Luddite seeks non-DRM printer
August 19, 2016 9:57 AM Subscribe
I am looking for a printer. The kids seem to have subtly destroyed my old Epson Stylus 740. I am now seeking another inkjet which: supports 3rd party cartridges, and will still print B&W if the color is empty. From the research I've done, this looks suspiciously like I'm looking for an old printer.
I am not looking for a laser printer. I don't really print enough pages at a time to justify it. Seriously, the old 740 took ink cartridges that cost a dollar apiece; it's harder to get a lower cost of ownership.
I am not looking for a new printer whose world will end if the Cyan cartridge is empty. 99% of my printing is B&W only.
If there are newer printers that meet the above criteria, please let me know. Otherwise, which old printer should I find on eBay or Craigslist? I'm leaning towards an Epson Stylus 740 or 820, but I can be talked into a different manufacturer.
I am not looking for a laser printer. I don't really print enough pages at a time to justify it. Seriously, the old 740 took ink cartridges that cost a dollar apiece; it's harder to get a lower cost of ownership.
I am not looking for a new printer whose world will end if the Cyan cartridge is empty. 99% of my printing is B&W only.
If there are newer printers that meet the above criteria, please let me know. Otherwise, which old printer should I find on eBay or Craigslist? I'm leaning towards an Epson Stylus 740 or 820, but I can be talked into a different manufacturer.
I have an HP Photosmart C4280 all in one, that came free with a computer my friend bought, years ago. It scans, copies, prints, and uses big, cheap cartridges. This printer has been through classroom use, getting kicked because it was on the floor by my desk. For general sittin' by my computer printing, it is great. It was free. Anything in that line, or newer should do it, and should be inexpensive, purchased used. I imagine a new one wouldn't be that much.
Over in the corner is the 17 inch Epson, with their proprietary ink problems, and cost. It costs two thirds the original cost of the printer and stand, to fill it with large ink cartridges. So, the little HP such a winner. It is at least 10 years old.
posted by Oyéah at 10:47 AM on August 19, 2016
Over in the corner is the 17 inch Epson, with their proprietary ink problems, and cost. It costs two thirds the original cost of the printer and stand, to fill it with large ink cartridges. So, the little HP such a winner. It is at least 10 years old.
posted by Oyéah at 10:47 AM on August 19, 2016
I know you don't want a laser printer, but hear me out. I got an HP LaserJet P1102w, on sale, for around $110. It came with a full cartridge that lasted me 3 years of moderate black and white printing. (If I need a color page, I go to the library.) I just purchased a replacement cartridge from a Chinese outfit that cost $10 shipping included. It has performed flawlessly.
I don't know if this is the right printer for you, but what I am suggesting is that there have been a lot of changes in the world of printers that are cost effective and that do require being part of the proprietary toner replacement racket.
posted by AugustWest at 10:49 AM on August 19, 2016 [11 favorites]
I don't know if this is the right printer for you, but what I am suggesting is that there have been a lot of changes in the world of printers that are cost effective and that do require being part of the proprietary toner replacement racket.
posted by AugustWest at 10:49 AM on August 19, 2016 [11 favorites]
Sorry to add to the "are you sure you don't want a laser printer" pile, but can you explain why you don't want a laser printer? You can buy a color laser printer for $170 (or $120 if you're willing to take a risk on other brands), and toner lasts for years while ink tends to dry out without use.
I bought an inexpensive B&W laser printer a few years ago (like this one). I use my printer very infrequently and I am so, so happy that I bit the bullet and purchased a cheap laser printer - I never have to wonder if the ink has dried out in the month since I used it.
posted by Tehhund at 11:10 AM on August 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
I bought an inexpensive B&W laser printer a few years ago (like this one). I use my printer very infrequently and I am so, so happy that I bit the bullet and purchased a cheap laser printer - I never have to wonder if the ink has dried out in the month since I used it.
posted by Tehhund at 11:10 AM on August 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
I have the printer that Tehhund linked to. Can confirm that I love it.
But mainly don't buy a Canon. God I hated that thing. And they definitely do NOT print in B&W if any other color is out of ink.
posted by magnetsphere at 11:16 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
But mainly don't buy a Canon. God I hated that thing. And they definitely do NOT print in B&W if any other color is out of ink.
posted by magnetsphere at 11:16 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
One more vote for the laser printer; we bought a B&W Brother for a little under $100. A toner cartridge is about $30, and it's supposed to yield 1200 pages, which seems about right. I'm so very happy with our laser printer; I can print as much as I want whenever I want without worrying about inkjet toner or slow printing.
posted by redsparkler at 11:17 AM on August 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by redsparkler at 11:17 AM on August 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Throw another vote for a cheap black and white laser on the pile. I paid about $100 for my Brother networked black and white laser printer about 6 years ago. I will NEVER buy another inkjet printer. This thing has printed thousands of pages with zero hiccups. Toner is cheap, and lasers are super-reliable.
posted by cosmicbandito at 11:24 AM on August 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by cosmicbandito at 11:24 AM on August 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
Epson has a line of inkjets that use tanks instead of cartridges, but the prices are pretty out there.
