost of the color cartridges because they will probably never be replaced. I just want to have color just in case one day we need it for something.

So what do you guys think? Should I go with this printer? I have no need for any accessories such as fax, scan, etc. Just print. I know the oil forum isn't the best place for this question but I don't know anywhere else to ask other than the skewed answers from the store.

It looks like I can get one for $99 which is cheaper than the new internal parts I will need for my current laserjet.

If you guys can suggest something else more economical, I'd really like to keep it under $300 - $350. Thanks guys.

Oh and it must have wifi connectivity, or at the very least rj45

 

[Rand]

get 2 printers..

get an inkjet for color and a laser black/white/grayscale for college/work stuff.

I really like the brother laser printers something like
a brother 2270dw is fairly amazing for 100$ or so.

also toner doesnt really go bad so if you wanted to spend 200-300 for a color laser no worries.. but I wouldnt.


my 2 cents without writing a book on the subject.

 

[sciphi]

I'm partial to Canon inkjet printers. I have 2, and have had excellent luck with them so far. One I've had for 8 years, and has been problem-free. The >$100 ones are the ones I've had luck with, not the cheapies.

 

[Rand]

since you have a home business you might also consider an all in one printer with fax and copy capability... sometimes thats really handy.(brother makes laser ones) or you can snag a decent epson or canon inkjet model for around 100$


officemax has the brother 2270DW for 109$ instore right now

it has cheap toner and duplexing. Also wireless and rj-45

I've had good luck with them and good luck using generic toner ie from newegg etc.

 

[david_ES2]

Ive had real bad luck with these newer hp printers, i just flat out think they are junk. they look pretty and shiny though!

Canon on the other hand have been trouble free and easy to use , but their cartridges run out faster than their competitors i believe.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: david_ES2
Ive had real bad luck with these newer hp printers, i just flat out think they are junk. they look pretty and shiny though!

Canon on the other hand have been trouble free and easy to use , but their cartridges run out faster than their competitors i believe.


yea the new hp's arent anything special esp their inkjets with the excessively high cost per page.

 

[PandaBear]

For the volume you print, you should look at business grade color laser with the cheapest toner cost.

Don't worry about how much your machine will cost you.

 

[tdpark]

Look at samsung- i just got a black and white laser all in one- great little machine, they also have color models too.

I agree with above- get a black and white laser and then a cheap color inkjet. The inkjets actually have better quality in terms of photo and other color stuff.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
For the volume you print, you should look at business grade color laser with the cheapest toner cost.

Don't worry about how much your machine will cost you.


the brother 2270dw while not massive needing its own desk...
is rated at 10000/month max duty cycle.

has duplexing (auto print on both page sides)

RJ-45, USB , and wireless connectivity.
I own the slightly older model without duplexing and its been great.

you can easily 3-4 cartridges out of the drum probably more if its not full page printing...

I've printed about 8000pages on mine and still like new.
cost per page is very low.

and its under 10seconds to first page from standby (.8watts on standby)

or for about 200$ you can get the all in one with scanner/copier/fax (more like 300$ without looking for a deal)

 

[Nick R]

I'd personally get a Canon. They are quite reliable, have the best customer service of any other printer company, ink is fairly reasonable, and they have good feature sets.