Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with printer

Recommendation for dual tray, same document mixed PDF capable printer

queue_strategy — Sun, 26 May 2013 07:46:08 -0800

Looking to help my sister purchase a new printer for her small business. The unit must be able to switch format sizes (legal/letter) on the fly in a single PDF document. I know someone out there is doing this, please help! Here are the main criteria:

1) must be a laser jet for the proper business document quality
2) only simple monochrome needed, no fax, scanner, copying or color capabilities needed.
3) as fast as possible -- close to 40+ ppm
4) cost under $1000, ideally closer $500
5) dual tray that can handle printing large (100+ pages) of mixed letter and legal pages in the same document.

Point #5 has been the most difficult to verify. The issue is the same as this previous question posted almost 6 years ago.
The printer must be able to handle multiple switches from letter to legal and back again. Here's a simple 3 page test document.

I've read many horror stories about people buying brand new printers to solve this problem, but finding the device fails to perform the function. Looking for a recommendation with 100% verification of same document mixed format printing -- either because you do it yourself or you've successfully printed the test doc.

One candidate we've been looking at is the HP P3015x, which nails the first 4 criteria, but whether it can do #5 is unknown.

Many thanks for your help in our search!

Quick Refillable Laser Printer

Static Vagabond — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:17:08 -0800

I'm looking for a fast laser printer (black and white is fine) with low running costs and not too invasive software. Ideally one with separate toner and drum cartridges and easily refillable from non-official sources. I bought the perfect printer last year, a Dell 5130CDN, we're able to refill it with a third party refill toner kit easily, because the Dell toner cartridges just let you slide open a hatch and pour more in, no melting holes, and replace a chip. Means refills are now ~$100 to print 12-18k pages, wonderful.

The only downside is the printer is the size of a small horse, so needs it's own desk to sit on in the corner of the office.

I need to buy another printer, to sit on someone's desk, that ideally is just as cheap and easy to refill as the Dell has been.

Given the choice, I'd prefer it not to be HP as their software seems to be getting worse and worse with each passing generation, but if you've had good experiences with them, please do share.

What's the least worst option? :)

My Brother wireless printer doesn't work after resetting my laptop.

The Card Cheat — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:13:09 -0800

I have a MacBook running OS X 10.6.8 and a Brother HL-2270DW printer. This morning I had to reset my entire system using Time Machine; everything else is up and running, but the printer doesn't work. I've tried reinstalling it with the printer setup disc, but the laptop won't detect our wireless connection when I get to that step (it suggests disabling my personal firewall, but I don't have one set up.), and the laptop won't let me add any printers in System Preferences. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated, because I've spent all afternoon trying to figure this out.

Am I at the mercy of big ink?

dust of the stars — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:50:24 -0800

Canon Pixma printer purchased in US, specified ink cartridges not available in Asia where I live, BUT there is a different model number that looks exactly the same. Can I use it? Incredibly prescise question, but I've seen askme work wonders before. I have a Canon Pixma 490 purchased in US. Specified ink is CL-210XL (black) CL-211XL (color). Those are not available here in Hong Kong where I live now. BUT, there is a CL-810XL /CL-811XL that look EXACTLY the same save the model number. Canon customer service, both in US and here, say I can't use those and have to buy a new printer or have ink shipped from US. Can anyone say definitively I can use this ink? (Yes, I bought some by mistake--because it looks exactly the same--and can't return it.)

All-in-one printer/scanner/copier/fax recommendations ?

fizzix — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:59:30 -0800

March 2013 edition ! A non-profit that I volunteer with is looking to buy a new all-in-one machine to do its printing, scanning, copying, and faxing for its office. Non-profit uses windows. Initial budget is $300-500. Other pluses: Dual-sided printing Most of the printing will be in b&w but will occasionally need to print in color (not for photos but for small logos on flyers, etc). What should I recommend to them ? Laser ? Inkjet, no right ? They'd rather not since space is at a premium there.

Inkjet duplex printing - How does it work?

thirdgrader — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 14:02:48 -0800

I just got a cheap-o HP printer that features two sided printing. It seems to print on one side, suck the paper back in, and print on the other side. Does anyone know how this works? Does it flip the paper over? My guess is that it loops it back in (back facing down), probably raises the heads, and "prints upside down" the other side. But I'd love to see a diagram or video. Can't find one, though.

