Geek Squad is a computer-help service that offers both online and in-store repair services for various electronic devices. They are known for their expertise in setting up USB printers to new or restored devices, as well as wireless printers to laptops or desktops currently checked in if they were used with a mobile hotspot like a Verizon jet pack. However, they do not provide repairs for physically broken or mechanical parts.
Geek Squad’s services include basic troubleshooting and consultation, virus removal, and hardware repair. They also offer Geek Squad Protection, which offers repair services for damaged devices and extends the manufacturer’s warranty coverage. In-store Geek Squad services typically cost $14.99 to $200.00 and typically involve physical repairs as well as difficult jobs like data recovery.
When purchasing a printer orcopier at Best Buy, customers can expect Geek Squad to come to their house to hook it up. However, they are not qualified to repair printers and may send the device to the vendor’s repair site. The company has authorized both Geek Squad and Best Buy to provide support for Dell systems purchased there.
In summary, Geek Squad provides technical support, repair services, and assistance with various electronic devices under specific conditions. Their services include in-store and at-home repair, virus removal, hardware repair, and Geek Squad Protection. Customers should consider their individual needs and priorities when choosing between Geek Squad and local repair shops.
📹 The Best Printers That Won’t Cost You a Fortune in Ink Cartridges | WSJ
Beware of the talking printer Printers are still the worst but at least new ink-tank printers help you save money on ink.
Is it worth repairing a 10 year old printer?
The age of a print device is crucial, as it affects its expected lifetime and accessibility of parts. If a device is nearing “legacy status”, meaning it is over seven years old, replacing it is the best option. Replacement parts become difficult to find, and the device may no longer support the latest firmware upgrades, which can slow down performance. This is similar to how a cell phone or laptop can no longer support software upgrades as they age.
Additionally, there may be new features that were not previously available, making the cost of a replacement worthwhile. For example, if your current model has a low ppm or does not support duplex or wireless printing, a newer model may be available that contains those features, making your work environment more efficient for a small amount more than the repair cost.
What is the life expectancy of a HP home printer?
The average home printer lasts 3 to 5 years, depending on usage and maintenance. Regular cleaning of printheads, paper feed rollers, and other components can extend the printer’s lifespan. The type of printer, such as laser printers, generally has a longer lifespan than inkjet printers, but depends on usage and maintenance. Print volume also plays a significant role in printer longevity, with high-volume printers generally having a longer lifespan than those intended for occasional use.
Can you service a printer yourself?
DIY maintenance is a simple and effective way to maintain a printer. It involves simple tasks like changing the toner cartridge or refilling the paper, which can be done by reviewing the owner’s manual. If your printer has a hole-punch or staple function, it is essential to learn how to use these features. Regularly emptying the hole-punch receptacle and refilling the staple cartridge are also essential. Other DIY maintenance tasks include using compressed air to remove lint particles and cleaning the exposure glass.
DIY repair is not always a good choice, as it may not be covered by your warranty. However, there are some simple things you can do without taking risks. One common issue is paper jams. Consult your owner’s manual to determine if the device needs to be stopped, turned off, or unplugged. Clear the jam by removing it and checking for paper in multiple areas.
Software issues can also be addressed by adjusting the printer settings and updating software and printer drivers. If you are tech-savvy, you can diagnose and repair these issues yourself. If not, contact your local copier company for help.
Should I get my printer serviced?
If you notice blots of ink or blurry lines on your printer, it’s a clear indication that your machine needs maintenance. If these lines appear on every print, it could indicate a problem with the ink roller or thermal ribbons, which should be checked by a professional. If you notice a few drops on your printed documents, it could indicate loose ink rollers or thermal ribbons, which should be checked by a professional.
If your printer produces strange noises or a strange rhythm while printing, it’s time to perform maintenance. To fix this issue, remove the paper from the bottom of the printing press and check the installation of the armor ribbons. If the sound persists, contact a printer repair service.
How do I fix my printer at home?
To fix printer connection and printing problems in Windows, follow these steps: unplug and restart your printer, check cables or wireless connection, uninstall and reinstall the printer, install the latest driver, clear and reset the print spooler, and change the printer’s status to “online”. Before starting, run the automated printer troubleshooter in the Get Help app, which automatically runs diagnostics and takes correct steps to fix most printer issues. If the app doesn’t resolve the issue, try the following solutions:
Are HP printers worth fixing?
In the event that one’s HP printer has a cost of less than $200 upon initial purchase and there is no surplus of ink or toner cartridges, it would be prudent to consider replacing it. In the event that one has a service provider in Alabama, California, or Los Angeles, said provider can assist with the repair process. The aforementioned services are available from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. For further information, please contact the following numbers: 205-875-5165, 661-481-7833, or 310-289-3092.
Can Geek Squad set up my printer?
The text indicates that a telephone call to the Geek Squad can result in the scheduling of an appointment for the configuration of the printer. The user is advised to attempt the process again at a later time. The primary contact number for scheduling an appointment with Geek Squad is provided. It is recommended that the user make further attempts at contact at a later time.
Can home printers be fixed?
In the event of a malfunction in your printer, it is probable that a solution can be found that is relatively simple and straightforward. This may entail replacing or fitting a specific part, or addressing other issues. In most cases, printer repairs can be completed with minimal difficulty.
Who can help me set up my printer?
HelloTech provides assistance with the configuration of a local printer, the modification of settings, the establishment of a wireless network connection, the verification of a computer connection, and the instruction of users on the printing of documents from alternative devices, including tablets and smartphones.
What is the life expectancy of a home printer?
The average lifespan of a printer is 3-5 years, but with proper maintenance, some can last longer. There are several signs that may indicate it may be time for a new printer:
The printer doesn’t make sense for your needs: Inkjet printers are designed for casual home printing and photos, while laser printers are built to handle text-heavy office prints. Inkjets are best for casual home printing and photos, while laser printers are designed for business use.
Your cartridges are too expensive: If new cartridge replacements cost more than the price you paid for the printer, it’s time to get a new machine. The printer industry often follows the razor and blades business model, selling printers at break even or a loss, only to make up for it with expensive cartridges. To avoid overpaying for cartridges, choose a printer that uses inexpensive cartridges with high page yield. Ink tank printers like the Epson EcoTank series are suitable for home users with high volume printing needs, while laser printers are best suited for businesses.
