
There is no good reason to buy an inkjet printer (2016) - smacktoward
https://jasonlefkowitz.net/2016/10/there-is-no-good-reason-to-ever-buy-an-inkjet-printer/
======
z92
Color ink tank printers are what everyone uses here.

[https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/best-ink-tank-printers-
of-20...](https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/best-ink-tank-printers-of-2018/)

These are inkjet printers but no cartridge. Rather you buy ink in bottles and
fill the tanks up. 4 bottles cost $4 for a fill up. And I finish more than
three 500 packs of papers before ink ends.

Plus most of these printers have scanners on top. So you can use it also as a
color photocopier.

Have been using these for over 5 years.

~~~
steve19
Somehow I never knew about these. Seems too good to be true. What's the catch?

If there is no catch I might pick one up next week!

~~~
derekp7
The catch is that you don't get the printer for $50 bucks. You pay the actual
price for the printer, since it isn't subsidized by ink sales.

~~~
adem
You saying this made me realize that buying an inkjet printer is akin to
buying a phone with a contract - crazy.

~~~
arcticbull
Razors and razor blades

~~~
chrisseaton
I've never understood this example.

A razor without the blade is just a handle. All the engineering is in the
blades. Of course the handle is cheap and the blades are expensive.

~~~
arcticbull
In this specific case it’s about margins. They sell the razors (and starter
packs) at cost then make all the money selling high margin blades. Quantity of
engineering isn’t relevant, they’ve got their production lines well and truly
set up, now they just hit “run” and "overcharge" you. That’s why dollar shave
club exists. Even Harry’s bought an existing maker of blades in Germany.

This is evidenced by the fact that safety razors sell in 100-packs for $15 on
Amazon ($0.15 each) while a 15-pack of Mach 3 cartridges (the simplest/oldest
variety AFAIK) sells on Amazon for $22 ($1.45 each). Unless you're suggesting
that the "engineering" it took for them to sell you 1.5 safety razors in a
piece of plastic is worth 10X the price of the blades alone, I'd posit that's
where the margin is.

------
xg15
I agree, laser printers these days are an interesting option to consider (one
advantage he didn't mention is the speed of printing, which makes life
significantly easier when you often have to print large stacks of documents)

However, what I don't like is his treatment of colour printers. He somehow
concludes that the only use-case for consumers to print in colour would be
photos and then goes on that printing photos at home produces crappy results,
so you shouldn't do it anyway. Therefore, consumers do not need to print in
colour. QED.

I'm always wary of "tell me one reason you're gonna use it for" type
arguments, where the asker then goes on to treat the answer as an exhaustive
list of use-cases. Only because I cannot think of a use-case in that very
moment does not mean a use-case doesn't exist.

For colours, additional use-cases would be colour-coded diagrams or documents
that for various reasons, you just want to look pretty.

~~~
julianlam
In the original article author's defense, I think his argument does scale out
properly to large portion of the population, who have no need to print
anything more than documents. On the off chance (once a year?) something needs
to be printed in high quality paper with colour, I'd jog down to the local
Kinkos/Staples instead.

If you print colour-coded diagrams regularly, then the cost-benefit analysis
falls apart, but I would argue that you might be a smaller part of the general
population than you expect.

I maintain a single Brother household MFC, had it for nearly a decade, changed
the toner twice, drum never. We print notes, documents, and legal contracts
for work, etc... even the occasional diagram that gets put in the print queue
doesn't _need_ to be in colour. It'd certainly be nice, but it's not a
dealbreaker either.

~~~
5580
I print color documents all of the time on my home (Dell C1710nw) laser
printer. The necessity of color is heavily dependent upon which type of
documents are being printed. Life isn't monochromatic for me.

Now at work there are only rare occasions that I print anything at all,
preferring electronic copies of everything. When I do print, most everything
is monochrome.

