So, my printer (HP all in one) decided to print the equivalent of those classified documents with solid black bars where the text should be last night. It’s 3 months old. It seems to enjoy printing test pages perfectly, just to mock me.

Previous to that I had an Epson all in one that decided to print only in blue after a blissful 12 months or so honeymoon period.

Prior to that I had a Canon all in one that didn’t take kindly to moving house.

My question is, are there any printers that will just sit there and print (or scan as well, preferably) wirelessly and without fuss for several years? I don’t really need to print photos or much in colour, although it’d be nice.

Yes, they exist. Two points to help find one:
Cost, maybe don’t buy the cheapest (but I have no proof this will help).
HP cartridges contain the nozzles, so when you buy a new cartridge you’re getting a new print head, which is the clever bit, and means you should only be a new cartridge away from something that works.

I’d they you’re existing printer with a new cartridge before binning it, but that will mean buying a new cartridge.

sounds more like a driver /font issue than printer issue if it prints test pages OK.

After years of torture using inkjets I’ve recently got a laser printer instead, the sort you get in an office.

So far it’s a revelation. Bit bigger and only does B&W, but way better quality and just works every time I click print.

I don’t buy the cheapest (anymore…), and the HP one was a recommendation, albeit from the guy in the shop so he may have been on commission for that particular model.

I have spare cartridges but I can’t understand why it likes printing a test page properly but not an actual document (it’s a pdf Stoner, in this case).

More testing tonight I guess.

Chakaping – I’d thought about a laser, and the only thing that stopped me when I bought the current printer was that I needed colour at the time (or more accurately, my wife did).

We have two printers – one old HP all in one colour inkjet – mainly for scanning and the odd ordnance survey printout – and the one that does the work is an HP 1018 laserjet. Cost £30 and is faultess. B&W only but toner cartridges go for a year at least and quality is fine.

Unfortunately the replacement in the range is now £90 although some on ebay for £50-60 🙁

http://www.printerland.co.uk/HP-P1102-P110024.aspx

Just had the same problem. Went to PC world and bought this for £59.99

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-ML-2165W-Wireless-Laser-Printer/dp/B006W4Z12A

Wireless laser printer, excellent. Highly recommended. The colour version for £150 tempted me but I don’t print so much and I can get a lot of pickled onions with the saving.

Don’t buy the cheapest. I have an HP all in one that was £130, it’s been great.

Your problem is almost certainly a driver or software issue. Do not get a new printer.

I have spare cartridges but I can’t understand why it likes printing a test page properly but not an actual document

See above. The test page comes from the printer software or even the printer itself, the document comes from beyond that – Acrobat Reader in this case.

HP cartridges contain the nozzles, so when you buy a new cartridge you’re getting a new print head, which is the clever bit, and means you should only be a new cartridge away from something that works

Not quite true. Most printer manufacturers do this with their cheaper printers. It’s actually a con, because whilst the printer is really cheap the cartridges are really expensive because of the print head. If you buy a more expensive printer with a more durable head, and the plumbing to accept individual cartridges, it works out cheaper in the long run.

My HP has individual cartridges.

We bought an HP B110a just over a year ago. However, the recent up firmware update has killed it. Computer claims it can’t see the printer even though the thing has just taken an instruction to print a test page.

I found a bit on pdf printing problems similar to mine on the HP site so I’ll see if that fix works first.

The printer does have individual cartridges for B, C, M, Y and the black is the only non-HP one (which the printer noticed straight away). Thing is it’s still chucking out ink, just not in the pattern I want…

Thanks for all the comments and help and I’ll keep you posted (since this is such a rivetting thread and you must all be on the edge of your seats).

I went down the colour laser route and have not looked back. It does great colour prints reliably and cheaply. It is a HP 2600n which means I can add it to my wireless router and print from any device to it.

I think (although I may be wrong) that inkjets can suffer if not used regularly as the nozzle can clog up. I have not had this sort of issue with the laser despite extended periods where it is not used.

I have a cheapish scanner as well as a separate device. It has a feature where you can put a document it and hit ‘copy’ on the front, it scans and prints in one.

the black is the only non-HP one

This may be your issue, original carts and remanufactured/refilled ones mixed together sometimes cause problems, I’d try replacing the black with an original and see if you still get the issue.

