# Best home printer?



## Nemama (7 Jul 2018)

Hi lads,

I would like to buy a home printer. I had some really bad experiences with printers before so I just want to hear your expert IT advises on this matter. 

I already got some such as "avoid HP's printers": cheap printer but over-expensive ink cartridges. 

Thanks


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## jpd (7 Jul 2018)

I have used HP printers and ink for over 30 years and never had a printing problem. Yes, the ink can be more expensive but that's a cost I am prepared to pay for piece of mind.

What kind of printing do you require - colour/black and white, paper or photos, volume, type of connection (wifi, wired)?


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## dub_nerd (7 Jul 2018)

I've also had a HP printer for years without a moment's hassle. However, inkjet printers in general are a rip-off with some being sold for less than the cost of a set of replacement cartridges. Meanwhile some of the cartridges have fancy technology to ensure they can't be refilled so that you are locked into the manufacturer's replacements instead of grey market ones.  If you just want a colour printer for occasional usage and don't care about cost of supplies, just go for any of the many reliable models. Otherwise buy a decent workhorse black and white laser, which will give you 5-10,000 pages per toner cartridge depending on print density and will work out at a small fraction of the cost per page of an inkjet. Or buy both, to cover the rare occasion when you need colour. (There are colour lasers too, but I've no real experience of them).


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## Nemama (7 Jul 2018)

B&W but occasional colour.
Paper only
100-500 pages a month (+-)
Wifi connection required

Ink cartridges available in the grey market if possible (I wanna avoid originals as much as possible).

Thanks


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## Black Sheep (7 Jul 2018)

I've had a couple of HP's over the years no problems. Yes ink is expensive so I get them in LIDL at 1/3 of the price. Quality is fine!


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## mathepac (7 Jul 2018)

You need a monochrome laser printer for those kinds of volumes IMO if your current inkjet caters for your colour needs.


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## dub_nerd (8 Jul 2018)

mathepac said:


> You need a monochrome laser printer for those kinds of volumes IMO if your current inkjet caters for your colour needs.



Totally agree. At 500+ pages per month you will save scads of money with a B&W laser, even though the initial outlay will be somewhat higher.


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## jpd (8 Jul 2018)

He said 100-500 more or less not 500+ although the range 100 - 500 is huge ie 3-15 pages per day for 30 days


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## Nemama (8 Jul 2018)

Will never be more than 500 but it might be less than 100 or 50. I still don't know.
I assume laser printer is only an option for printing over 500


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## mathepac (8 Jul 2018)

Inkjets are designed primarily for low-volume printing, as volumes creep up they become uneconomical and wear out mechanically.  Even at volumes as low as 50-100 mono pages per week, I'd be looking at a laser


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## Thirsty (9 Jul 2018)

Go for a laser printer.  I bought no. 1 child a Brother laser printer at the start of university and it's still going strong (though not with the same toner cartridge!)


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## Nemama (9 Jul 2018)

Ok guys!
Very useful information from all of you.
I love this forum :-D


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## mathepac (9 Jul 2018)

Thirsty said:


> it's still going strong (though not with the same toner cartridge!)


Same as with a lot of the ink cartridges supplied with new printers, they tend not to be "full size". This tends to keep the purchase prices of new printers lower, but the cartridges/toners run out fast!!


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## dub_nerd (10 Jul 2018)

mathepac said:


> Same as with a lot of the ink cartridges supplied with new printers, they tend not to be "full size". This tends to keep the purchase prices of new printers lower, but the cartridges/toners run out fast!!



Yeah, just noticed on perusing amazon that the laser printer market has changed since I last bought. I see laser printers as cheap as inkjets -- under £60 -- with "starter" cartridges with a few hundred pages worth of toner. I'd advise checking the price and capacity of new toner cartridges as there could be considerable variance. Buying the cheapest printer may not be the best choice. Known brand printers may be easier to source cartridges for.

A bottom-end printer may also be flimsy and have a low volume sheet input tray. My old Dell workhorse laser is a clunky monstrosity but has been going for well over a decade, has a 250 page tray, and has printed tens of thousands of pages with only handful of cartridge replacements. There are also multiple suppliers of replacement cartridges and I recently found a site selling them in bulk for crazy cheap prices.


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## Thirsty (10 Jul 2018)

mathepac said:


> Same as with a lot of the ink cartridges supplied with new printers, they tend not to be "full size"


Well that gave me a good giggle.  No.1 child is long since graduated, if the toner cartidge had remained unchanged since purchase I'd be well impressed! I believe the original toner cartridge lasted about a year.

Another point in favour of laser printers is that if you are not a frequent user, the ink jet cartridges dry up, which is a dreadful waste.


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## dub_nerd (10 Jul 2018)

Thirsty said:


> Another point in favour of laser printers is that if you are not a frequent user, the ink jet cartridges dry up, which is a dreadful waste.



That reminds me -- laser toner cartridges can slightly coagulate over a period of time, like any powder. They always need to be gently rocked before initial installation, but you can sometimes revivify a waning seldom-used cartridge by doing the same.


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## dublin67 (10 Jul 2018)

I've used Brother machines for the last six years - scanner, b&w printer and photo copies and use refilled cartridges from somewhere like the cartridge shop.  Great value, don't break down and ink is good value.


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## Ger1966 (23 Aug 2018)

I've had various HP Ink Jet printers over the years and found them very reliable.  As previous posters pointed out, the cost of replacement ink is very expensive - even when buying from companies who sell refilled cartridges.  

My wife is doing a degree course (part-time) and my eldest has completed first year in third level, and I found that from around March of this year (when the "exam cramming" started) that the number of pages that were being printed increased, *a lot*, so we were buying replacement ink on a weekly basis and it was costing us a fortune. Ink usage dropped once the exams were over, but I researched LaserJet printers over the summer and purchased a HP Colour LaserJet about a month ago from Amazon. It cost €220 and I then had an extra €7 to pay to Parcel Motel as it was an oversized package. I went for the colour option because my wife and children will probably need to do some sort of colour printing for their courses sometime. There's probably cheaper mono-chrome laserjet printers available too, but I didn't research these. The printer I bought is a multifunctional printer and can print over WiFi.


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## keving1989 (30 Jun 2020)

Ink jet printers are sold at a loss to get you into the system to extort you with the crazy mark up on ink cartridges, same model applied by shaving razor and electric toothbrush manufacturers. Get a Brother laser print and then buy 3rd party generic toner cartridges instead of oem. Ink Cartridges Are A Scam Can also buy ink yourself and use a syringe to fill a HP inkjet cartridge for example which works out significantly cheaper How to Refill a black ink cartridge hp


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## JoeRoberts (6 Jul 2020)

But are they really "extorting " you - you get a printer for an unbelievable low price and then pay for the ink as you use it - think twice before you print. Save documents direct to pdf rather than printing and filing. I can't understand what people would be printing so much for. The pricing model suits many who need to print very few documents.


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## rayn (6 Jul 2020)

I’m very happy with my HP Photosmart 6520


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## 7 of 9 (7 Jul 2020)

I've always used canon.  I had a Canon pixma for years, using spurious ink cartages. It gave up last month.  Due to Covid there was very little stock of printers. I bought a Canon G3501. It has refillable ink cartridges. It's excellent.


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