Choosing a budget-friendly printer is essential, and LD Products offers low-cost compatible cartridges that deliver the same print quality and performance as the name brand at a fraction of the price. They back every compatible cartridge with a lifetime guarantee.
Is it worth repairing a home printer?
In the event of a surplus of printer supplies, such as ink cartridges or toner, it may be advantageous to pursue repair as a means of optimizing their utilization. Nevertheless, in the event that the cost of the repair exceeds that of the consumables, it may be more financially prudent to replace the printer.
📹 Do not use Geek Squad (Best Buy Reviews)
“Had 2 different purchases of $1938.00 each for Geek Squad service. They are not responding to my requests. They give me a …
Nice comparison review. After working for well over 2 decades in IT, I can agree with everything Joanna said. No printer is really ‘great’ or ‘the best.’ I’m always checking online where I can get the least expensive replacement ink carts. Right now, Staples is the place, but that could change in a heartbeat. For a long time, I was always a fan of Epson. One of their best selling points IMO was they always provided the straightest paper path to reduce jams. Sadly, that’s no longer true. Still, even as I don’t print a lot now that I’m retired, I’m quite satisfied with the print quality of my current Epson, and I have a bit more time to look for the least costly cartridges. Thanks for this info, Joanna.
The ink tank system appears to be much better than the cartridge system youtube.com/post/UgkxciSwynMJ7PnUvvx11rewiu-yFBkZTl53 and a lot cheaper to run. The machine was easy to set up. A small point but I thought they’d be a USB cable included to help with the set up but there was none. I’ve been using it now for a few weeks and it seems like a good product and superior to my previous printers which were all troublesome HP machines.
There is a problem with these ink tank printers that hasnt been brought up here. There is a sponge in the bottom of these printers that receives all the ink purged at head and nozzle cleaning. Once this gets full the printer is basically bricked because it has a sensor that cannot be reset, and keeps throwing up an error. I use a B+W laser printer for regular text documents, and an epson artisan photo printer for colour; usually photo printing. Not much printing these days but its not breaking the bank, and they are both super reliable.
I looked at the ink tank printer. First, it costs more to begin with. Now, I could do that if costs were better over time. But, as I looked into the problems these printers have over time. Users report the ink getting clogged, and the print head is non-replaceable, and they have a limited number of prints before needing expensive service. The Epson I looked at had an 18k page limit where a counter is set off stopping the printer in its tracks. A workaround of that is possible by removing a set of sponges that get ink soaked, cleaning them, and then replacing them, followed by a $10 app that resets the counter. Only some would be willing to do this messy job. I went with a traditional HP. IMO opinion, the ink tanks have some development left to be done. I knew it wasn’t going to be as simple as manufacturers just cutting our costs for ink and robbing themselves of income.
You have to also take into consideration maintenance cost of running an ink tank printer, the print head (it will fail by 2 to 3 years), ink absorbent pad replacement, chip counter resetting and cost of repair itself is almost the cost of buying a new printer. I would have to say getting monochrome laser printer is more worth it if you’re only printing black and white.
I use an old monochrome laser printer that was manufactured in 2008. The toner has only went out once and when I replaced it with the TN360 it costed me $20. I bought that back in 2013. It’s 2023 already but the toner and printer are still going strong. No problems whatsoever. 😊 Note: it’s “monochrome” Not Black & White.
I’m an elementary school teacher, and I love my Epson 4760. When the building copier goes down, or someone else is using it, or I need an extra two or three copies of a worksheet, or a student brings something back from another teacher and I want to make copies for the whole class, I’m all set. It being a color printer is also nice, as I can print those worksheets that have colorful pictures as decorations or activities that are color coded without being concerned with cost. The quality isn’t quite as good as the color laser copier in the workroom, but the convenience by far outweighs that slight difference, which is lost on worksheets for 8-year-olds anyway.
Advantage of the ink printers with tanks is that those have no way of telling if you used genuine ink and can buy cheapest one you will find in the world. Also cartridge systems should be made illegal to manufacture, completely unnecessary pollution, also a lot of entire printers went into landfill either because the owners realised it’s a scam and or the only working cartridges were no longer sold.
The Epson EcoTank is nice. As others have mentioned, you need to use it regularly so that the jets don’t jam. If they do, you have to run a cleaning cycle which uses a good amount of ink. AND the excess ink used during the cleaning cycle gets stored in a separate tank that, when filled, needs to be serviced ($$$). FEAR NOT! You can do this yourself. There’s a number of tutorials on YouTube.
I gave up on ink printers (I was a loyal HP user) and bought a Xerox color printer. Using the Xerox WorkCenter 6515. I purchased it about a year ago for just over $300.00, on sale at Amazon. Still using the toner cartridges that came with the printer but there are generic version of this toner for a third the cost of the Xerox brand. My main gripe with ink is that it was always dry when I needed to print something. I print infrequently but that is not a problem with the toner and it does a beautiful job printing to boot.
I gave up inkjet printers aprox 3 years ago, and bought a B&W laser printer costing only twice of the inkjet one (including a multi-sheet scanner feeder). That was a huge improvement. As I rarely used my Inkjet most of the inc was used for cleaning the heads, and because of the long usage interval the head was cloged and dry when I eventually needed to use it. I repeatedly had to use alcohol to dissolve the cloged heads, and repetedly had to clean the pad where it’s disposing of 50% (in my case) of the ink it spilled from cleaning the heads before printing. ….. The laser printer doesn’t have any of these problems ! ….. It can stand for 3 months, and it’s still gonna work on the first atempt. ……. And the toner cartridge is lasting (in my case) for a couple of years, whereas the ink cartridges I had to replace several times per year. …… When I need a color photo I just upload it to the web page of my local photoshop and then I pick it up there after a few days, on real photo paper. …. I will probably never ever have an inkjet printer again. And I did have at least 4 different ones over the years. …..
I had an Epson ink tank but unless you print literally every single day, you will have a terrible experience with it since my ink tank print head always jams if I want to print, and I have to run a print head cleaning every single time I want to print (uses a lot of ink), which is only once every month or often longer. I changed to a cheapo wireless 3 in 1 HP cartridge ink jet and I would recommend it for anyone who barely ever prints. I haven’t used it in a year and the moment I turn it on, it prints good as new again.
