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General discussion

I'm sick of ink-sucking printers, buying advice needed

Mar 25, 2011 7:17AM PDT
Question:

I'm sick of ink-sucking printers, buying advice needed


I am so frustrated with printers and the amount of ink they now use, not to mention the cost of the ink. I don't do much scanning or printing in color and no faxing, so I don't need a high-end printer. I do a fair amount of grayscale printing each day. My problem is that the printers I have had in the past couple of years guzzle ink and use almost as much color ink as black ink, even though I am not printing pages in color. That was not the case in the past with my older printers. My color ink seemed to last forever. Not true, these days. Now that I have Windows 7, I haven't found a compatible printer that is efficient without costing an arm and a leg to operate. Can anyone give me any suggestions on what kind of printer I should purchase? Thanks.

-- Submitted by: Allison H.

Paper sucking ink --Submitted by: blmonster
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106391.html

Money robbing printers--Submitted by: flrhcarr
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106311.html

Inkaholic printers --Submitted by: Sidewinder34
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106321.html

Why color ink runs out as fast as the B/W ink. --Submitted by: blmonster
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106401.html

Laser, really?? NOT so fast. --Submitted by: jonsantacroce
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-7590_102-5106429.html

Thanks to all who contributed!

If you have any additional advice or recommendations for Allison, click the "reply" link below and submit away. If referring to product, providing a link to the product will be very helpful. Please be detailed as possible when providing a solution. Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Continuous Ink Flow System
Mar 25, 2011 11:31AM PDT

I have been using a Continuous Ink Flow System wherein the inks are stored in a reservoir instead of a cartridge. No more messy refilling. No more costly cartridge replacement. Ink refills are so cheap that they are selling it by the pint or liter. You just keep adding ink to the reservoir. Very, very cost effective.

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I agree
Mar 25, 2011 4:55PM PDT

I recently purchased a Epson artisan 710 with a continuous ink flow system all together $195. the price was steep but so was my $50 Lexmark after adding in the cost of cartridges

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A color laser printer is your solution. but do your research
Mar 25, 2011 11:34AM PDT

Years back I had the same problem as you did until I decided to purchase a color laser. I've never looked back. I weighed all the negatives and positives associated with the various makes and models. I finally settled on a Ricoh CL2000N. It is a workgroup color laser and well built. Good quality print. It has separate toner cartridges for black and for each of the colors. It has a photo conductor unit for color and another for B&W (this is important since the color conductor unit is 3X the cost of a B&W). If the majority of your printing is B&W you'd rather just wear out the B&W conductor. There are a number of other features it has such as easy networking, usb, 64mb memory and multiple paper options. It has worked flawlessly for years for me. I've upgraded my operating system 3X since and currenty use Vista. The only part I had to replace so far is the waste toner bottle. Today it would probably be considered a dinosaur but I am still happy with it and don't plan of replacing it until it dies out. When it does I will have no problem purchasing another Ricoh.
I'm not familiar with current makes/models so you'll just have to do research. Please remember that you just can't look at the initial purchase price. You have to look at this as a long term purchase so consumables and replacement parts are just as important. I would definately purchase a workgroup printer because the personal printers I saw were very cheaply built. I hope this helps.

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HP 1000-series laserjets
Mar 25, 2011 11:35AM PDT

I've been using HP 1000-series laser jet for maybe 10 years now (my current one is a 1200, don't know what the latest model is). It only prints so it is not all that expensive, and the cartridges last a very long time even though I use it pretty routinely.

I have a second multi-function machine for scanning and faxing and for the very few times that I really need to print something in color. Inkjet printers cost next to nothing because they want you to buy the ink.

When I have a big job, like Xmas letters to 100 people, I take it to Kinko's which costs $100 but no more than a full set of color cartridges.

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I'm sick of ink-sucking printers, buying advice needed
Mar 25, 2011 11:35AM PDT

Allison, you don't mention what you do with you grayscale printouts, but there is an ink saving feature called "draft" printing. It uses a fraction of the ink that normal printing uses. After you click on "Print", select "Properties" and switch to "Draft". Click OK and they print your project. I believe as long as you don't close the application you are using, the "Draft" mode will not change back, but check to be sure. Happy printing.

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I know what thats like.
Mar 25, 2011 11:36AM PDT

I would suggest the HP photosmart:

http://tinyurl.com/4a5m5gu

(that link will take you to officemax page)

They have a great price on it, as well as they can refill the ink cheap there for it as well.

I own it myself, its very easy to use, doesn't use a ton of ink, and works great. If you were getting a printer, and wanted one with a great price and a great brand; as well as the extra copy and scan, look no further. It even has the cool new eprint technology.

