Alternative to inkjet printer
Discussion
Hi,
We have an inkjet printer for home use and it gets little use.
Invariably, when we go to use it, the inkjets have dried up and we need to buy new cartridges at £20 a pop (copies, not original brand). Additionally we need to wait for new cartridges to arrive before we can print.
Thinking of going with an alternative tech of printer that doesn’t dry up as we only need Black and White for printing documents.
Is something like the Brother HL-L2400DW any good or anything else recommended?
Thanks.
We have an inkjet printer for home use and it gets little use.
Invariably, when we go to use it, the inkjets have dried up and we need to buy new cartridges at £20 a pop (copies, not original brand). Additionally we need to wait for new cartridges to arrive before we can print.
Thinking of going with an alternative tech of printer that doesn’t dry up as we only need Black and White for printing documents.
Is something like the Brother HL-L2400DW any good or anything else recommended?
Thanks.
thebraketester said:
Toner isn't cheap
£18https://www.amazon.co.uk/HALLOLUX-Cartridges-Repla...
Business user here - caning it for years and no issues with non-Brother toner
edit - that one's pricey!
£14
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HALLOLUX-DCP-L2620DW-DCP-...
Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 21st January 09:40
A900ss said:
Invariably, when we go to use it, the inkjets have dried up and we need to buy new cartridges at £20 a pop (copies, not original brand). Additionally we need to wait for new cartridges to arrive before we can print.
Thinking of going with an alternative tech of printer that doesn t dry up as we only need Black and White for printing documents.
Can't recommend a particular model, but I can absolutely recommend ditching ink based printers for low volume printing.Thinking of going with an alternative tech of printer that doesn t dry up as we only need Black and White for printing documents.
After I ended up junking an expensive HP all-in-one inkjet Printer/scanner/copier because it yet again refused to print having not been used in a few weeks I bought what was pretty much the cheapest B&W laser printer I could find.
Back in 2017 that was the Samsung Express 2026W. I got an absolute bargain at £40 new from Amazon, in hindsight that was probably because Samsung had just sold its printer business to HP.
I can go months without printing anything but when I turn it on, wait for it to warm up, it always prints first time. To give you some idea of my usage, the original 9 year old toner cartridge reports 44% life left, and it still works flawlessly every time I turn it on. It's both the cheapest and most reliable printer I've bought.
I didn't realise it had Wi-Fi, but I've since set it up wirelessly which means all my iOS devices as well as MacOS and Windows PCs can all easily connect. Not a feature I wanted at the time but on the rare occasions when I want to print something being able to do so from any device is a god send.
As others have suggested I'd be looking at brother today if I had to replace mine (and I'd definitely want Wi-Fi again), but I can wholeheartedly recommend ditching ink based printers for cheap B&W laser printers. So much less hassle, and cost, and I've yet to miss colour printing.
Brother printers are usually a good choice, particularly as you can cut the cost of printing considerably by using non-OEM compatible Toners. This site is ok to deal with & has all the specs of each printer so you can make sure you get the features you want - duplexing, network port, wireless etc. Look carefully at things like the supplied toner - some are 3000 pages, some are only 1200, & check for cashback. The HL-L5210DN for instance has 3000 page toner, higher duty cycle & paper weight, half the cost per page of lower spec models & has £50 cashback. It's missing wireless printing though, but that may or may not be important to you.
https://www.printerland.co.uk/printers/brother/las...
https://www.printerland.co.uk/printers/brother/las...
Griffith4ever said:
thebraketester said:
Toner isn't cheap
£18https://www.amazon.co.uk/HALLOLUX-Cartridges-Repla...
Business user here - caning it for years and no issues with non-Brother toner
edit - that one's pricey!
£14
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HALLOLUX-DCP-L2620DW-DCP-...
Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 21st January 09:40
If you want/need colour I’d recommend an ink-tank printer. We have an Epson thing in our study and it’s brilliant - it just works and is only used sparingly but when it does get used it is used a lot. Ink is cheap, it doesn’t jam up and will happily print 200 pages with no activity in the previous few months.
ET2750 - I just checked. I seem to recall it was reasonably expensive compared to cartridge printers, think I paid around £250 for it maybe 5 years ago but I’ve spent next to nothing on ink in that time and the reliability is worth it i think.
ET2750 - I just checked. I seem to recall it was reasonably expensive compared to cartridge printers, think I paid around £250 for it maybe 5 years ago but I’ve spent next to nothing on ink in that time and the reliability is worth it i think.
Lefty said:
If you want/need colour I d recommend an ink-tank printer.