With a laser printer you should take in account the price of the drum, but it’s by far the better option to print high quality text documents. A black and white laser printer does the job for 90% daily tasks. Ecotank can be cheaper than laser but I prefer laser because : no clogged heads, no wet ink, better speed, auto duplex and crisp printed documents.
this is a Honest Review ans expresses how i feel about printers after my VERY FIRST PURCHASE. However it fails to mention, the Epson and Canon Ink Tank has a self destruct system built in. its called an INk Pad, a non replacaeble component that literally soaks up all the ink you wasted trying to get the settings right or from not printing every day. IN SHORT if you are using this for casual everyday use DO NOT get an Ink Tank and especially not an Epson or Canon due to the afermentions Self Destruct system. It is not eco freindly becasue the Company will tell you to toss the Printer rather then find you a replacement.
After years of experience, my opinions are slightly different. The Inkjet printers with the ink reservoir are reminiscent of old inkjet plotters, which also had a reservoir, and I used them extensively. First thing first, the ink going into the reservoir has a very different formulation compared to the ink used to refill inkjet cartridges. They are incompatible, and the “compatible” reservoir type inks are difficult to come by. Not a big problem though, as the “original” reservoir inks are cheap to buy. The real life problem, that you haven’t mentioned, is that if you leave the reservoir inkjet printer not used for a month or so, the printer’s plumbing gets clogged. The solution is to replace the head-plumbing combo – – – It is expensive! Same as for the non-HP inkjet printers which, left unused for long, requires new printing heads. With the HPs, the heads are included in the ink cartridges, so they are replaced every time. But the cartridges are more expensive as consequence. In the end, a four – toners colour LaserJet printer is the ideal solution, as you can leave it idling for months without problems. You can print in B/W and replace only the black cartridge if you want, and you get 5,000 pages for $70. The initial outlay of money is slightly higher, but that is compensated from the fact that the LaserJet is more robust and lasts 5+ years. Just make sure the printer has a physical Ethernet port, not just the WiFi.
My 60 dollar Brother MFC-J480DW has been chugging along for over four years, with aftermarket refillable ink cartridges that I fill from cheap bulk ink. I probably average one color and one B&W per day, have it in standby mode 24/7 and have never had clogging nor have I had a paper jam since it was new. The printer wakes up and runs a small bit of ink through the nozzles before the ink can plug the nozles. I have printed on heavy matte photo paper, common copier paper, and high brightness resume paper. This is the best printer I have owned and I have had Epsons, Okidatas, HPs, and Lexmarks. Epsons printed the best photos, but for an all around everyday printer I wouldn’t trade this Brother for any of the new ones of any brand. But, I’m holding my breath because I know the waste pad will eventually be full and that’s the kiss of death, unless somebody tells me otherwise. Unfortunately, the MFC-J480 is out of production.
I found out about the Epson while perusal some live TV one night. Shaq was their spokesman and I was intrigued about why Shaq would be hawking a printer. Then I looked into it and was more intrigued by the printer itself. Flash forward to the start of the pandemic and the wife working from home and needing to print stuff. The HP printer I had of course, was out of Ink because it always was. Knowing she was going to be printing a lot, it became the time to pull the trigger on a new printer. I got the Epson ET 3760 with the auto feed scanner. If I ever see Shaq at some sort of fan event with signing, I am taking my printer for him to sign. Screw a basketball, he is signing my printer. Best printer I have ever had. Most tolerable!!!
I bought a black-toner Brother laser printer in 1999 — it is still going strong after 3 toner cartridges (3rd just a few weeks ago because the 2nd had gotten too old and had moisture problems) and a replaced photo-sensitive drum about half way along. Never have I ever wished I could print in color at home; it’s cheap to do the few I have needed at the local copy shop (probably better quality there too).
Good tips. I’m not sure when my cartridge printer dies, Canon, and I love it, compatible ink for under a dollar on Ebay. However this one got canceled, and Canon stopped manufacturing this printer, so when it breaks, I have to find something more modern. I guess a black and white inktank is going to be my choice…
Exactly my point. And when not printing at least once a week, the cartridges dries out and to solve that, you have to clean the print heads and that costs a lost of ink. Now when you want to print high quality photographs, you have no choice but choosing an inkjet printer. There is only one brand that sell inktank all-in-one printers printing high quality photographs : Epson. An example Epson ET-8850 is an A3+ All-In-One that can copy and scan up to A3 and print A3+ up to 2 meter long pictures in high quality. I gladly switched my Canon for that.
The article was good, but it really depends on what you need. This are probably the printers for a regular household that only prints A4 pages and no special need for quality. If you are doing anything photo related consider buying a printer that uses pigment ink instead of dye ink. Also consider buying a printer that can print A3, it might can come in handy. My favorite Ecotank printer with ‘normal’ dye inks is the ET-7750. If you want pigment ink (prints last longer without fading) the ET-16650 is a decent choice. My favorite is the big format printer SC-T3100X (The X is important) which also has pigment ink in bottles. I had to install additional icc color profiles to get good looking photos and art prints (I do not use Epson paper, so maybe you don’t need this if you print on their paper). I do recommend printing from a program that supports the use of colorspaces like Photoshop, Lightroom, Epson Print Layout (my favourite). You maybe also want to look into printers with more colors, but that is a topic for another day 🙂 Edit: I think the SC-T3100X also has dye inks (but they are water resistant). The printer can not print borderless, but is perfect for posters and CAD blueprints. For nice pigment prints you need at least 10 different pigment colors and the ET-16650 only has 4 different colors, so I’m not sure how good the photos get. (I learned that recently, sorry that I did not know better when first posting this) The ET-7750 (ET-8550 is the new model) is still my favorite printer and it produces really nice looking dye prints.
No way I’ll ever give Epson another chance after they slipped in software updates that made their printers stop working if you used any 3rd party ink and never disclosed they would do this. I never heard the outcome of the class action suit against them—maybe it still hasn’t gone to court yet—but I’m quite done with them.
