Ask Slashdot: Printer Recommendation For Family With Kids? 92
jalvarez13 writes: My venerable HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus is showing its age and it has become expensive to operate due to the cost of the original cartridges. I tried some alternative cartridges but the printer rejects them.
Now that schools still require kids to print stuff at home (mine are in 2nd and 4th grade), and my wife also needs to use the printer, I think it may be wise to invest in a good-quality printer that has a lower cost per page (maybe laser?).
In that context, I'd love to have unbiased information about brand quality, printing technology, cost efficiency, and other factors that I might have missed. Any thoughts?
Now that schools still require kids to print stuff at home (mine are in 2nd and 4th grade), and my wife also needs to use the printer, I think it may be wise to invest in a good-quality printer that has a lower cost per page (maybe laser?).
In that context, I'd love to have unbiased information about brand quality, printing technology, cost efficiency, and other factors that I might have missed. Any thoughts?
Definitely laser (Score:4, Informative)
Inkjets are a thing of the past. They're cheaper up front but the ink dries out, costs too much to replace, and are slow.
I've tended to favour Brother printers because the HPs have some sort of lockout of 3rd party toner, and Brother is inexpensive. Just my 2c.
If you want to print photos (Score:2)
But yeah I would highly recommend a brother printer. I have a old black and white brother that has been running for 20 years now. The only Thing that doesn't work is the automatic feeder on the scanner because after 20 years the rubber rollers have given out and I don't use it enough to be bothered replacing them.
And brother printers are usually
Re:If you want to print photos (Score:4, Informative)
For your edification: laser printer can't reproduce the same gamut of color as an inkjet, and they are generally lower resolution than a quality color inkjet printer. Laser prints tend to have poorer quality in the darker, more saturated parts of a photo, and this is compounded by a tendency towards slight reflectivity off the surface where the toner has landed.
Furthermore, an inkjet intended for high quality photo reproduction can have extra inks that produce even more colors than your typical inkjet - for example, Light Cyan for better reproduction of blue skies and water, and Light Magenta for better reproduction of skin tones. Home/small office color laser printers are all CMYK.
However, all of these caveats are utterly irrelevant to the vast majority of people printing in color. Laser printers have so many advantages overall that they are still the go-to option for the scenario posed by the original poster.
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Re:If you want to print photos (Score:4, Interesting)
+1 on the Canon color laser for home use and drug store / Kinkos / Whatever for printing pictures I want to frame.
That said, I've preferred Canon printers because their scanners are better quality than Brother and don't have as much restrictions as HP.
But the big decision is how much you want to spend on laser toner. If you're not particularly fussy about print quality, you can go with cheap 3rd party toners (~$50 for the 4 color set). They'll work, but it is really a crap shoot as to how good a cheap toner is; when one is "bad", it can leave streaks or some random spots on your printout. This is NOT the printer, it is the toner cartridge. If quality is important to you, the manufacturer brands tend to be top notch. For comparison, a 4-color set for my Canon MF644CDw is about $390 on Amazon (054H set) compared to 3rd party which runs $50-70. But the quality is consistent versus the gamble with 3rd party brands.
If it is about your kids printing out 20 pictures of their cat, go 3rd party.
eh (Score:3, Informative)
You're really underselling the quality of modern color lasers. No, if you're a photographer (the kind of person who has 9-color inkjet) a color laser is not an acceptable substitute. And if you're making photos to send out to your relatives you'll want to go to Walgreens to get those printed instead of trying to make do with the color laser. However the Brother 8905 on good paper (Hammermill 24 lb color laser print) is shockingly good. Like, people will be confused by the good print quality when they see th
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For your edification: laser printer can't reproduce the same gamut of color as an inkjet,
Some of the really high-end [printweek.com] laser printers are getting pretty amazing these days. Even my 15-year-old 7450 II grafx is rather remarkable. No, it can't quite reproduce the gamut of an inkjet printer, but it is more than good enough for most purposes. I used it for proofing color hardcover book wraps (cover slips), and use it for photos all the time.
and they are generally lower resolution than a quality color inkjet printer.
