amyrobynne Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 My all-in-one inkjet isn't feeding paper anymore and I'm checking out the OfficeMax circular, trying to figure out what a new one would cost. First, has anyone had a printer fixed? Is there any chance it's cheaper than replacing it? Of course I just replaced the ink and have another one waiting. Second, if we replace it and switch to laser, will I miss color printing? I print in color sometimes now, but I'm not sure how often it's necessary, just desirable. How much cheaper is it to run a laser printer? I'm looking at the Brother 7360 and high-yield toner costs $72 and says it prints 2600 pages vs my current inkjet cartridges which cost $23 and print 460 pages. Our current printer won't let us use generic ink. Do Brother laser printers generally let you use generic ink? That would help so much. That Brother would cost $120 at OfficeMax this week after trade-ins and discounts. It doesn't do double-sided, which would be a nice touch but does do wireless printing which would be handy with the iPad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I have both. I like my canon laser all in one for scanning old documents, fast printing (no drying time) and cost cheaper per piece. However there is no generic toner for my laser so toner cost is close to $80. I like the color of inkjets. However since I seldom use, the ink in the cartridge would dry out as well as the contact points on the inkjet. There are generic for my inkjet but i have not tried. When we had paper jamming issues on our printer's paper tray, we use manual feed. When it is jammed at output, it is usually cheaper to buy a replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 You can see if you can clean the paper pickup rollers of your current printer - take a damp cloth and try to get in there and clean them. It might help! My officejet is as cheap or cheaper than a laser. I don't run generic cartridges in my printers while they are under warranty, and because my current printer is "cheap" to print, I just use the HP cartridges (and they are pigment ink, so should last if I want to print any pictures on it). WHen I was printer shopping I used the printer round up at Consumer Reports to shop cost per page. I get more than the rated pages from my cartridges because I am really good about using draft to print. I have presets saved on my mac with them and it is just easy to do. When I had my older brother laser, I still had an inkjet available to me. I needed color! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 i have a cheap color inkjet and a wireless b&w laser. i rarely print curriculum so it doesnt get huge use. i actually leave the inkjet unplugged, we use color so seldom. i love my laser printer and love printing from my ipad, but i did have to do some work to get it to work right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I love my laser printer. I hated my color inkjets, although my last one was in regular use over 8 or so years ago. I found inkjet would smear a lot more. I do sometimes miss color printing, but I am far less frustrated with my laser than I was with the inkjets. Yes, a cartridge is expensive but mine lasts me at least a couple of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 When you price toner, make sure you check Amazon and other places. My brother toner is $70+ at the office supply stores, but only $44 on Amazon - name brand, high yield. I love duplex printing and would not do without it in a laser. I do still have occasional color printing needs. I keep my old HP for that reason. My DH has an HP OfficeJet 8600, and it's very cheap to print, plus it has duplex scanning ability - LOVE that for homeschooling! I think it's still cheaper to print on my brother (2270), but it's not a huge difference like the old ink jets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dahliarw Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I just went from a color inkjet to a brother wireless laser printer and I LOVE it. I still have my inkjet, but I have not used it since I got the laser printer (3 months ago), but I figure I might so I kept it. I haven't had to buy replacement toner yet, but expect at some point I will since I print a lot, but it comes out cheaper per page then my inkjet did, even paying full price for toner. If you go fully laser, you could alway send out to fedex home office for color prints if you just need a few here or there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyrobynne Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Boscopup, you're right -- the Brother toner I'd need is $42 on Amazon. Great to know! That's free shipping too! Can I just auto-like everything you post? Your boys are near the same ages as mine but you have extra years' homeschooling experience and know all the things I'm trying to figure out. I'm scared to try to clean the printer feeder things, but my husband mentioned the possibility, so we probably ought to try that and just go for the Brother laser if it fails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 btw, i also found a place that sells refilled toner cartridges . .cartridge world, maybe? i got one there and havent had any problems - cheaper than amazon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I just gave up my brother for a new HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus. I love duplex. I love AirPrint for my ipad. We'll see how it goes, supposedly it will be cheaper per page than the laser printing black draft. Even then I find myself turning down the ink level. Time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I have the older generation of that printer, I love it!!!! I don't have AirPrint, but well, the printer still prints great, so um, I'm not buying a new one :D There is rarely stuff I have to print not on draft, and I swear I go eons on the cartridges. Which is nice! Yellow is about to be out here tho, so the kids are banned from color because I can't buy a new one yet and I needed to make sure I could print this last week of my school. Happy printing!!! Eta: and I went from a borer laser to it too, I didn't want to buy the service kit for the brother and the lid wasn't staying closed all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Ok, I went back and priced the ink for the HP 8600 that my DH has. I think when I last looked, I wasn't seeing the 2300 page high yield black ink. That makes it a teeny tiny fraction of a cent cheaper per page, believe it or not! Literally, about a hundredth of a cent difference. And that's comparing expected yields, not actual yields. I know I print on "toner save mode" on my Brother 99.9% of the time, so I get way more than the 2600 pages on that toner. The starter toner that came with it is rated for 700, IIRC, and I got over 1000 pages on it. I imagine using fast draft on the HP would probably give similar results, but I haven't tested it yet. My DH hasn't had to replace the cartridges so far, and he's had the unit since May last year, I think? Obviously, he isn't printing like a homeschool mom. ;) So both of those printers cost about 1.6 cents per page for ink/toner. Pretty impressive. If I had to choose between the two, it'd be the HP hands down, simply because of the duplex scanning features. I stuck my Sonlight IG in the tray, and with a press of the button, had it all scanned to a PDF on a USB stick, so I could print out what I wanted, when I wanted. Duplex scanning is awesome for homeschooling!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 My HP doesn't duplex scan, but last year I bought myself a Fujitsu ScanSnap printer - the 1300 one, the "small" one - and um yup, double sided scanning is DA BOMB. I am so not sure how on earth I lived without such an amazing thing all those years..... I honestly have no idea how many pages I get on my HP - I change the cartridges so infrequently that I can't track it with everything else going on. I just know that on fast draft, I buy black ink less often that I bought toner for the brother - and it is cheaper. I also used the toner saver on the Brother and there was stuff it didn't work so great on - but the HP could do them because it could lighten the amount of ink too. Oh, and be sure on the HP that you have picked, "BLACK ONLY" for the B&W, otherwise it uses the color to make gray - so it is prettier. UGH, forget that people!! It is a choice in the driver in the Mac, I have no clue how to do it on Windows, but I assume it is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I always read these printer threads. I still have not replaced my printer. Was it Summer or Fall when mine broke? I am SO overcomplicating this. I have gone to such lengths to find teaching methods that don't require a printer. I'm being dumb; I know I am. I think I need an intervention. :lol: No advice, just :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I just got a Brother laser monochrome printer for $77. I love it. It's fast, even duplexing it prints faster than my Kodak color printer. Clear print and very easy to use. We still have our Kodak, dh uses it for work. I haven't yet needed it for color as everything I print doesn't need color. Most of my curriculum is in pdf form so the math worksheets and some science, and some language arts needs to be printed. Anything that needs to be read I just leave on my ipad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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