Give Advice On Computer Printers

[mso489]

I have had years of faithful service from the very basic black and white HP Laserjet 1012, which, for my purposes, has served with incredible durability and performance through a number of cartridges. It gets a remarkable number of copies out of a cartridge and has been a work horse of dependability.

Lately my old 2009 Mac with its Snow Leopard operating system has been fading again, after a rehab and reboot by an tech group here in town about five years ago. The computer problems will have to be addressed with them again or a new PC. So the printer may not be the problem. The computer won't open many websites and only does a few basic functions that I used regularly like email and Forums. So I will address the computer as my first problem.

But if the HP 1012 has lost it mojo, I wonder what the current basic laser printer is these days. I believe HP has stopped producing them, and stopped servicing them by help line or otherwise. So what fills the need for a basic laser cartridge printer these days? I know you can still find these, maybe new, or rehabbed, but I hesitate to start over with a printer that is no longer produced.

I sure don't want one of those inkjet printers. Too much hassle, ink refills, and bother and expense.

I've seen some good looking Canon printers, and I know there are others, but I don't know much about them. For my particular use, a printer is fundamental to my quasi analog way of using digital technology, so it would be helpful to know what a reliable and dependable replacement would be, if needed. Any ideas appreciated.

 

[FurCoat]

I've had my HP Photosmart C4650 printer for over a decade that I got from my dad when he got a Mac and it wouldn't play nice with the printer. Dang thing is a tank. I'd stick to HP.

 

[kcghost]

You can google laserjet printers and pick the one that most suits you.

 

[didimauw]

I don't have much advice here, however in my area, printers go on crazy sale for black friday. Usually get a printer with two cartridges (black and color) for less than the ink itself! Usually 20ish dollars for the printer.

 

[AroEnglish]

If you don’t care about cost of ink then any printer is fine but I have skipped HP these days due to their ridiculous prices and software that makes you use just their cartridges, disables features like scanning when you’re out of ink, and will print with color mixed in even if you’re just printing black text.

If you’re just printing in black and white I’d recommend getting a laser printer.

If you want color I went with a Brother from Costco that uses an ink tank. Much more affordable ink and easy to refill the tanks (as opposed to using cartridges).

 

[proteus]

Currently own a Brother HL-L2325DW for two years and I like it a lot. Take a look see if it would work for you.

 

[Auxsender]

FedEx Kinkos for all my printing needs. Consumer printers are a racket.

 

[lraisch]

I have had years of faithful service from the very basic black and white HP Laserjet 1012, which, for my purposes, has served with incredible durability and performance through a number of cartridges. It gets a remarkable number of copies out of a cartridge and has been a work horse of dependability.

Lately my old 2009 Mac with its Snow Leopard operating system has been fading again, after a rehab and reboot by an tech group here in town about five years ago. The computer problems will have to be addressed with them again or a new PC. So the printer may not be the problem. The computer won't open many websites and only does a few basic functions that I used regularly like email and Forums. So I will address the computer as my first problem.

But if the HP 1012 has lost it mojo, I wonder what the current basic laser printer is these days. I believe HP has stopped producing them, and stopped servicing them by help line or otherwise. So what fills the need for a basic laser cartridge printer these days? I know you can still find these, maybe new, or rehabbed, but I hesitate to start over with a printer that is no longer produced.

I sure don't want one of those inkjet printers. Too much hassle, ink refills, and bother and expense.

I've seen some good looking Canon printers, and I know there are others, but I don't know much about them. For my particular use, a printer is fundamental to my quasi analog way of using digital technology, so it would be helpful to know what a reliable and dependable replacement would be, if needed. Any ideas appreciated.

I have had good luck with Canon and Ricoh printers. Amazon has a Canon laser printer for $89. Of course, a replacement cartridge costs more than the machine itself.

 

[captpat]

I'm a Mac user myself and I usually upgrade my computer when Apple stops offering software updates for it, last time I got 7+ years out of it. So your printer issues may be due to the ancient computer, or if the printer is the same vintage as the computer it might be the printer as well, or perhaps some combination.