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Ink sucking machines
Mar 25, 2011 11:41AM PDT

I have had this problem for over eight years. I could not find a printer that would work after one of the colors ran out, usually just from the cleaning cycle. I even contacted several manufactures to see if there was a software fix to just use black ink & not color,another dead end. So I spent a little extra & got a laser with wireless so I could put it in the closet & save space. It didn't take long to make up for the price difference by not buying ink every month.Simple fix if you can look one year down the road instead of what you spend for a printer right now Like my dad always told me "cheap isn't always cheap".

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Laser.
Mar 25, 2011 11:56AM PDT

I have an HP p2015dn, it has both USB and ethernet ports, as well as expandable memory. We paid ~$75 for it about 3 years ago, and we've only had to buy one cartridge for it, even though we've gone through many reams of paper. We easily printed over 4500 pages on a single cartridge, and the new cartridges can be had for $75 to $100. The print quality is amazing, it does double sided printing, and it has a "warm idle" state that allows it to start printing in less than 6 seconds from the print command being issued. nevermind that it can do dozens of pages per minute, compared to the slow trudge of an inkjet...

Shop around and look for "clearance" items at big box stores, and pay heed to what the toner replacement costs. The $100 toner cartridge for my printer boasts and impressive 7,000 page printing capacity, and i certainly believe it after the smaller cartridge did over 4,500 pages.

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HP Deskjet D4260
Mar 25, 2011 11:57AM PDT

Here is a hint about using the HP Deskjet D4260.

With both B&W and faulty Color cartridges installed, the printer would not print. I found that physically removing the color cartridge, put the printer in a "Backup Mode" allowing the unit to print in B&W only.

This is about 90% of what I do anyway, so that's fine for a while.

Check out:
http://www.pacswinsig.org/forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1084

for some other printer info.

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laser printer
Mar 25, 2011 12:01PM PDT

You didn't say it, but from your comments I assume you're using an inkjet printer. Your color ink may not be lasting as much probably because your printer is setup to use the colors to make gray scale when your black ink has been exhausted. Some inkjets don't even have a separate black cartridge so the only way it can make dark/black ink is by combining the colors. Since most of the time you're only doing gray scale printing I recommend an inexpensive laser printer. Take a look at this one from HP (under $100):


http://www.amazon.com/HP-LaserJet-Printer-CE657A-BGJ/dp/B0036TGGVO

If you find that you do need the occasional color the there are inexpensive color laser printers, take a look at this one under $200. The initial investment in inks might be a bit more than the inkjets but in the long run, they will last longer and will give better quality printing.

If you don't want to go for HP printers there other brands that could be cheaper so shop around.

Bottom line, laser printers are always the better bang for your buck. the only reason a lot of people were buying the inkjets is because they were cheaper - you couldn't find a laser printer for under $300, now a days it doesn't make sense to use injets.

My two cents

-Fabio

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Why Color ink runs out as fast as the B/W ink.
Mar 25, 2011 12:07PM PDT

On most inkjet printers, they use what is known as 4 color black when printing black text or images. What this means is that the printer puts down a light coating of the other 3 colors (Cyan, Magenta, & Yellow) to build up a layer that the Black ink is printed on top of to make for a richer, darker black. It is also to make you purchase the more expensive color ink cartridges, rather than just the cheaper black ink. In a sense, they are selling you the printer at cost, and making all the money on ink, which is currently more expensive then gold by weight. If your focus is on B&W or grayscale printing, a decent Laser Printer will give you better quality, faster printing, and less cost. On a normal setting, most B&W cost about 3 to 4 cents per sheet, and on a toner saving setting, from 2 to 3 cents per sheet. But before you buy, check what the rated monthly capacity is, because manufactures love to claim that your over the rated capacity if something goes wrong and you're looking for warranty coverage, and get one that meets or exceeds you needed capacity. You may have to spend a little more, but it will save you headaches in the long run.

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(NT) Color ink- thanks for the explanation
Apr 29, 2011 10:48AM PDT
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Saving color inks
Apr 29, 2011 6:07PM PDT

What about printing in Gray shades?

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I'm sick of ink-sucking printers, buying advice needed
May 6, 2011 12:50AM PDT

They've been getting away with this robbery for ages! Where's the regulation for hapless consumers? In two months, you've already bought another printer with the amount you've spent on ink for heaven's sake!!!

