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I need a new printer. ASAP. I have no idea what printers cost these days, but I need one.

 

Any tips on where to get an affordable new printer? Nothing fancy, just needs to print regular black ink.

 

Thanks!

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Walmart would be your best bet if you want a cheap inkjet. You could try Staples as well. They are really not that expensive these days because they make their money on the ink cartidges.

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I need a new printer. ASAP. I have no idea what printers cost these days, but I need one.

 

The cheapest one you can find would serve you just as well. Prepare to spend around $60-$80 for one.

 

Zellars/Costco/Staples/Walmart/FutureShop are all good bets.

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you can get a cheap black toner laser for under $80 these days. Also lots of places such as monoprice sell cheap replacement toner cartridges. I prefer laser for the look, and speed, and I hated waiting around in computer labs to print off that essay at school. I got mine at Futureshop, but other places have them.

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But whatever you buy, check the price of ink first. I once bought a full featured HP printer for $99. But found the colour cartridge was over $100 and the black one was close to $100.

 

Also check how much the replacement cartridge holds. You may find a $15 cartridge, but it may only print 20 pages.

 

I think it's better now, but watch out.

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Hi Erin,

 

If you have time to browse the web and flyers a bit. Look for the cheapest one on sale, and buy 2 of them. That has worked for me for the last 10 years.

 

Look for the half priced ones, buy 2, you can use the second set of ink and have a spare printer in case the first one failed, buy compatible ink, works .90% as good, but more than 60-70% cheaper. The price range should be .$50 discounted price. Also think about if you need any scanning and copying function or the occasional fax.

 

I am using a brother MFC, work horse of a printer.

 

Nonstop

 

I need a new printer. ASAP. I have no idea what printers cost these days, but I need one.

 

Any tips on where to get an affordable new printer? Nothing fancy, just needs to print regular black ink.

 

Thanks!

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If you just need black I would definately look at a laser printer, you can get them for under $100 now. they are way faster for printing larger products and the money you save on ink is unbelievable. The toner cartridge is more expensive than an ink catridge but last so much longer.

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Check out a couple of the Future Shops or Staples because they all usually have a clearence table. Sometimes you can find a good deal, just make sure you know why its on the table (ie not broken or missing a part).

 

Also both have online clearence Dept's

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I have always believed that cheap is not always best value.

 

After years of trying different manufactures, our IT dept now sticks to HP. That is what I got at home and it has been very reliable. Bear in mind, I spent $300 5 years ago. Last time I checked, I can now replace it with similar quality for $179.

 

As it has been said before, ink is the key, and in the long run that is where your costs will be. A higher end printer like mine has a more efficient technology in how ink is used; it was the selling feature at the time. My $22 dollar black ink cartridge is currently 75% used and is on its 4th bundle (2000 pages). Also, check expiry dates on the ink cartridges and if you use cartridges that are not from the manufacturer, it may void the warranty.

 

IMO, I would stay away from under $100; $150 to $200 will definitely buy you something that last for years and be problem free. The last thing you need is your printer crapping out when your paper is due. Watch the sales, bargains are there and stick to places that have good after sale service, should you have hassles. If you are downtown, Staples on Bank might be your most convenient bet.

 

Should you change your mind and get a colour printer, make sure that you get one that has individual ink cartridges for each colour. A multi-colour cartridge is useless if one colour runs out. That decision paid off last Halloween when the kids drained the magenta and yellow cartridges to produce lots of images with orange pumpkins.

 

In the end, your biggest decision is balancing the cost of cartridges vs. printer cost vs. what you need and how you will use it. A more expensive printer may be cheaper and better value in the long run. You should also factor how long you want to keep the printer and how you may use it in the future.

 

Good luck and happy hunting

 

Ed

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If you're only printing black and you think you might need to do a lot of printing, go laser. Generally the way it works for inkjets is that the cheaper the printer, the less efficient they are for ink.