Recommendations for a desktop printer that plays well with DVDs/CDs

ethel — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:33:06 -0800

My work has to produce sometimes one, sometimes two at most DVDs when we do a transfer of an older video recording to digital file. We're looking to purchase a desktop printer for use with DVDs, and I'm hoping the mefi community has recommendations! Right now we have a Epson RX595 and have about $400-500 in the budget to purchase a new printer. Does anyone out there have a good recommendation for a printer that works well with printable DVDs in particular? I'm not seeing a lot of reviews specific to printing on these surfaces ("printable" DVDs)

I did a little research and it looks like dye based inks are bad for printing on surfaces that aren't paper because any droplet of water will smear the ink.. Otherwise we are just looking for others who have had good experiences especially for machines that are used quite a bit! Thanks in advance!

Airprint works...and is lame.

SampleSize — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:27:10 -0800

Is there a better printing app for the iPad than HP eprint or Apple Airprint? One that allows you to print directly to a printer over wifi (i.e., without having another computer running and connected to the network), offers legal size printing and photo print sizes other than 4x6? Thanks!

Looking for a printer in Manhattan

avocet — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:39:43 -0800

Looking for a solid, reliable printer in midtown Manhattan (preferably). I'm designing a program for a memorial service that will be taking place there next month but I'm located out of town and don't have any NYC designer contacts. The files will be ready well in advance so we won't need superquick turnaround. Can the hivemind recommend anyone? Thanks!

Printer sharing XP and Windows 8

queue_strategy — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:46:27 -0800

Windows networking woes. Windows 8 laptop will not install the drivers for an HP printer that is attached to an XP desktop. Help! Both machines are connected to a wireless network. The printer is visible to the Win 8 laptop, and the driver installation starts, but ends with the 0x00000214 error.
Tried a lot to remedy this including setting up a local port and entering the full network name of the printer. The printer is an expensive high speed model, so its not just a matter of buying a new wireless printer.

Anybody had this problem and found solutions to make this work? Help!

Why are Epson printers the devil?

masquesoporfavor — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:07:52 -0800

Why won't my black ink print?! I have an Epson WorkForce 600. It has been working fine for its whole life (3 years?) up until now!

I was out of black ink, so I bought a black ink cartridge and installed it. The printer then said it also needed magenta ink. I went and bought some and installed it. I ran all the utilities (nozzle check, head cleaning, alignment check) and tried to print. Things are printing EXCEPT black. I went and bought another cartridge just in case, and it still won't print black. When I do an alignment check, no black shows up though there are some random smudges. If I try to print in only black, it makes all the noises like it's printing, but when the page comes out, it's blank. There are no error messages on the printer.

I called Epson support and they were useless. They wanted me to turn it off and on and run the utilities and try another cartridge. Barring that, I'm out of warranty and I could pay someone to look at it, but...seriously? I have a feeling there is nothing wrong that I can't fix!

Googling hasn't been helpful. I really need to print off some postage labels for some clothes I sold online, so time is of the essence.

Any advice you've got is beyond appreciated. My advice to you is never buy an Epson printer! This problem sucks AND they won't print in grayscale if you're out of any color, so you're constantly buying ink. Whee!

Printer for Mac

gteffertz — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:09:03 -0800

My spouse needs a new all-in-one printer for her office Mac. It needs to do all of the usual all-in-one functions - print, scan, copy, fax. She does occasionally need to print in color. The most important criterion is that it play well with the Mac - both with set-up and with the individual functions. She is considering the HP 8600+, but she has had issues in the past with an HP printer getting along with the Mac. The Mac is a Mini running Mountain Lion. Volume of use is fairly light.

Laser printer won't share itself

dance — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:24:45 -0800

Are some laser printers wholly resistant to sharing? I have a Samsung ML1660 and I cannot share it via the network no matter what I try. I get the "access is denied" message. I've tried the "add a local port" trick, I've tried various enablings of guest accounts and enablings of file/printer sharing. I've tried creating an identical user account to the connecting account on the host machine....

I've even tried connecting the printer via USB to an Airport Express and trying to print via Bonjour. No dice.

Any tips? As I say, are some printers just not sharable?

Many thanks

Help me find a good, inexpensive place to buy HP toner cartridges

unceman — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 10:17:28 -0800

Best place to buy replacement toner cartridges for home HP Laser printer? Buying the HP toner costs arm and/or leg at your typical big box stores. Would like to find a cheaper, reputable place to buy toner. Can't find one among all the sketchy places that look like cheaptoner.biz and buy-toner-from-us.com. Please help

Photoshop Elements or Photoshop for High Quality Printing?

jammy — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:44:48 -0800

The question: Photoshop or Photoshop Elements? The job: printing high-quality photographic prints on an Epson R2400. I have a photographer friend who is about to purchase an Epson R2400 for printing high-quality photographic prints.