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Color Ink Runs Out Too Fast
May 28, 2011 12:47AM PDT

blmonster has the basis of the problem. I had an HP7250 Photo Smart Series, All in One, last year. It gobbled up the color twice as fast as the Black using Black only printing for text.
Went online for Help from HP. After 15-18 minutes of useless talk arounds from the "tech" to me he terminated and I was not allowed to re-connect. Basicacally he got totally locked in with an explanation that even black printing uses color. I texted that "I knew that already. But at twice the amount of color as the black to print in black." His stock answer was "When you print in black the colors are also used." And never got away form his stock answer. He would not acknowlege that twice the colors rate may be abnormal. BTW the printer was 4 mos old from purchase date. Store had a 3 mo return policy. So I then caled HP on their hot line. Hot line was same BS answer. No resolution . Tried not to get over frustrated. Finally after 7-8 minutes of they could not helpp me and that black used color for black he hung up and subsequent calls were put on to their interminably long waitig periods till next available. Printer was not the greatest for phot use as expected. The reds always came out as orange or pink as best, no matter the settings. Gave away the printer, (New Value: $175/on sale), with warnings and bought an Epson Artisan 810 Touchscreen AIO. Better all around. Uses some color as expected. But not close to the abnormal levels of the HP. Happier w/Epson. BTW, the person I gave the HP to junked it after 4 mos. Same problems I had. Could not afford ink consumption that came with this series. Felt bad about a thrown away printer as I could have used the duplexer for another friend's HP. Upshot: Never... No More... HPs for me.

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Ink-sucking printers...
Mar 25, 2011 12:09PM PDT

Dear Allison - I have three multifunctions. An Epson 810, a Canon 870 and an HP7780. The 7780 uses huge tanks and the generic ink costs $8 and does 1500 pages. The other two, use tanks that cost $28 and do 500 and 600 pages ... The HP costs me $45 a month, the other two over $300.... and they do fewer pages. But, I would not recommend it. It took far too long to set up and has given me problems. Mind you, the Epson and Canon both failed and had to be replaced!!
When I got the HP, I looked at all the reviews and noted that, although it got excellent reviews by the professionals, many of the user reviews noted serious problems. However, looking at the dates indicated that those were becoming fewer, I thought. So, given how cheap it would be to run, I bought it. MISTAKE! It took 27 hours on the phone to HP to get it to work properly and it keeps losing its settings and I have to spend an hour or so to get it to run again. grrrr!
There are some good laser printers and, if you get the high capacity toner drums, they can be down around 2 cents a page. Lexmark has the Pinnacle 901 pro, and it is rated highly by users, and the ink cost is just over a penny a page, and it has a 5 year warranty. My advice? Consider the total cost of ownership (cost of inks, cost of machine, give it a lifespan of 3 years), look at the reviews, narrow down the ones you will consider and then look for ALL the user reviews you can on the machines you are interested in. Ask the salespeople in no-commission stores like Staples about returns. They told me that the Brother multifunction machines were great for people who wanted good results but did not do much printing, but, the printheads often failed if they were heavily used. Good luck!

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Solved my ink sucking printer problem
Mar 25, 2011 12:10PM PDT

It has already been stated several times, Laser. Add your cost for a year with ink jet and then weigh that against a good laser. WE had 4 printers, 2 ink jets and 2 monochrome lasers. I spent $600 on a Canon all in one color laser. Connected as a network printer through the router between two desktops and two laptops. Threw away the two ink jets, kept the two monochrome lasers. In 5 years we have bought one only one cartridge for one of the monochrome printers. Best printer choices I have ever made. Another thing to think about is this. Ever see an ink jet in an office where a lot of printing takes place? There is a reason.

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Not cheap, just inexpensive
Mar 25, 2011 12:19PM PDT

All of the answers above will be good answers, but each happens to be more costly than my suggestion.

Laser printers are good for monochrome printing (black and white only). The only problem is the printers cost a good bit more and the toner cartridges are very costly and don't last as long as two black cartridges on an ink jet printer.

If you can find one, the Brother MFC 8800 series printers will work fine with Win 7 (64-bit). The cost of the ink cartridges are low and are readily available both On-Line and store front. They last about as long as the other ink jets but are easier to replace and usually less than half of mote other cartridges.

The MFC is an All-In-One printer with fax, etc., BUT, it has a copier function and a scanner function with accurate OCR software bundled. It is remotely controllable from your Desktop and is Wireless (WIFI) so no cables. Because of the WIFI,you can have the printer located in a room seperate from where you decide to take your laptop and still be able to print.

Cost of the printer is also low. All things considered, the TCO (Total Cost of Operation) for the Brother MFC 8800 series made that the printer for me.

