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Old 10-08-2014, 02:23 PM
 
Location: The Bluegrass State
407 posts, read 863,650 times
Reputation: 266

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Apologies if I have put this in the wrong forum, If I have could one of the moderators move to the proper forum please.

That said-

I am researching the purchase of a printer for home use. The printer should have wireless capacity, color capacity and ability to automatically print on both sides of the pages. Also having the scan function would be nice.

What recommendations could the group make as to brands and particular printers I should be looking at or avoiding. Also should I look at a laser printer or inkjet printer.

Any help/suggestions/helpful comments would be appreciated.

Thanks
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Old 10-08-2014, 06:17 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,244 posts, read 80,480,482 times
Reputation: 57154
Laser will cost more as will the toner, but will result in better quality and won't run if it gets damp like inkjet. One question is what you will use it for. For personal correspondence and printing boarding passes or internet recipes inkjet is fine, but if you will be printing photos to keep the ink does fade fairly fast. For an inkjet I look for name brands with good reviews that have the features I want, then go to the ink section to see cartridge prices. Most all will have wi-fi and scan/copy, two sided runs the price up and when it comes to paper handling the cheapies will be a nightmare. Something like an HP Laserjet Pro at $349 does all but 2-sided, that would get closer to $600. I bought one for work and needed speed and multiple paper size trays for about
$2,500, and the toner is $250 for black, $400 for colors.
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Old 10-09-2014, 06:59 AM
 
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
16,484 posts, read 19,538,931 times
Reputation: 13189
I am convinced there is no such thing as a good trouble free home printer unless you spend SERIOUS ($500+) money.
And asking for a recommended brand here is useless because we will never have a consensus.
I like Brother. I guarantee the next post will be "Don't get Brother, get HP". Post after that? "Epson! Never buy an HP!"

I like Brother because the printers don't complain as much as other brands do when you use aftermarket inks.
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Old 10-09-2014, 09:41 AM
 
23,559 posts, read 70,077,656 times
Reputation: 49066
Your guarantee just got broken. Brother is fine. A lot of my customers have used the basic ones with no problems. I WOULD steer clear of HP.
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Old 10-09-2014, 08:30 PM
 
Location: USA
199 posts, read 259,849 times
Reputation: 109
Myself, I have had many, many HP's and there always seems to be one problem after another (mechanical usually). The last few have all had feed problems and it didn't matter if it was a lower priced model or an mid or upper priced. Epson have never given me any problems and have always be reliable. Brother too have been good to family and friends but I haven't had one in many years. Another thing to consider is ink / toner prices. The companies price the printers low and get you on the back end with their replacement ink/toner prices so look into that before jumping on what seem like a good deal. Laser cost more up front and the toner cartridges cost more but you get many more pages per cartridge so they usually wind up a bit less per page in the long run.
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Old 10-10-2014, 08:06 AM
 
Location: Mount Laurel
4,187 posts, read 11,887,797 times
Reputation: 3512
HP LaserJet Pro 200 m276nw Color Printer, 4-in-1 | Staples®

This is the printer I've been using for my home office. I got it for a little less than $300 a while back with pricing matching and coupons at Best Buy.

Works for my kids who uses a lot and I do some copying and scanning at home. Just realize that when the promo ink runs out, you will be spending almost as much for the printer. This is our secondary printer at home. I have an older laser HP black and white that is use for pure B&W.

The biggest downside of this printer is the ability to print both sides without manual feed. Other than that, it works great.

I am not going to get into the brand battle. I support an entire office of HP, Dell, Ricoh printers so I am not your casual printer user.
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Old 10-10-2014, 10:10 AM
 
338 posts, read 419,768 times
Reputation: 340
Quote:
"The printer should have wireless capability, color capability and ability to automatically print on both sides of the pages. Also having the scan function would be nice."
Then I guess I won't recommend the HP 4050, a no-nonsense laser classic that can be had for dirt-cheap on Amazon and various other outlets, produced at a time when HP printers were actually of decent quality and not the cheap throwaway junk they are today. That having been left unsaid, I also won't mention that it's supported by nearly everything from Win 3.11 onward (including most decent Linux distributions). Nor will I also state that, despite being almost 15 years old, the 4050 is built like a tank and with proper care and maintenence, will probably outlive your next dozen or so PCs (yes, I am serious).

Well, different strokes for different folks.
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Old 10-11-2014, 08:36 AM
 
Location: The Ranch in Olam Haba
23,709 posts, read 30,632,360 times
Reputation: 9985
Either go with Brother or HP. The technology has come so far that purchasing either will give you excellent results. Just keep in mind that when one buys name brand ink/toner for these units, its price will be around what one pays for the unit. You can buy generic ink/toner but more times than not one will now get an error code stating it's not authentic. It will not stop the printer from printing, it's just an annoyance to hit "OK" to continue printing.

From my experiences Brother and HP have been built for long term durability, while the other companies on the market were built for its look rather than its utility. If you are going to go with inkjet then go with the HP 8600 series. If you are going to go with laser then go with the Brother MFC 9300 series.
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Old 10-11-2014, 09:27 AM
 
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
5,921 posts, read 13,807,972 times
Reputation: 5229
As stated already, it all depends on what you like that printer to do !
I have a Canon (MG 8220) that is wireless, usb connection, prints on both sides,
scans, and prints on *printable* CD or DVD disk, reads any card,
and even can handle slides or film (who has those nowadays ???)
The CD/DVD printing capability was a *must* for me.
Can be purchased relatively *cheap* ...
But ... they *get* you with their inks.
I have tried replacement ink cartridges, except that their inks fade fast !!

Some printers also have a FAX capability,
but when connected to a computer, you fax from there ...

To keep any printer for a long time, do NOT turn the thing off !!!
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Old 10-25-2014, 06:15 PM
 
Location: Riverside Ca
22,146 posts, read 33,324,356 times
Reputation: 35433
I have a Brother laser office model type copy fax printer. It's B/W because I really don't need color prints. Inkjet sucks because you're constantly replacing cartridges. If you inky print something once in a while inkjet is ok.
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