------
fock
Actually the infamous HP printers (Officejet 86x and up) had/have pretty good
per page costs (color <10€cts/page, b/w <5€cts) even with the "expensive"
original cartridges AND they work superbly with GNU/Linux. Brother and Epson
also have some models with an attractive per page cost, with the former even
not hindering the use of 3rd party-cartridges/refilling.

And sincerely, once you want (other question is if you need it) a color
printer, most of the points of this guy are just plainly wrong if not FUD:

\- color prints with lasers are horribly expensive if you buy a <1000€
machine. Also refill-cartridges are the same thing as with inkjets.

\- if you buy a used +1000€-machine be prepared to replace the drum (~300€)
and set aside a hefty pile of cash for toner cartridges – while they may last
10k-15k pages, 300€ per color cartridge is not so much fun...

even for basic b/w he just talks a lot of BS

\- as mentioned above, you easily find a 200€-class inkjet with
HP/Epson/Brother, where you pay 30-40€ for a cartridge worth ~2000 pages of
b/w. You'll have a hard time finding a (new) b/w laser with reccurring costs
as low as this at the price point (and you're limited to b/w)

\- at least the HP ink doesn't care for getting wet (just soaked a paper once,
when a friend explained to me, why he still pays around 300€ for a set of
toner worth 1000 pages...)

\- if you really print a lot, you most certainly want things in color. Or at
least I did during school (which is probably the only place to privately print
anymore), sorry Jason. And for absolutely lowest operating cost (w/o power)
buy a parallel adapter card and hook up your dad's old needle printer (if you
don't care for power it also will do remotely untamperable logging for you!)

~~~
robk
Laserjet printers like the 4700 and 5500 series are very cost effective to buy
now. Maybe $250 on eBay and if you hunt toners go for $80 each on eBay and
you'll get thousands of pages. Drum needs replacing very rarely - if you buy
one with 75%+ left doubt it will ever be used in a residential or small office
setting ime.

~~~
fock
well, I specifically mentioned the possibility to buy used ones. And while you
can certainly buy 10-20 y.o. machines I guess in most cases you are probably
better off with a nwe 200$ "business-class" inkjet, which sips power, includes
a copy machine and won't need a dedicated print-server...

------
rcarmo
I don’t think the OP has children. Mine are the primary users of our printer,
and never print in black and white, since “regular” essays are mailed in. They
print out photos, colored shapes, game maps, etc.

I probably print out something twice a year, and quite often only so I can
move it to the scanner tray and fax it in to some government office (because
nothing else in the house but our printer has a modem, and Portuguese post
office/customs/etc. still operate in the Middle Ages).

And even then the main reason I do that is that I prefer to use the printer
menus than install HP’s utterly hideous Mac software.

~~~
afterburner
There are $100 colour laser printers.

~~~
toyg
Are there?

~~~
fock
yeah. A pack of toner costs $300 then, but hey "the print won't wash away"
(modern ink won't either) and you have a little bit of microdust for your
lungs...

------
izacus
It's also worth nothing that these days there are many LED printers, which use
the same kind of tech as laser printers, but substitute expensive lasers with
LEDs. They typically have a bit lower DPI, but are also significantly cheaper
while still keeping cost-per-page down.

My OKI color LED printer cost about 150$ and has network printing support,
duplex unit and contains pretty large toners.

~~~
chungleong
I have one as well. It's great but the downside is the enormous size. Thing
weights a ton as well. I almost broke my back carrying it up the stairs.

~~~
izacus
Oh yeah, they are humongous and not really fit for small apartments.

On the upside, the huge size means they're easy to service - pretty removing
the fixer unit or transfer belt is very easy and needs no screws.

~~~
chungleong
Actually, I had a hell of time clearing a paper jam just the other day. Had to
completely rip apart the duplexer. First malfunction in years. Definitely one
of my better tech investment. Colors are better than I expected. Output is so
much more professional looking compared to inkjet.