They already have Photoshop Elements but they are concerned that managing the color won't be as fine-grained as Photoshop. Do they need Photoshop or will Photoshop Elements do them just fine?

I have looked at spec comparisons of the two but I haven't seen anything specifically about printing and managing color profiles.

Best way to share a printer?

nickhb — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:49:41 -0800

Best way to share a printer (and/or set up a print server) in a college dorm? So my brother is starting college this month. He and his roommate are sharing a printer. If they have to, they can just plug or unplug their computers from the printer whenever they need to print, but that seems tedious. Ideally I would like to help him set up a print server so that either of them can print to the printer at any time, whether or not the printer is plugged into one of the laptops, but I'm open to other suggestions.

The dorm has both wired and wireless internet, explained roughly here. I would also like it if their computers and the printer were somehow isolated from the rest of the network, to prevent everyone and their mother from printing to it.

Thoughts?

How can I print to a Post-It on a budget?

NBJack — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 11:11:00 -0800

I'm looking for the ability to print to a post-it. 3M wants too much. Any knock-offs or alternatives I could try? Must fit in a standard print tray. Ideally, I can print straight to the medium and cut/tear/punch them out to post on a wall. 3M has printable post-it paper, but the costs seem to be around $0.50 per post-it. I'd prefer the cost to be a tenth of that, even if I can only get it in bulk.

I'm willing to hear any alternatives. Other things that would work:

A tiny printer (no really)

Post-it-like glue for any paper surface

Post-it-like adhesive tape

Printing services that can make something like this for a reasonable cost

Bonus points if I can choose the color.

When using the cleaning cycle on an inkjet printer, where does the ink go?

Caviar — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:52:26 -0800

When using the cleaning cycle on an inkjet printer, where does the ink go? Specifically, I have a Canon Pro9000. I've run several cleaning cycles and it's used up a fair amount of ink. Where does that ink go, and is there some receptacle that needs to be emptied if I run too many cleaning cycles?

Need spine and pocket label printer options

Riverine — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:10:07 -0800

The library's decades-old Okidata label printer is on its way out. How does your library print spine and pocket labels? Like many libraries, mine is shifting to a new way to print pocket AND spine labels. I got a Zebra thermal printer (GX420t) but it does not appear to be able to print both types of labels. I have some evidence that the Zebra TLP2844 can do this, but the vendor doesn't offer any help, and my info is from blog posts and listservs from a few years ago.

How is your library generating labels? Is it all outsourced?

We are using OCLC Connexion client and Koha.

When was the French printer "Panet & Imbert" in operation?

kirsti — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 18:44:15 -0800

I have an antique French olive oil label. The printer's name and location appear in small print at the bottom: "Panet & Imbert" - Marseille". I would like to know when this printer was in operation. I have not found anything useful about this on the Internet.

JLLERT - German printer?

kirsti — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:31:11 -0800

Information on JLLERT (German printer?). I have an old German olive oil label. I am trying to determine just how old it is. In small print, it reads "JLLERT No. 7516 (or 4516)". I suspect that JLLERT is the printer's name. The label was used by August Grill (Schorndorf), a store that was in operation from 1912 to 1965. I would like to know when JLLERT was in operation.

How to group these HP LaserJet printers?

macsigler — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:46:55 -0800

Logical groupings for list of HP LaserJet printers? As part of my work, my boss is asking me to overhaul our website. One of the pages has a huge unordered list of HP printers. I'd like to know what the logical groupings could be (i.e. series, family, etc.) for these printers, since I know next to nothing about the subject other than basic use.

The list follows:

3000
P3005
P3010
P3015
M3035MFP
CP3505
CP3525
CP3800
CM3530MFP
P4014
P4015
CP4025
M4345MFP
P4515
CP4525
M5035MFP
CP6015
CM6030
CM6040
P4510
CM8050MFP
CM8060MFP
M9040MFP
M9050MFP
2410
2420
2430
4240
4250
4345MFP
4350
4650
4700
CM4730MFP
5200
5550
9040
9040MFP
9050
9050MFP
9500MFP
2100
3300MFP
3320MFP
3330MFP
3700
4000
4050
4100
4100MFP
4200
4300
4550
4600
5000
5100
5500
8000
8000MFP
8100
8100MFP
8150
8150MFP
9000
9000MFP
9055MFP
9065MFP
9500
1100
1300
2100
2200
2300
2605
3300
P2050
P2055

There is probably an easy solution to this, but damned if I can find it.