I had a Canon Pixma MG6120 for 10 years now, and it finally died claiming the “ink absorber full”. I loved my printer and am super annoyed that I can’t even use the scanner with this error message. It’s so daunting to find a new one!! Great info about the ink tanks, too. I’m so used to using cartridges that I’ll have to look into that more. =)
But can you replace the inkhead that shoots the ink out? Cause if that is not replaceable, you buy a whole new printer. When the inkhead wears out, you get misaligned double ghostlike prints, and no amount of inkhead nozzle cleaning/deep cleaning/declogging can fix that. And does the printer turn itself back on after a power outage? Inkjets need to be on 24/7 so it can make some noises at night to shoot ink some through the inkhead pipes so they don’t get clogged. Since pigment ink, usually the black pgi canon cartridge, has water in it, it can evaporate the water and leave the hard pigment particles in the ink pipes and clog if you don’t print or unplug the printer for a long time.
Ink-jets in general are not good to have, for a simple reason. 1. Ink replacements are expensive. 2. They dry up if u don’t use them often. Too bad Mobile printers don’t come laser or tuner. Since 1992 HD H4 laser was a gr8 printer for his own days. But this is what u did not mention, printer companies make money on selling ink, not the printer. This is why if u check the printer from the ’90s till nowadays 2021, how many improvements have been done to them? Not much other than speed and better printer quality. As Software eng, I always did some extra hacks to the printer to run smoother and fast. Personally, I recommend buying Thermal printers, they never go bad and do not need ink.
I tried the Brother All-In-One laser printer and found I couldn’t even plug it in without blowing the AFCI breaker. Beware of this condition if you’re thinking of getting one of these. BTW, I am able to use an inexpensive laser printer that is only a printer on that circuit. So could it be that the Brother creates some sort of arc when it has power supplied?
There is another YouTube article which cautions against Eco Tank printers due to their built in “ink flushing” feature that sucks up ink and deposits it into an ink “sponge” in an effort to keep the ink tubes from clogging. After a couple of years, the sponge reportedly gets “full” and the printer is then rendered inoperable.
I recently purchased a new Epson Eco Tank 3850 printer at Costco for $325.00. The setup was relatively easy and I had it up and running in about 15 minutes after unboxing. However, I am extremely disappointed in the quality of the printing for both documents and photos.The edging in the photos were grainy and the colors were darker then the original photos. I reset the color management and it still produced a low quality image. The scanner is also cheap inefficient. After scanning a simple document I discovered the text had jagged edges and the tops of the fonts in some sentences were chopped off. The only way I could get nice sharp fonts in a document was to scan in Photo Mode. The top automatic feeder which is used to scan multiple documents or make copies, pulls the entire stack of papers into the feeder all at once. I had to physically stagger each page individually to prevent the stack from jamming the feeder. All in all this printer is constructed of poor quality materials and is cheaply made. Thank God I saved the box. I’m packaging it back up and taking it back to Costco first thing tomorrow.
Be careful with the Epson Ink Tank. I bought 2 of those a couple of years ago and they worked for about a month. I went for about a week without printing anything on either one and they dried up and would no longer print anything. I got one of those kits on Amazon that is supposed to flush the hoses. Did nothing. I threw them out.
I just got an all in one HP laser printer from Costco for $400. Absolutely love it. Great quality and speed. The toner colors are individual like the ink tank printers, although they do run $60-$70 each. But it is going to take me a long time to have to replace considering that, according to a printable report, I am still at 100% for all colors after printing 62 color pages plus 20 black and white. This includes a few full coverage photo prints. I believe HP is a superior brand to Epson in reliability and build quality. I still have a working HP inkjet that I bought in 2006.
I found solution fore me Color laser printer ))) Cartridjes can be simbly refiled by toner, just break side seal and remove rubber cork, then add correct toner. If you warry about pages and cartrige locking – don`t. Even if it show EMPTY – it will continue operate. And you can reset printed pages to 0, afer refiling, just shorting two legs on control board (1&5 on counter cheap when starting). And you just can left it fore yaer without work, and then continue printing. Can you do the same with inkjet?
I switched to Brother Laser decades ago because they did not force you to replace the drum (built in) with the toner. About 3 Hi-yield toners to a drum unit. Their Color Laser works well as long as you do not want Photo quality. A bundle (4 colors) of toner tends to be the best buy, but at some point you probably will just buy a specific color as they never get used up evenly (Another drawback of those triple color Ink cartridges)
brother only just wait seriously a few years ago, my brother launched a series of printers with wifi and all the goodies – from the very beginning they cost 219 euros, cartridges cost about 25 euros each now you can buy them for around 40 euros, with a two-year warranty (although they are already a bit outdated) and cartridges for 3 euros a set (CMYK)
99% of the time you don’t need a colour printer. A laser is fine. Toner doesn’t dry and therefore lasts longer. Also, apart from the initial, part-filled, toner cartridge, I don’t use genuine OEM units as they are too expensive. For the last 12 years I’ve only used refills. I’ve never had any problems and they are way cheaper. Don’t bother with colour lasers unless you’ve got very deep pockets. By the way, I also used ink refill kits for inkjets. They’re much much cheaper, but messy, and also prone to drying up. I agree that the best thing about printers is that they are tolerable. But I wouldn’t want to go back to impact printers, ribbons, NLQ, tractor feed, etc. I’m glad we’ve moved on.
THAT’s not too bright either!!! IF you don’t PRINT a lot– the ink tank lines can clog along with the jets and it’s just a messy problem waiting to happen. IF you print a LOT- then yes the tanks are better…. Mathematically- yes- tanks are better– but again– if you DON”T print much– the cartridges are MUCH better… the cartridge can dry out and not work- throw it away and get a new one– the heads can clog– soak it in some alcohol/water for a few hours – dry it off and continue- and when this no longer works– buy a new printhead. I can not use laser– I need COLOR.
My Epson ink jet printer has been with me for 7 years trouble free costing $14. for all 4 compatible carts lasting me more than a year. I bought the next model up at closeout for $60. thinking I would need it soon. 3years later the box is unopened, buried somewhere in my storage closet. I won’t live long enough to experience the new line of EPSON.