And here are instructions that you can supposedly use to turn off the DRM in HP inkjets.
I feel your pain. I was looking around for a DRM free inkjet a while back, and couldn't find one that would work for me. (I did have some other criteria, though, and don't remember if there were any new models that were DRM free at all.)
posted by ernielundquist at 11:29 AM on August 19, 2016
And here are instructions that you can supposedly use to turn off the DRM in HP inkjets.
I feel your pain. I was looking around for a DRM free inkjet a while back, and couldn't find one that would work for me. (I did have some other criteria, though, and don't remember if there were any new models that were DRM free at all.)
posted by ernielundquist at 11:29 AM on August 19, 2016
I'm another who bought a Brother laser and will never, ever go back to inkjet. If 99% of your printing is B&W, you might want to consider getting a laser, and then later an inkjet if you really, really need it. That Brother is $90 on Amazon right now.
That said, here's some info from The Wirecutter that may apply, depending on how much printing you do and what you print:
HP Instant Ink uses a different model. Instead of paying for a certain volume of ink, you pay for a chunk of pages, and HP gives you as much ink as you need. If you only print very occasionally, with long gaps between uses, this is the best way to print in color at home.
Here’s how it works: You sign up for a monthly plan. The cheapest is $3, less than one foofy drink at Starbucks. That lets you print up to 50 pages per billing cycle. When you break it down, that works out to 6 cents per page. That’s a crappy rate for text (usually 3.5 cents on a printer like this), a great rate for a document with color, and a phenomenal rate for photos, which can use $1 of ink on their own. (Seriously, you can really abuse this plan if you print a lot of photos.) Unused pages (up to one month’s worth) roll over. If you overshoot your plan, HP will charge you a penalty rate for a chunk of extra pages, but you can switch to a higher-volume plan on your own at any time to avoid that penalty, then switch back to a cheaper plan during the next billing cycle.
You need to have an eligible printer. Since this is a new program, the list is pretty short. But we think the HP Envy 5530 is the best bet for occasional users (more on that later). Your printer also needs to have internet access (your wireless network counts). That’s so it can phone home to track your page count, as well as to request a fresh ink tank when it starts to run low—yes, HP automatically sends you a new cartridge (plus a recycling envelope), no action required.
posted by Huck500 at 11:38 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
That said, here's some info from The Wirecutter that may apply, depending on how much printing you do and what you print:
HP Instant Ink uses a different model. Instead of paying for a certain volume of ink, you pay for a chunk of pages, and HP gives you as much ink as you need. If you only print very occasionally, with long gaps between uses, this is the best way to print in color at home.
Here’s how it works: You sign up for a monthly plan. The cheapest is $3, less than one foofy drink at Starbucks. That lets you print up to 50 pages per billing cycle. When you break it down, that works out to 6 cents per page. That’s a crappy rate for text (usually 3.5 cents on a printer like this), a great rate for a document with color, and a phenomenal rate for photos, which can use $1 of ink on their own. (Seriously, you can really abuse this plan if you print a lot of photos.) Unused pages (up to one month’s worth) roll over. If you overshoot your plan, HP will charge you a penalty rate for a chunk of extra pages, but you can switch to a higher-volume plan on your own at any time to avoid that penalty, then switch back to a cheaper plan during the next billing cycle.
You need to have an eligible printer. Since this is a new program, the list is pretty short. But we think the HP Envy 5530 is the best bet for occasional users (more on that later). Your printer also needs to have internet access (your wireless network counts). That’s so it can phone home to track your page count, as well as to request a fresh ink tank when it starts to run low—yes, HP automatically sends you a new cartridge (plus a recycling envelope), no action required.
posted by Huck500 at 11:38 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love my $90 Brother B/W laser printer. The killer feature over an inkjet printer is that the ink never dries out.
You can get third party toner, for cheap (2600 printed pages for $13).
posted by gregr at 11:44 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
You can get third party toner, for cheap (2600 printed pages for $13).
posted by gregr at 11:44 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
I bought a $100 brother laser printer 7 years ago and I will never ever ever ever ever go back
posted by kbanas at 11:53 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by kbanas at 11:53 AM on August 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I am now seeking another inkjet which: supports 3rd party cartridges, and will still print B&W if the color is empty.
Many of the new fangled printers have well documented "reset" procedures that will trick the printer into believing that an ink cartridge is full. For other printers, there are procedures that will trick it into believing that it has a genuine cartridge. For any printer that catches your eye, I'd do a search for "[printer model] ink reset" or [printer model] refill reset] to see if the procedure required would be too onerous.
