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On 22/10/2020 16:00, comrade meowski wrote:
I get through a lot of printers for clients (so much for the paperless office) and can offer this: it's the same choice I give all of them when their old inkjet packs up and they need a replacement.Thanks for all the advice. I do understand that an inkjet printer will be much cheaper to buy than a laser jet. I also understand that eventually a laser printer will work out cheaper, especially for someone who does a lot of printing. I have had a long and hard look at some HP laser colour printers, and compared them to inkjets.A: Buy an all-in-one laser printer/scanner in the £100-£150 (mono) or £200-£350 (colour) range.B: Condemn yourself to the cycle of buying another £40 inkjet printer every 18-24 months for the rest of your life - that's as long as any of them will last these days.B is obviously cheaper short term but you have the constant hassle of ink supplies to deal with, which are extortionate and have a very short lifespan once opened. Reliability and quality are unexceptional to comically bad.A is obviously more expensive short term but if you print a lot or don't want to buy in to the planned obsolescence cycle of modern disposable inkjet units it's the only tenable option. Long term for anyone who plans on printing for the next 5, 10 or more years it's the rational choice.I personally have a HP M281fdw colour laserjet bought on a recommendation (from MJE I think) after a similar printer discussion here on the list a couple of years back. In turn I highly recommend it.General printer advice:Forget checking compatibility with Linux, that hasn't been a thing for a long time now. If there's one OS in the world that's going to plug and play random hardware, it's Linux. Any printer you buy will work. Absolute worse case, spend 2 minutes googling the answer.If you want to play it safe, just buy a HP. I dislike them as much as anyone but that aside, just buy a HP printer.
Many people, especially in a work situation will use a printer a lot every day. For them your plan A would be sensible. However, I do very little printing, although what I do is important to me.
Thinking about it I do print a couple of pages of A4 every day, without fail. As for colour, not very often, maybe once or twice a month. So I feel that, for me, a laser printer would be rather OTT. So I have opted for an inkjet printer. I accept that it will eventually turn out more expensive, but for the amount I plan to use it, I think it should last me well.
I have already found a company online which sells genuine HP cartridges for a lot less than the official price. So that will help.
So thanks for the suggestions, which have helped me a lot. Neil -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dcglug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq