Old Tec still in use and working

I think the main drawback is that it may use more power than a modern printer, particularly on standby.

I used to have a HP Laserjet 4L too ( along with a HP deskjet 895cxi if I recall correctly)

I used the laserjet to print the text only pages and the deskjet to print pages containing graphs/pictures to hit that sweet spot between cheap B&W printing and expensive colour printing for all my dissertations (3 in total)

I now have a HP Pagewide Pro 477dw which is an all in one scanner, copier, fax, printer combo.

The laser jet 4L was 4 pages per minute, black & white and single sided printing. I remember paying over 500 quid for it.

I also paid over 400 quid for the deskjet 895CXI, plus over £200 for a HP flatbed Scanner plus over £200 for a Pace Solo 56K voice-fax- modem, which meant a total spend of over £1300.

My Pagewide pro 477dw can do 40 pages per minute, full colour and double sided... plus the scanning, faxing, copying, and I remember paying less than 200 quid for it.

How time progresses....

Or the printer interface is no longer supported on more modern PCs and/or interface cards that could be fitted in a desktop PC cannot be fitted in a laptop.

I had a jet direct box that supported two parallel printers for connection by Ethernet.

But in the end, the need for color, low standby power and the like simply made it all obsolete.

My first color printer was used to print a brochure for which I had been quoted over £300.

The printer was £220.

And even if you are only drawing 15W on idle, over a year that's

Couple of years of that and a newer model pays for itself.

I recall ordering one of those and being very impressed that it arrived next day, from Switzerland.

GB submitted this idea :

HP4000 here, networked, with duplexer and when I first installed it on Win10, I had to botch the old drivers for it. It seems from a recent reinstall of Win10, that it now recognises the HP4000n.

I used to have one of those (well, a 1992 Laserjet 4, two actually) until recently. I used to pick up cartridges from ebay for peanuts. Eventually I found that all the available were very old stock (one as old as 1998) and started misbehaving, leaking, etc - even the supposed new 'remanufactured' ones. I got fed up with playing the paper jam and toner lottery and replaced them with a colour Brother where new aftermarket carts are easily available, and no faffing about.

Theo

I have a 4+ (upgraded to 4M+) manufactured in 1993, and in continuous use.

I only turn it on when needed. Remote controlled plug!

Still using my 4M+. Had the same problem with old toners, but found a reliable supplier of remanufactured ones.

I have a network card in mine!

My scanner cost me £85, about 6 years ago (to replace one that was no longer supported on Windows) and my colour laser printer (networked, with duplexing), cost me £3.60 - I bought it on Ebay as spares and repairs. It turned out it'd been bought new by a small organisation, used to print around 2300 pages and put aside when the toners ran out. New toners cost me under £80 for clones ... and the reason it was sold as spares and repairs? They couldn't find the power lead to test it!

What's your supplier? I also 'support' a 6P and it would be good to know a good source of toner.

Theo

1. You can bulk buy toner for HPs, and carts are refillable >50% of time issue free.
2. If you want to be even cheaper, try any random toner in a cart, often it works fine.

The old HP 4&5s may be slow clunkers but they just keep going.

Yes I have three older hp printers one laser and two ink jet. The latters however are going to have to be pensioned off as there are no carts to refill or new ones. Lots of old tech can still work, it depends on whether you can find a use for it. Several xp computers still work but only for me as file servers. I have a very old CD player. CD100, from Philips, but its slow in moving around tracks and can only program 16 tracks, plus its far too susceptible to vibration cos in those days they did not use much ram as a buffer. Old valve amps many still go, and older cassette and reel to reel decks if looked after still work fine, as do amps and tuners, and I suspect if it was not for the lack of analogue TV, many of those would still be going as well. Old computers from the 80s still run even Spectrums and can be used on old analogue tvs, and though the graphics are poor by today's standards they can be quite good fun. I think quite often we are too quick to condemn perfectly workable tech. I mean a few years ago you could not give away VHS and betamax tapes and machines, now people want them and there are rumours of a new VHS with a digital tuner soon made in India, f all places. I guess we can now make better recordings, but it aint gonna fix the naffness of them old ones! Brian

Yes but will it still all be working in even 15 years time and I bet it has a naff touch screen on it as well which tend to stop working a lot and for me at least are a show stopper for accessibility. Brian

That's true, but you need to empty the waste toner bin that's built in. And you don't get a new drum either.

Bob Eager has brought this to us :

Same here, it and two other printers, plus print server, are in the small bedroom, so I power them via a Smart Plug turned on/off via Alexa.