------
bayareanative
Laser printers economics:

The more expensive the printer, the amortized cheaper the cost per page and
the more repairable it is. I worked at nuclear engineering firm and a Pac10
university in IT on the budgetary side. The cheap laser printers were almost
always unrepairable. I remember this one laser printer, an HP 5si, that had a
page count over 1 million pages.

At home, I had an HP LaserJet 4 from mid 90's that worked for around 25 years.
I think I changed the toner cartridge once from Laser Monks.

People who buy inkjet printers keep throwing them away because they dry up or
their cheap displays stop working, and end up buying another cheap throw-away
printer and set of cartridges. The razor-blade economy is in the cartridges
and almost giving away the printers. And they never last, and people keep
throwing the old ones and buying new ones.

ProTip: home gamers should buy a repo big name corporate laser printer,
preferably black&white or maybe the medium/higher-end color mopiers. Never the
entry model because they're cheaply made.

~~~
tomcam
What do gamers do with printers?

~~~
jstanley
"Home gamer" is slang for anyone operating on their own at home (even if just
in evenings or weekends), as opposed to work done at a company.

------
mehrdada
Sure there is: often the cheapest scanner you can buy is a multifunction
inkjet printer.

~~~
rcarmo
This. I can live without a printer for a long time, but I need to scan stuff
on a monthly basis.

~~~
otherme123
There're (relatively cheap) lasers with scanners. I have a Brother L3510CDW
color laser, scanner and copier, for about $300. Then you have things like the
L1610, laser B/W and scaner, for $100.

One thing the article does't mention is that the ink cartridges get clogged
and dry if the printer was left idle for some time. I had lost a significant
amount of money to this before changing to lasers and never looking back.

Also Epson, Canon and HP were so bad actors in the 90's and 00's that I would
never buy a printer from them again. Fool me once...

------
londons_explore
Inkjet are far better for photographs. Laser-printed photographs lack any kind
of vibrancy. Put photo paper through a laser printer and chances are it'll
melt into the rollers.

~~~
hydrox24
The article did not address this use case enough, but it was addressed in
part.

> Reproducing colors in photographs accurately demands a lot more than just
> some barrels of color ink; it demands a high-resolution printer and special,
> treated paper that can hold colors better than plain old printer paper can.
> You can buy that stuff too, of course, but doing so expensive and
> complicated, which makes it hard to recommend when you could alternately
> just send your photos to a photo printing service and get much better
> results than you’d get at home for a fraction of the price.

~~~
muro
I don't think you get both higher quality _and_ lower price. I like large
prints (A2) of my photos. I print them at home, after disappointing results
from a service. I bought a Canon imageprograf 1000 - the cartridges are very
big and the print costs are somewhat reasonable. When using expensive paper,
the quality is impressive. It's not a cheap hobby, whenever I change
cartridges, it's about 500, which hurts. Luckily they last a while. At larger
sizes, I still send them to a printing service, those printers would be too
expensive and used very rarely.

------
leoedin
I've had a brother laser printer for more than 10 years. It's absolutely
amazing for what it does - sit in the corner untouched for a few months and
then prints tickets or boarding passes reliably. If you're a casual home user
I'd definitely recommend getting one.

------
londons_explore
I disagree.

Many home users print less than a page a week on average. Just the occasional
concert ticket or homemade sign/postcard.

If you print a page a week, that means a $25 cheapest Inkjet, plus $20 of fake
inks will let you have a working printer for 4 years for $45. Always turn the
printer off to prevent ink drying up.

No laser solution can give me the ability to print for $11/year.

~~~
tinus_hn
Printing a ticket on an inkjet is fun when it starts to rain.

~~~
derekp7
There's only been a couple times recently that I've bought an online ticket
for something, but in each case I'd have the gate agent at the venue just scan
the QR code on my phone. Are online tickets that must be printed a common
thing, and I just haven't run across it yet?

~~~
londons_explore
Bus and train tickets often seem to require the driver tear part of the ticket
off and keep it.

I guess they're too cheap or to encumbered by beauracracy to issue the drivers
with a smartphone app.

------
Lio
I’d like a printer with FOSS firmware/drivers that will reliably work over
wifi.

I’d like a printer that I can used just once or twice a year without the ink
drying up, when I really have to print something.

I'd also like one that doesn’t leak any toxic gasses. I’ve always been put off
home lasers because of worrying about that. Is that a real problem or am I
misinformed?

