Mindovermaster Moderator Posted December 12, 2014 Moderator Share Posted December 12, 2014 I'm not looking to buy a printer, but rather asking you, what do you do with yours? I ask this because my mom is getting paranoid over this. And I just want your input. Here's my questions: - Do you leave your printer on 24/7, or do you turn it off at night, when you leave? -- My mom says to turn it off at night and away, you aren't going to be using it then. I just can't think of any answer to counter that. - Do you do full prints or fast prints, to preserve black/colored ink? --My mom says to preserve your ink. In my case, I say you better use it up, or your cartridge of ink is going to dry up. I never, in the last 14-ish years do fast print. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aergan Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Ink cartridges in ink-jet type printers have a finite life span once the seals are broken - it will not last forever. Doing a draft or eco print isn't going to harm the printer or the cartridges. You may get more pages per cartridge as a result, but you may also potentially waste a load of paper if the quality doesn't meet expectations. I would instead only worry about the print-head. If you stop the ink flow for a long period of time it can start to dry up within the channels and thus, wreck the print-head. Each full power-cycle will consume ink as it performs a print-head clean cycle to attempt to keep the ink flowing, prevent print-head damage and waste some ink. Theoretically, you could empty cartridges by performing a full power off and on again, over and over - but it would take you a good while. Kodak, HP and Lexmark charge ludicrous amounts for a replacement and often will guide you to buying their next iteration of the same printer you've been buying for the last 14 years. If you own a craptastic HP like myself, I would advise the following if you have a similar model: Power saving mode, low power after 10mins, auto soft-off after 2hrs. I say soft-off because it does not always perform maintenance tasks on start up with this setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted December 13, 2014 Author Moderator Share Posted December 13, 2014 After 10-minutes it goes into sleep mode. Power button pulses on and off. It's an HP Deskjet 3050, if you're wondering. I just can't see what her issue is. It's not the electricity price. She worrying about radiation? Please, gawd... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAZMINATOR Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 After 10-minutes it goes into sleep mode. Power button pulses on and off. It's an HP Deskjet 3050, if you're wondering. I just can't see what her issue is. It's not the electricity price. She worrying about radiation? Please, gawd... Just tell her .. that's normal... Same to all modern printers to everyone that same way like that printer you talked about... Modern printers have auto-sleep function these days. My printer does that but I haven't used it for awhile now... unless I need it for documents, taxes, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex I. Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 If you don't print a lot of color paper work, then I advise you buy a laser printer. They are far more convenient, and cheaper in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 If you don't print a lot of color paper work, then I advise you buy a laser printer. They are far more convenient, and cheaper in the long run. Toner is freaking expensive where i live. Also the cost of repair / maintenance of a laser printer is very high. I do turn on and off the printer, only stays on for printing since i rarely print. Oh and the draft is good only for saving ink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted December 16, 2014 MVC Share Posted December 16, 2014 "Also the cost of repair / maintenance of a laser printer is very high" Unless you were buying a 10k$ professional office printer, etc.. Why would you repair a $200 item?? What maint do you think needs to be done on it? You buy it, use it til it dies or a better faster cheaper comes out and this one is out of ink and it makes more sense to buy a new one. I have color laser - it was like $187 last xmas - still on same ink it came with. Lots of ink left, and life on the other parts is not even touched. Pretty close to like a page a day on total count. I would think this printer will last me through this ink and one purchase of ink.. Which I see here for $80 that includes 2x black http://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Cartridge-Replacement-Brother-Magenta/dp/B00H900VTO/ref=pd_sim_e_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=12511Q4TTB3ZGBXGX2ZB And those are suppose to print like 2200 pages, so at this rate that would last me 5 or 6 years.. Clearly it would be time for a new printer by then ;) Toner doesn't dry out like inkjet ink and is way cheaper in the long run - how many pages of black do you get out of one of those tiny inkjet inks? As for power the thing uses like <1w on standby and if I send it something to print, first page is out in less 30 seconds. How fast does inkjet print? What 10 pages a minute? Laser going to be 2x or not 3x that speed. I would never in a million years go back to inkjet printers.. If I was in the market today - prob get this one http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Printer-HLL8250CDN-Networking-Printing/dp/B00JBVWDC2 This is new model, 2 paper trays, etc. $269 -- Toner does like 4k pages.. How much ink do you get out of a inkjet xl cart 500? At what $50 a pop.. Does 30PPM, uses less than 1w standby. Time to first page less than 15 seconds.. Ink it comes with does 2500 pages.. If you do normal home printing you wont be buying any ink for years.. And again toner doesn't dry out ;) Why would anyone buy a inkjet?? Mindovermaster and Andre S. 