home printer choices

[cookiedough]

hp, epson, canon, brother, etc.   anyone have a good one that might last more than 1 year?  motherinlaw needs one I got 2 of them for her black friday deals and both only lasted 1 year tops before not working and the last one was a fancy HP one that was good at first until it clunked out with very light use in that 1st year of use. 

looks like Brother ones do not have as much discount off as hp, epson, and canon ones.  she wants to print quality pics supposedly she gets into doing that but as you know goes thru a lot of ink doing that as well.   inkjets do not print out as many pages as laser jets with toner cartridges but the toner cartridges cost double or more but last much longer right? 

My old HP envy inkjet 5530 one has lasted now 8 or so years with light to moderate use vs. mother in law I have picked 2 bad ones the past 2 years in a row last one was an HP and was NOT cheap pushing 200 bucks I think but clunked out way before much use at all very disappointed.  She is leaning towards something else than HP since last 2 were HP and junk.

[scooperhsd]

$200 for a decent color printer is asking for a cheap one that won't last very long. If you want one that will last a long time - you really should be looking at small business class printers - preferably NOT inkjet (i.e. - what you would want would be a small color laserjet). We're currently using a Brother B/W all in one laser that does 90% + of what we want it to do (yes, it does scan in color). Yes - sometimes it's nice to have a color printer - but if we really want nice color prints of a picture, we send it to a drugstore / photo store.

[Jess from VA]

I'm no techie, but my personal experience is if you use a printer a few times a year (like me), they stop working. 

The other thing is if the print starts fading, when you take out the ink cartridge to shake it around, be sure to wear old pants.

[F6Dave]

I have an ancient HP DeskJet I bought over 20 years ago.  It's very handy for some things like printing envelopes so I've held on to it along with a much newer Brother.  The HP is so old it uses a 36 pin parallel interface, which were dropped from PCs over a decade ago.  I had to buy an adapter cable to use it with a USB port.

They may be durable, but there are some drawbacks to old printers.  While HP continues to make the ink, few stores stock it any more.  Places like Staples and Office Depot may only have next day availability.  And since it's an ultra low volume item, the price has skyrocketed.  The cost to replace both ink cartridges on my DeskJet is well over $130!  I could buy a pretty nice new printer for that!

[scooperhsd]

I have an ancient HP DeskJet I bought over 20 years ago.  It's very handy for some things like printing envelopes so I've held on to it along with a much newer Brother.  The HP is so old it uses a 36 pin parallel interface, which were dropped from PCs over a decade ago.  I had to buy an adapter cable to use it with a USB port.

They may be durable, but there are some drawbacks to old printers.  While HP continues to make the ink, few stores stock it any more.  Places like Staples and Office Depot may only have next day availability.  And since it's an ultra low volume item, the price has skyrocketed.  The cost to replace both ink cartridges on my DeskJet is well over $130!  I could buy a pretty nice new printer for that!

You know, there is a time to say "when" . Just saying   I used to have one from that era also. The biggest problems with deskjets from that era is that the ink dries up in the nozzles if it isn't used regularly enough. Which is where alot of the reasons I tend to recommend laser printers over deskjets come from.

[Pete]

Been using a cheap scanner/copier/printer for 2 years. Paid $44 delivered via Staples.
Epson xp330 probably not available anymore but I bet they have something like it.

Works fine, no issues.

[Serk]

If you don't need color and someone moderately technical can set it up, I use a ~20 year old HP Laserjet 4100... These were business class laser printers back in the day, designed to put up with hard use.

I picked mine up from a company I was working at that was throwing it out. In the 10+ years I've been using it (Moderately, print probably 4-5 pages a week on average) I'm on the 2nd toner cartridge. Unlike inkjets the toner doesn't dry out...

It's a little bit of an odd solution, but I've found that with printers at least (And motorcycles! ) "They just don't make them like they used to.

Few options under $200 delivered on eBay for refurbs.....

https://www.ebay.com/b/Hp-4100-Printer/1245/bn_7023314784

[cookiedough]

I tend to agree with you all spend a little more NOW getting her a cheaper laserjet vs. a deskjet/inkjet since I really think the reason both have clunked out is she used them both at first doing color PICS but her being her she let the printer set NOT using it for like 6-8 months or so at all and due to lack of use they both clunked out early after 1 year.

My wife (her mom) and me tried to convince her to NOT waste so much color ink doing nice pics printing and just get into the 21st century and go like the rest of us do going to Walgreens, etc. with an SD card, etc. sending them the pics to print pics for only like 20-30 cents each or whatever they cost now dirt cheap.  She is OLD school age 77 also trying to convince her to join our cell phone plan for 50 bucks per month line but she insists her old tracfone that has minutes to use up always is good enough but the camera on that sucks to take pics as well as not able to install any apps, etc. on it even for navigation in case she gets lost driving around which could happen going up north a few times per year with her older gal friends.    She just told me her friend age 81 driving in a brand new VW SUV had NO HEAT all the way up to Door County the past week they went  up and NO HEAT entire way back home.  A better cell phone would probably come in handy right vs. a tracfone?  2 elderly ladies with NO heat in their SUV for a 4 hour one way trip in 20 degree temps in the winter is sort of cold agree?  heck,  my feet and hands get cold with HEAT on low to mid level temp HEAT setting in the winter driving cannot imagine NO HEAT inside the car.