That being said, I am going to join the chorus and encourage you to at least look at color laser printers.
I am not looking for a laser printer. I don't really print enough pages at a time to justify it. Seriously, the old 740 took ink cartridges that cost a dollar apiece; it's harder to get a lower cost of ownership.
The fact that you don't print often, if anything, is a major point in favor of laser. Ink is liquid. When you go long periods in between printing cartridges dry up or ink jams in the nozzles, etc. etc. Toner doesn't work that way, and laser printers (and toner) have gotten so much cheaper over the years. I bought the equivalent of this multi-function color laser for $430 in 2012. If it hadn't paid for itself in that first month by printing my wedding stationery, it would have done so over the years in just not having to finangle ink cartridges (I've replaced the toner once). The replacement that I linked is $260, and it is better than mine because mine doesn't have wireless support.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:39 PM on August 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Many of the new fangled printers have well documented "reset" procedures that will trick the printer into believing that an ink cartridge is full. For other printers, there are procedures that will trick it into believing that it has a genuine cartridge. For any printer that catches your eye, I'd do a search for "[printer model] ink reset" or [printer model] refill reset] to see if the procedure required would be too onerous.
That being said, I am going to join the chorus and encourage you to at least look at color laser printers.
I am not looking for a laser printer. I don't really print enough pages at a time to justify it. Seriously, the old 740 took ink cartridges that cost a dollar apiece; it's harder to get a lower cost of ownership.
The fact that you don't print often, if anything, is a major point in favor of laser. Ink is liquid. When you go long periods in between printing cartridges dry up or ink jams in the nozzles, etc. etc. Toner doesn't work that way, and laser printers (and toner) have gotten so much cheaper over the years. I bought the equivalent of this multi-function color laser for $430 in 2012. If it hadn't paid for itself in that first month by printing my wedding stationery, it would have done so over the years in just not having to finangle ink cartridges (I've replaced the toner once). The replacement that I linked is $260, and it is better than mine because mine doesn't have wireless support.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:39 PM on August 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
The fact that you don't print often, if anything, is a major point in favor of laser. Ink is liquid. When you go long periods in between printing cartridges dry up or ink jams in the nozzles, etc. etc. Toner doesn't work that way, and laser printers (and toner) have gotten so much cheaper over the years.
I bought a Samsung b&w laser printer a few years ago after I got fed up with the costly, drying-up cartridges for my infrequently-used color inkjet. Sometimes months and even seasons go by without me printing anything, and then it's usually just black text on a white background, so a laser printer seemed like the ideal solution (having heard the same arguments people are offering here wrt laser printers).
Alas, after one particularly lengthy stretch of disuse, I fired up the Samsung to print out a journal article only to discover—upon inspecting the freshly-printed document—that in addition to the flawlessly-printed text, each page now boasted an unsightly number of short horizontal lines off to one side of the page. Apparently, this is what can happen if you don't print anything on a laser printer for a long time, and there doesn't seem to be any easy way for mere mortals to get in there to clean the damn thing. It would have been nice to have been forewarned of this possible consequence of not using the printer for long periods by the manufacturer or the retailer, but I guess that's just too much to ask!
posted by tenderly at 4:20 PM on August 19, 2016
I bought a Samsung b&w laser printer a few years ago after I got fed up with the costly, drying-up cartridges for my infrequently-used color inkjet. Sometimes months and even seasons go by without me printing anything, and then it's usually just black text on a white background, so a laser printer seemed like the ideal solution (having heard the same arguments people are offering here wrt laser printers).
Alas, after one particularly lengthy stretch of disuse, I fired up the Samsung to print out a journal article only to discover—upon inspecting the freshly-printed document—that in addition to the flawlessly-printed text, each page now boasted an unsightly number of short horizontal lines off to one side of the page. Apparently, this is what can happen if you don't print anything on a laser printer for a long time, and there doesn't seem to be any easy way for mere mortals to get in there to clean the damn thing. It would have been nice to have been forewarned of this possible consequence of not using the printer for long periods by the manufacturer or the retailer, but I guess that's just too much to ask!
posted by tenderly at 4:20 PM on August 19, 2016
Response by poster: What tenderly said is why I am shunning laser printers for my meagre printing needs. I still miss my LaserJet 5m, and its lovely zebra-striped printouts. My father has a Brother 2140 which does indeed provide lovely, cheap B&W printouts, so if I was looking for that sort of thing, I would definitely look at that.
Thanks for the food for thought, everyone, and especially to sparklemotion's advice about cunning reset procedures. I will look into that.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 1:56 PM on August 21, 2016
Thanks for the food for thought, everyone, and especially to sparklemotion's advice about cunning reset procedures. I will look into that.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 1:56 PM on August 21, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:31 AM on August 19, 2016