Best ultracheap printer

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2004-09-09 04:36pm

I'm looking for a cheap printer only to be used for printing out lots of documents and interesting articles from the Internet. I only want reliablity. What brand, or model, is good for this kind of work?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-09-09 05:09pm

Feel like buying used? You can score some good deals off of eBay if you're careful. Lasers also cost a lot less in the long run because the price per page is far less than inkjets and the quality for text is typically much higher.

The LaserJet 5P/6P series is pretty bulletproof, IMHO. The LJ 5P is a 300dpi laser, the 6P is 600dpi. You can usually find different configurations in eBay with varying amounts of RAM. The 5MP/6MP add native Postscript Level 2 support to the 'base' models, which is useful for Mac and *nix printing.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-09-09 07:17pm

Do yourself and look into toner prices FIRST before choosing a printer. HP and the like will be more than happy to sell you a good printer at a low prices because its the ink where they actually make money.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-09-09 08:40pm

Vertigo1 wrote:Do yourself and look into toner prices FIRST before choosing a printer. HP and the like will be more than happy to sell you a good printer at a low prices because its the ink where they actually make money.

OTOH, the old HP laser printers are hella-tough and reliability is always a factor. For example, a new 4000-page toner cartridge for a 5P/6P costs $75, which works out to 1.9 cents a page. You can usually find qiality remanufactured ones for 50-60 dollars and cheap eBay refills are even less (but I would be wary of them).

An HP No. 45 black ink cart will cost $30 new and yield 833 pages at 3.6 centers/page. You can always get refills, of course, but quality varies and an inkjet will never look as good as a laser for text.