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DConnell Member Posted December 16, 2014 Member Share Posted December 16, 2014 My brother bought our mom a color laser a few years back. She wasn't happy with the photo quality, so I bought her a dedicated photo printer as a supplement. When the laser ran out of toner, she absolutely refused to buy more, because it was "too expensive". Meanwhile she was printing to my inkjet for months, and doing the vast majority of the printing. It was certainly cheaper to use up MY ink than to buy toner for her own machine! One of the reasons I've decided to go laser, actually. She wouldn't believe me when I said it was cheaper over time than running an inkjet printer. Eventually she gave the thing away and bought another inkjet. Meanwhile, I replaced my color inkjet multifunction with a B/W laser one a few months back. I rarely print, and really didn't need color. As little printing as I do, the starter toner will last a while, and I don't have to worry about it drying out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted December 16, 2014 Veteran Share Posted December 16, 2014 A lot of color lasers the dpi quality is around 300-600, whereas an ink jet is above 1200-4800dpi. There is no comparison which printer wins as far as quality goes. Some people don't get that putting 50 bux in a printer once every 2 months vs putting in 300 every 3 years isn't very cost effective...they just see the 300 price tag and are immediately turned off. They would rather spend less but get hit more often than give away a big chunk of change when needed (look at car payments vs paying for the entire car up front.....if you pay for the entire car up front you can usually negotiate a better price than what your payments would bring you to but you do have to separate with a big chunk of cash vs those "small" monthly payments). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted December 16, 2014 MVC Share Posted December 16, 2014 Exactly, you don't print photos on laser no, not sure why anyone would print them at home when you can pick them up in less than hour at any corner store, cvs, walgreens, riteaid, or walmart, target, etc. At worse case 29 cents each.. Add up the paper and ink and printer to do that, how much do you think it cost ;) If you can wait a day or so you can have them shipped to you house for like 19 cents each with a $1 for shipping, etc. Who even prints out photos any more - you do it now and then. You have them on your phone, tablet, show them on your TV for gosh sake ;) We had some pictures of grand kids with santa for example we printed whole $2 at the local store for everyone to have a 4x6. So you print out a couple of photos, then you go out to print out a couple of more an the ink is dried up. Better to just pick them up at the corner store if you ask me. as to dpi, how much do you need? Unless your printing photos - which you don't do on a laser ;) Mine does 600 x 2400 dpi, so printing of pictures of say food on your recipe, look great to me. DConnell 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAZMINATOR Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 ^ Exactly! Also you can setup a gallery on the website if you want to and send the link to your family and friends if they live far away from you .... DConnell 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DConnell Member Posted December 16, 2014 Member Share Posted December 16, 2014 Exactly, you don't print photos on laser no, not sure why anyone would print them at home when you can pick them up in less than hour at any corner store, cvs, walgreens, riteaid, or walmart, target, etc. At worse case 29 cents each.. Add up the paper and ink and printer to do that, how much do you think it cost ;) If you can wait a day or so you can have them shipped to you house for like 19 cents each with a $1 for shipping, etc. Who even prints out photos any more - you do it now and then. You have them on your phone, tablet, show them on your TV for gosh sake ;) We had some pictures of grand kids with santa for example we printed whole $2 at the local store for everyone to have a 4x6. So you print out a couple of photos, then you go out to print out a couple of more an the ink is dried up. Better to just pick them up at the corner store if you ask me. She's old-fashioned and likes hard copy, especially of photos. One of the reasons she was constantly using up my ink is that she prints a lot of stuff like emails and order confirmations as well. She prints almost everything because she likes paper records. Me, I scan receipts and records to PDF because I tend to lose the paper. Its a lot harder for me to lose a regularly-backed up electronic copy. I prefer to keep it all, especially photos, electronic. When I can have entire galleries of photos on my phone and tablet, keeping a select few in my wallet seems completely unnecessary. Unless you plan on framing it and putting it on a wall, there's no reason to print a photo these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted December 16, 2014 MVC Share Posted December 16, 2014 ^ yup I have a site where I have photos and videos if friends and family want to see, etc. Who really prints out photos anymore? What I did when new grand grand son was born was made up a book of 20 some pictures.. Cost like $5, picked it up the same