Well, this is about as off-topic as it gets. But I know flip all about printers and have no interest in extensively researching them. Hive mind it is.

Usage will be occasional: letters, things for school, etc; no photos or other high quality output.

Here are my must-have criteria:
– budget is up to ~£100
– must be fully compatible with Ubuntu (and Windows 7/8/10, but I’m taking that as read)

It should also have:
– wireless printing
– duplex printing

Colour or B&W, either qualify.

What do the wise folk of STW* recommend?

Muchos gracias

* Any unwise folk should preferably state this in advance so that I can ignore you. Much appreciated.

Going from b&w to colour is a big step in price (for purchase and consumables). If you can get away without colour then do it. Photos aren’t great from a cheap colour laser but it is handy for maps.

I have a nice little Samsung mono one. Looks like a bread basket, I forget the model number (and can’t check right now) but I think it was reviewed by The Register a few years back. Very good indeed and pattern carts are available

Had similar needs but also needed a page fed scanner recently and after looking about found the HP Officejet Pro 8620. It’s a big ‘ole unit but works impeccably. must admit i’m really impressed so far.

It’s £149 in PC world but HP are running £60 cashback until October so it comes in at less than £100. I also signed up to the HP instant ink scheme for £4 per month which includes all ink and allows you to print 100 pages per month. Plus they send you the ink so in theory you never run out as the printer orders the ink from HP itself.

Early days as only had it a week but impressed so far.

I’m impressed too: we managed a full two replies before someone recommended an inkjet 😉

For longevity and lowest cost per print think about a second hand /reconditioned HP laser jet 4000/5000/???? Depending on what they go for now.

I picked one up for about £70 on eBay nearly 10 years ago and it’s still going strong. Fully repairable with cheap spares as they’re the corporate standard issue. You might have to pay extra for the duplexer and you won’t get “wireless” printing on your iPad but gets networked one cabled to your modem/router/switch and all you computers can access it.

Got a brother DCP9020CDW for just over a hundred after spotting it on a deal site with cashback. It’s fast, colour, duplex, but HUGE. Compatable toners are only twenty quid though, so good spec and cheap to run. Quick google suggest I got lucky with the price though.

I forgot one criterion: small is good.

Wireless from iPad/Android/Windows Phone would be nice, but very low down the list.

Samsungs seem to get mentioned a lot and they certainly seem to tick the price and size boxes… Reports of Ubuntu compatibility seem a little mixed, though.

Good stuff on offer now – colour one for £70 here

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=191647124451&globalID=EBAY-GB

Buy a refurb with a short warranty to give a bit of comfort.

Before the HP I had a c£100 Samsung and put me off. Supplied toner cartridge was under filled. Replacements were expensive. Print Quality wasn’t great and it died young.

Ah, HP have a listing of allegedly Linux compatible printers, too:
http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/recommended.html

ooops 😳 yes…. read twice, reply once.

apologies…. off to go and stand in the corner

Always one, eh 😉

Check the price of replacement toner – that cheap HP colour lasrejet on eBay costs the same again for a set of replacement carts…

I bought this one after a request for help off here.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Xpress-M2835DW-Laser-Printer/dp/B00J9KRN6Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441830053&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+m2835

Quite like it really – nowt whizzy but speedy enough, quiet enough, small enough and decent size paper hopper. I get the high capacity toners which work out at 40 quid each.

Are you using it with Linux?

Mine is a 2165w. I’ll try it with Mint later.

There’s a Linux driver on the Samsung support page.

Cheers. I guess this is the default choice if it works with all the OSs:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SL-M2026W-Wireless-Laser-Printer/dp/B00YU62KR6/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

Cheap as chips, and cartridges are £30. It’s not going to be heavily used, so per-page running costs and suchlike aren’t much of an issue.

I bought this toner

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BV9OWXK/