Theoretically 9600 x 600 dpi on the aforementioned printer, first manufactured in 2008. It's way more than adequate, IMO. Don't go cheap on the printer, and
Re: If you want to print photos (Score:1)
When I lived close ta Ivy League university I used to buy off-lease color laser workgroup printers at their surplus sales for about the cost of the toner cartridge inside them, so I learned to love quality color laser printers, but I never printed photos - I did print lots of color graphics (Brochures, technical documents, color spreadsheets, etc) and a laser printer was fine for my needs.
When I moved away from the university, I had to find a replacement printer - I bought a low-end color laser printer that
Re:If you want to print photos (Score:4, Interesting)
[If you want to print photos] Aren't you still stuck with inkjet?
Only if you don't live near a Staples, CVS, Walgreens, etc. You'll get even better results because (at least CVS but probably everyone) has dye sublimation printers, which are vastly better for photographs than color printers.
For other color prints, Color laser printers are not that expensive, but I haven't had much success. I'd recommend stick with B&W, and outsource color stuff to office supply / pharmacy type stores.
B&W laser is so vastly cheaper and lower maintenance, particularly in a sporadic use case, that it's not even a competition - Last time I bought a laser printer, the starter toner was good for 1500 pages at 5% coverage, and it worked fine even if I last printed something 8 months ago. Compare to a typical inkjet in which a full toner pack is good for 200 pages at 5% coverage, has to run ink through every so often to keep the tubes clear, and (for the last HP inkjet I owned) prints black text using all colors despite having a full black cartridge.
Caveat: if you are planning on printing addresses on envelopes to be mailed as a substantial use case, go with the inkjet. Toner fuses to the outside of the paper, so it can get stripped away by the sorting machines.
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I have an old HP LaserJet 6P that I inherited from my grandmother about 15 years ago. I stuck a USB to centronics parallel port adapter on it since nothing I have uses parallel ports anymore. I'm sure she changed the toner cartridge once or twice when she had the printer, but in the years I've had it I've not once changed the toner for the little amount of printing I do. The image drum is starting to have problems (leaving streaks and smudges on the page now), so It's probably time to get a new toner car
Re: If you want to print photos (Score:3)
Yes, lasers are largely useless for photos. Inkjets are still great for home photos. There are other techs like dye sublimation, but rarely used in homes, with higher upfront cost. I may buy one in order to produce longer lasting anti-Trump political t-shirts than the ones made on my inkjet. I sell these shirts every time I'm out in public when I get compliments. Always carry them in my car. Gotta get out of the hot tub and print more now as I ran out of 3 sizes today.
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If you aren't printing tons of photos, you're better off using the photo kiosk and having them printed that way. Or better yet, some places use real photo development machines, so you can send your photo off to them and it'll get printed on real photo paper.
That way you avoid being stuck with inkjets (switch to a laser printer - like Brother which has lots of 3rd party toner options).
The photo paper places often are able to print a photo for 25 cents a pop usually. This is usually much cheaper than doing it
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Consider using a print shop for photos, and getting a laser printer for everything else. Brother are a good choice. No DRM nonsense, use 3rd party cartridges or refill your own. Good reliability and print quality. Very cheap.
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Brother (Score:3, Informative)
I'll second Laser and Brother (Score:2)
Mono laser, networking, double sided printing, wireless, USB. Up to 34 pages a minute. Windows 7 up. Very happy am I. The old HP Lasers are now heading for the bin.
With the right Brother you can even print from Windows 98SE. But you need to carefully do research before thinking any Brother can do this. I was lucky in my purchase.
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I had a neighbor in a similar situation. She has a very old HP Envy 5530. She can still get cartridges for it but all the management pages use http: instead of https: with a certificate. Safari won't open the management web interface at all. I had to use Chrome and found the printer rejected the HP-branded cartridges as fake.
I told her to buy a Brother Laserjet. It took a couple months but she finally got a Brother Inkjet. It can print, scan, copy, and fax. And it's connected through her Wifi. She gifted
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There's nothing past or present about inkjets. It's a question of what your printing requirements are. Laser still can't hold a candle to inkjet in terms of image quality, so if photo quality graphics are your think then a laser isn't suitable.
