Topic: Printers -- we rape you for life.

[Pugnate]

Got a new HP/Printer/Copier in one thing a month ago for office work. I swear, I hardly used the thing... and now it is telling me the black is out of ink. The cartridges were definitely new. This definitely reeks of shady business practice, to me. I guess this is how they get you.

[Cobra951]

Same at Sandy's.  New HP inkjet printer/scanner.  So she stopped using it as a printer unless she needs color.  She has an old B&W laserjet that's much cheaper to operate.

[scottws]

Got a new HP/Printer/Copier in one thing a month ago for office work. I swear, I hardly used the thing... and now it is telling me the black is out of ink. The cartridges were definitely new. This definitely reeks of shady business practice, to me. I guess this is how they get you.

Inkjet printers are basically a scam.  They practically give them away and then, yes, rape you on the ink for the duration.  Also, the ink cartridges that come with printers are not full cartridges.

Also, the reason that inkjet printers don't all have the same type of cartridges even within the same brand is a deliberate move by the manufacturers to make it more expensive for copycat inkjet cartridge makers to operate.

[ren]

Laser is the only way to go. One cartridge of toner will last about a year with casual/regular use. My parents have one that they only use every few months and the toner that came with the printer is still going after several years.

[Xessive]

Oh man, frickin' printers!

The last printer I got in Canada cost me $30.. It was a basic Lexmark.. Ran out of ink, went for more, ink cartridges cost $50 each. So I bought another printer for $30 and used that.. I wound up with 3 printers that year, which I resold for about $20 each.

[Pugnate]

Laser is the only way to go. One cartridge of toner will last about a year with casual/regular use. My parents have one that they only use every few months and the toner that came with the printer is still going after several years.

Oh man, I wish I had done that. Problem was I needed a scanner/copier as well.

This thing cost about $80. I am trying to think of the copies I've made, and I've only printed a tiny bit.

According to my record, I printed 20 pages, each with lines of print, consisting of addresses for sample goods I sent out in the month. Aside from that I printed maybe 5-10 pages of documents I had to upload. That is it. I can't believe it ran out *that* fast.

I've had five printers before this in the past few years. I don't remember them running out so fast.

What Scott says about new printers not coming with full cartridges makes sense.

[idolminds]

Printers are the worst.

[Ghandi]

Yeah, fuck printers.

I know that some printers tell you that you are out of ink when you actually have some left (don't know how common this is though). The solution was to cover up the sensor near the cartridge and just use it until no ink printed.

[sirean_syan]

That's also the case with a lot of laser printers. Nice (more expensive) ones will just tell you toner is low while others will refuse to work. Toner cartridges usually have a window that the scanner will try to pass a beam through to determine toner levels. Problem is that this tends to be in the middle of the container. Again, dark tape fixes the problem.

Either way, I'm of the mind that the way to go is to buy a decent stand alone scanner and a basic laser printer for more people. If you need to do a fair bit of copying (~15 page a week), buy a scanner with a feeder. It'll take more steps to do copy jobs, but the printing itself will be faster with the laser printer and you won't use up ink so quickly. Plus, if you buy a stand alone scanner odds are it will be better and give you the open to make nice scans should you need it and will scan more quickly for normal scans.

I still have a color inkjet printer around, but that's become my specialty printer for single pages or the occasional art project. Most of my printing has been replaced by a lower-end laser printer that I picked up for $80. Given that I've printed probably ~200 pages with it in the past month, I say its been worth it.

[ren]

Standalone scanners are very underrated among home and small businesses. I bought one for a local accounting/tax office I used to work for and the thing is vastly superior to any all-in-version I've used before. This one cost around $400, not a lot for a small business but a lot more than many people think scanners should cost, and it paid for itself in no time.

Shaking laser toners when they get low is another trick. As soon as the ink starts to fade a bit, you shake it some and you can usually get another 50 pages or so at normal quality.

[Ace_O_Spades]

The last printer I got for free and it ran out of ink in two weeks after only printing three papers (~25-30 pages each). Pretty lacklustre. My girlfriend has an old Brother laserjet that has lasted on one toner cartridge since 2004. Epic win.