In the consumer printer market, most printers are designed to be consumable, they aren't like the Maytags of years gone by. Often it's less expensive to purchase a new printer than it is to buy replacement printer cartridges and other renewables if they are even available. With that in mind set a budget and check out Consumer Reports, CNET, or Mac Rumors to see what will work for you. Sometimes prices can vary among resellers (NewEgg, Amazon, BH Photo, Best Buy, and others). FWIW I replaced a HP Color Laser with a Brother Color Laser from BH Photo, and so far have been happy with it. I considered HP, Fujitsu, Brother, Xerox, Canon, and Epson.

 

[karam]

I see more and more the total lack of need for a printer in the house, I haven't had one for at least 15 years. I haven't had the need to print anything, anything at all. The only times I was asked to print something was for an insurance policy which required a wet signature, I said I have no printer and the company sent me a paper copy with a prepaid return. I feel home printers will become more and more obsolete going forward.
A scanner on the other hand is still valuable (to me), yet nowadays' phones take great pictures of anything I may need to send to someone, and convert to PDF.

In the consumer printer market, most printers are designed to be consumable

Absolutely! Printers' pricing model is identical to that of razors: cheap handle (printer), expensive blades (ink). I remember seeing a documentary talking about planned obsolescence in today's world (from furniture to cars to electronics and appliances) using a case study of some guy, somewhere in the world, getting pissed at being unable to get a printer repaired at a reasonable cost. He apparently went down a rabbit hole and found that there was a particular chip in his printer which apparently recorded the total number of pages (say X) printed, and made the printer claim it's faulty when Z = X+Y (Y being a randomly generated number of hundreds of pages) was at a threshold. Could be conspiracy theory to an extent, but the documentary went into some detail showing forums around the world offering solutions about how to disable this chip and have the printer work for far longer than what was typical.

 

[pappymac]

I agree with @captpat about buying a new Mac when they stop releasing software updates for it. The fact that you still have a 2009 computer that is working for you is a testament on the quality of the computer.

Anyway, I would say the problem is not the printer but the fact that the latest printer software is not compatible with the older operating system that you are running. As new operating systems come out, third party companies write software that is only backward compatible for a set number of years. This may have happened to you.

 

[PipesRock]

Get yourself a Brother $160ish b&w laser printer without that monthly support ink crap HP pushes. My last iteration about 130 dollars is on 5+years and wife is a teacher, so used all the time. It's a workhorse. Use only new Brother toner too. I know that's expensive but you get a longer lasting printer, more and cleaner prints.

 

[Coreios]

Those cheap Cannon printer have always been a pain in the ass. When they run outta ink the cartridges cost more than the printer. The act up a lot too, not wanting to print. I bought an EcoTank. Was expensive but reliable, the ink is cheap, and seems to take forever to run out. Connects easy with an app. And has a menu to fix itself if anything is out of alignment or heads are dirty.

 

[mso489]

Thank you very much for the information and advice. I'm open to any more ideas on the subject. I may have to work on the PC first to make sure it is functioning or replaced. Then I'll see if I can match it up with the old HP or a replacement.

The PC is about 15 years old, and getting it running well may not last long. I think the operating system is out of step with current web sites, probably some of the security software, and maybe also just worn with use.

I used to go to the Missouri Meerschaum site from time to time, for one of many examples. Now I get a window that says, "This is not a private site." It should probably say, "I'm broken. Fix me."

 

[renfield]

No specific recommendations but things to look into for a prospective printer;

Check into the cost of replacing toner/ink. It can be eye watering.

Make sure the printer doesn’t require some kind of online account to even work. Connected by a cable? Doesn’t matter. WTH?

Make sure the printer wasn’t designed to allow only a certain number of pages to be printed from a cartridge before it’s firmware refuses to print, regardless of the amount of ink/toner still left. Still half full? So what. Go buy a new one.

Make sure that the printer doesn’t require proprietary cartridges. 3rd party equivalents are often a fraction of the price of OEM.

For many years HP was the way to go. Not so much any more. I replaced a printer a couple of years ago and the search was maddening.