For document printing you're right on the money.
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Indeed. My Xerox C310 Color Printer is a small workgroup printer, and isn't your family really a small work group? The quality of its output, speed of printing (two sided!) and its convenience of use, is ridiculously superior to any inkjet I have ever had. And it saves money due to the reduced cost of the (very superior quality) consumables, and the fact that it is not a piece of junk that fails quickly. The whole family just abandoned using their inkjets and they all print on the shared Xerox now.
By far th
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Re: Definitely laser (Score:2)
Brother laser printer (Score:2)
It can print from Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
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Re: Brother laser printer (Score:2)
They're probably LED, not laser.
Re: yes yes (Score:2)
Makes a difference, LED is not as crisp.
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No, they are laser. I have owned an okidata LED printer in the past and it was okay. But I haven't seen an LED printer in years.
Re: Brother laser printer (Score:2)
I don't know why you state that so confidently, my Brother printer is very obviously a LED printer, and most "laser" printers sneak in the term "laser class" somewhere, since they are not laser.
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According to everything I've read, currently the only LED printers Brother sells are a few color MFC units. I personally have never seen one. And all the brother printers I've ever bought were laser ($100 even).
But like I said I had an LED printer once and the print quality was at the time indistinguishable from laser. dpi was the same.
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I see I missed the OP's model number which was a color mfc unit, so you're right it probably was LED.
Laser FTW (Score:3)
Thrift Shop - and older models (Score:2)
Be wary of used inkjets (Score:1)
Inkjets can get clogged if they aren't used often enough. If each color is used every few weeks you should be okay, but if it's been sitting on the thrift store's shelf for 2 months it might be clogging up.
If you are going to buy a used inkjet, either buy it from a friend or some other source where you know it's not clogged, or buy it from a reputable vendor that will give you a few weeks to try it out (but be ready to forfeit the costs of any new inks you buy).
With any printer, new or used, pay attention
Brother works for me, has wifi. (Score:2)
Brother offers several models of Lasers, either only a printer, or a printer with scanner, with built-in wifi. You can print from any phone, tablet, or computer.
There was some noise a month or two ago about Brother firmware updates starting to do DRM (apparently going back to 2023) but I haven't yet encountered that.
Might I suggest.... (Score:2)
You're welcome.
Epson FX80 (Score:3)
Brother, going strong for +8 years (Score:2)
My inkjet has been going strong for +8 years now with both original and 3rd party ink.
For volume printing I bought a refurbished Brother laser printer. +23,000 pages printed and still going strong.
Epson was scamming me with 3rd party ink.
Re: Brother, going strong for +8 years (Score:3)
Brother laser (Score:2)
I've been using a Brother B&W laser now for eleven years. Cost me $109. Replaced the toner twice. About 5k on the page counter. Still works. No issues. Glad I got rid of my inkjet...spent as much in three years on ink on that thing as I did in toner on my Brother over eleven years.
The answer is always Brother Laser (Score:4, Informative)
If you don't need a Brother Laser printer you already know why and what class of printer you need so you wouldn't be asking the question.
If you are asking a question about what printer to buy the answer is "Brother Laser Printer".
Some things are just laws of the universe.
Brother Laser. No question. (Score:1)
The brand name cartridges are fine but the generic ones are cheaper and work great. You can pick options for b&w, color, scanner. Mine does double sided. Brother is the only printer brand I trust anymore.
I have an HP MFP M477fdw (Score:2)
I know people rail against HP, some of it for good reasons, but I've had several w/o any problems. I currently have a HP Color LaserJet MFP M477fdw [amazon.com] All-in-One, with high-yield "X" cartridges. I got it in July 2017 on Amazon for $399 and it still works like a champ. This specific model is discontinued, but it's still available and there is a newer model as well as similar models available.
I have a friend with (I think) a Brother Color MFC-L8600CDW [amazon.com] All-in-One, also now discontinued, and he's pretty happ
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Friends don't let friends purchase HP printers.
