Lazer printer

My HP ink printer has been giving me problems ever since I bought it so have decided to buy a lazer printer. It's a mine field trying to buy one, a lot of choice but I'm confused what to buy. Any recommendations for a light use printer please, I have windows 10 Lenovo computer. I've had two HP printers the other one was also a problem so I'm not interested in HP.

Thanks Bob

It's laser

Americans speak Englizh

(The US spellcheckers can be pretty annoying)

Edited By Ady1 on 06/08/2023 11:46:06

I can't recommend a particular printer, but if you're on W10, and if you buy a second hand printer, make sure that there is a manufacturer available printer driver.

Also make sure you check out costings of the consumables; some are very expensive, as the drum(s) comes with the ink cassette; it's almost as if the printer is a loss leader, with the overall profit on consumables, particularly at the domestic end of the market

I'm happily using an ancient Samsung colour CLP510 laser, but getting it to function on W7 or later is interesting at best. Pattern refills though are cheap enough. It uses a separate drum, and a further separate ink transfer belt, but I have a spare printer for when they wear out.

I know you've asked about a laser, but I also run an A3 Brother combined inkjet printer/scanner, with auto document feed. It's now superseded, but I've been happy with it for several years a MFC-J6530DW; Pattern ink is available when the warranty runs out.

It really should be left powered up though as the is a regular cleaning cycle to avoid jet blockage; the cartridges and print head are separate, unlike my previous HP with integral print heads. That might be wasteful if you only ever print very occasionally. I think bulk ink tanks are available as well for heavy users.

I use an OS mapping program on the PC, and my primary use for this printer is for +150-200% A3 maps of areas where we go out walking, to avoid needing to carry several full sized commercial 1:25,000 maps.
The A3 aspect is also useful for workshop diagrams.

Bill

After endless problems with Epson and HP printer jets drying up from lack of regular use I bought a Xerox B215 multipurpose laser printer which can also print both sides of the paper

Although it's only mono it is the best printer I ever bought as of course it has no liquid ink to dry up. So far I am still using the original toner cartridge after several years of use. I think the B225 is the current similar model at around £169 on Amazon

Edited By vic newey on 06/08/2023 12:28:17

I have a Brother MFC 2700 mono laser printer which has worked perfectly for 5+ years. Does double sided scanning and printings.

Thanks for the replies, just what I wanted, a good choice of two printers.

Bob

As an alternative view, I had an inexpensive Brother monochrome printer that didn't last much longer than it's initial low capacity "starter" toner cartridge, but long enough to be out of warranty. It started leaving lines across the page & needed another replaceable part (cant't recall the part name now, but the toner cartridge fitted into this part that had a "corona wire" IIRC) that cost more than the printer did initially to replace. Similar situation at work, where the expensive (both to buy and for consumables) Brother colour laser that was bought to replace a Brother printer/scanner//fax died irrepalrably after a couple of years - the inkjet had done 5 years & the laser was replaced with a another Brother inkjet that is still going strong after more than 5 years.

My Brother laser got recycled & replaced with a Canon inkjet, which don'r suffer from the blocked nozzle situation that afflicts Epson printers if they don't get used often enough, due to using different print head technology. Downside is that the replacement cartridges cost more, as the print head is incoprorated into the cartridge. Upside to that is that in the rare event of a print head clogging irretrievably, a replacement cartridge fixes it at a much lower cost than replacing the printer. I can leave the Canon unused for weeks at a time & it just works when required.

For the limited amount of printing I do the Canon inkjet has proved to be the least expensive, most reliable solution for me over the last several years.

NIgel B.

I had already blacklisted Epsom after my printer failed less than one week after the warranty ended and they didn't want to know when I complained. I was using it a lot for my work back then as well.

I then bought a HP printer and eventually the same thing happened even though HP cartridges also have the print head incorporated, I still found they fouled up if not used for some time, The printhead cleaning process didn't save them either so mine ended up in the local tip and I bought my Xerox

Edited By vic newey on 06/08/2023 14:52:42

I have a Xerox Phaser 6510 colour laser (LED really as are all budget printers)

Good as gold and prints decent colour photos..

Just one thing to remember when you buy a pattern refill and the printer asks if this is a genuine cartridge tell the truth and reply NO! deny it by saying yes and the printer will lock the refill out till you buy a very expensive genuine one.

Pattern parts are ok , but counterfeit ones are illegal.

I have just bought a Brother HL-L2350DW, to replace an Epson colour laser that I had for eight years. The Epson had been playing up for a while with a service error, cheaper to replace than repair. The Brother is identical to one my daughter has used at home for three years with no trouble and using non Brother toner. For photography I use an Epson Surecolor P600, an A3 inkjet printer in which I use Marrutt refillable ink system. I find the Marrutt system excellent as it doesn't dry up even with extended times of sitting, I am talking of weeks here not days. These days I would avoid HP primarily as they have locked the printers into using HP inks only. I believe Canon have also done this in some countries, so always wise to check wether this applies if you intend to use non manufacturers ink or toner. Also ensure that the printer will function with your operating system and hardware, the Brother I have is primarily intended to be used wirelessly on my MAC.

