I'm looking for a new printer, mainly for small business use (printing A4 documents 1-30 pages, maybe one a day, at the most). Moderate usage.
I'm sick of ink jet cartridges running out after Bonni Jr prints 20 internet pictures of Lionel Messi for his wall, so want to go Laser. Not bothered about colour (hopefully Messi is less appealing in B/W!!!)
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Get a second hand/reconditioned HP Laserjet 4000 of some kind from eBay. They're designed for seriously heavy use so nearly indestructible and because they're used in so many offices toner cartridges are cheap and easy to come by
Before you write off inkjet have you looked at the HP instant ink range? We've got a HP envy 4500 that's done loyal service, cost us £60 new and £1.99 a month for cartridges that are sent to us before the old one runs out. Only occasionally do we go over the monthly limit and have to pay more.
Laser is the way to go. If you are happy with black and white then the cheap ones are pretty good. Samsung or Brother both fine. They usually come with half full toner but it lasts a while. Shop around for refills and it's not too bad to keep going.
I use a brother one at home. Often they cheat and limit the size of toner cartridge that will fit with a plastic tab in the printer so you buy the more expensive per print smaller cartidges. But if you work out the range it takes then you can buy the higher capacity ones and break the tab so it fits
Not worth your while if you don't print much though
And +1 for hp instant ink if you want colour. It's the only time you will get me to buy something from hp but it is a good system
I've got a HP Colour LaserJet Pro MFP M280nw, 21ppm
Happy with it, though it doesn't get a huge amount of use.
If you do get a second hand LaserJet 4000 then go for one with a network port Ours doesn't really get on with either the Netgear print server or the USB-Centronics adapter.
After nearly 20 years ours is starting to squeal and the duplexer packed up about 10 years ago.
I bought an HP Laser Jet Pro 400 so many years ago I can't even remember when it was. It gets used daily. I replaced the original toner a few weeks ago. Still going strong.
<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Get a second hand/reconditioned HP Laserjet 4000 of some kind from direct from HP. -ftfy</span>
Full 12 month warranty then and they're not expensive. As yes they are bombproof. We've got one in the office that we inherited from a previous business that is 12 or so years old and still going strong. Never once broken down.
I have a Samsung clp-650n laser printer for business use
It's ok until the toner starts to run out, then will start giving warnings and eventually stop printing even when there is loads in there. The manual suggests to shake the toner cartridges, bad idea, toner everywhere you don't want it. It has a chip that counts down the usage whether it's run out or not. The replacement toner costs a fortune. You can refill the toner and replace the chip on the cheap, doable but mainly just a faff I could do without.
Very very dubious about whether it is actually more economical than an Inkjet. And it's certainly a lot more bother.
Yet to find a printer I actually like.
Thanks all for the advice. Didn’t expect so much.
Dell 1250c - can be picked up cheap second hand, toner is about £5 a colour - top notch for an old printer.