Re: I have an HP MFP M477fdw (Score:1)
30 years ago, HP were the friends choice, especially with good drivers for linux. But they completely ruined the brand since. I had to ditch mine which they bricked remotely and will never buy one again
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Uh, I don't think he's replacing his HP Officejet Pro with a 3D printer. :)
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> I don't think he's replacing his HP Officejet Pro with a 3D printer.
At least then, layer upon layer of dried color would be a feature instead of a defect! :-)
Epson Ink Tank (Score:5, Informative)
These printers are hardy and fill from a bottle, so have the best elements of an inkjet without the cretinous more-expensive-than-gold cartridges
https://epson.com/ecotank-ink-... [epson.com]
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Definitely this ^^^!
We've had an EcoTank printer for several years now and it's served us very well. The only issue we've seen is with elderly parents who hardly ever print, the printer can dry out and refuse to print if left alone for extended periods of time. Not an issue if you have a busy family that's printing all the time!
One thing to be aware of with the EcoTank printers: they have a "maintenance box" (that's the actual name!) that requires replacement after 2-8 years depending on usage. This comp
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My wife and I have an Epson EcoTank 8500 that's been great for the last couple years.
It inverts the usual cheap-printer / expensive-ink business model, so while you pay more for the printer, you pay almost nothing for the ink. This aligns the incentives properly. The printer isn't just a cheap POS designed to sell overpriced ink, it's actually a pretty good product.
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Re: Epson Ink Tank (Score:1)
agree, it is pretty good choice if you print a lot.really easy to refill. ink can dry inside if you dont use it for a while.
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I will add another vote in favor of the Epson printers. The Ecotank system is much, much nicer than cartridges. You get a lot of printing per set of inks - possibly you'll be paying more for the paper than the ink (but I am sure that will depend upon the type of printing). I have a large-format (A3, 6-color) version that could be really fun for kids to use (e.g. create larger copies of artwork). The print quality is good, the cost per page is low (offset by the temptation to print more !)
m2pc mentioned the
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Brother or Epson inkjet tank printers (Score:3)
No more cartridges and lock in.
Having said that, my main printers are Canon lasers for work and home, and a Canon dye sublimation printer for photographs. Good enough for applying for passports and visas.
Brother (Score:2)
I have an older Brother laser (HL-L2300D) and it's a work horse. STAY AWAY from HP. They lock you into their toner and subscription models. I can't speak for other printer manufacturers but Brother has a very good reputation for quality and fairness (like HP used to). Also, go with a laser. Ink jet will cost you more in the long run.
The Brother-hood has spoken. (Score:4, Funny)
The Brother-hood has indeed spoken here. And I agree wholeheartedly. Replaced an 11-year old HP laser. USB and Ethernet options for the security sensitive. NFC and WiFi support. Drivers that talk to damn near everything.
There was a time when every respected geek would pull over and scrape a road-killed laserjet 4P off the road to save for spare parts. Today, HP has become a joke in the personal/small business space. How far they’ve fallen. Sad, but deserved.
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My Favorite Printer (Score:4, Funny)
Love my (Score:1)
Brother Laser Printer, it's not even close (Score:1)
Postscript kinda is a must (Score:5, Interesting)
Postscript should be a must, not only because that solves the driver issue, but also because of printer manufacturers not putting postscript on their "do not buy" models. If the printer supports postscript, or at least some other well defined and published language, it's not going to be the worst.
In general, if you are short on cash get a used 1990s HP LaserJet. Brother is nice for modern stuff, but avoid their "GDI"-printers without postscript or PCL support.
Print "stuff" at home? (Score:1)
What a useless OP. How about mentioning what type of material needs to be printed, rather than "for kids" (and wife).
I have both a Brother MFC-L8850CDW laser, and Canon Pro-100 inkjet.
Color photos on the laser are simply crap, even on good paper and custom calibrated ICC profile. Even if color reproduction was OK, you can't use thick or glossy papers with laser. They just melt. Even those marketed as color laser papers. Don't even bother.
Photos are the main reason I have the inkjet. I use it sporadically.
