Printers

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

Anyone had experience at work or home with Dell or Samsung entry-level B&W laser printers?

Looking for a personal network laser - basically just something that prints reliably, is cheaper than inkjet, and won't break the bank.

[Mark]

No experience with those particular brands, but will tell you that I snatched a wireless Brother MFP for like $150 on Amazon about two years ago and have been extremely satisfied with it.

Can even scan and print from my android phone.  Have only replaced the toner once and that was just earlier this year, maybe the beginning of summer or so.  We print a lot too.  I feel like my wife prints everything, I was printing a lot of stuff for school, and the kids print coloring pages all the time.

Getting a black and white laser printer at home is definitely cost effective.

I can't recall the model number off hand and I can't log in to my wife's Amazon account to find the order, but it was basically the black and white model of this one: http://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFC-7840W-Laser-Multifunction-Center/dp/B0016ZQ566/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1323181497&sr=8-14

[Jim Jensen]

I have a Dell 2205d. It works well and I like the quality and speed, but I don't know that it's cheap to run. Can't get any toner cartridges except for Dell. My local toner supplier sends me Dell cartridges. I don't know if they are reman/reprocessed or not - I don't think so because it wasn't much cheaper than buying at the office supply store or online.

[Jeff Zylstra]

My only experience with cheap lasers is to stay away from the ones that have a separate toner and drum.  We had an at home employee a few years ago who had one of these things, and it was pretty expensive to run when you considered the drum needed to be replaced with every other toner.  I came to the conclusion that it was only slightly less expensive to run than an ink jet.   

You could also probably pick up a used HP LaserJet printer pretty cheap.   I run an HP lasterjet 4 plus that has hundreds of thousands of prints on it, and still works just fine.  They're the Ford Taurus of printers.  Millions around, parts are cheap and so are toners.   The last few printers that I've bought have all been used HP LaserJets, including a used 4700 color printer, and I've been very happy with them.  If you buy a business class printer which costs a little more, the toner seems to be cheaper and the printer seems to last a lot longer and need less service as well.  JMO.

[Bob]

I use Dell and HP.   Dell printers are repackaged Lexmark and Xerox printers.  I've not had any problem finding better ink deals than Dell.  Staples is primarily where I get mine but also found in most office supply stores these days.  I also live in the Bay Area where we can find most anything.   I've been happy with mine. 

[Jim Jensen]

I use Dell and HP.   Dell printers are repackaged Lexmark and Xerox printers.  I've not had any problem finding better ink deals than Dell.  Staples is primarily where I get mine but also found in most office supply stores these days.  I also live in the Bay Area where we can find most anything.   I've been happy with mine. 

Perhaps the toner cost depends on the 'newness' of a printer model.

[Jeff Zylstra]

Perhaps the toner cost depends on the 'newness' of a printer model.

I've always thought that the cheaper the printer cost, the more expensive the consumables are.  Could be wrong on that, but it seems to be the case.

[Bob]

I agree with Jeff Z..  They can give you a printer for almost free but you'll pay more for consumables.

I have 3 Dell 3110dn color lasers and one 3115 MFD.   I also buy the high yield units.  They do go much farther than cheaper units.

[Jeff Golas]

Hint: go to the store. Find a printer you like...look up the toner #...go to toner section and see how much the toner is.

I bought a Brother MFC printer at a yard sale for $20...has wifi, duplexing, nic, etc. Thought I got a deal. Its out of toner and toner is $80. The printer was on sale I think for $100.

Now I'm using a Dell 1100? I got at a thrift shop for $5, and also 3 extra toners I got for $5 ea. I dont print much at home so this is fine.

[Mark]

Hint: go to the store. Find a printer you like...look up the toner #...go to toner section and see how much the toner is.

That's my recommendation always.

I bought a Brother MFC printer at a yard sale for $20...has wifi, duplexing, nic, etc. Thought I got a deal. Its out of toner and toner is $80. The printer was on sale I think for $100.

I think we paid $30 or $35 for our toner from Amazon.  Can't remember if it was the high volume toner, but don't care.  I'm sure the OEM toner wasn't high volume and it lasted plenty long.

[Jeff Zylstra]

Hint: go to the store. Find a printer you like...look up the toner #...go to toner section and see how much the toner is.

I bought a Brother MFC printer at a yard sale for $20...has wifi, duplexing, nic, etc. Thought I got a deal. Its out of toner and toner is $80. The printer was on sale I think for $100.

Now I'm using a Dell 1100? I got at a thrift shop for $5, and also 3 extra toners I got for $5 ea. I dont print much at home so this is fine.

I wouldn't call that a printer, I'd call that device and "ink kiosk"! 

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

resurrecting an HP LJ 4+ ... that should do the trick, next step is getting it on the home network, since it only has serial and parallel interfaces.

[Bob]

Maybe you can find an old jet direct for print server?

[Jeff Zylstra]

Maybe you can find an old jet direct for print server?

E-bay and Craigslist to the rescue!

[Mark]

Maybe you can find an old jet direct for print server?

E-bay and Craigslist to the rescue!

AU to the rescue!  Is a j7934a or a j6057a of any use?