There is much more to this. I always prefer laser over ink, but they are also complicated. I do have this B&W Brother printer (without scanner) and yes, toners are cheaper than ink, but you also have to replace the drum every 5000 pages. Considering the drum is more expensive than toner it comes to the double the cost for toners and they never tell you this when you buy them. Therefore it is a hidden cost. And I hate secrets before I buy something. Yes, the no brand toners and drums are still cheaper than ink but then the printer just doesn’t print large black areas nicely. Then there are laser colour printers. Now they have one thing inks cannot come even close to. Printing photos on photo paper ink printers are the kings. But printing photos on plain paper it is opposite. No ink can match the quality of photos and text on plain paper like lasers. And the speed on each. Lasers are the kings here. Considering how often you print photos in every days printing, you may think that is it. Lasers are the winners. But the things are much more complicated. When starting with the price range of colour lasers, you have to read the specs very carefully. Bottom shelf models they dont print dual pages, their print speed is not that much faster than inkers, their toners have not much bigger yield and they stink sometimes. Once you go step up form the bottom shelfs, prices start climbing very rapidly. OK you pay extra for the dual page printing, for the speed and quality and for added scanner on the top.
Have a couple Brother laser printers that have been working great for 15+ years and they take after market cartridges with no problem. You just have to find a good refill cartridge supplier but just about all of them will refund or replace defective cartridges if you contact them as they don’t want negative reviews.
Please help, if you can. I have an HP Color LazerJet 1600…had it for years…it never let me down…good copies. After installing Windows 10, it printed test page and says that it is working well. When I go to print from Word or Outlook…doesn’t print. We uninstalled drivers and re-installed them. We go round and round…nothing helps. When you look at the list of printers to install, the 1600 is not listed. Sure would appreciate some help with this…thanks…🙏💕
Well done. I have had an Epson Tank printer for several years. My only problem is that I don’t use it enough and after a year the nozzles clog up, but in fairness that happened with my cartridge ink printers too. They do have several levels of cleaning that seem to work but I don’t understand the wait of 12 hours before good quality after the deep cleaning. If that doesn’t fix it there are several YouTube articles out there that explain how run a solution through the offending head. I have not had to do that yet but the printer seems well made on the inside and unlike anything from HP it is designed to be easily disassembled (only 1 screw) for further cleaning.
So… Maybe this article gets all the numbers wrong. 1. All ink tank printers says that part of the included set of ink would be used to initialize the printer so it would only last half of 2/3 as long as a new set. 2. The toner is only one part of the cost of a laser printer. There’s also the image drum and not to mention way higher electricity bill. 3. There’s also compatible inks and CIS. Some people prefer those over official warranty so it should be put as a fourth option.
Wow you guys spent 5 minutes and 30 seconds making something and didn’t mention diversity or inclusion once. She didn’t complain once about not being paid as much as a man talking about printers. I’ll bet your heads were on the verge of exploding. Smartass aside. An informative article. You gave me information I didn’t already have. Kudos. For now.
My problem with inkjet printers are that I print like 3 pages, then it goes like 3 years or more before I need a new print. Then the ink is dried up, and clogged the system, new ink does not make a clean print any more. I used to just get a new 30 dollars printer each time, it was cheaper than 70 dollars ink repalsement anyway. Then I come across a used 2 year old coulor laser printer for 50 dollars, that will not dry out, it’s alreddy a powder. And with my print chedule, it will last for decades. Sorry for spelling mistakes, english is not my native language.
years ago, i just unplugged my 6 color ink jet printer and brought a Brother black ink laser. also found out on youtube how to buy toner cheap and refill so we are talking big savings. if i needed to print something in color, i would go to the store and print it a dollar a sheet. right now, though i am looking into starting a graphics business. so i will need a printer for various products. but if you are a non graphics person. a black ink laser is the way to go.
The other route is to find reliable printers that more easily take generic cartridges. My workhorse laser printer that I paid $90 for 7 years ago takes toner cartridges that are under$10 each. So 30,000+ pages later, I’m pretty satisfied with it. Pretty much the same with my inkjet. High yield cartridges $40 for a set.
I have a 20 year old brother laser printer they don’t make official cartridges for anymore but copies are available for £30 on eBay and work fine. It is networked with Raspberry Pi that I haven’t touched for at least 5 years. I use cheapest paper from supermarket. Printing black and white documents is “almost free”. Colour is another matter as I like photography but I’ve just moved to refilling my Epson R3000 cartridges with good quality non Epson inks. It works great and isn’t that messy or pricey.
I have a Canon ALL IN ONE ink jet printer MX922. I primarily use the printer to print CD/DVD Labels for my article collections. I purchased a generic box of 20 ink jet modules for 20.99 x 2. I purchased these in 2018 and I still have not finished the first box of cartridges. The only thing I have replaced since buying my printer is a PRINTER HEAD module, costing me 189.00 dollars. The printer initially cost me 100.00 from STAPLES in 2016, that same printer now sells for 429.99 dollars depending on where you buy it. Color printing is expensive no matter how you do it. The ink is number one, the printer head is second. I guess if you buy an all-in-one unit, you’ll have to deal with break downs on those things as well.
One caveat to the ink tank printers is that there’s a sponge in the back where all of the purged ink goes. Once this sponge becomes too saturated, the printer will cease to work. People have been able to replace these sponges, but require a firmware flash to make the printer work again. I’ve also read that some ink tank printers will simply stop working after they’ve printed X amount of pages (someone mentioned 7k pages before theirs stopped working). Keep in mind that these ink tank printers will require printing more often so the print head doesn’t dry out, which is apparently a larger issue with these over cartridge printers. Planned obsolescence seems to be the new way printer manufacturers are scamming consumers, but time will tell. I’ve been a huge fan of laser printers myself, but being locked out of generic toner cost me a lot of money already.
what she failed to mention here is why Printers are so cheap now. Back in the early 90’s when the first Color ink printer came out HP DeskJet 500c, it was $600, dropped to $400 by the end of the year and stayed that price for a long time. (Before that, we had 24 pin color dot matrix printers as the only color printers, they also were in the $400 range.) Cartridges were cheaper though. Now, you can get decent $50 printers but they make their money on the cartridges. When you buy the $300 printer, they actually make some money upfront so they don’t need to rob you later for ink refills. Same is true for cheap laptops where profit is tiny, they are cheap upfront but only last a few years so you will need to buy a new one much sooner than a laptop that is $200-$300 more that is better built and faster. I use a HP OfficeJet 5610 as a receipt printer for my store, it is 12 years old. I also use a Brother HL-2140 Laser printer, around 10 years old.