day.. We put funny captions in it, etc.. Good luck printing out something like that at home. And that $5 makes it easy to show pictures at the office, at lunch or something with friends and family.. edit: A monochrome laser which can be had for sub 100, and ink will last forever if your printing out emails and copies of orders and such.. is a much better by than any inkjet. If she likes photos, order then from like snapfish or shutterfly for like 9 cents each ;) Just do the math on printer, ink and paper to print up say 600 photos which you can get at shutterfly for 9 cents each.. See which is more cost effective ;) even if you have it shipped its cheaper to just have someone else print them. Even at $29 each from corner store your talking $174.. Paper alone will cost $100 for 600, just looked canon 100 sheets 4x6 $18.. Now how much for the printer and ink? DConnell 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Fahim S. MVC Posted December 16, 2014 MVC Share Posted December 16, 2014 I have a colour laser printer, connected to my network and it stays on 24x7. It requires very little maintenance other than to load paper into it. We use it to print stuff that we actually need to print (documents, letters etc.) I think I spent ?180 or so on it about 5 years ago. I have replaced the toner on it once, to the tune of about ?200. I doubt that I will replace the toner again on this one, opting to buy a new printer instead (another networked colour laser, but this time with duplex printing and AirPrint/CloudPrint support) and handing this one up/down, depending who needs a new printer. Having owned several inkjets, I don't think I will buy one again. Laser all the way I say. I don't print photos, maintaining a photo quality inkjet and the paper is not worth the cost unless you print a lot of photos. Better going to the local supermarket and printing things there. I think it is cheaper, if you think about the misprints, dried up cartridges etc - having said that I have never actually tried crunching the numbers on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted December 16, 2014 MVC Share Posted December 16, 2014 I prefer laser printers for my printing needs. I tend to buy OKI laser printers due to their high quality prints while still remaining very cost effective to operate. I don't turn my printer off at night as it is networked and accessible from a variety of computers. It is also centrally located in the basement and I live in a 3 story urban home so running up and down a few flights of stairs to turn a printer on and off wouldn't make me a very nice husband. In power save mode the printer uses under 5W of power so I'm fine leaving it on. I don't have to deal with ink drying issues as laser toner stores for a very long time. On my current laser I get 11.5K prints on a single toner cartridge. At about $80 (each) to replace I don't see myself running into any real issues in this arena. 11.5K pages is a ton of printing on a single cartridge. I won't exhaust the set that came with the printer for a few years at least. I concur with the overall sentiment in this thread. Buy laser if you need a printer. If you need inkjet quality you'll likely end up better off buying the prints one off from a print shop online or locally. For me, my laser is cheaper than anywhere I can go to commercially for regular printing and copying. DConnell 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted December 16, 2014 Veteran Share Posted December 16, 2014 I have no printer since the old one I had died and instead rely on the office printer for the rare times I need to print something. For the vanishingly rare occurence where I need to print something urgently and I'm not at the office, I go to my local Staples store. A bit expensive per page but it'll be many, many years before that exceeds the cost of an actual printer (which would have likely died by then). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted December 16, 2014 Author Moderator Share Posted December 16, 2014 What OKI printer do you have, LogicalApex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted December 17, 2014 MVC Share Posted December 17, 2014 What OKI printer do you have, LogicalApex? I have the OKI C711DN. I picked it up as my OKI C5200 has little life left on the belt and fuser. I could have just replaced those, but figured I'd just update the whole printer. Both work fantastically. OKI makes amazing printers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted December 17, 2014 Author Moderator Share Posted December 17, 2014 Sounds like what HP printers used to be. :laugh: I'll look into it ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123456789A Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 I use a big inkjet for 13"x19" photo printing and a cheap laser for printing out black & white internets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 i used to be a laser big fan, but lately the prices went up for laser printers and for me (again, for my needs), it's just not worthy; i have a 2004 HP inkjet that still kicks and i barely print anything at all; for photos i go to the local supermarket and for volumes... well i don't print volumes of paper lol but yeah, if laser printers were more cheaper that would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc302 Veteran Posted December 17, 2014 Veteran Share Posted December 17, 2014 You can pickup a b&w laser for about 100bux. Color still costs a bit more. if you want wireless it jumps a bit to around 200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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