Decent small printer?

[NDA]

I haven't bought a new printer for a while - the choice is a little bewildering!

I don't print that much, A4 letters. Never print photos.

Communication with the printer would be wireless only and ideally something small that can be tucked away.

As usual, someone on PH will have recently done some research on such an item and I would welcome a bit of guidance.

Thanks....

[Slushbox]

Laser printer for occasional use, as no ink carts to dry up.

We use HP Laserjet Pro M15W (W = wireless). £65 or less. They take 3rd party cheap toner carts at £12 each without complaining. Toner and drum are contained in the same cartridge, so no faff.

They are easy to set up with a USB cable first, thereafter they show up in the 'Network area' of the PC over Wifi. They have the drivers self-contained in auto-setup feature.

Presuming a Windows PC? the Linux set up is a bit more convoluted.

They come with a 'not-full toner' so once it's running, buy a spare.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-W2G50A-B19-LaserJet-Pr...

Refills:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Printing-Pleasure-Twin-Pa...

[NDA]

Thanks - will check that out.

iMac and MacBook only....

[anonymous-user]

Epson ecotank. I have a 2550 and a 4550. Amazing for small office/home use.

Does about 5000 pages for £40 worth of ink that you just fill up into the tanks on the side.

Wireless. Print quality not photo but I don’t do that anyway.

[NugentS]

Slushbox said:

Laser printer for occasional use, as no ink carts to dry up.

We use HP Laserjet Pro M15W (W = wireless). £65 or less. They take 3rd party cheap toner carts at £12 each without complaining. Toner and drum are contained in the same cartridge, so no faff.

Just to say I agree with this 100%. If you use a printer on a regular basis then you can consider inkjet (I still wouldn't unless you need colour). But for occasional intermittent printing in Black only then stick with a laser. You need to use an Inkjet on a regular basis otherwise it dries up which means (depending on which manufacturer) at best you replace the cartridge everytime you print OR at worst you have to replace the cartridge and print head everytime you print.

Just my 2p worth

[Alex]

In my experience, stick with HP. I've had Epson, Brother, and Kodak printers in the past, and they never last long.

[sly fox]

Alex said:

In my experience, stick with HP. I've had Epson, Brother, and Kodak printers in the past, and they never last long.

and for reasons of balance - i'd avoid HP printers at the lower end of the market (sub £300) like the plague. If they last as long as their warranty you are lucky.
Customer service is ste too, and god forbid do not do the monthly Ink rental/subscription thingy. Rip off unless you print a serious amount of pages.

[imck]

I bought one of these for my Parents a Year or Two ago.

https://www.printerbase.co.uk/brother-hl-1210w-a4-...
700 Page Toner included

The low end HPs are not great. Probably no worse than other Manufacturers though.

[The Li-ion King]

sly fox said:

Alex said:

In my experience, stick with HP. I've had Epson, Brother, and Kodak printers in the past, and they never last long.

and for reasons of balance - i'd avoid HP printers at the lower end of the market (sub £300) like the plague. If they last as long as their warranty you are lucky.
Customer service is ste too, and god forbid do not do the monthly Ink rental/subscription thingy. Rip off unless you print a serious amount of pages.

The HP printers are good, there's decent all in one's complete with scannner and ADF (document feeder) in Tesco under £60. Colour inkjet. The more pricey PageWide ones have cartridges that cost £294 to replace all 4 if the genuine ones

Like most firms, customer service is Bangalore, but most people would just replace such a printer that's the price of a bus lane fine in London

[timmymagic73]

Totally agree about colour laser for occasional printing. Perfect choice.

I've had a Samsung CLP-360 (older model, later ones are now available) for quite a few years now and 95% of the time it just prints when I ask it to wirelessly from my iMac. It's in the cupboard under the stairs and only requires mains power.

The rare times it doesn't print first time I just power cycle it - but that could just be me being impatient. I've replaced the black toner once in around 2014, and now the yellow is getting a bit low - but that's all.

[NDA]

Slushbox said:

We use HP Laserjet Pro M15W (W = wireless). £65 or less. They take 3rd party cheap toner carts at £12 each without complaining. Toner and drum are contained in the same cartridge, so no faff.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-W2G50A-B19-LaserJet-Pr...

It's probably this one that's most appealing... I can survive without colour easily enough.

There's a similar Samsung, but HP probably wins out.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Xpress-M2026W-Wir...

[sgrimshaw]

NDA said:

It's probably this one that's most appealing... I can survive without colour easily enough.

There's a similar Samsung, but HP probably wins out.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Xpress-M2026W-Wir...

Check out the HP closely ... it looks like you have to open the front door and put paper in with the door open to use it.

I think the Samsung might be the same.

If the depth of the printer is less than the length of a piece of A4 plus allowance for mechanisms etc, then it would suggest that there is no paper tray in the body of the printer.

If you're ok with that then all well and good, if you're not then maybe take a look at the small Brother's, especially the one linked to above.

[NDA]

The front needs to open for the paper tray..... there's a vid below.

It would be better if it was all enclosed, but I could live with it as is I think. Not ordered just yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNjzNMd-vOY

[Slushbox]

The bottom front tray door on the HP drops down. On top, there's a fold out flap to stop it throwing the paper all over the floor when you forget to use it.

It will handle duplex (double-sided) printing by telling the print driver to do it, then flipping the stack over when the first side is done. Print density and toner-save settings are in the print driver, as are auto-on and off.

Review:

https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/hp-laserjet-p...

[21TonyK]

The HP one looks very much like the new version of the one(s) I have, HP1102W. The one I use (once or twice a week) is at least 5 years old and still runs perfectly. The other has survived three years reasonably heavy use by my daughter.

Mine sits on the bottom of a book shelf and gets "unfolded" when needed.