PS. You never know when the other features on the printer will be useful.

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Try a Laserjet
Mar 25, 2011 12:21PM PDT

I almost NEVER need to print in color either. (OK...Google Maps look prettier in color, but they'll still get you from point A to point B in greyscale.) I used an old HP Laserjet 1100 parallel-port printer for years, until I bought a couple of new Windows 7 laptops last year. I had to upgrade to an HP P1102w for compatability reasons, otherwise I'd still be using the old 1100. The new Laserjet cost about $100 on sale at Best Buy, and it's wireless. A laserjet toner cartridge lasts me about 2 years and costs about $40 on eBay. I'll never go back to an inkjet. Even when I was refilling cartridges (which probably voided the warranty anyway) the cost of ink was outrageous. If you occasionally need to print in color, consider using an inkjet ONLY for color printing, and use the laserjet for everything else.

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Narrating my experience 2002 to 2011 - may be of some help
Mar 25, 2011 12:31PM PDT

1. I used Epson Inkjet Printer couple of years back (2002 to 2004) soon to learn, as they say, what is cheap need not necessarily be inexpensive.

Like many others, my first purchase of printer was an inkjet printer only because it had cost less than a expensive sounding laser printer, which in those days in my view, were meant for offices only.

Soon my printing needs began to increase and I felt the pressure of running cost being so high that it began to surpass my original investment in the inkjet printer.

2. In 2004/2005 I bought HP Laser Jet 1010 (black & white) printer and till date I use it happily with progressively moving from Win XP Pro to Vista to Win 7 now.

3. A few years down the line I felt acute need for a scanner and all those salesmen convinced me to buy HP F380 all-in-one which is a scanner, printer, copier (with now seemingly a senseless argument that I could have a standby printer in case something went wrong with laser jet printer).

It was probably 2007 and now that I had paid for another printer in disguise (an all-in-one) I needed to use that printer as well to avoid my ink cartridges from drying out.

So, I started to use F380 for printing soon to find that black cartridge finished but color stayed.

So, I changed black ink cartridge but eventually color dried up, and when need arose it was useless. So, I had to buy another expensive color cartridge which, when I used, hogged color soon and became empty.

So, I learned that when I needed a scanner, I ought to have ignored all those sales advices, and bought only a scanner, not all-in-one.

4. Finally I decided never to use the all-in-one for any thing other than scanning.

As for copying I scan the document first and then print it using my laser-jet printer.

5. I used all original manufacturers cartridges for Epson ink-jet / HP all-in-one because I found refills were total waste of money.

I use original HP Laser Jet HP Print Cartridges (Toner) for printing high class press material and good quality toner refills for day to day use by changing HP Print Cartridges (Toner) as per need.

Hope this narrative helps.

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Refills vary in quality, lots of lemons if cheap
Apr 29, 2011 1:29PM PDT

The toner thing is a major misconception that is costing the consumer a lot of cash. ILG and Laser Masters, Inc, both US companies manufacture new compatible toner cartridges that have lower defect rates than the originals. Took a lot of research to find that out. Most Chinese and Korean companies make terrible toner and refill your empty places make poor products (CW, etc).

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ink sucking printers
Mar 25, 2011 12:58PM PDT

Allison I was in the same boat I paid $50 bucks for a lexmark x1100 and the cartridges cost $40 needless to say it got to where I could not afford ink . My brick and mortar computer guy showed me an Epson Artisan 710 with a continouis ink feeding system , I've had it a month and I have yet had to refill the resevoirs. Of course I had a back log of family photos I printed everything I could find . Now there are some down sides with the product I find it will paper jam in a heartbeat and thats it . oh and to tweak the photos appearances go into your pict mode . My guy tells me if Epson thinks you have used this system the warranty is void . you can google this printer and the ink system

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Printer Buying Advice
Mar 25, 2011 1:06PM PDT

After over 9 years of brand experience, I can whole heartedly point you to the Lexmark brand, specificly to their Wireless All In One product line. I replaced my first Lexmark all in one, the X6170 recently, with its Wireless counterpart, the X9575 Pro, and again, I have been nothing but satisfied! I replace ink only once (in extreme years twice) per year. The Ink Cartridges are Extemely Reasonable, Directly from Lexmark, and the machines are True Workhorses!

Try one.....you will swear by the brand!

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Say No to Lexmark
Apr 29, 2011 11:31AM PDT

I have had HP, Lexmark, Canon, and Epson. The Lexmark jams. Friends who have had Lexmark had problems with paper jams, too. I gave it away to charity. I currently use a Canon multifunction printer with 5 cartridges. I replace only the cartridges needing changing. I buy ink online in bulk at a lower cost. Using draft quality is good for most printing and saves ink.