Unless you have a home business where you print something every day or print lots in a months time AND print in COLOR, then any of these inkjets will do the job. None are any better than another— they are ALL expensive to run. Now, if you just print occasionally like print a google map, or a recipe from the internet then a LASER printer that only does black– is for you. Inkjet printers (any brand or model) if you don’t print LOTS will dry out the cartridges. Yellow is the first to go, then magenta, then cyan. Some printers won’t print unless you change settings to print monochrome. Some make you install new cartridges all . If you need a few color prints, its cheaper to go to Staples, Office Depot, to get prints done. Inkjet printers with the big tanks only delay the inevitable. As mentioned the print heads can and do plug up further sucking ink money out of your pocket. Do i sound like I hate inkjets?? You bet yer ** I do !!
1. Make a selection of reasonably priced laser printers 2. Check third party toner manufacturers for best prices on toners (price per printed page) 3. Buy the printer that has the best price/quality ratio. I have a brother hl-2340dw that prints reasonably well and the toners cost under €10 and print app. 2500-300 pages.
Brothers Inkvestment printers are misleading. To fill up the links, it still uses a cartridge. And guess how much each one costs. I am sticking with Canon Megatank and Epson Ecotank printers (I have both, and use them daily). Print it once a week so the heads won’t clog up for those who worry about this.
I have been using an Epson L220 Ink Tank printer for the last 4 years. A cockroach got somehow stuck under the head cuz we didn’t use it for a month or so. Well guess what, I disassembled the printer. Like, I took apart the entire thing and removed the roach. Cleaned the head, and then threw it back together. Plugged it in, and after fiddling around with the software for 30mins cuz it threw some error codes (prolly cuz I reconnected the head), it was working like new! And guys, it was my first time repairing a printer. This stuff is a “tank”. No, I would never do this with a laser printer.
We still love our Xerox ColorQube solid ink printer. Fast and the ink lasts a long time. Ink sits high on the paper with a glossy shine; but not the best photo quality, looking more like plate based printing job which is what you would expect from its cylindrical drum. Also, not cheap to repair. Workhorse nonetheless.
Due to high ink prices we have both a Canon laser printer and an Epson ink jet (not eco tank type). We print 95% on the lazer printer because we just don’t need color on most documents. With this method our ink costs are low. But there is a problem. The ink on the print head of these ink jet printers tends to dry out if not used often. Printouts, even just black and white, on the Epson begins to skip and not print well. So we run the print head maintenance which uses lots of ink. Also the ink used for the maintenance steps goes into a large collection tank which can get filled up over time. I’m concerned that the eco tank type of printers, with the large ink supplies, will also clog because they still use the same print head. I looked into color laser printers but they don’t print photos well. We don’t print many photos because we send them to WalMart for printing. But occasionally we do want to print just a few 4×6 or 8×10 prints so need the ink jet type. For now we’ll stick with the laser printer + ink jet.
I have a Brother laser printer and am printing on the original tank for over 2 years now. Several months after I bought it I got a message that it was running low on ink but I saw in an Amazon comment about the printer a hack for this where you just input the code and the cartridge goes on and on. Evidently Brother wanted you to believe you were just getting a starter ink cartridge when you really had the regular one in it. A sneaky way to get you to buy a new cartridge.
Great review! All the information I needed. Epsom Ink tank is my choice only because I just seen off a Brother all in one inkjet printer and I’m delighted it’s gone. Nothing but headaches from day one and oh so expensive to feed. The ink cartridges are poison ☠️ to buy. I don’t need exceptional photo colour printing, I need fast reliable mostly black and white document printing and scanning!
The colour inc clogged up my grandmas ecotanc, because she always turns it of after using it and in general doesn’t print too regularly. I thought she’d have to buy a new one. Again! But no! EPSON ACTUALLY HAS MULTIPLE SELF CLEANING CYCLES FOR THAT! It took a little bit but the instructions in the user manual are very clear. Try three presure cyles with diagnostics in between. If that doesn’t work (it didn’t, our printer had been struggling for over a month before she told me to do something about it) wait at least 12 hours and try the other cycle (don’t know what it’s called. I roughly translated the first cycles name from german) that didn’t work either, but the manual told us to repeat the first steps, wait 12 hours and try again. On the second morning the printer worked perfectly again! (Each pressure cycle took like two minutes and the deep cleaning cycle took five.) We didn’t have to take the printer to a repair facility, nor did we have to buy any specialty equipment. We didn’t even have to clean up afterwards! The printer only needed a little extra inc to clean itself! I’m thinking about buying one for my mother who mostly works from home and has to replace her canon or HP printers every other year. She’s spent a ridiculous amount of money on printing supplies! Seriously! (The bottles were one of the reasons she bought this printer. She always kept the ink levels really low because she believes that that’s the reason inc cartridges always fail her)
I have both inkjet and laser printers. I use my inkjet for printing photos, decals and t-shirt transfer negatives. I use my laser printer for printing text documents. I also have a thermal photo printer that prints onto standard size photo paper. My inkjet printer was a standard cartridge printer, however I purchased an after market ink tank system. It is a little cumbersome as it requires dummy inkjet cartridges to sit in the place of the standard ones and has tubes running to the tank. This means you can’t close the cartridge door and need to keep the tank level with the printer. Lifting it higher could result in ink flowing too fast to the dummy cartridges.
Laser printer works very well and will be cheaper than even inktank if you refill the cartridge by yourself. There are plenty of articles of filling powder into cartridges, although it is a bit messy and quality might suffer as well. I have been using a Samsung laser printer for a couple of yrs and refilled it twice by myself, quality wasn’t the same but does the job for me. Gives about 800 prints per refill and a refill bottle will last more than 3 refills.
I had a monster HP all in one printer that I accidently dropped and destroyed. I bought an HP8130e printer and it is the biggest pos ever. Constant connectivity problems. Prints partial page and stops. Doesn’t print at all. Is so slow I can make dinner before a page will print, well, almost. If you turn it off with the on/off button, it says shut down was done improperly and to use the shut off button. I hate everything about it. It is two months old and I want to return it. I can’t see spending the next five years dealing with this thing.