~~~
zepearl
Concerning the first 2 points I've always been very happy with the Kyocera
FS-C5150DN that I bought maaany years ago.

It's best if you check beforehand on their download page the availability of
drivers for your OS and device (e.g. PPD for Linux & CUPS for mine is listed
here:
[https://www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.ch/de/index/service_sup...](https://www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.ch/de/index/service_support/download_center.false._.FSC5150DN._.DE.html)
). Mine is connected over LAN.

I print very rarely and so far it always worked fine (I'm still using the
provided cartriges - I guess that so far I printed with them ~400 pages,
usually duplex).

I didn't worry much about the gases because I use the printer too rarely.

------
cseelus
Inkjets still have a few advantages or are at least on par with Laser
printers:

\- Borderless printing (Photos, your invoices with a footer that has a blue
background, …)

\- Much cheaper to restock with 3rd party cartridges or even cheaper when you
have one with refillable tanks

\- You can print on photo paper and get out really nice looking photos.
Generally the quality of images with a good Inkjet is better than laser imho

\- You can print on a very broad array of different kinds of papers, formats
and materials, many printers can even print on blu-ray discs and stuff like
that

\- Many modern Inkets use Ink that is water resistant, so you can use a marker
pen on your printouts for example

\- Time to first page is usually shorter (no warmup needed)

\- No risk of Ozone hazards
([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards))

\- Usually smaller form-factor

------
dorkwood
Back when I was studying, I bought a $50 black-and-white laser printer for
printing out my school work. It was fantastic to use, but when the toner
cartridge ran out, the cheapest replacement I could find was $150.

It turned out to be more economical to buy a new printer rather than replace
the cartridge.

~~~
amelius
Did you have a large room with good ventilation? Because that's still a
problem with laser printers, the air pollution they produce.

~~~
ewoodrich
I haven't heard about this, could you elaborate?

~~~
magicalhippo
Laser printers can produce ozone[1] which, while nice high up in the
atmosphere, is not very nice to breathe. That said, it seems for casual
printing this shouldn't be an issue, especially with newer models[2].

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards)

[2]:
[https://www.dguv.de/medien/ifa/en/pub/ada/pdf_en/aifa0276e.p...](https://www.dguv.de/medien/ifa/en/pub/ada/pdf_en/aifa0276e.pdf)

------
pixelcort
In Tokyo most convenience stores are within a few minute walk, and have
printers and scanners. You can use a smartphone app to transfer PDFs to them.

If you print a lot, it’s probably cheaper to buy a printer, but I only print a
couple times per year so I find it more convenient to use this.

~~~
SapporoChris
I am in Sapporo, the cost of a black and white print is 10 yen, a color print
is 50 yen. My print needs are very low. I recently printed 36 color prints,
and 30 bw prints. (Less than $20 USD) It's been more than a year since my last
need to print anything. Store was 3 minute walk from apartment.

I know in USA there are many print shops with comparable prices, but the time
required to use the services is a larger factor.

I'm glad for the convenience, and for my low print needs. Space and cost of a
printer would be annoying.

I speculate there are large numbers of people that don't fully utilize their
printers and could be served by a print service better.

------
jsmith99
HP's pagewide inkjets have print heads wide enough to print the entire page in
one pass and compare pretty well to medium end small business laser printers
on cost and speed.

They're still not a good option for light home users though.

------
drfuchs
Nobody has yet mentioned HP “InstantInk” plans, where they charge for ink by
the page, and send cartridges as they anticipate you’ll need them (so big
brother is indeed watching your usage via the internet; the fun advantage of
being connected is that you can send print jobs home while you’re on the
road).

