Need new printer advice

[GreenDoberman]

I need to buy a new printer to go with my laptop. I have a Sony Vaio laptop and am looking for your basic printer to do nothing more than normal tasks.
I looked at advertisements and it seems most of them run around $100 to $300 and they are some combination of printer/fax/scanner/copier.
Only thing I am looking to avoid is a cheap one like I had last. Basically it came with my computer (it was actually less than free as the whole computer, printer, monitor package cost less than just the computer), but it used tons of ink toner which was costly.

Any advice or recommendations would be helpful.

 

[shdw01]

color printer?

laser? ink?

printing photos?

 

[GreenDoberman]

Don't need it for printing photos.

Color optional.

The last one was ink and I kept having to buy new cartridges or just print the more intensive stuff at work. I do not have that option now so I'm leaning towards laser. Are there any additional costs associated with that?

I am kind of dumb when it comes to printers because either I got the freebie one that would come with the computer or if I had to print a lot of shit I would just do it at work. Pardon my ignorance on the subject.

 

[shdw01]

I cannot speak from experience because I currently have a mediocre ink jet that prints photos (which I never use)....

but if i were to get a new printer....i would buy a laser....toner has to be cheaper (guessing) and all the printers at my work are laser....

the cheapest one we have is a Dell one that was under $500 and it prints/scans/faxes all pretty good (in fact, it scans color even though print is only b/w)

 

[GreenDoberman]

I would not mind one that has a fax as well. That way I could send a fax that says "You suck at tennis" to PornoPaul every day.

 

[GreenDoberman]

BTW Shadow,
your "John Daly of tennis" name for me had me laughing. :missingte

 

[barman]

A $30some ink cartridge should handle 500+ sheets of average text content, so I'd add that to the up front cost of a midsize Hewlett Packard deskjet (with a color cartridge which would be used less and could even be reserved for less action by selecting Grayscale in your routine text printing) and then you'll have a reasonably predictable $$ outgo for whatever time period you wish.

Oh, the lifespan of the core machine if kept clean would be at least 5+ years or until your printing needs expand in nature.

 

[Betallsports]

GD, just about Any HP printer is fine. I have used one or two others, and they don't compare to some of my HP ones.

This one doesn't look bad http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=product&tab=2&id=1205538350524#productdetail

This one http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8782864&type=product&id=1205245969723

You can always use your computer as a fax, or scan your Note to PP and send it in a email.

 

[gbogo]

Id get the samsung ml2510-- its laser no color but is always on sale for around 50-100 dollars (i have one)

then id sign up at inkbates to purchase your ink through with rebates

the carts range from 30-70 depending who you buy from but you can get 20% rebate etc

I bought the HP $170 wireless printer/scanner/copier thats good because you can place it anywhere - but its cart. to its obviously more expensive to run.

 

[nhoj]

You can buy a laser HP 4 or 5 used for $20-50 and get a toner for about $30 which will last you about 10x longer than a ink jet. I bought 5 HP 4s for $65 total and they had used toners in them still using them all to this day about 6 months and we print 200 pages a day or more. Might want to look into that. They normally can print about 250000 before they have problems so just run a test page and it will give you the page count on a used machine.

 

[Willie99]

HP GD

bought two for my office, one in 1995 that still serves as a backup that's never need and a 4050 in 2000 that still runs perfectly today after 406,350 pages have been printed.

I kinda want to buy a newer one, but I don't need to. :think2:

Anyhow, HP Laser Jets are a stone cold lock.

 

[maxdemo]

Just bought one for $15.00 on Craig's list and it works great

 

[GreenDoberman]

I ended up buying a Canon all-in-one open box model for $62 bucks. Very happy with it so far.