Hey, I need help in choosing a good printer to go to college with the will be at the most importance reliable as well as easily compatible with Macbook Pro running OS x Leopard. I seem to have the worst luck when it comes to purchasing a printer so I figured this would be the best place to ask. I don't want to cheap out so i am will to spend 200-400 dollars. I will be using the printer for mostly tons and tons of notes and would also like for it to be able to print photographs (not looking for anything special when it comes to that, just good color...) Thanks in advance, Cole.
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Printer for College Student
- Thread starter ColeB
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i would just get a B/W laser
$50 for something like this, which will print thousands of pages on one cart
http://www.staples.com/office/suppl..._-Technology%3ELaser_Printers-_-714528-HL2140
for color photos, just send them to walgreens, target, longs, costco or any one of the tons of online printers out there
tons of ways to get them for free even: http://dealmac.com/categories/Electronics/Cameras/Photo-Services/233.html
$50 for something like this, which will print thousands of pages on one cart
http://www.staples.com/office/suppl..._-Technology%3ELaser_Printers-_-714528-HL2140
for color photos, just send them to walgreens, target, longs, costco or any one of the tons of online printers out there
tons of ways to get them for free even: http://dealmac.com/categories/Electronics/Cameras/Photo-Services/233.html
Save the money and use you're college's computer lab/printers to do this. They are likely charging you for this in your tuition anyway. Printing tons and tons of notes will be very expensive for the paper/toner.
As for printing pictures. What type of pictures? Photograph type prints or just something on regular printer paper for a report?
For photograph type prints I would suggest just going to walmart and using one of their kiosks. Take your SD card with the pics and print them there. 4x6 prints were around $0.25 each last time I checked.
As for printing pictures. What type of pictures? Photograph type prints or just something on regular printer paper for a report?
For photograph type prints I would suggest just going to walmart and using one of their kiosks. Take your SD card with the pics and print them there. 4x6 prints were around $0.25 each last time I checked.
A laser printer will do very well for notes, but as someone said above I'd just go to Wal-Mart or something for color photos. It's very cheap.
You got two choices, first one if you want your own printer, aim for laser. They can save you more money in the ink cost as over the 4 years of college notes will eat up a lot of ink. Second option is to use your college's lab to do the job.
I spent the first two years just using the computer lab to print all the crap and spent the last two years with a used HP color laserjet that i bought from a business that was off leasing it for 300$. I didn't even bother replacing the toners, it managed to last 5-10K papers for me in two years of college. Color ink printers won't do that.
Im in grad school dude and i love my brother hl-2140 laser printer. its black and white but it prints thousands of pages, journal articles, powerpoint for class, and the best part is I get my laser cartridge for $25 on amazon!!! Crazy and the laser last at least 6 months! I got this model for $80 on staples, but can be found on ebay for 50-60 (I got one for my parents for 60 on ebay).
I've had very good experiences with Brother printers over the years. In fact, the HL-1240 model I bought 6 years or so ago is still working perfectly and I've only had to replace the toner cartridge once. I recently bought an MFC-7840W printer/scanner/fax combo and am enjoying that as well. At home we've got an HL-2040 which is also a great laser printer with a more convenient form factor than the older models.
I'll echo what's been said above: buy a laser printer. Don't even think about an ink-jet printer. Ink-jets are cheap to buy, but ink is costly, doesn't last, and they're slow. Look for a decent laser printer and you'll be far, far happier. A laser that does automatic duplexing would be best - you'll cut your paper costs in half.
Brother 2140
Every other week the Brother 2140 B&W Laser Printer goes on sale for about $50.
It's the best deal around - been using it for a year without a single problem
Probably printed ~3000 pages
Highly Recommended
Every other week the Brother 2140 B&W Laser Printer goes on sale for about $50.
It's the best deal around - been using it for a year without a single problem
Probably printed ~3000 pages
Highly Recommended
+1 for a brother laser printer...every class in my high school has one and its perfect...even i bought it for cheap and it prints loads of pages before the ink finishes...
Read the fine print - many campuses charge you to use the computers, but then charge you extra (maybe $0.10 a page) to print to a laser.
Definitely get yourself a laser printer. For $200-400 you can get something VERY nice. I'm an HP fan myself, I've never had a problem with an HP printer, but to each his own.
Whatever you do, don't get an inkjet printer as your main printer if you plan on turning in anything you've printed on it. Please trust me on this. Also, if you stay in college all 4 years the amount of money you'll save buying toner for a laser will MORE than make up for the added price over an inkjet.
Not all do, so just check with your computer labs, don't use the library they are usually the ones that charge. Use the ones in engineering or IT buildings, they don't charge usually but do have some limitations such as only one copy per print job. So far I did this and never got any warnings doing so.
sometimes its a convenience issue to. i personally know our computer labs can be booked so there's wait times and all that. stick with brother laser printers... check out the office depot circulars or staples for a good deal.
Get a black and white laser printer that supports duplex printing, if you can find one for a good price. Don't print journal articles. Save them as PDFs and add notes to them with PDFpen.
P.S. You can order color prints online directly through iPhoto.
P.S. You can order color prints online directly through iPhoto.
I would check out Xerox printers; their lasers are excellent in quality. Personally I have a color Phaser, but I don't think that's really a personal printer since it really a workgroup printer.
Anyways in terms of reliability, I've used a few of their printers over the years and none of them have broken yet.
Anyways in terms of reliability, I've used a few of their printers over the years and none of them have broken yet.