What printer do you have?

[Sandy Bridge]

We all print stuff all the time, right?  Right?  Well, maybe not as much as we used to, but I'm probably not the only one with a printer.

 

But it's an old printer, an HP DeskJet from 2004, that would be old enough to drink substances other than ink in most countries.  It's slow, it's almost impossible to keep the color ink from drying out (black ink never seems to dry out), it doesn't know what WiFi is, and it somehow keeps working.  It's also relatively compact, which is nice as it lives on a bookshelf rather than a permanent location on a desk.

 

I've considered replacing it with newer one that would be faster and more convenient, but haven't found a nice small inexpensive one that checks all the boxes.  HP does have a nice all-in-one printer/scanner/copier that's remarkably small, but it's subject to their ink DRM program, which disqualifies it from consideration.

 

Anyone else have a printer they're happy with and would recommend?  I'm particularly interested in small ones that can also scan (my scanner is roughly equally geriatric), but it seems there should be a thread on this type of accessory regardless.

[ryan]

my dad just gave me a canon pixma mg3620. its nice, but needs ink. pretty cool being able to print off pictures again. I overlooked a printer for decades

[kojack]

I have a few around running right now.  I have an HP envy 9500 (I think), for my main printer, An Epson XP15000 for my photography printing business, and I also have a canon multiprinter in my wife's office for her work. 

[TreeTopsRanch]

Brother Color Laser MFC-L3770CDW.  So far it's been the best printer we have ever owned. Brother Ink somewhat pricey but 3rd party ink is cheaper. We also use a Canon TR 4520 for color photo prints. This model eats ink so you have to have a couple of cartridges handy for replacement. All of the Epson printers we have used in the past have failed in a year or so.

[Aaron44126]

Two here.

 

Canon PIXMA MX512 — A multifunction inkjet/copier/scanner, I use it mostly for scanning photos and documents.  I'm big on digitizing and then shredding paper documents, and I have an ongoing family photo archive project in progress.  Occasionally I use it for color photo prints which it does a pretty decent job at.  Bought in June 2012.

 

Samsung ML-1210.  A plain, black & white laser printer.  I was gifted this in 2009 by a Mac-using colleague because this printer wouldn't work with Mac OS X anymore, I think after the transition to Intel CPUs (Samsung never released a proper driver).  It still works fine with Windows (though you have to use a different printer model's driver in order to have a "signed" driver, which has been required since maybe Windows 8).  ...I do need to do some work on this one, it has recently started sometimes picking up more than one sheet from the paper tray, I think it needs the rollers cleaned or something.

 

The Canon is attached to the network via Ethernet.  The Samsung is USB only (err, it also has a parallel port) so I have it attached to an AirPort Extreme which is able to serve it up as a raw TCP socket printer.  I'm happy to continue using these as long as they still work.  If I ever have to get a new printer, I won't get anything with "ink DRM" which may limit my options, it seems.....

[cylix]

Got an Epson WF-4720, working fine for the home use, wifi and the tray feeder are nice when i need to scan a lot of documents. Also i can get cheap and good quality  ink cartridges. 😁

[electrosoft]

An old Brother 5470DW still handles the bulk of my printing duties.

Canon sent me a MF453dw to evaluate recently. Much more modern interface and added functionality but the print quality isn't as good as the old 5470DW at 2-3x the size.

 

 

 

 

[kojack]

Oh, forgot, I have an Epson ecotank turned into a sublimation printer for our graphics business.  Just slipped my mind.  ha ha.  

[Linux]

18 hours ago, cylix said:

Got an Epson WF-4720, working fine for the home use, wifi and the tray feeder are nice when i need to scan a lot of documents. Also i can get cheap and good quality  ink cartridges. 😁

Which brand do you use, that doesn't trigger incompatibility warnings everytime you change the ink?

[cylix]

2 hours ago, Linux said:

Which brand do you use, that doesn't trigger incompatibility warnings everytime you change the ink?

Generic from Amazon. I only get one warning after the switch, that is saying I use non geniune cartridges, I ignore it and I doesn't come afterwards until the next change.

[kojack]

FYI, for our Canadian peeps, The source marks down HP ink once out of date.  I buy ink for my HP envy for 8 dollars a cartridge.  That's the XL ink too!  

 

EDIT:  That's genuine HP ink too, not off brand. 

[John Ratsey]

Two here:

1. A Dell E310dw A4 monochrome laser print that lives on standby for the everyday printing. It cost me £35 in 2016 and I've subsequently replaced the toner (in 2017) and the drum (in 2021). It's not had a hard life.

2.  A Canon MX925 A4 multi-function inkjet which cost me £128 in 2013. It has probably scanned more pages than it has printed. I've lost count of how much ink (not Canon ink once the warranty had expired) it's consumed. Because it doesn't get used much then it has to go through head-cleaning whenever it's switched on.

 

I would prefer to have one device which did everything (printing, scanning, copying, duplex and with photo-quality colours) but consideration of anything which might tick all the right boxes will have to wait until one of the current machines needs to be replaced. And when that happens I'll look at what's on offer at https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/582/Printer-Deals/ (UK only).