
In the Universe of Printers, One Worth Talking About - gz5
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/in-the-universe-of-printers-one-worth-talking-about/
======
revelation
The idea that laser printers are a different world from the inkjet ripoffs is
a myth from a time where they cost $1k+ and were thus targeted to professional
users exclusively.

The toner in this $150 printer will come less than half full and a replacement
is $78. The ratio alone tells you whats going on here.

~~~
jdietrich
Generic toner cartridges are cheap and work well. Printer manufacturers don't
yet seem to be using the DRM tricks that they've used to prevent the refilling
of inkjet cartridges.

Inkjets regularly waste ink to unblock the nozzles, so if you print only
occasionally you may only get a handful of pages from an ink cartridge.

Cheap laser printers are a far better deal than inkjets.

~~~
jonah
You can also buy toner by the bottle and refill your cartridge a few times
before needing to replace it.

------
pdog
The Wirecutter[1] is a site that lists the best technology to buy. Like this
article, it answers the question, "What is the best ____?". I wonder how the
Hewlett-Packard Pro P1606dn competes with the Brother HL-2270DW[2].

[1]: [http://thewirecutter.com/](http://thewirecutter.com/)

[2]: [http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/brother-hl-2270dw-best-
lase...](http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/brother-hl-2270dw-best-laser-
printer/)

~~~
mmanfrin
The HL-2270 was the first printer I had ever felt I needed to evangelize for.
It was so good, so cheap, and had just the right features. Printed quick,
toner lasted forever, toner was surprisingly cheap ($40 for 4k pages), auto
duplex, wireless. Set up and forget about it until you need it.

~~~
fsckin
I've bought the (cheaper? uglier?) cousin of the 2270, the HL-2170W. It's a
_fantastic_ printer with a 'good enough' web UI for configuration. Works for
months without grief.

Have an upvote for brother love.

Edit: Curiosity got the best of me. The 2270 is the new version of the 2170.
Adding automatic duplex, dual simultaneous networking, faster printing, and...
that's about it. Not quite worth the upgrade, but when mine dies it's good to
know there will be a replacement available.

------
ShabbyDoo
A few years ago, I bought a LaserJet 4200 used via EBay for < $200. Huge,
probably sucks down a bit too much power in standby mode, and sort-of noisy.
However, IT JUST WORKS. Because this series still is in offices all over (and
a source of toner revenue for HP?), driver updates still seem frequent.

For those considering the printer mentioned in the article but need wireless
connectivity, consider a cheapie dd-wrt router configured as a client. I use
this set-up for my kids' computer in our kitchen, and it's been no problem.

------
asperous
I have a HP printer in the same series as this one and I can verify that it is
rock solid in build-quality, reliability, and in producing fast clean black
prints.

If you don't print often, or rarely print in color I would strongly recommend
a laser printer (and just go to a print shop for the color prints). They are
just so much more reliable. [http://ask.metafilter.com/78830/Inkjet-or-laser-
printer-for-...](http://ask.metafilter.com/78830/Inkjet-or-laser-printer-for-
reliability-with-really-minimal-use)

~~~
reeses
I love FedEx/Kinko's printer drivers for color work. Laminate, bind, etc., and
have it delivered or pick it up a few blocks away. It's a good half step
between "low-fi" and "trade show presentation".

------
leakybucket
So I'm not sure why this is HN material, but as I have recently co-founded a
company (www.sessionbox.com), and just purchased a new printer because of it,
I'll pipe up.

When you start a company, there's a ton of paper involved:

\- corporate paperwork, including founding documents, stock agreements,
advisor forms, etc.

\- business contracts: lawyers (corporate, IP, etc), recruiters, office space,
etc.

\- and most recently, your first big expense report once the seed money lands
and you want to pay yourself back.

My old consumer cheapo printer died just when I was trying to get the offer
letter out to our (soon-to-be) first employee. The printer just locked up,
with all the led's blinking, and I kept power-cycling, to no avail.

While reviewing printers, I decided that the new one needed a "scan to email"
feature. Be warned, however, that some cheap printers have a feature that they
call "scan to email", but what they mean is: if you hook up our printer via
usb to your pc, we'll open outlook for you and attach your scan to it. frak
that, man.

What 'scan to email' should really mean is: I walk to the (wirelessly
connected) printer/scanner; I put something in the doc feeder; I then use a
little display to either a) punch in someone's email address or b) look up
frequent email addresses. And then I hit a button, and it scans them, and the
printer mails it to them. (As in, it speaks smtp.)

So I ended up with the HP 8600 Plus. The "plus" is important - the plain 8600
does not have scan to email. It's been fine so far, though my bar is probably
low.

------
whyenot
Hopefully HP has cleaned up their act when it comes to ultra-fine particles[1]
... (or was that paper debunked)?

I own a (now 10 years old) HP LaserJet 2100dn, and when I print something out,
I can smell it. Maybe it's time to upgrade.

[1]
[http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es063049z?journalCode=es...](http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es063049z?journalCode=esthag)

