Electronics

[Krimpette]

I just recently purchased the Epson EcoTank which uses ink tanks rather than cartridges.  Lots of good reviews, and the tanks are supposed to last a really long time.  I've hardly had a chance to use it much yet, but thought I'd mention the Epson brand for consideraton.  

[springers]

Thanks everyone for replies. I will look into laser. Probably compare brother and canon. I hardly use it but I need air print. So when I want to print something it would be easier from iPad or phone
I like I can replace black separately since I mostly print black.
Ps Funny. I’ve done the same thing with light switch.

[Lilysmom]

@springers , one ink cartridge (drum or whatever they call ink for laser printers) prints 2500 pages.  I air print from my MacBook, iPad and iphone amd so does my husband.  So easy.  I like easy😊.  I bought mine at Costco and they sell the replacement drums as well.  Check out the price of replacement drums in advance of purchase.  LM

[Nuttmeg]

@springers 

Laser printers are a good value to operate. Why? They print only in black and white or shades of gray. I have a very old HP laser printer and a five year inkjet printer.

When I need a printer I check the (eg) Brother site. I go to Amazon and compare products.

You may need a device that connects to your network with a Ethernet, USB,  wireless,cloud printing and Bluetooth. Please buy all the connections you need. 

You can buy color lasers. These are made for business customers. 

Laser printers vary in price by the amount of. on board memory. The pages are formed inside the printer and then come out. A faster printer generally has more RAM. 

[glb613]

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@Nuttmeg wrote:

@springers 

Laser printers are a good value to operate. Why? They print only in black and white or shades of gray. I have a very old HP laser printer and a five year inkjet printer.

When I need a printer I check the (eg) Brother site. I go to Amazon and compare products.

You may need a device that connects to your network with a Ethernet, USB,  wireless,cloud printing and Bluetooth. Please buy all the connections you need. 

You can buy color lasers. These are made for business customers. 

Laser printers vary in price by the amount of. on board memory. The pages are formed inside the printer and then come out. A faster printer generally has more RAM. 

There are a lot of wireless printers to choose from.  I wouldn't buy one if it wasn't wireless. 

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[Buster43]

My printing requirements are very simple...I have a small Brother laser printer purchased in 2015. I use compatible toner cartridges instead of Brother...they cost $16 vs $40 and the page yield is 2600 vs 1200 pages. I am able to connect all of my devices, iPad, iPhone, MacBook Air, Dell notebooks and android tablets easily. It is a wireless printer connected to my router and easily discoverable. 

It is my oldest piece of technology and works as well today as it did new in 2015.  Nice to have one thing I don't need to worry about.

[ciao_bella]

Wow!  Guess I'm still using the oldest dinosaur printer here!  It's an HP, not wireless and was purchased from Walmart for about $20 about 7 years or so ago.  I don't need to print out much but when I do I only use the B/W cartridge.  No need for me to buy a color ink cartridge if I have no need for it.  

Ink refills, if and when I need them run about $16 or $17 new but I can take the empty cartridge to Costco and have them fill it with ink for about $8. 

[irbrenda]

Nah, mine is certainly the oldest here.  My HP laserjet4300N is from 2004 and it's a beast, the best workhourse.  I do all the maintenance on it myself and any repairs it needs.  The court reporters, like myself, still use this printer for court transcripts., and I do a massive amount of printing.   HP never made another like this again.    That being said, I now use compatible cartridges for a fraction of the price.  They've been fine.

I also purchased a Brother Laserjet, the HL-L6200DW.  It is okay.  Prints very fast, 42 pages per minute, like the HP.  I use compatible ink too.  It's almost cheaper to throw out the printer and buy new if you buy Brother OEM ink!   I did find a quirk with this Brother, and that is it hates Hammermill 20lb copy paper for whatever reason.  My printing all fades.  I order HP paper, 20lb, but not recycled, and it is fine. 

My only issue with this:  It disconnects after an hour from my network.   I've tried every trick in the book to get it to stay permanently online.   So, I have to shut it off and restart it  constantly, unlike the trusty old HP which never had that issue.

I also bought an HP Envy6255 here when it was a TSV, half price, and that was very recent.   It's always online, never shuts off, and I do the minimum order of $2.99 when it runs out of ink, and it is automatically sent to me.  I do print less than 50 pages a month for sure on that.  It has been very easy to set up and works great so far.

I think it's a matter of luck these days as to what will work and what won't.