 

If you're not doing a lot of printing, getting a cheap inkjet will do. You can also get cheaper ink by using knock off cartridges or going to one of those places that will refill them for you.

 

If you think you will go a month or 2 in between needing to print stuff, don't bother with either, just print the stuff at a copy store. Inkjets get clogged after long periods of inactivity.

 

Another option is to buy an old one from somewhere, even CL. People sell that shit for 10 or 20 bucks, sometimes even give it away.

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Ok I am sure some of us here on CERB work in IT.

 

I do and nothing else but a laser would do and in the long run cheaper.

 

Inkjets will run you into the hundreds in a school year and all in all are cheap.

 

A simple black laser should run you from $70 to $150 depending on your requirements

 

use the KISS principle with technology have it do what it needs to do.

now what is also key is not having a drum unit in the printer this will cost you a fortune to replace when it is expended.

I have a samsung ml-1710 and have had not one problem with it for 3 years just changed the toner this year bought it at the printer kiosk in St. Laurent normal prices for toners are $75-100

but monoprice.com would have better prices.

Here is a futureshop samsung printer for $70 these do not have a drum and have relatively cheap toner that last.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10112094&catid=10233

and I do not recommend a colour laser your just wasting money!

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I currently have a Samsung ML 1200 or something and it was working fine, except for the fact that you had to hand feed the pages (not sure why it started doing that) and then I got a new laptop and the old printer wouldn't plug into the laptop. So I went and got one of those cords you can plug into the printer and then you plug the other end into the USB port on my laptop. And yeah, somehow that didn't work. My laptop says the printer is there and that documents have been sent to the printer, but the printer just sits there and doesn't print.

 

So I was thinking I'd scrap the whole thing and just get a new printer. I've never worked out the whole printing at school thing.

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Become a government employee and your printer and ink needs are taken care of for 30+ years. Added bonus when printing is not convenient there are plenty of photocopiers as well.

 

Before I get hate mail from people I am not a government employee and cant even ripe my employer off as I am my employer. :butt:

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That's too bad about your ML1200 Erin, but I think you are better off with a newer unit and they are much cheaper these day anyways to live with a pain in the ass printer.

 

another place locally to check out it refurbcomputers.ca sometimes they have a great deal, and they can be helpful as well.

 

remember about the drum thing though it was a killer for a business that i worked at!

 

check out futureshop again and search for laser printers and see if anything is in your price range.

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Remember to look at the online deals. They will deliver, and save you time and money (if you like staying at home waiting for the printer). If you are going with an inkjet look at the larger ink cartridge.

 

HP has brought their prices down for the ink, compared to two years ago, in large part to compete with the refill industry.

 

Most universities charge you a small amount per page printed. At $0.10 you can print out 1000 pages for $100 on your student card (including the cost of the paper).

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Do you have a factory direct in Ottawa? http://www.factorydirect.ca we bought a whack of laser printers from them a few years ago and they work great. We have a supplier for aftermarket toner that we found on ebay. The ink jets always gum up and are much slower to print black and white (we really have little use for color on the office computers).

 

We have a big epson color printer for the design proof work and I must say if your going with a color printer my top choice would be an epson. I suspect the toners for the color laserjets are expensive. We don't have one here so I don't know for sure but I have noticed the replacement toners at staples and they are a little high priced... not sure what the yield is. (Number of prints on average per toner)

 

The HP laserjet at factory direct is just 39.99 and these are workhorses - never had to replace the drum. We have a number of brother lasers and the drums need replacing at least once every 3 to 5 toner refils. We have a samsung that is also a good printer (lots of use - never replaced a drum that I can recall - toner is a little more expensive however).

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Whatever you get, make sure the price of a replacement cartridge isn't more than the printer is worth.

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I would suggest a laser since you may pay a bit more up front, but it pays off in the long run. Did a quick check on staples and found a Brother HL2140 monochrome printer for $85. I had one of the previous generations of these when I did uni and the demo toner lasted me my 4 years (and 4500 pages). Best 120$ I ever spent.

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