[mello dude]

I had bought an HP and turned out to be junk for the 2 hundred bucks..then add in the repeated ink cartridges that it needs an it turns out to be more trouble than it's worth.,

Any more if I need to print I head to the local FedEx office. Cost wise it's about a wash and works every time, you get what you want.

[Patrick]

Everyone told me HP was the best, went thru several of them before I learned a lesson. Some of them would just make it past the warranty period, they are junk.

When I bought my MacBook I had it all figured out which printer I wanted [ can't remember now which that was] but the Apple Genius said I needed an Epsom. I kept saying no but he insisted and when I asked why he said because its free with the laptop. Both laptop and printer are about 10 years old with no issues.

[F6Dave]

I have an ancient HP DeskJet I bought over 20 years ago.  It's very handy for some things like printing envelopes so I've held on to it along with a much newer Brother.  The HP is so old it uses a 36 pin parallel interface, which were dropped from PCs over a decade ago.  I had to buy an adapter cable to use it with a USB port.

They may be durable, but there are some drawbacks to old printers.  While HP continues to make the ink, few stores stock it any more.  Places like Staples and Office Depot may only have next day availability.  And since it's an ultra low volume item, the price has skyrocketed.  The cost to replace both ink cartridges on my DeskJet is well over $130!  I could buy a pretty nice new printer for that!

You know, there is a time to say "when" . Just saying   I used to have one from that era also. The biggest problems with deskjets from that era is that the ink dries up in the nozzles if it isn't used regularly enough. Which is where alot of the reasons I tend to recommend laser printers over deskjets come from.

Hey, I bought that printer about the same time I bought my '98 Valkyrie, and I'm not ready to say 'when' to either!

I write software for a living and have tossed out plenty of printers over the years, but I've hung on to that old HP because it does a few things really well.  It's surprising how well it's held up, still running like it did the day I bought it.  The only issue is the high price of ink, though coupons from Staples make that easier to deal with.  I rarely need to replace more than a cartridge or two per year.

Like many electronic gadgets, cheap printers have really become more or less disposable items.  When a phone or computer wears out, repair is often out of the question.  That's because newer and better products are usually available for less than the cost to fix the old obsolete one, if it can be fixed at all.

[scooperhsd]

I have an ancient HP DeskJet I bought over 20 years ago.  It's very handy for some things like printing envelopes so I've held on to it along with a much newer Brother.  The HP is so old it uses a 36 pin parallel interface, which were dropped from PCs over a decade ago.  I had to buy an adapter cable to use it with a USB port.

They may be durable, but there are some drawbacks to old printers.  While HP continues to make the ink, few stores stock it any more.  Places like Staples and Office Depot may only have next day availability.  And since it's an ultra low volume item, the price has skyrocketed.  The cost to replace both ink cartridges on my DeskJet is well over $130!  I could buy a pretty nice new printer for that!

You know, there is a time to say "when" . Just saying   I used to have one from that era also. The biggest problems with deskjets from that era is that the ink dries up in the nozzles if it isn't used regularly enough. Which is where alot of the reasons I tend to recommend laser printers over deskjets come from.

Hey, I bought that printer about the same time I bought my '98 Valkyrie, and I'm not ready to say 'when' to either!

I write software for a living and have tossed out plenty of printers over the years, but I've hung on to that old HP because it does a few things really well.  It's surprising how well it's held up, still running like it did the day I bought it.  The only issue is the high price of ink, though coupons from Staples make that easier to deal with.  I rarely need to replace more than a cartridge or two per year.

Like many electronic gadgets, cheap printers have really become more or less disposable items.  When a phone or computer wears out, repair is often out of the question.  That's because newer and better products are usually available for less than the cost to fix the old obsolete one, if it can be fixed at all.

Absolutely.

[cookiedough]

went to staples to check out my HP vs. Lenovo laptop along with printers for mother in law.  Staples is where it is at for home printers they had I swear 25 to pick from all lined up on both sides of a long aisle.   Lady recommended the Epson one for color portraits has the best/highest resolution for 90 bucks was 200 on sale now.  Looked at the rest and none tripped my trigger.  Ink was not too bad either 52 bucks for a pack of black and colors.  She did not recommend those ink fill where you keep pouring in ink since she said if not used in say 1 year,  the ink dries up inside and printer is shot, makes sense.  She also said the average life expectancy nowdays is 2-3 years.

Like everything else,  throwaway society of electronics.  Even all new laptops the battery is NOT replaceable built inside and most cannot take the back apart to get at and replace anything anymore.  So,  guess what, in 2-3 years tops when the inside portable battery goes dead,  you either do what I do the past 6 years is keep it plugged in 99% of the time for after about 20 minutes the battery is totally dead.