Printer for college?

[xi mezmerize ix]

I am looking for a color printer that is $100 or less, and won't overuse ink and/or has cheap ink refills.

I only need something to print papers, i.e I don't need to fax, scan, or print photos.

Also looking for a reliable brand. Print speed isn't a huge deal but obviously a fast printer would be a plus.

Any ideas?

 

[xparaparafreakx]

Why color? In my years in college, never had I had to print color. Grab a nice HP Laserjet for $99. Your lecture notes will come out fast.

 

[milbournosphere]

Why color? In my years in college, never had I had to print color. Grab a nice HP Laserjet for $99. Your lecture notes will come out fast.

I agree. As a CS Major, I have rarely ever had to print something out in color. For the rare occasions that required it, I just went to the computer labs, which have a color laser printer. You can easily find a cheap BW laser printer that will last you longer than college and cost much less than an inkjet machine in the long run.

 

[spacepower7]

The Brother 2140 laser printer can usually be picked for $50-70 on sale and is a very reliable workhorse. I've printed 1000s of pages without any problems.

 

[millsy]

Are you living on campus? Why even buy a printer? Sure it's nice to wait until the very last minute and be able to print in your dorm room/apartment, but most universities offer decent to very good printing services on campus. Some even offer a service where you can e-mail your documents and tell it what building/printer you want it to be print on and at what time. I'd check that out first before spending $$ you'll want to spend on something else later.

 

[diamond3]

If I were you, I'd look into the Canon Pixma iP series printers. I have had the Canon pixma ip3000 for probably 5 or 6 years that has now been discontinued. I can buy cartridges online for under $3 because canon was smart for a while and decided it would be great to not put printer heads on each inktank. From the looks of it, the Canon pixma ip4700 that apple sells has the same sort of setup. HOWEVER, I'm not 100% sure because I briefly looked at it. I know there are ink cartridges that you can refill for under $5, i'm just not sure if there is anything else you have to do to get it to work like mine. I think there might be some sort of chip that will tell it to no longer work after it is empty.
**Actually, it looks like there is a chip for this printer.***

The canon ip3000, ip4000 and mp780 all use the same setup where replacements are really cheap, but you might have a difficult time finding some.

Also, I wouldn't buy a B&W printer. Sure it is nice most of the time, but when you really need or want to print in color, you'll be annoyed with it.

 

[klrobinson999]

Get a Kodak Printer. Great color prints, and the cheapest ink out there.

 

[xi mezmerize ix]

Well, it depends on your needs. Do you really need to Scan and Copy pages aswell as print them? An all-in-one is always going to be bigger than a normal printer and if youre in halls of residence, you will not have alot of space, aswell as the fact you need to lug it home at the end of each term (well in the UK anyway). I suggest you get just a printer -they don't cost that much anyway. Just go into your local superstore and look in the computing aisle, they will have lots of bargain printers. Alternatively, go to PC world or somewhere like that where an assistant will talk you through youre options.

I said I only needed to print in my first post......

 

[R94N]

I would decide on a brand first, and then model. HP, Kodak, Epson and Canon are all reliable brands from my experiences. I realise that probably isn't very helpful but then again I probably should'nt have replied to start with - I would take a look at some reviews first though.

 

[mattwolfmatt]

I agree with others: I'd get a cheap/middle of the road BW laser. The cartridge lasts a long time (just don't print graphics). Sometimes I can find BW laser Samsungs at Staples/OfficeMax/Office Depot for $80 or so. This is less than many replacement cartridges.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

Don't buy Kodak. I've had plenty of luck with HPs over the years. Remember to factor in the cost of ink per page. I agree with the others, I have yet to find a use for color in college.

 

[AppliedMicro]

I have a HP Laserjet P1005 and a Brother HL-2140N (which seems to be equivalent to the HL-2170W sold in the US, minus the Wi-Fi networking).

While I would have really liked the smaller footprint and nicer look of the HP, it now sits basically unused on my shelf. After the update to Snow Leopard 10.6, I couldn't print via my Airport Express station anymore. HP failed to release 10.6-compatible drivers for weeks or months, and when they eventually did, Airport Express had still not been restored for me, even though I tried A LOT and consider me a rather experienced Mac user.

After having been frustrated long enough with HP, I went ahead and grabbed a good deal for the Brother. The machine itself looks a bit square and not as shiny and sexy as the HP, as does brother's web site, compared to HP's. However, everything just works and I couldn't be happier.

Tip: Brother seem to use an optical sensor to determine toner levels on these machines. By simply placing some black tape over the small transparent window you can fool the machine and get some hundreds of pages more out of their cartridges. Haven't yet tried this myself but this tip is all over Amazon.

I have had pretty good experiences with HP's business offerings but I definitely won't be getting (or recommend) another one of their consumer-level models anytime soon.

Also, over the last few years, I deployed half a dozen Samsung b/w lasers at family members and friends. Had one of them myself. Everyone has been very happy with them.