~~~
ksab
The paper still stands. There has been quite a bit of research activity in
this area.

Anecdotally: my lab recently got a Brother laser printer. There was an odour
after printing so we tried the experiment (using the same air quality
equipment). Sure enough, we saw huge UFP peaks.

Recent developments: UFP emissions from 3D printers
[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086)

------
dhughes
The main reason I bought a colour laser printer is the ink (toner) doesn't
congeal if you don't use the printer for a few months.

------
LarryMade2
No display - don't buy it.

Any network printer without some sort of display royally sucks. You cannot
easily diagnose communication errors with a couple blinking lights.

Much easier to troubleshoot a complex device if it can actually tell you
something. Sometimes trying to coax it to communicate using button gymnastics
doesn't work.

Other than that, yeah, HP laserjets are pretty rad.

~~~
AjithAntony
I disagree. Much like my very complex home routers, this printer has an
awesome Web UI. Unlike my routers, you can hold the button down and it prints
a complete status report, including the IP config.

~~~
LarryMade2
All I can say is sometimes the printer may not provide enough information via
status pages. Had it happen to me where one was was in a bad state and didn't
play well with others.

Models that you can configure via on-printer displays are way faster to setup
and easier to deal with technicalities in the long run.

------
jonstjohn
I had a number of ink jets and the ink cartridges literally dried out before I
could print many pages, mostly due to the infrequency of my printing. I
finally switched over to black and white laser and won't look back. Toner
seems to last MUCH longer.

~~~
wiredfool
My hp inkjet has empty cartridges after 14 print jobs of a page or two since
the last refill. The firmware on this one is so crappy that it's turned me off
of hp printers for good. (And I've had them since the deskwriter era).

Lasers, on the other hand. Cheap and effective. I've got a Brother that's
normally $80 at NewEgg/Amazon. The toner lasts 20% longer than advertised,
it's fast, and it's never asked me to accept an EULA. I'd buy another one, but
I don't expect to need another laser till well after this is discontinued.

------
ars
Color laser printers are surprisingly cheap.

The don't make photo-quality prints, but it's good enough for casual pictures
(posters, flyer, etc).

------
lectrick
I've had this exact printer for 2 years and rave about it, recommending it to
everyone.

I was tired of years of clogged inkjets and not doing much actual color
printing.

------
DaemonXI
Why is this HN material? It looks like thinly-veiled product placement
advertising.

------
snorkel
Not for me: doesn't have wifi, scanner/copier, and color printing.

~~~
GuiA
The difference between this and what you're looking for is akin to the
difference between a mini-van and a pickup truck.

------
stevewilhelm
The article fails to mention that the replacement toner cartridge costs $80.
[1]

HP claims their toner cartridge yields 2100 pages or about four cents a page.

[1] [http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-
office/-/products/Ink_...](http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-
office/-/products/Ink_Toner_Paper/HP-Toner/CE278A?HP-78A-Black-Original-
LaserJet-Toner-Cartridge)

~~~
palebluedot
_The article fails to mention that the replacement toner cartridge costs $80.
[1] HP claims their toner cartridge yields 2100 pages or about four cents a
page._

From the article:

"You get about 2,000 pages from each $78 cartridge, which isn’t bad."