Same here. We've had a Canon G7050 for a couple of years and still nowhere near using up the supplied ink. Very decent for photos too, although I don't think the pigments are as stable long-term as the higher end ones. Mr Pointy said:
Brother printers are usually a good choice, particularly as you can cut the cost of printing considerably by using non-OEM compatible Toners. This site is ok to deal with & has all the specs of each printer so you can make sure you get the features you want - duplexing, network port, wireless etc. Look carefully at things like the supplied toner - some are 3000 pages, some are only 1200, & check for cashback. The HL-L5210DN for instance has 3000 page toner, higher duty cycle & paper weight, half the cost per page of lower spec models & has £50 cashback. It's missing wireless printing though, but that may or may not be important to you.
https://www.printerland.co.uk/printers/brother/las...
Looking at that site I'm reminded that the one thing I wish I'd got when I bought my laser printer is a proper paper tray. My Samsung has a drop down flap that holds a few sheets, but it sticks out from the front when in use and looks untidy (and I have to load paper when I use it). https://www.printerland.co.uk/printers/brother/las...
In hindsight I should have bought one with an actual paper tray that takes a decent number of sheets, and hides the paper.
Not worth replacing a working printer for, but it's a feature that's on the list if I ever need to buy a new printer.
GoodDoc said:
Looking at that site I'm reminded that the one thing I wish I'd got when I bought my laser printer is a proper paper tray. My Samsung has a drop down flap that holds a few sheets, but it sticks out from the front when in use and looks untidy (and I have to load paper when I use it).
In hindsight I should have bought one with an actual paper tray that takes a decent number of sheets, and hides the paper.
Not worth replacing a working printer for, but it's a feature that's on the list if I ever need to buy a new printer.
I had no idea it was even possible to buy a laser printer without a paper tray! From Samsung no less.In hindsight I should have bought one with an actual paper tray that takes a decent number of sheets, and hides the paper.
Not worth replacing a working printer for, but it's a feature that's on the list if I ever need to buy a new printer.
It's not second-hand, and someone has misplaced the paper tray?
thebraketester said:
Griffith4ever said:
thebraketester said:
Toner isn't cheap
£18https://www.amazon.co.uk/HALLOLUX-Cartridges-Repla...
Business user here - caning it for years and no issues with non-Brother toner
edit - that one's pricey!
£14
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HALLOLUX-DCP-L2620DW-DCP-...
Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 21st January 09:40
I run a Brother colour laser, and a Brother Mono, the colour prints all my instruction manuals for each order, the mono is in the workshop printing shippng labels. I've never used OEM toner past what they came with. Probably 7 or 8 years or so now.
Sure, the colours are not as vivid on the colour printer, but they are good enough (£290 vs £34) for a full set of 4 - I'm not an art studio. The mono printer - can't tell - it looks perfect to me.
Not all printers are equal. I ran an OKI colour laser before hand and it was a pain, eating through develope drums, and toner that would nto be recognised. Since I went Brother I've had no issues at all.
biggiles said:
I had no idea it was even possible to buy a laser printer without a paper tray! From Samsung no less.
It's not second-hand, and someone has misplaced the paper tray?
Poor description on my part, it does have a paper tray, but it's a drop down tray. Again, I paid just £40 for Wi-Fi enabled laser printer that has given 9 years of flawless service, but a proper paper tray would be nice. Next time. It's not second-hand, and someone has misplaced the paper tray?
I decided that I could not beat the ink system. A long time ago I bought an HP Laserjet printer for the UK. I only recently installed a second cartridge.
Following a recommendation here, I signed up to have my ink supplied on contract. Funnily enough their jets never seem to block, even after being left for 5-months +. I think the grade of what they supply is much higher, it’s not in their interest to send replacements. After 4-years my original cartridge still works fine on an Epson printer.
My contract is for 10-sheets per month for €0.99, so I am obviously a very low user. But it works, which is the important bit.
Following a recommendation here, I signed up to have my ink supplied on contract. Funnily enough their jets never seem to block, even after being left for 5-months +. I think the grade of what they supply is much higher, it’s not in their interest to send replacements. After 4-years my original cartridge still works fine on an Epson printer.
My contract is for 10-sheets per month for €0.99, so I am obviously a very low user. But it works, which is the important bit.
I decided that I could not beat the ink system. A long time ago I bought an HP Laserjet printer for the UK. I only recently installed a second cartridge.
Following a recommendation here, I signed up to have my ink supplied on contract. Funnily enough their jets never seem to block, even after being left for 5-months +. I think the grade of what they supply is much higher, it’s not in their interest to send replacements. After 4-years my original cartridge still works fine on an Epson printer.
My contract is for 10-sheets per month for €0.99, so I am obviously a very low user. But it works, which is the important bit.
Following a recommendation here, I signed up to have my ink supplied on contract. Funnily enough their jets never seem to block, even after being left for 5-months +. I think the grade of what they supply is much higher, it’s not in their interest to send replacements. After 4-years my original cartridge still works fine on an Epson printer.
My contract is for 10-sheets per month for €0.99, so I am obviously a very low user. But it works, which is the important bit.
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