Get a Samsung M2830DW Wi-Fi laser printer for $49.99
This compact laser supports not only wireless printing, but also automatic duplexing for double-sided goodness. Plus: a $60 security freebie!
Print is so not dead. Much as I try to steer boarding passes to my phone and leave business documents in my word processor, sometimes you just need a hard copy. And I suspect you always will.
What you don't need, however, is to spend big bucks on a printer. Not today, anyway: for a limited time, and while supplies last, Staples has the Samsung M2830DW Wi-Fi laser printer for $49.99 shipped (plus tax).
That would be a pretty solid deal for a basic, entry-level laser, but the M2830DW is neither. Rather it supports Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct and Google Cloud Print -- and even has near-field communications NFC for easy pairing with mobile devices (namely select Android phones and tablets). For non-NFC mobile devices, Samsung offers apps for easy printing over Wi-Fi.
No Wi-Fi? No problem: The printer has both USB 2.0 and Ethernet ports for wired connectivity.
What's more, the M2830DW features automatic duplexing, which I find amazing for a printer of this size. That means you can print double-sided pages, an option that can help you reduce paper costs. True, paper is pretty cheap, but there's an obvious environmental benefit as well.
Another feature I quite like: Despite having a very small footprint (14.5 by 13.2 by 8 inches), the Xpress squeezes in a 250-sheet input tray -- and it has room up top to hold 150 printed sheets. Plus, it's fast, cranking out nearly 30 pages per minute (according to Samsung).
Of course, everything's wonderful according to Samsung. How does the printer fare in real life? It's certainly popular among Staples buyers, with an average 4.4-star rating from nearly 200 users. CNET hasn't reviewed it, but over at PC Mag, its slightly older, slightly lesser, now-discontinued sibling (the M2825DW) earned an Editors' Choice pick.
Now for the big question: consumables. With a little searching I found a toner refill kit for around $23 and a replacement toner cartridge for $32.45 -- pretty reasonable on both counts. (I don't want a laser printer that requires $70 cartridges every time.)
Bottom line: Killer deal.
Bonus deal: I have a fairly blase attitude toward PC security, but there's one area where I don't mess around: password management. You need a robust password for every site that requires one, and it must be different from one site to another. Today only, SharewareOnSale has Steganos Privacy Suite 15 (Win) for free. Regular price: $59.95. Although the current version is 16, this only slightly older one offers a similar set of tools: local and portable data encryption, comprehensive password management, a browser trace-eliminator and so on. The deal gives you a single, lifetime license.