LASER is an acronym so it is correct with an S even if you are American. The S stands for stimulated.

Edited By Mr C on 06/08/2023 16:58:55

Another recommendation for a Brother here

I bought a HL-2375DW about three years ago and its performed without fault since. It mono, double sided and has Ethernet and WiFi.

It my first Brother printer but when deciding what to buy was slightly influenced by a colleague who bought a Brother laser in the late 90's or early 2000's when they had an offer, his printer came with a voucher (equal to the cost price) that would be deducted off the price of a new printer when he replaced it. He did replace it in 2019 and the voucher was honoured.

Ian P

I got fed up with Inkjets of any make and replaced mine with a Brother HL-1212W laser. Very basic, works with Windows, Linux and Apple, came with a lifetime supply of toner cartridges. Ok rather than wonderful but fast and reliable.

I notice chaps are keen to select printers by brand-name when they should be worried about printer technology and how well suited it is to their needs. Brand name is a poor guide because all manufacturers produce equipment ranging from almost toys to professional grade. They all have good kit, but domestic users dislike the prices!

The usual domestic InkJet is rock-bottom cheap, and ink is very expensive. Suitable for frequent low volume printing. Not mechanically tough enough for big print runs. and - much more serious - if not used almost daily, they gum up. They un-gum by forcing ink through the pipework, wasting lots of precious ink, and a serious blockage is fatal. Good for printing a few letters and photographs every day, otherwise avoid.

Office inkjets are much cheaper on ink, and strongly built, but again have to be used frequently. Costly for home use and likely to disappoint if the ink congeals due to low usage.

In short, InkJet technology is cheap to buy, but I don't think it does a good job unless what you need is a close match what they're good at.

Lasers are good for infrequent use because there's no ink to gum up. Basic models like mine are very cheap, and are uncomfortable doing large print runs. Tens of pages rather than thousands. Small Office and Office printers are beefed up, often considerably, and the price reflects this. Black and White is cheaper than colour.

Colour lasers have similar characteristics but are more complicated, hence pricey. They too vary from cheaply made for low volume home printing up to super luxury-yacht expensive for industrial-grade printing.

As I don't print enough to keep an Inkjet in reasonable fettle, I switched to laser. For cheapness, black and white. When I need a colour print, I nip to my local print shop with a USB stick, or send the files off to a print service. Convenient though it would be to have one, I don't do enough printing to justify buying a colour laser, especially not an office-grade machine.

Dave

I have, and recommend, a Brother HL-3150CDW colour laser printer.

It works well, and Brother toner cartridges are easier than some (e.g. Epson) to refill, saving a considerable amount of money. These people do refill kits:

https://www.urefilltoner.co.uk/

Note that laser printers do not give good results when printing photos.

After owning several inkjets over the years, I concluded some years back that they are a ripoff and a complete waste of time. So I have a laser printer/scanner for black and white, and I get colour prints done by the photo shop, they can do it cheaper and better than I can. One of my experiences was having a brand new set of cartridges that never actually printed anything because the heads never came clean.

I would certainly recommend against anything from HP, they have gone over to the dark side, and are not the same outfit that used to make such excellent test equipment 40 or so years ago. That side of the business went to Agilent.

John

Which OS do you use, Bob? - I ask because I have used Linux for many years. I had a Brother Laser printer, which was excellent, but eventually it 'died', and I replaced it with an Epson - chosen because because it used huge ink bottles, rather than 3/4 empty cartridges. ( I know you are looking at lasers) Unfortunately, I didn't check the software driver situation - and Epson didn't do drivers for their printers in Linux (for a large number of their models).

I bought a second hand demonstrated working Canon for £30 from someone local on fb marketplace, I figured it was worth the gamble, and it still print perfectly two years on...

Converted my Epson inkjet to CISS (separate ink tanks) years ago. For mono Laser i'd go for cheapest that doesn't have a horrendous cartridge price, but for intermittent use, original should last years.

Regards Ian.

Drivers are a problem! Or maybe not. Proprietary print drivers are slowly being driven out by standard interfaces like the Internet Printing Protocol, which covers AirPrint, Mopria, Wifi Direct and others. With luck you can't find a Linux driver for your Epson because it doesn't need one!

IPP is supported on Linux by the Open Printing Project. Their front page links to 3 databases of IPP compatible printers including Epsons. If your Epson supports IPP, it doesn't need a driver. Instead your Linux needs IPP.

I'm not sure what has to be done to get IPP working on Linux: seems just to be installing a CUPS plug-in, so probably not difficult. Can't try it for you because my basic Brother HL1212W doesn't support IPP.

Dave

Dave

Note that SOME do not give good results.

Mine are good enough to go on the wall for £223.

If the printer is spec'd to take glossy paper of a decent weight (and you have set the paper weight accordingly) and the write-up spiel talks about presentation documents then it will deliver decent prints.