Not a photo printer

[charlie]

I'm looking for a document printer, it doesn't need to print photographs, it doesn't need to be an all in one/scanner, it just needs to be reliable and print documents.

Something in the $100-$150 range preferably. 

I have a Canon Pixma all in one that didn't last to long before it had trouble feeding paper through it.


Anyone here have any good experiences with document printers?

[pluton]

Laser, laser, laser.  I had a small, free-giveaway 2006 HP inkjet that lasted 8 years.  All the current inkjet consumer desktop units are horrid junk.
I bought a bottom-line Brother HL-L2360D series laser printer, monochrome only, for about$100 on sale at ...forgive me...Staples.  The "starter cartridge" that comes with it prints 700 pages.  The full size cartridge does some huge amount, like 2000 pages.
Color lasers cost more, and for photos I don't think laser is serious.
My 2¢.
Addendum:  The cheap Brother unit referred to above does print 2-sided.

[David H. Hartman]

I used an HP LaserJet II for 18 years. I never wore it out. I recycled it as it was obsolete using a parallel port. It was also painfully slow printing PostScript. I'm currently using an HP LaserJet 1320P or some such. I don't know how long I've been using it, maybe ten to twelve years.

My recommendation is to look a the HP line of laser printers. I'd want a USB3 interface. In 2008 I tried to get a friend to buy a base HP or Brother laser printer. Her HP inkjet all in one lies dormant due the cost of ink. I doubt that it works now.

For documents laser. Maybe consider postscript for documents with graphs and b&w photos. I have no experience with color laser. If I needed something really slick I'd send it out.

Laser!

Dave

[Erik Lund]

Samsung CLP-365 laser, just works

[PedroS]

+1 laser

I have Samsung but it drives me nuts some times...

[Olivier]

I fully agree on a cheap laser.
My wife uses a basic Brother B&W laser printer (about 100$) and it goes on an on with no maintenance, no issue.

[Frank Fremerey]

HP Laser Jet. HP Laser Jet. HP Laser Jet.

These last forever. I even have one in my basement with another 4000 pages in the cartridge. Only reason I do not use it is my printer has 600 dot resolution, the old one only 300. That is visible. The old one still works perfectly. I might install it and use it for drafts.

Another thing. None but these have such a good supply of replacement cartridges.

Standard price for my 1020 is 65 Euros, but I get two third party cartridges for 25 Euros.

Only answer you need is: Duplex or not?

[Anthony]

HP LaserJet.  I have had mine so long I do not remember when I bought it.

Consider getting a wireless printer.  You can then place it anywhere convenient.

[John Geerts]

Yes, + + + +

Use a HP Laserjet P2015 for many years.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

HP Laserjets just run and run. My oldest must be 20 years+ by now. Just change the toner once in a while and it purs on.

A tip if the printer has the now no longer fashionable parallel port: buy a tiny 1-port print server (no larger than a dongle) and hook up the printer as a network resource. An added advantage is that there is no need for a particular machine to be 'on' in order to print, as the resource is available to any mode on your local network.

I use Cnet print servers (they have served me well for decades), but there are other alternatives, for example this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NETGEAR-PS101-PARALLEL-PRINTER-MINI-PRINT-SERVER-FOR-NETWORK-SHARE-PRINTER-/161896393196

[David H. Hartman]

HP LaserJet.  I have had mine so long I do not remember when I bought it.

Consider getting a wireless printer.  You can then place it anywhere convenient.

I would think the nicest setup would be a network printer with an Ethernet port. That would be more expensive, more than $100.00 to $150.00.

I know nothing of printers with WiFi. These days they probably don't cost much more than printers without.

Any printer (non-Ethernet, non-WiFi) can be shared from a primary desktop computer so any computer connected to the LAN (local area network) can print by wire or WiFi. Right now I'm sharing my HP Laser Jet 1320 connected to my Window 7 PC. My iMAC can print to that printer via Ethernet or WiFi. I don't have a laptop at this time but if I did once on the LAN it would be simple to install the drivers and print to the shared printer.

Dave

[Bjørn Rørslett]

£15 will procure you a small print server with parallel port for the printer and Ethernet port for the network. This also provides a printing buffer to make the printer completely independent of any running machines on the network. I assume there are similar devices with a USB port too. The salient point is to make the printer a network resource.

You can print to such a networked printer from Windows, Mac, Linux, or any OS that supports printing over TCP/IP.

[David H. Hartman]

I checked at Amazon US for USB print servers and there is a dizzying array of possibility, more than 40 pages. Most cable and DSL gateways have a USB port. I'm pretty sure one can use that port with for a print server.

One thing to consider is a printer that prints on both sides. This can save a lot of space cutting the thickness of a document in half. It obviously cuts the cost of paper. Two things I wanted in my printer was printing on both sides and Postscript. This cost extra but the cost per year is minuscule considering the years I used this printer. My printer does a decent job of printing b&w photos in a document, not for display. Look for 600~1200 dpi.

Dave

[Frank Fremerey]

One thing to consider is a printer that prints on both sides.

Duplex.

[charlie]

It has become clear to me that laser printers are the way of my future.

Thank you everyone for your input.