recommend a new pc printer I won't want to smash

OK I rarely print anything but when I do it's typically important ie boarding pass, temporary tag for a car, etc.

The printer I have is an Epson color inkjet all in one pos that 99% of the time won't print because it's out of ink even though I only printed 3 pages since the last time I replaced the cartridge. On top of that it won't print in b/w if any of the other colors are low/out which is pretty much all the berkeleying time even though I never print anything in color.

So I need a new printer before my head explodes.

I now know laser is the way to go. Requirements are strictly black, wireless capable, and Mac compatible.

I researched a handful of ~$100 printers and inevitably found many people having issues with them. At this point I really don't care how much I have to pay I just want a damn printer that will print a berkeleying document when I berkeleying need it to.

I've had good luck with my Samsung b&w laser. Check this out?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0ZX0TR8756

I'm not sure that I'd add another wireless device to my LAN if I could help it though. I've got a powered USB hub and would just go that route.

impulsive wrote: At this point I really don't care how much I have to pay I just want a damn printer that will print a berkeleying document when I berkeleying need it to.

I'm afraid your expectations are entirely unreasonable. They don't make printers like that anymore. Printer companies want you to have a "personal relationship," not just with your printer, but also with the company that produced it and wishes to sell you overpriced consumables on a regular basis.

Move up to about $150, and buy anybodies b&w laser. I've got 3 at the shop, and all they do is print, seemingly forever. I have a Brother, a Dell, and a HP, all bought on sale. They all work fine.

I have had the following Brother printer for a few years now:

Brother HL-2270DW Compact Laser Printer with Wireless Networking and Duplex by Brother http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00450DVDY/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_Icsxtb1T8AGBG

Works great; no complaints. Duplexing (2-sided printing) saves a ton of paper for large documents, and the wi-fi printing works just fine. I haven't needed color printing in years.

Cheap lazer is the way you need to go. If an ink jet sits for a long time the cartriges go bad.

I have the same printer Mitchell has, I love it. Best consumer-level printer I've ever had, and I remember the dot-matrix days.

I hate to thread-jack here, but what about something that will do some color once in awhile (not photo-quality, but decent)?

We have the HP Deskjet 1000, cheap(around $30), reliable, inks not to expensive. happy with it overall. Although I do probably use it more than I should because of you know #homeschoolproblems but its really cheap to completely replace

I have a Brother Laster Printer, the best printer I have owned it's a all in one.

I finally went laser a few months ago and wish I'd done it sooner. Vast improvement over inkjet in every regard.

I got one of the non-wireless brother laser printers 2 years ago when we decided my commercial HP was better suited for the office in the shop. It's been a perfect appliance.

i bought some generic ink from amazon and other than epson saying my warranty might be void, it works great. it was $21 shipped for 4 black and 2 of each color cartridges(10 total cartridges) instead of $28 for an OE black one.

I have an old LaserJet 1200 that I literally found in a dumpster and got working again. Nope, it's not wireless, but I'm sure there are ways to make that work. I print at most 500 pages/YEAR and I'm still using the toner cartridge that was inside it in the dumpster, about 5 years ago.

A trick I learned to keep the ink from drying out is to leave the printer on, don't turn it off. The heat keeps the ink from drying out.

note that i'm a PC user... but my solution has been a 10+ year old small canon copy machine with a USB plug so it can be used as a printer... the toner cartridges last forever, refilling is cheap and easy and off brand cartridges are inexpensive as well... this printer is plugged into my desktop connected to my network and shared with all the other computers in the house.

I also have an inexpensive wifi color all-in-one for the rare need of color printing or the more used flatbed scanner... the HP software sucks but it was given to me when a friend upgraded as it didn't work with his new computer... I suppose it gets just enough use that the ink hasn't dried out but after a year still hasn't used it all.

Go brother black and white laser printer, then google how to turn off the "low toner" alarm. I once sledgehammered (5 lb short shaft) an epson printer that wouldn't print my taxes because the magenta toner was out.

If you want color, this one has been pretty good so far: Epson WorkForce WF-3520 Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer

It was "The Best Multifunction Printer" according to Thewirecutter.com and recommended in a previous GRM "What Printer?" thread: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/all-in-one-printers-whats-crap-whats-not/32846/page1/

• Lee

Wow! I must be doing something wrong. I never expected so much printer love.

I think my biggest mistake has been buying HP products. I have learned my lesson. Never again!

There is a reason that offices use Laser printers and not inkjets. Go Laser and be happy.

Workgroup level HP Laserjet. It'll print for 10+ years. Mine's already lasted 5+ years, and I haven't done anything to maintain it. It's still on its original toner.

Avoid Brother inkjets. They have a daily cleaning routine that means that your printer will always be out of ink when you want to use it. I've probably printed a hundred pages on mine, all of simple text, and I've probably replaced all the ink eight times.

1988RedT2 wrote: Wow! I must be doing something wrong. I never expected so much printer love. I think my biggest mistake has been buying HP products. I have learned my lesson. Never again!

I hear ya on that one, spud. I have an HP3750 AIO and it is not reliable at all. It does print darn nice photos, on photo paper. I think I have printed less than a dozen photos in 5 years of ownership.

This thread is relevant to my interests, since the HP scanner no longer works now that Apple has, in its infinite wisdom, reabsorbed all the printer drivers into the OS again. Once the current set of ink cartridges are dead, this thing is going on the freecycle list.

Duke wrote:

1988RedT2 wrote: Wow! I must be doing something wrong. I never expected so much printer love. I think my biggest mistake has been buying HP products. I have learned my lesson. Never again!

I hear ya on that one, spud. I have an HP3750 AIO and it is not reliable at all. It does print darn nice photos, on photo paper. I think I have printed less than a dozen photos in 5 years of ownership.

Funny, I've seen ones that print multiple reams in a week last for years. I don't vouch for their inkjets or personal printers though.

HP used to be the hands-down go-to company for large format plotting, too. Both that and the legendary LaserJet were big reasons why I bought this personal AIO from HP. But the first one had problems, I returned it under warranty, and the replacement was never right at all.