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

Maybe you can find an old jet direct for print server?

E-bay and Craigslist to the rescue!

AU to the rescue!  Is a j7934a or a j6057a of any use?

dunno - are those cards or the little standalone print servers?

[Mark]

HP JetDirect Cards.  They are the smaller ones.  I think I might have a larger one if I haven't thrown it away yet.  will hed over and dig right now.

Here is a pic of the two models I mentioned.

[Mark]

Something tells me this is from an HP 3SI -- Assuming your LJ 4 is a 4SI, I have no idea if any of these are compatible.

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

HP JetDirect Cards.  They are the smaller ones.  I think I might have a larger one if I haven't thrown it away yet.  will hed over and dig right now.

Here is a pic of the two models I mentioned.

interesting... I will check the back of the 4Plus to see if it looks like it would accept something like that... have it hooked up to a BSD box, I'm trying to make into a CUPS print server.

[Mark]

interesting... I will check the back of the 4Plus to see if it looks like it would accept something like that... have it hooked up to a BSD box, I'm trying to make into a CUPS print server.

I did that for a while.  Would be nice if one of these cards fit in it thought because it's one less thing to plug in and pay for -- unless the BSD box is going to run additional services anyway.

[Jim Jensen]

Very interesting discussion here! I would not have ever thought about getting an old printer, but may consider doing so the next time I'm looking to put one somewhere like home.

[Hans Manhave]

Those big cards from HP3Si should work in 4 models and in 5 models.

I just verified that pulling the JetDirect from the worn out 4Si and putting it in the 5 was fine to do.  Still have to actually do it.

[Mark]

Those big cards from HP3Si should work in 4 models and in 5 models.

I just verified that pulling the JetDirect from the worn out 4Si and putting it in the 5 was fine to do.  Still have to actually do it.

BJK -- if you decide want to try the one from the 3si, we'll just need to coordinate shipping.  Let me know.

[Jeff Zylstra]

Very interesting discussion here! I would not have ever thought about getting an old printer, but may consider doing so the next time I'm looking to put one somewhere like home.

ROFL!  That's my "doomsday" equipment you're talking about!  I keep an old laser printer, old server and a couple of old workstations around in my basement in case my office is totally destroyed or otherwise non-functional.   It's not hooked up, but the basement is wired and I can hook it up in short order. 

I'm thinking of having my office purchase a NAS unit and one of those low power CPUs that BJK was using for a music and data server.  Not that I'd ever use it for that or anything. 

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

Those big cards from HP3Si should work in 4 models and in 5 models.

I just verified that pulling the JetDirect from the worn out 4Si and putting it in the 5 was fine to do.  Still have to actually do it.

BJK -- if you decide want to try the one from the 3si, we'll just need to coordinate shipping.  Let me know.

might take you up on that - will check it out tonight

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

cracked it open - looks like the backplane connection (if you can called it a backplane) is a 3x18 pin jobbie.

also added random / mismatched 72pin RAM modules and brought the memory up to 18MB from 2MB (feel free to laugh)

still plodding away on the CUPS server - but if that 3SI card appears to match, I'll take it.

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

sweet - got it working!

[Hans Manhave]

In case this is needed as knowledge, I can now report that a JetDirect J2550A from a 4Si works in a HP5.

[Billy Welsh]

/Hijack

Anybody got a JetDirect 600N for a 9100C Digital Sender?

Yes I know it is ancient tech but for home scanning it would be awesome!  The 10/100 cards do not seem to play well with the 9100C - methinks it requires a 10mbit only card.

/Hijack

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

/HiBilly

[Alice Mooney]

/HiBilly

That was good  lol

[Mark]

sweet - got it working!

Sweet! I'm apparently late to read this, lol. I'll put the 3si card back in storage until next time it comes up then.

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

It's actually working really well - able to print via ipp to the printer from linux, mac and Windows.

[Jeff Zylstra]

/HiBilly

That was good  lol

I was about to tell BJK that hillbillys and cajuns weren't one in the same, until I read it again.   

[Billy Welsh]

I was about to tell BJK that hillbillys and cajuns weren't one in the same, until I read it again.   

Good point.  The Cajuns have a totally different accent, and some even speak a variant of French.   

[Jeff Zylstra]

I was about to tell BJK that hillbillys and cajuns weren't one in the same, until I read it again.   

Good point.  The Cajuns have a totally different accent, and some even speak a variant of French.   

French like in "Geaux Tigers!"?       

[Jeff Golas]

If you need a JetDirect 600 series, get the 620N. Its a dark gray card that replaces the buggy (it WILL die) 615N, and should be 10/100. You can score em for lke $25 on ebay now... I remember when it was like $200 to buy one of these.

[Billy Welsh]

I am going to have to look again, but I've tried at least 2 615's (I think) of questionable status (one Sharpied "bad?" and another with no marking but also sitting on a shelf) in my mothballed Digital Sender and I get zip.  So I am wondering if this dinosaur MUST have a 610?

[Jeff Golas]

615s are JUNK. They die out of the blue. Grab a 620 and enjoy your network printing.