Actually ink tank printers have been mainstream in India well before than the US. I bought an Epson inktank that costed around ₹14000 while the hp cartridge printer cost me around 6000 two years prior. The hp lasted for 5 years after 4 major repairs. The inktank is still going strong after 8 yrs and saved me a lot of money ( 1 bottle of black costs aproxx ₹300, around $4). And they are relatively easy to work on. The print head will get blocked after prolonged non-usage, but the printer has a option to clean that by itself. Funny to know how technology in india is so much ahead of the us in some aspects
how can the ecotank print more than tenfold the amount of paper compared to the standard printer. Im just curious, would have been nice if it was explained briefly. But yeah next one ecotank it is. Btw we have this old brother cartridge printer, and that one only gave me headache even tho i only used it like once a year or so. Never brother printers again for me.
Unfortunately, they are still ripping people off even with the tank style printers. Ink prices have increased significantly over the past three years, even for the tank style. But the other issue is the manufacturers have set up the automatic cleaning algorithms to do cleaning cycles much too often, using up a lot of that high cost ink and filling up the waste ink collection pads. Once those pads are full, your printer won’t work. Good luck finding replacement pads and reset instructions for the waste ink counter. Until that counter is reset, even if you managed to replace the pads the printer still thinks it’s full and won’t print. Canon recently introduced the Maxify line of inkjets, at seriously higher prices, that has an easily replaced waste ink receptacle. Great, right? Not so fast. The “maintenance cartridge” costs $17 and it fills up fast. My one month old Canon already shows the maintenance cartridge is 2/3 full and the color inks are down 25%. I’ve only printed a handful of color documents, so that missing ink is now sitting in the waste container. If you don’t print every day, or only print a few sheets of black text, it appears they run cleaning cycles that rapidly use up your ink. It is very hard to believe with today’s technology they can’t come up with a way to keep print heads from clogging without running large amounts of ink through them.
Nice job…as i sit here trying to find a replacement printer that died in the middle of a contract. 12 years of an office HP inkjet. so i cant complain….what killed it? =HP….they sabotaged it with an firmware update, just like Apple does (they got sued on this) they want you to keep buying new stuff. I pay about 100 bucks for each ink load, sucks if you have been running great for several years…lock your devises out from updates.
Great article. I bought an HP7740 for occasional A3 and duplex printing. The first issue was a software “upgrade” that would not allow me to save scans on my PC unless I had an HP account. Why? I don’t want an HP account. Yesterday (September 2023) the printer received a software update. I was not advised or consulted. Now the printer will not print black only prints because one of the colour cartridges is low. In addition I am advised that I cannot print ANYTHING unless open an HP account. HP has effectively rendered my printer useless without me having any say or part in the matter. Avoid HP is my advice. BTW – what is a “prinner”?
The review was based from a standpoint of someone who doesn’t know how to refill a cartridge. I’ve been refilling my Canon cartridges for the last 12 years. I only buy empty Canon cartridges black is around U$5-8 while colored is at U$6-11 depending on the seller. She also doesn’t know that Epson and Brother’s printheads are very expensive once they needed to be replaced. My Canon refilled ink cartridges last anywhere between 4-10 months of daily printing.
Мой выбор это Canon, HP или Epson 2010 года выпуска, с картриджами без чипов, с чернилами без кодов, с возможностью установить СНПЧ. А все эти новые принтеры с экранами засуньте себе куда подальше. И эти люди учат нас зеленой экономике, стравливают на нас ГРИНПИС, а сами выпускают одноразовые картриджи загрязняя планету, только потому что это выгодно.
I Thank you for such great info. ! I have about 4 printers that I collected each week on trash day. Some Epson, some HP . All needed ink cartridges. It is always too expensive to buy ink for them. Tried refilling them. Messy and most not work. Planned obsolesence RIPOFF ! Really frustrating . Now I have 4 to dispose off. America is such a wasteful place ! We are greed an d money driven people. Big companies have special think tank geeks who do nothing but work out ways to screw us ! They will get KARMA soon ! I Hate printers !
Excellent article. I have been filling my Brother MFC-J8700DW inkjet cartridges for years, the ink is available pretty cheap from ebay. Before it was another Brother inkjet that I used for years and literally ran it into the ground till its head failed. The best part is that now there is a chip-resetter available from ebay which resets the ink level chip on the cartridges so every time I fill the cartridge, I reset it, and the printer shows the correct level again. I have easily printed a few thousand colored pages without ever buying a new cartridge, just refill when required. Its not difficult, I have made a article also of how to do it.
they are still ripping you off, what they dont tell you is you have to sign upto a ready print service to contract into buying only their ink IF you do BUY EPSON DO NOT UPDATE THE FIRMWRE ON THE PRINTER SET IT TO OFF STRIGHT AWAY, Otherwise the printer needs to stay connected to the internet if not after one month it will stop working, I paid £210 for one of their printers last month to be told the one i have has been registered for print service before and as they did not pay they have disabled my printer. THIS WAS A BRAND NEW ONE SO DONT KNOW HOW THAT COULD HAPPEN. IF YOU WANT TO BE RIPPED OFF BUY EPSON – MINE HAD TO GO IN THE BIN AND I AM LOOKING FOR ONT THAT DOES NOT RIP YOU OFF. 20/03/22 will never buy epson again
*READ THIS before you buy an HP printer* On hold for support for 1 hour 18 minutes. The question was Why Do I Need a “HP account” to scan. OFFICE IS DOWN STAIRS Printer is upstairs WAS told move the printer downstairs and hook it up with a USB cable. My cable connection is upstairs. I asked how’s a USB cable make any difference if I don’t have an internet connection? Reply*, You Will Not Be Able To SCAN! *NO ACTIVE INTERNET NO SCANNING Q WAY NO ANSWER. Documents go to HP🖕👀
glad i bought a mono laser fews years ago – a samsung 3820ND. Paid about £80 for it new, bargain due to cashback etc. Toner lasts forever. Think it the caretridge that came with the printer was officially supposed to last 1000 pages but did 3000 pages. Bought a 3rd party one after that for £40 and it last over 10000 pages. Current £40 3rd party one has done at least that, lol. Guess itll more expensive now as HP bought Samsung printer business i recently bought an HP 8022. Great printer and does everything you need, printing A4/pictures/etc, auto double sided printing, scan single pages, scan via auto document feeder, wifi, etc. The reason i return is the cartridges are criminally expensive and for officially 300 pages it was £45 for a full set or £90 for 650 pages. BUT the prices have just gone up to £60 and £110. CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried to fill the cartridges, they filled ok but HPs firmware states zero ink and refuses to use, even though theres ink in there (this is different to their printers couple years old where it would report zero but still print), so HP have sabotaged ny printer, surely illegal! I returned the printer as not fit for purpose.
