Help with printer selecton

I have a HP Photosmart 7520 printer. It gets intermittent use, the problem is it needs sorting almost every time I wish to use it. The cartridges dry, or some other problem develops. I suspect it is not happy with spending quite long periods of time idle. I am seriously considering getting a laser printer, are these as liable to problems through inactivity? If not would someone care to make a recommendation? I would like colour but an associated scanner is not necessary. TIA

Reply to
Broadback
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Not at all.

I'll pass, because I decided a smaller mono laser would fit my needs better than the larger colour ones (If I need colour/duplex I'll have to drag the monster Epson C2000 out of hiding)

Reply to
Andy Burns

I think that can be the case, some more that others.

Not typically.

I think it's partly down to budget. Like many similar things often the cheapest units have the most expensive consumables (eased if you can get aftermarket carts or quality refills).

I'm currently running a Ricoh SP C252SF but I was given it s/h.

It's colour, full duplex and networked, the most important things for me. It also has a networkable scanner with auto doc feeder but I generally only use it for single pages.

It's on all the time but sleeps within 5 mins and then only draws a few watts.

It was replaced with an HP SOHO MF colour laser and he is equally happy with that.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

No-one should be buying inkjets now. Get a laser. They don't care how long they sit around for.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

How long do you leave it between uses? I have a Canon A3 ix6550 that gets used every month or so to print posters and it survives the odd month where nothing gets printed at all. I have one of the Canon A4 all in ones that uses the same cartridge series and also behaves OK.

I also have a Dell 1320C A4 colour laser which cost me around £100 new and in its day was the closest to photoreal quality colour at an affordable price. I now use third party cartridges in it. It is generally the workhorse although it is now getting a bit worn out.

What sort of things do you want to print? If you mostly want to print photographs then you need a fairly good laser to be OK - read up the reviews to see which ones come recommended. A laser will stand being left almost indefinitely without printing anything and still work.

Inkjets waste a fair amount of ink cleaning themselves if you allow them a long gap between uses. Read the reviews to see which best matches your printing requirements - cost of consumables may not be an issue for you if your printing requirements are very light. It is a big factor for me.

Reply to
Martin Brown

No personal experience, but this:

seems to be reviewed as a good compromise.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

It all depends on what you are doing with the colour. If it's just blocks of colour on a document then laser. if its photographic quality then an inkjet is probably gives lot better results for the cost of running.

Reply to
alan_m

Seems Dell still use decent colour print engines in their products. You can probably find a simpler printer only model for less money.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Broadback used his keyboard to write :

Laser printers can just sit unused for month years, they cannot dry up like an inkjet. They use a superfine 'plastic' dust, which is set on the paper by heated rollers.

You can now get cheap colour desktop lasers for not a lot, or there are plenty of more capable office lasers given away on the likes of freegle, when offices upgrade - especialy B&W ones.

I have an old ex-office HP4000N with all of the accessories, including duplexer so it can print both sides. I have had it 10 or 15 years and it has given me problem free service all of that time.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

They tend to be much better in this respect.

Budget? Does it need to be networked? Duplex? Howw many pages / month typically?

Reply to
John Rumm

Nope lasers should be fine almost with even vast time gaps between prints .

You do not need a photo realistic one just get one that does text and 'blocky' colour for documents. Anything you need to be photo-realistic take to a print shop in town they generally have MUCH better quality printers than you could ever reasonably need at home and use these, to print out your 'keepsies'. Of course this all depends, on how far away/how complicated to get to, your local print shop is, but generally the need, for photo-realistic prints does not sneak up on you so it might be in order to plan a dedicated trip into town

Reply to
soup

I bought a cheap momo laser. Samsung. Think it was a special offer from CPC some years ago. Despite not much use (the reason for buying it) it broke. Could have paid for quite a few non genuine ink cartridges for my inkjet for the cost. And the actual print quality was only so so. More grey than black. And I tried all the settings.

So like with so much else, it might be worth paying extra for quality. Or a decent used office machine if you have the space.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

You may have just been unlucky. I have a Samsung ML-2550 Duplex laser printer ex Morgan Computers remaindered. It is an ugly brute intended for a busy office but has survived almost two decades of my abuse.

It clanks a bit these days when printing but is fine for monochrome.

+1

Consumer printers these days are seen by the makers as a necessary evil to sell the expensive consumables. Office ones are built to last.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Mine's basically a bottom of the range Samsung M2026W, about the size of a shoe-box, lives on a bookshelf, fairly light use, but no problems.

Reply to
Andy Burns

I've had a couple of cheap Samsung mono lasers, and they have seemed OK. I only changed when a new one with more features cost little more than a toner refill. (1)

(1) Yes, I know a new printer doesn't have a full charge of toner.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

In message , alan_m writes

I can't say I've noticed much difference having moved entirely from inkjets to lasers. Both the low end colour lasers (Dell and HP) produce acceptable photos to hand round to the family. As I have probably posted before, the Dell is a free replacement for one that had a paper jam that couldn't be cleared by the owner, me or Dell. It has been fine here since the owner gave it to me. I'd love to hear if anyone who has an HP like mine with its 3D scanner has got the scanner to do anything interesting.

Beware of using some coated paper in a laser printer. The high temperatures can mess with the drum when the coating melts (at least I thinkk that's what did for my antique ex-office laser).

Reply to
Bill

I wasn't aware that Samsung had ditched their printer business onto HP

Reply to
Andy Burns

It was funny years ago when people swore by HP lasers and wouldn't have a Canon. ;-)

Or offices that only buy Olivetti when the installer has a bag of badges. ;-)

Or buy a VW Sharan because of the 'German engineering' (but actually made in Portugal) and wouldn't drive a Ford Galaxy or Seat Alhambra. ;-)

Or me being happy with my old Rover 218SD that was a Peugeot powed Honda Concerto. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Interstingly, Epson no longer make laser printers. Instead they have inkjets which can take tanks of ink rathern than tiny cartridges.

I have a number of printers, the main one is an A3 colour laser, no 2 is aan A4 mono laser. I've also got an A3 colour photo quality inkjet which is now very rarely used a portable inkjet which can accompany my laptop,

Reply to
charles

Didn't HP use Brother laser print engines?

Reply to
alan_m

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