Brother HL-L8240CDW (Score:2)
I recently had to replace our old HP Laserjet printer that finally reached the end of its life. After a bunch of research, I opted for the Brother HL-L8240CDW. It does colour, double-sided printing, is fast (relative to the old printer) and we're really happy with it. I have it wired, but it does wireless as well (not tested).
We had it a few months now and no regrets so far.
use + support your local library system print serv (Score:2)
my $0.02
added benefit: no maintenance overhead
Black & White small WLAN laserprinter. (Score:2)
Brother seems a good bet. I got one similar (same model?) to the current Brother HL-L2400DWE.
And stock up on toner cartridges, so you're still good if they discontinue the model.
Get a Brother Color Laser printer..... (Score:2)
Color laser (Score:2)
I've been using a Konica Minolta MC7450 for over 12 years now. It's been the most reliable and cheapest (per page printed) printer I've ever owned and will probably ever own. Also, this one happened to be A3 sized (Tabloidish in freedom units) and I've been using that much more than I'd initially expected. Not saying you should get this one (it was a lucky find) but I'd definitely aim for a networked color laser printer meant for office use.
Size (Score:1)
HP Inkjet printers solve all your problems (Score:4, Funny)
With a new ink subscription system and lockout mechanism it will cost you your first born. Solves two problems with one stone, one less kid to feed, and you end up using the printer less. :-)
Note: Plenty of serious answers in other comments, no need to recommend Brother yet again here.
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Epson Ecotank (Score:3)
With the Epson Ecotank, the cartridges are bigger, the ink is cheaper (or was when I got mine) and even when the nozzles seem to clog, a quick head clean and realign sorts them out quickly, with very good results. I don't use mine much, but a couple of times I've gone from no visible print to 100% opaque colour and black print in a very short time, The printer isn't too expensive, either. At least, here in the UK at the time I bought mine.
Brother Color Laser (Score:2)
I'm on my second Brother color laser.
The first one lasted about 8 years, got it when kiddo #1 was in 4th Grade.
She was just graduated from college last month. There's one left in high school, uses it daily for homework.
Color and duplexers are a must with reports and homework.
Read Amazon reviews on toner. I have this one [amzn.to] ($42) on 6-month subscribe and save.
Cheap paper is on net expensive for home use. This one [amzn.to] is clean and almost never jams.
B&W PCL/Postscript laser printer (Score:1)
Brother Color Laser (Score:2)
A Brother Color Laser printer is the correct answer. Laser, because you don't want the potential mess, expense, and finickiness of ink. I got B/W, which has served us well, but if I were to do it again, I would get laser. Kids love printed photos even if they are super shitty low quality. Give them some joy.
Brother has a good reputation, is cheap, widely supported, and since it supports Apple's AirPrint super easy to print to it from Apple devices without configuration. It just shows up.
There is one annoyan
Two printers (Score:2)
Why slashdot (Score:2)
Older Samsung color laser all in one (Score:1)
Canon MF462Cdw (Score:2)
I bought the Canon MF462Cdw color laser several years ago when I got fed up paying for inkjet cartridges. Works great, toner last a long time as long as you are not constantly printing out full color photos all the time. Biggest inconvenience is that paper tray 1 is the custom media feeder, so if you don't have the Canon drivers installed and just depend on the generic postscript drivers, the print job often gets sent to to tray 1 by default and you will have to manually click a button on the printer to t
Brother laser. (Score:1)
Postscript? (Score:2)
Do any laser printers from Brother support PostScript? What printer language do they use these days, anyway? Does it matter?
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From what I've seen, most support both PS & PCL. I don't know what compatibility is like; only once or twice have I needed it and it was for really basic stuff.
Canon MegaTank (Score:2)
Add my vote for Brother laser (Score:1)
I switched from primarily ordering Okidata LEDs to Brother LASERs something over 25 years ago (sold my last used Oki in 2000) and have been pretty happy with them ever since. I've found them to be a good value in print volumes ranging from 5-5000 pages/month.
Unlike ink, toner ages well; you don't have to throw it out because you didn't print enough and it dried out. Supplies for Brother printers are cheap, esp. now that there's a ton of generics. I've been buying toner at 4/$35 or kits with a drum+3 toners