I’ll stick to laser printers. If I need high quality color prints I can just go to my local print shop. But with lasers you can do color prints it’s just not as good as inkjet. But with lasers toner never dries out and clogs like inkjet. And parts that wear out are easily replaceable like the drum and the toner.
And what about: the whole business of “Alexa required”, “only takes our brand of ink” and also, if you do not use the tanks of ink quickly, will they dry out? Should those tank versions be just for those who do tons of printing? ….Not convinced. As an artist, I have decided to just have my art prints done professionally at a printer’s shop and tag the extra 5-10 bucks a print onto the cost of my art, and get the world’s simplest and cheapest printer for my home documents, recipes, scans etc. There is just no good printer and tech is trying to suck the life and data out of us at every turn. Alexa, go away,
i HAVE A CANON TS3522 and just refill them myself. The refill ink is 14.99 from amazon and last about 10 refills each per kit. I have to refill them almost every other day! I print a lot but only bought one replacement cartridge for the set and have two of them. I keep one filled at all times and just switch them out when they run out of ink. I paid 34 dollars for this printer from Walmart and it prints great! I tried the Epson 350 dollar ecotank but the prints were so bad I finally gave up and just threw the thing in the trash! Yes refilling is a hassle but I use my printer to print shirt iron ons and need great prints. Plus I do not want to pay 350 dollars for a printer I can get for 34 dollars at Walmart!
You are the perfect person for selling the MOON if necessary? No joke you are the best I have seen, my experience with Epson printers are as follows the work well for about a year or two then die and then I play the Epson game again? My question is how long will the Epson printer last before it dies ECOTANK ET-2760? No matter what I give you a 5.0 grade point!
Give your inkjet printer to someone that needs it. I had an HP inkjet printer all in one connected flawlessly to the network, but it spent its time testing ink, needing replacement ink, and expecting a $10 a month subscription for life. So, I gave it to my mom who constantly had the same problems with all her HP printers but older, and harder to stay connected. You can save as a PDF in office, you can get a PDF editor without paying $10.00 a month for life from acrobat, or simply snip the image of the page and paste it in one note, zero margins, right click set to background and fill out forms and output as PDF. You don’t need paper and when you do. You don’t need ink more expensive than gold from HP.
Tank printers need special care for the nozzles (print head) or replacement. Might not be as frequent, but isn’t cheap either. I personally will go with an inkjet and refill the cartridge with cheaper DIY kit. I’m only ever going to print anything for official purposes. So, image quality isn’t the metric, the low bar is that the image being legible.
Don’t need this unless there is more artists today in your group so you say no to printer like agriculture, because uncleanable water tanks are just better. Won’t be thinking about this if your brother won’t be a semiconductor. Give me a printer and I will say it’s Mustang alpha. I think it’s cheaper to use public printing service, well unless you are about to to print 7000 pages for every Mi note.
I agree with just about everyone below and I am 79 years old, owned two companies and, even being retired, I still run 3 computers and printers. And I have my favorite printer company which is not included in this article. I have used both laser, cartridge and inktank. Laser is best for legal documents and worth the cost. My preference is cartridge, as time is money and you just click it in. Ink tank to me is just a waste of time and the ones I tried were problems. Do not purchase any printer with ink tanks outside of the printer case. Laser is best for your money and appearance, but I find cartridge printers make the most sense and ink tank printers should all be tossed out, if you value your time and appearance of documents.
When the waste ink pads are saturated in a tank printer you are effectively done. There are articles purporting to show you how to remove, clean, and reinstall the waste ink pads, but that doesn’t always work well. A color laser printer is probably best for general color printing if you don’t print many pages.
Epson is a 💯 SCAM company. I bought a printer from them and they offered a free cartridge. What they actually did was sign me up for a pay-per-page subscription service where my printer locks up if I don’t pay their. 05/page ink fee that came with my ‘free cartridge’. The ink is free, but their service is 5 cents per page 🤮. Just like those sleezy magazine scams, you can’t cancel online or through phone, and they charge a termination penalty. Total nightmare company.
I just brought a printer off eBay, well I say brought, I was pretty much given it at the price paid, 99p. However a black ink cartridge cost £10, and that was a refilled cartridge. I’m not going to bother with colour as cheaper to order prints online for photos. As I only print occasionally I’m going to see how long the cartridge lasts, without drying out or running out. If not I’ll have to bit the bullet and get a laser printer as they do not dry out. (As mentioned further down just noticed!)
I believe him. Theyvinstalled an electronic starter on my 2007 Cadillac Eldorado. An install that was supposed to take 2 hrs. When I went in for the appointment, the service person did a pretrip of my car, (doors panels never had been removed ever). They broke all of the clip in the door panel and tried to glue them. And then said, “Well, they must have been broken prior to service”. Anyway, when I got there to pickup my car 7ths later, at closing time, they rolled out the red carpet, opening and closing the door for me, which I thought was strange. But, when I got home, and the door panels on both door fell off when I open the doors. So, when I call the next day, that’s when, they acted like they were already broken, prior. I said, “y’all would have not done the service after the pretrip if they were broken”: Nevertheless, they did pay for the repair of my doors. DO GO TO “geek squad”, THEY SUCK.
I deleted important files out of a folder. They needed to be restored. He found a bad work around and started to fix the issue then asked “is there anything else?” I told him he wasn’t done yet he had to restore the files. Then the Tech left without doing the job. When I called back and told them the tech left without finishing and that I would like to talk to a manager and schedule an in home repair they put me on hold and hung up