Printer recommendation

[CDX825]

Looking for recommendations on a new printer. I don't need anything crazy fancy. Mostly going to be used for invoices and stuff like that.

Last printer I had was an HP ink jet. Cant remember the model number but it was a steaming pile of junk. It rarely got used and would sit for months at a time without use. Any time I would need to print something it would need ink. I could buy new ink to print a few things and not use it again for months and when I needed it again it would say it needed ink again. Years after junking it I learned that it was a scam built in by the companies to get you to buy more ink when you actually don't need it. So I'm a bit hesitant to buy a new printer after dealing with that piece of junk.

 

[dishdude]

A cheap Brother laser.

 

[ripcord]

Laser all the way.

 

[Lubener]

I have had great service from my Brother MFC (Multi Function Center) laser printer. Very fast prints, toner cartridges last a long time and are not very expensive. Only time I use my ink jet is for color prints.

 

[earlyre]

A cheap Brother laser.

made this exact recommendation to my sister yesterday, including an amazon link...right on the page, i sent her, says "ships may 1st"

 

[Lubener]

made this exact recommendation to my sister yesterday, including an amazon link...right on the page, i sent her, says "ships may 1st"

I hope it comes intact. The way delivery drivers man handle their boxes, I don't think a printer would hold up to any rough handling. This would be a product I would want to pick up at the store unless there was a huge price difference.

 

[earlyre]

I hope it comes intact. The way delivery drivers man handle their boxes, I don't think a printer would hold up to any rough handling. This would be a product I would want to pick up at the store unless there was a huge price difference.

good luck with that.... she had already had wally cancel a printer order b/c they weren't able to fulfill it.
there's a printer shortage right now. there often is around tax time...and back to school...

 

[benjy]

my Canon Pixma 5200 ink jet has been good enough + i use off brand ink for cheep! i print now + then, mostly receipts as many on-line vendors dont include one as many things get "drop shipped" never new much about laser printers, BUT after reading several posts about them i would get the recommended cheep Brother Laser. what bugs me most is Not being able to set up + use older printers on newer laptops, manufacturers way to get you to buy another!! on that last comment my present Canon is the only one that worked on other laptops like my girlfriends, unlike the Dell, expensive ink or a cheep HP bought just for her use!!

 

[Zee09]

I buy Cannon basic models and get great life out of them-B&W only as it is for shipping labels

 

[JustinH]

Still chugging along with a brother black and white laser, basic USB model.

Now have it plugged into a little network print server so all clients in the house can print to it wirelessly. Quite amazing for a 10+ year old printer.

Toner is ten bucks, drums are 8 bucks the last time I did one I don't remember. I think it has had two drums in its lifetime.

 

[Eddie]

Great service from the CANON MG6800 series.

 

[Hermann]

I have had excellent service from a HP 5540. I enrolled in the HP instant ink program and printer worries are no more. In three years I have only paid $2
Right after I enrolled In the Instant Ink program I received the High Capacity ink cartridges, which have been in for 3 years.
This is the FREE plan. Gives you 15 pages per month free.

Other plan are available.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Looking for recommendations on a new printer. I don't need anything crazy fancy. Mostly going to be used for invoices and stuff like that.

Last printer I had was an HP ink jet. Cant remember the model number but it was a steaming pile of junk. It rarely got used and would sit for months at a time without use. Any time I would need to print something it would need ink. I could buy new ink to print a few things and not use it again for months and when I needed it again it would say it needed ink again. Years after junking it I learned that it was a scam built in by the companies to get you to buy more ink when you actually don't need it. So I'm a bit hesitant to buy a new printer after dealing with that piece of junk.

That's the best argument for a laser, not an inkjet. Toner powder isn't volatile, like printer ink (which is one of the most expensive fluids, by volume), and will remain shelf stable for long periods in dry, normal environments (just don't put the printer in your steam bath).

Brother laser printers have a reputation for being durable, and cheap, at least until the work/school from home demand surge hit the tech industry, with the expected results.

Lamentably, it also got into the chipped cartridge game, but there are workarounds, so aftermarket toner options remain plentiful.

 

[alarmguy]

Stay away from ink jets as others have posted.

Im a fan of past Brother Printers as well, I like the brand.
But our current printer is a Canon MF445DW and have to say I am extremely happy with it and would recommend it as well.

 

[JTK]

I mail ordered a Canon ImageClass MF232w laser printer a bit over a year ago for under $100 all-in. I will NEVER go back to an inkjet. I suffered with inkjets for almost 30yrs. We've printed ~1200 pages and I'm still on the factory toner cartridge, but I am getting the <10% toner remaining warning. A twin pack of replacement aftermarket toner cartriges were around $35 on Amazon.

 

[IveBeenRued]

Another vote for a cheap black and white Brother laser printer. They are cheap to buy, cheap to run, no bloatware needed to make it work (*cough cough* HP...), incredibly fast to boot up, and are reliable.

As an added bonus, if you have any Apple products, Airprint works better on a Brother than any other device that I’ve tried. No installation needed and instant recognition of the device on the network. I can literally boot up my printer and print an Amazon return label in under 25 seconds from my iPhone.

 

[JTK]

As an added bonus, if you have any Apple products, Airprint works better on a Brother than any other device that I’ve tried. No installation needed and instant recognition of the device on the network. I can literally boot up my printer and print an Amazon return label in under 25 seconds from my iPhone.

Good point on that. With my Canon, if you download the Canon print app on the device you want to print from, you can print wireless from any device. With the kids all remote "learning" something is printing constantly it seems.

 

[alarmguy]

Yeah ^^ no more hardwired printer here, print everything wirelessly from any device, works flawless.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Another vote for a cheap black and white Brother laser printer. They are cheap to buy, cheap to run, no bloatware needed to make it work (*cough cough* HP...), incredibly fast to boot up, and are reliable.

Yeah, not goin' there:

INFORMATION AUTOMATICALLY COLLECTED ABOUT YOUR USE OF HP SERVICES

• Product Usage Data – We collect product usage data such as pages printed, print mode, media used, ink or toner brand, file type printed (.pdf, .jpg, etc.), application used for printing (Word, Excel, Adobe Photoshop, etc.), file size, time stamp, and usage and status of other printer supplies. We do not scan or collect the content of any file or information that might be displayed by an application.
• Device Data – We collect information about your computer, printer and/or device such as operating system, firmware, amount of memory, region, language, time zone, model number, first start date, age of device, device manufacture date, browser version, device manufacturer, connection port, warranty status, unique device identifiers, advertising identifiers and additional technical information that varies by product.

In today's world, it's increasingly hard to avoid practices like this, even for products one ostensibly "owns," but can leak information, or in the extreme, be crippled, or even rendered useless if some connection to the mothership isn't made (including most, if not all IoT products), or see the company try to change the terms of usage in their favor (Cricut is the latest example).

 

[Pew]

Another vote for a cheap black and white Brother laser printer. They are cheap to buy, cheap to run, no bloatware needed to make it work (*cough cough* HP...), incredibly fast to boot up, and are reliable.

I have the MS Store disabled via GPO to my company and it annoys me that I have to unblock the store to download the HP Smart program for company PCs. I don't understand why they can't just have a separate download.