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I'm a big fan of the Lexmark T630 and T640 series laser
Apr 29, 2011 1:42PM PDT

They have steel fusers that don't get ground to pieces by envelopes, are tough as nails, and the T630 High yield cartridge yield is 32,000 pages. High quality compatibles should cost about $250 though OEM is around $450+

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Two Options
Mar 25, 2011 1:08PM PDT

Printer makers mostly make their money on ink. In fact, they sell the printers for a little less to make money on the ink. That being said, I have found 3 options. I'd love to hear everyone else's response.

The first option is to buy a printer where you are paying full price for the printer and cheaper ink thereafter. Kodak is an example. The problem is some of these don't work as seamlessly with your computer as the other brands.

The second option is to buy a printer you like and use a third party's ink refill program. Their ink tends not to be as good, however, the probability is that you're not printing a document to keep forever unless you're printing pictures. Also, most printers have a counter built in to try to prevent you from reusing cartridges. On my HP, for example, I have to use 4 cartridges. The count expires after 3 cartridges.

The third option is to buy a printer with much larger capacity cartridges. They are MUCH cheaper per unit of ink. For example, the black HP 40XL cartridges claims up to 2100 pages. Even though that's overstated, they claim up to 700 pages for a standard black cartridge. So that's 3x as much ink for only about 50% more in price. Much more reasonable!

And of course, you can still use option 2 - refilling the cartridge - along with the third choice.

Hope this helps.

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laser, really?? NOT so fast.
Mar 25, 2011 1:16PM PDT

While I would certainly agree, most laser black and white printing is more economical than most ink jets that rule does not always ring true.

Have you ever noticed that nearly every black ink cartridge costs about the same despite the fact that some are significantly larger or smaller in size? The general rule of thumb, particularly with HP printers is the cheaper the printer the smaller the ink tank. In other words, they practically give away the printers with the smallest tanks because they make more money selling you ink than the profit margin on the printer itself. Photosmart printers are fairly notorious for small ink tanks.

If you are serious about saving print costs than an hp 8500 series is an excellent choice. It may have more features than you need being an all-in-one fax, copier, scanner.. etc., but here is the point. It uses ink cartridges with the optional XL designation that allow for nearly 2500 pages per black ink. At costco you can buy 2 blacks for about $65. Thats nearly 5000 pages for $65. COMPARE that to LASER and you will find you get far less yield from a toner cartridge that can cost upwards of 90-100 dollars.

REMEMBER... As for current HP models, don't be fooled by the look a like 6500 series. They use much smaller ink tanks and they cost the same per cartridge.

IF going for an HP look for a printer that is compatible with either the 88xl ink's (best) or the 940xl ink's (good). All the new 8500 series use the 940 series ink. while the older Officejets like the L7500 series use the 88xls.

These printers can save 50% over LASER.

SO to recap, Laser is a good choice for some and is cheaper than most inkjets but NOT ALL INKJETS are playing on the same field.

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I disagree
Apr 29, 2011 10:44AM PDT

I despise inkjet printers. I've had ink cartridges dry up on me, which is a non-existent problem with toner. Also, laser print jobs look sharper and more professional than inkjet. In regard to cost, I just buy generic toner from ebay.

When I was in college, inkjet printers were a nightmare; I never knew when my cartridge would give out. I'd have a paper due in the morning and if I ran out of ink in the middle of the night, I'd have to find time to go to a library or lab to print. With a laser printer, if I'm running low, I take it out and give it a good shake. I then have enough toner to finish my print job. If I need to print in color (photos), I just get them sent out to get done. Maybe one day I'll splurge and buy a color laser printer.

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despise inkjet?
May 4, 2011 11:42AM PDT

I don't blame you one bit for your passionate hate of inkjet given you past experience. When I was in college I hated HYUNDAI cars because franklly, they where crap. But HYUNDAI now has some very nice cars with a warranty besting nearly every other manufacturer. The point is, some inkjets arguably suck as you pointed out while a select few others have more than overcome your gripes. To be objective one needs to consider each printer on it's own merits rather than simply being stigmatized by some bad experience we have have some years ago and applying that bad experience to every printer we know nothing about more than our past bad experience. If you had a terrible laser printer, would you write off ALL laser printers for life? To each his own as they say....

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Laser
Apr 29, 2011 10:48AM PDT

My Brother Laser HL-2270DW cost me $69 and toner is $23 for >1200pgs.