Works on many of their newer models; we have the OfficeJet Pro 8740. Cheapest
plan is $3/month for up to 50 pages; higher volume plans get down to 3 cents
per page (side).

------
Arkanosis
I've not had a personal printer for something like ~15 years now… I've spent
around 200€ _once_ on a decent quality (except black and white) ebook reader
and spend an additional ~10€ a year _at most_ for high quality prints (photos
and labels).

So I'd argue that for some people, there's no good reason to buy a personal
printer at all: not for price, not for quality and not even for convenience
(buying compatible cartridges is not something I remember as being easy).

------
kalleboo
I print rarely enough (quarterly? twice a year?) that I just go to 7-11 and
use their multicopier when I need to print. It has a color laser and photo
printer, as well as being stocked with postcards so you can print those for
Xmas.

The only downside is you just know all your files are being cached
indefinitely on the internal harddisk and will end up god knows where when
it's been decommissioned.

------
clouddrover
Canon sells "continuous ink" printers which you refill with bottles of ink as
opposed to cartridges:

[https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/l...](https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/list/printers/megatank-
inkjet-printers/)

~~~
seba_dos1
...which is what people that use a lot of ink have been often doing anyway
with other models: buying the ink in bottles, injecting it into old cartridges
and resetting the gauge chip.

------
purerandomness
I recommend the Brother HL2030 (LED, b/w) (or the slightly faster, but more
rare HL-2035). Costs you ~20€ off of eBay classifieds, parts are cheap, works
like a charm. Cartridges cost the same as the printer. One toner cartridge
lasts forever.

Hook it to a 5€ network print server off of ebay, and you get the cheapset
possible office printing solution for your startup.

~~~
jboles
I have a HL5250DN that I picked up for $70 at least 5 years ago. It’s been
going strong since then with occasional home printing duties and despite it
not supporting modern wireless printing, Brother’s own “iPrint&Scan” software
(with the printer hooked up via wired Ethernet) was a welcome discovery.

Would never have thought I could print directly from an iPad/iPhone to a ~12
year old printer like that, but it works really well. I was quite impressed it
was possible and will never buy an HP/Epson inkjet again.

------
magicalhippo
If you require an A3-capable multi-functional color printer that doesn't cost
more than a decent car and fits on a desk, it seems you're stuck with quite
cheap inkjet varieties.

At least here I can only find Epson and Brother varieties which have a
predictable quality given their price point. And the ink is quite expensive.

------
rmu09
Inkjets don't produce dust or ozone and usually don't need any startup time.

~~~
Tomte
Sure they do. Unless you print every day, they go through a printing head
cleaning routine which lasts several seconds and eats your ink like crazy.

If you only print occasionally, most of the ink does not end up on paper, but
in some collecting tank.

------
nickgrosvenor
I personally print color pages all the time.

------
julienfr112
What about the size of the printer. We live in a small apartement, and I
really enjoy the small size of my officejet 100 [https://support.hp.com/fr-
fr/drivers/selfservice/HP-Officeje...](https://support.hp.com/fr-
fr/drivers/selfservice/HP-Officejet-100-Mobile-Printer-series---
L411/4231339/model/4231407) . And as i mainly print at work, and use it only
when I've got no other choice, I find that it really fit my needs.

------
timonoko
Same is happening with laser printers as inkjet printers. I think I have last
laser printer ever, where you can add color powder from an Ebay bottle.
Samsung CLP-315 was manufactured in 2007.

~~~
detaro
And you can buy inkjets that officially refill from a bottle again, e.g. from
HP: [https://www8.hp.com/ph/en/printers/HP-Ink-
Tank_System.html](https://www8.hp.com/ph/en/printers/HP-Ink-Tank_System.html)

------
Fnoord
1) Laser printers are notorious for particulates. You don't want such a
printer on the same area as your office. In The Netherlands this is why
printers are normally near the coffee machine in offices. In a small home,
where would you put it? I find it convenient to have my inkjet near my
computer.

