Weekend Open Forum: Do you still use a printer at home?

Wife & I have one each now that I got an all-in-one Canon Pixma 470 with the scanning feature.
It's kind of an oxymoron that the paperless information age still eats trees and light speed.
I would opt for a tablet if show-n-tell were sufficient, but I need to print documents for signatures in
duplicate so I can't get the office to be GREEN under any circumstance :sigh:

Julio's solution of a laser printer is a great choice - - cost of ownership for a laser print is about $0.02/page
while an inkjet is closer to $0.10/page over the life of the device + inks/toner. I just can't see yet another
device on the work surface :double sigh:
 
gcarter said:
Having a printer at home, although not an every day use kind of item, is still in my mind a useful tool to have. When we book flights online, easyjet require you to print out your boarding pass / check in info.

My daughter uses it once in a while as well, when she wants templates to colour in.

We've just moved house, and needed extra prints of bank statements etc.
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Yes, definitely. I still use an HP DeskJet that's about 10 years old. It's a solid thing that feels well made, unlike recent cheap printers. It's really handy to have around to print out résumés, recipes, booking tickets, etc. Sometimes you do need hard copies of documents. I never use it for photos now; it's not economical. The black inks last for ages. Printers are here to stay.
 
I have a Brother laser B&W all-in-one which is fantastic for my home office. I have to print things from time to time whether it's for personal or business use. I definitely still need a printer and I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon. When it comes to color copies, photos, etc, I just get them done at Staples or Costco because I think the cheapo ink-jet printers are absolutely use-less and a big rip-off when it comes to replacing ink.
 
Sure do. I picked up a cannon pixma ip1800 at comp usa when it closed for $7. It has been the BEST printer I have ever used ( mostly for school work, it does do photo's pretty good, but shutterfly is awesome)
 
I had a color inkjet that printed great looking pictures. Unfortunately, I printed pictures so seldom that the color cartridges dried up before they were halfway used and the printer wouldn't even let me print B&W without replacing the color cartridges. I found a cheap B&W only laser at OfficeMax two or three years ago (cheaper or around the cost of replacing the cartridges I never used) and am just now in need of a new cartridge. It'll cost me about $100 but is a larger one than what came with the printer, so it should last far longer than anything in an inkjet! I print at least once a week, sometimes more.
 
Have a refurbished Brother and a newer Canon. The Brother worked nice for a while but vista drivers are a little corrupt, no drivers for 7. I was using inexpensive generic cartridges but two of them leaked permanent black ink. It used to be on the new wall to wall carpet but luckily I moved it to a table when 2 of them leaked. Thus I use name brand cartridges and the set of Canon's cost $80, ouch. I print as little as necessary.
 
I got one for school, its an all-in-one that has great reviews but only works over wifi (I assume thats part of the reason it was under $100). Normally that's not a problem, but my wifi is sketchy since the apartment controls it so it's basically useless.
 
Not coincidentally, my Lexmark P3150 has no drivers for Windows 7 (at least last time I checked) so I stopped using it :( Other than that, I won't use inkjet printers anymore as they cost too much to use especially when the cartridge dries up after not using for a couple of weeks :mad: If I do decide on any home printing in the future I'll invest in a laser printer for the better overall convenience, and hopefully they get cheaper.
 
I no longer have any printer at home, in the olden days I had an LaserJet 6P, but I got rid of it once I completed my univ. education few years ago.
 
We have an HP Officejet J6413 at home. My wife uses it to print patterns for her scroll saw or reference pictures for her airbrush drawings, and we also print pictures for the kids to colour. Uses other thank this are rarer.
 
Timonius said:
Not coincidentally, my Lexmark P3150 has no drivers for Windows 7 (at least last time I checked) so I stopped using it :( Other than that, I won't use inkjet printers anymore as they cost too much to use especially when the cartridge dries up after not using for a couple of weeks :mad: If I do decide on any home printing in the future I'll invest in a laser printer for the better overall convenience, and hopefully they get cheaper.
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Apologies in advance if this is obvious & you tried it 3 years ago :) but... some Lexmarks will talk to Windows 7 if you use the corresponding Vista driver (and some won't!) - might be worth a try, assuming you haven't trashed it yet.
 
My wife rescues street dogs here, south of Tijuana, makes them healthy and brings them to adoption events. She uses our color HP LaserJet fairly heavily to document veterinary treatments and make print small weekly runs of puppy and dog description flyers. We've replaced the black cartridge once in five years and the other three cartridges never so far, so that's not exactly heavy usage. I can't remember the last time I used it myself. Hmm.
 
Does anyone know a good, small printer for basic document printing (color printing, so not mono)? It seems like they all come with bloatware (looking at you, HP) or a bunch of features that I don't really want to pay extra for.
 
Personally, I would use a printer way more than I do if the cartridges didn't cost 25 bucks a piece. If they would lower the price of the cartridges to say, 5 bucks I would let my daughter print to her little hearts content.
 
I printed my CV out 4 years ago, got the job and have not used one since either at home or work, And I try to discourage the use of them in the office too. Unless there is some pressing need to print something (Car insurance certificate or a legal form that needs a signature) I think we should all make efforts to avoid using paper.
 
Don't print much anymore but when I do I use the cheapest Canon or HP ($30 at WallyWorld) until the ink runs out, then I buy another one (the ink cartridges cost more than the new printer). And they always print for months after the low ink warning. After the black is gone I set it to print from the color cartridge only, for another couple of months use.
 
I have a personal printer at home and use it constantly. I think it is still a bit too early for companies to jump ship and stop making printers. People are always going to need to print things, even if smart phones and emails and reducing the amount of paper we use.
 
Jeff_ChatSports said:
I have a personal printer at home and use it constantly. I think it is still a bit too early for companies to jump ship and stop making printers. People are always going to need to print things, even if smart phones and emails and reducing the amount of paper we use.
Click to expand...
Agree totally. (y)
 
Several 7 yrs back I picked up a cheap Lexmark printer on sale for about $25. But when it ran out of ink I never bother to get more ink for it, as the cartridges where almost double what I paid for the print. So for the last 6 1/2 years it say in my closet :p.

And for the last 6 yrs I have worked at a copy shop and am the manager now so a home printer is kinda a moot point :p. I never used it much any ways.

But I do know many people who keep an inkjet printer at home. Some live far enough from town that driving in for copies is quite a chore.
 
I have two at home, an Epson Stylus Office BX320FW (inkjet, scanner, fax machine etc) and another Epson (Acculaser I think?) network laser printer. I actually use both quite regularly, and having the fax function has been handy on a couple of occasions recently.

I'm almost at the end of my first set of cartridges in the inkjet now, and new ones don't appear very cheap, especially since mine uses two black cartridges in addition to the three colours. I do like the fact it offers to print a composite black to save on black ink though! I'm yet to replace the toners in the laser, but I suspect they'll be rather expensive as well.

I tend to use them for normal "office" type printing. I don't think I've ever used either of them to print photos before. Still, I'll be keeping both printers at home for quite a while yet.
 
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