désoeuvrée — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:14:37 -0800

I have a Macbook with OS X 10.5.8 and Firefox 13.0.1. The printing scale under File -> Page Setup in Firefox has randomly started defaulting to 60%. So every time I restart Firefox, I have to go in there and change it back to 100% before I print anything. I can't figure out how to change it back. Is this a Firefox thing, or a printer thing? I have an HP Officejet J6480 All-In-One (which has never played well with my Mac and is generally a pain in the ass--if the problem is with my printer settings, I wouldn't even be sure how to fix it because there's a whole mess of HP software and none of it makes sense to me even after 4 years--there are at least three different places to adjust various printer settings and I can't find what I'm looking for in any of them). Thanks in advance for any help.

Can you help me replace my printer with a better one?

mireille — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:34:08 -0800

Can you help me pick out a new multifunction printer/fax/scanner? My (small business) office printer died. It's okay, I hated it anyways. But I need to buy a new one pretty much immediately. Every printer gets mediocre reviews online (and rightfully so, they're all awful in their own special ways)-- but I'm hoping someone here can make a recommendation? Specs included. We have a color inkjet for 11x17s, but I need a small/efficient laser workhorse for everyday printing.

Here's what I need it to do:
-- Print/Copy (Laser, B/W only, fast is good but I mostly print single-page docs at a time and usually <50 pages per day so it's not a huge deal, and letter size only is fine)
-- Fax (with "phone book" number storage)
-- Scan (B/W and color, must scan to PDF and must not be a pain in the ass about it)

It should also:
-- Hold a quarter-ream or so of paper at a time
-- Network (I'll plug it directly into the router, two PCs will be accessing it wirelessly)
-- Have a decent interface when I access the IP in my browser (which should be able to be set as "static", but maybe that's an option in all of them, not sure)
-- Be available in Canada (they usually just have a slightly different model number of any US one)
-- Be, say, $500 or less (CAD)

An extremely short list of the things I hated about the now-dead one:
--- I take my laptop home every night. Every morning when I come in my laptops connects automatically to the network but this printer wouldn't recognize the connection and every morning I had to convince it that it was already friends with my computer-- twenty clicks. That also meant that I either had to reset all of my PDF preferences (annoying, another 15 clicks) or else select everything per scan which meant pressing sixteen options on the printer itself to get the scan I needed.
--- I fully get that a laser printer has to heat up to bond the toner to the page, but this printer went through the warm-up cycle even when I told it I was going to fax or scan something. I'm mostly alone in my office so I can just keep swearing at it like a sailor, but it'd be awesome if they make newer ones that aren't so fucking stupid.

Things that are not important:
-- Touch screen
-- Print from USB
-- Color (have a small one of those already)
-- Printing anything bigger than "letter" size
-- Duplex printing or copying

And finally, I can't lease due to my very remote location, so I'm looking to buy and hoping that it will last me ~4-5 years if I manage to keep the welding and general machine shop dust out of it (well, better than I did this last one, anyways!)

Thanks so much!

Please help me find the perfect printer(s) for my project!

perpetual lurker — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:35:38 -0800

Please help me find the perfect printer(s) for my project! I have been tasked with finding two printers for a biannual, week-long work project: one black & white printer, which will handle 75% of project-related print jobs, and one color printer for the remaining 25%.

Required features for both printers:

1) Must be FAST! We produce a large amount of small print jobs (50-200 copies each) on a very limited schedule, so a fast printer can literally save us hours per day.

2) Must use toner/drum that can be purchased from a typical OfficeMax / Staples-type office supply store. We order all the toner we think we'll need and then some in advance, but we MUST be able to purchase last-minute backups if needed. Difficulty: largest major city is more than 2 hours away, but there is an office supply store within a 30 min drive.

3) Must run smoothly, aka not be prone to paper jams or other errors. Obviously all printers are susceptible to these types of things, but I'd like to avoid anything where this is a known issue.

4) Must be able to print on cardstock.

5) Copy and scan functionality a plus, but definitely not required. Same with double-sided printing, although this is probably more important than the other two features.

Cost is always a factor, of course, so nothing too extravagant, but the powers that be are definitely willing to pay a premium for something fast & reliable. Aside from these incredibly busy two weeks a year, both printers will be in storage, so nothing too fragile or that can't easily be boxed up.

Any brand, series, or model number suggestions welcome, up to and including specific printers to avoid. It seems like we have incredibly frustrating and project-stopping printer issues every time this comes up, and I'd really like to save myself and my team from unnecessary stress and late hours this time around. Thanks in advance!