2) You don't have to buy official cartridges. Just buy refill (which I'm doing
with my Brother printer). You need to do some research on which printer gives
a good price on the refill cartridges.

------
blisterpeanuts
In my experience, a good compromise is to buy both a cheap laser and a cheap
inkjet. An $80 Brother laser,for example, and a $50-60 refurbished HP.

90% of my family's printouts are black and white. The HP Envy is ideal for the
occasional color job. Laser toner $12 on Ebay, lasts about 8 months. Color
cartridges for the inkjet last a year.

Each technology has its advantages and weaknesses. I've considered a color
laser, but the prices and features are still not competitive.

------
hevi_jos
Laser printers have cancerous particles on it that fly into the air. A little
detail when you have it in your house.

I thought about using the same enclosure with carbon filters that I use with
my 3D printers but it is a lot of work.

Carbon filters are made from wood, very different from the degenerated
aromatic rings of toner.

Also color printing with laser is extremely expensive, way more than color ink
tanks with drainage so your printers last a long time.

------
mikece
I use an inkjet for printing shipping labels. It’s not common I need to print
a full sheet and when printed on a laser printer the heat applied to the
unprinted labels warps the sheet rendering them nearly useless. And Epson
inkjets make really good looking black-print documents as well... I haven’t
had the laser hooked up in a couple years and I’m not missing it.

~~~
julianlam
Ironically in this case, a dot matrix printer would be more cost efficient and
faster (as shipping labels are a couple lines of text, which would only
require about 10 or so passes of the print head).

------
thinkingemote
The only time I use a printer is for boarding passes and only for budget
airlines that don't allow free printing at the airport. I have a printer but
the ink dries up as I never use it. Replacing the ink would not be economical.
I go to the library and print there for a few cents.

~~~
martyvis
Why do you need to print boarding passes? All of the domestic airlines in
Australia either have mobile apps or SMS you a link that displays a QR code
that can be scanned at the terminal gates.

------
Lendal
I came to the same conclusion after throwing away three bricked inkjet
printers in a row. All different brands. None of them lasted more than 400
printed pages. They're shit. Laser from now on.

------
purplezooey
Just get a line printer. Boarding passes work great, you can convert
everything to ascii art.

------
brudgers
One good reason, gamut.

------
bleh123
Pardon the rage, but this blog is simply a rant masquerading as technical
opinion.

Laser printers do NOT have better quality to a comparable inkjet printer. This
is what happens when individuals with expertise in a specialized area (such as
programming), think that gives them some right to pass off opinion as fact in
other fields, such as printing economics or procurement.

For those curious about the details, the industry has been more or less
disrupted with the new generation of tank printers. Epson and HP even have
begun offering printers with massive ink tanks that bring down the cost of
prints to much lower than a US cent. You can do even better than that with
bulk buys or sourcing the ink from discount stores, better sources than open
retail.

Also, you “absolutely don’t” need to print every page in color, but it makes
it a whole lot better if you do. Once you’re used to the difference in
quality, there’s very little else that will feel as good. This is personal
preference of course and if your requirements at present are only black and
white documents, those will look a lot better with the higher dpi prints too.

There’s another thing to be said about titles such as “no good reason to ever
do x” ; Just because one person in a narrow minded existence sees no reason
to, that doesn’t mean there’s never a good reason to. This toxic BS is what
makes the tech industry so hard to have constructive conversations in.

~~~
nmstoker
I think you're overblowing things here. It's not "toxic BS", it's just a piece
he put out on his blog with his opinion.

Your mention of tank printers is helpful but given his article is from 2016
the trend may not have been so obvious back then as it is now (to you; I don't
bother following the printer market).

------
PunksATawnyFill
"That’s what’s called a 'win-win.'”

Actually, at the risk of being pedantic: It's a win/win.

~~~
kgwgk
[https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/win-
win](https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/win-win)