I give basic support for printers as part of my current job and this is cropping up more and more, never used to be an issue so I suspect it’s been built in by the manufacturers.

Worth a look as an alternative to a Laser – Epson WP-4015 – Workpro inkjet – so far proving 100% reliable, with speedy printing and duplex too; can also cope with printing on heavy card (has a straight-through paper path from second paper feeder). Other versions are available which include scanner/copier and fax. Uses big ink cartridges (2000+ pages) which aren’t too expensive. Have mine connected to a wireless network hub, so can use it to print from PC, laptop and iPad.

If you buy a more expensive printer with a more durable head,

No such thing as a durable ink jet print head. That’s why replacing the head is, in my view, better.
The head is many times more unreliable and prone to damage then any other part.

Well I’ve had the same head for 3 years. If I had a printer with the head integrated into the cartridge, I’d have had to pay for about 8 new heads tossing the old ones out.

Does’t make much sense to me.

I think you can by new heads for my printer separately, should you need one.

The HP Officejet I have has separate colours and separate print heads.
Bar a minor DIY repair, it seems pretty solid. Only really use it to scan with, though.

Don’t buy a ‘domestic’ printer. For reliability and low cost buy a refurbished/lightly used office laserjet. You won’t get wireless or scanning and it’ll be big but you’ll probably not spend another penny on it for years.

HP Laserjet 4000/4100/4200/4300 from about £50 on eBay. The better suppliers will give you a page count for the printer you’re actually buying and you can often pick them up with sub 10k pages (they’re meant to have a service duty of more than that per month)

Remanf’d Toner cartridges from about £25 that will do some 1000’s of pages (most offices don’t use original).

Have mine connected to a wireless network hub, so can use it to print from PC, laptop and iPad.

Tony, Epson do a specific print app for iOS, have you tried it with your WP-4015?

I buy the cheapest one I can find, and replace it each time the ink runs out. The ink costs more than the printer and I’ve never had much luck with new cartridges.

Recommend a decent B&W laser printer for the bulk of printing (I got a Samsung ML2850) then a cheapish colour one for low volume colour and photos (Canon iP2700 for me).

Really wouldn’t bother with an expensive inkjet. I think they all have a pretty short lifespans compared to lasers due to the need to dump ink into wadding/sponge that eventually fills up. Some can be replaced but it’s not meant to be user serviceable.

I buy the cheapest one I can find, and replace it each time the ink runs out. The ink costs more than the printer and I’ve never had much luck with new cartridges

That’s a truly shocking waste of resources.

And wtf do you mean ‘never had much luck with new cartridges’? You insert them, they work.

Don’t buy an inkjet

Problem solved.

Samsung have and excellent range of small lasers – they make a lot of other peoples printers too.

Humm, just fixed mine. It was nothing to do with the printer. It was a setting in Firefox.

Seems to have been a problem with printing pdfs. Still haven’t fixed it but it’s printing everything else pretty well.

I’ll still get a laser at some point in the future I think.

I’ve learned a lot today though!

Isn’t laser toner expensive?

Canon laser printer. Cost £60 years ago. Just works. still in first cartridge.

Isn’t laser toner expensive?

Well, tends to be more than an ink cartridge, but you’ll get more pages out of them. Cost/page, for black and white at least, tends to be much lower.

Varies quite a bit with printer though, but most office-level printers tend not to be too horrific to run.

Toner also doesn’t tend to “dry up”, which I’ve had with a few ink cartridges.

Isn’t laser toner expensive?

I’d actually say ‘it depends’. I had a Samsung ‘domestic’ laser and the cartridge was small and prohibitively expensive to replace. DIY refill was messy, didn’t work that well, and the print quality was never really up to much.

Per page costs are much lower with laser.

I used to have an Epson which would dry up in a few days. This HP has never dried up though.

Seems my problem was with the driver hating pdfs.

My new problem is now having replaced all three colour cartridges (at the same time, with HP cartridges – that were free with the printer) it no longer wants to print in colour.

HP are helpfully sending replacement carts out, but it’s still a massive PITA