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[Printer] Recommend a printer with duplex scanning (could be LaserJet)
Synthesis
Honda Today!Registered User regular
Honda Today!Registered User regular
My Canon Pixma MX922 decided to service-code die last night (B200) followed by "Everything prints out in white" die. As it happens, I pretty much hated this printer even when it was working since 1) it apparently wanted to constantly clean the printhead, since printing a 1 page document involved 10% actually printing the document and 90% of listening to the printer grind and shift as it did its stupid routine and 2) more than half the time I used it anything printed in black was shifted and distorted because the printhead still got dirty and the dedicated self-cleaning process just wasted a large amount of ink.
So after a few hours trying to fix it and eventually beating it with my bony fists, I've decided fuck that piece of shit. I already spent half the price I paid for it getting the printhead cleaned (I didn't diagnose it was a problem I could fix myself), I don't want to see it again.
That being said, I do need a home-use printer with all the same functionality: built in scanner with feeder, duplex and color print (aside from price and size, that's why I don't get a Laserjet printer), smallish size. Wifi printing would be ideal, I don't really need ethernet printing, and the quality just has to be okay (photo printing is unnecessray). My experience with the Pixma has told me I would really like a printer than just prints and doesn't spend five times the period cleaning itself ineffectually.
What do people like? Regardless of what I get, I'm pretty much required to get an extended warranty from Amazon (roughly $5 to $10) because not only do electronics like to crap out on me despite being obsessively careful with them, printers are notoriously unreliable in general. I'm thinking of the Brother MFC-J480DW on Amazon, since at the very least it's better-reviewed than the Pixma I owned even if it still comes with horror stories, but I'm open to suggestions.
Also, I don't think I'll be buying Canon. Their cameras might be good, but their reputation for printers seems to suck.
EDIT: You can also recommend a Laserjet provide 1) it has duplex scanning (non negotiable) and 2) I can afford it. Good luck with that. It doesn't even need to have color printing.
So after a few hours trying to fix it and eventually beating it with my bony fists, I've decided fuck that piece of shit. I already spent half the price I paid for it getting the printhead cleaned (I didn't diagnose it was a problem I could fix myself), I don't want to see it again.
That being said, I do need a home-use printer with all the same functionality: built in scanner with feeder, duplex and color print (aside from price and size, that's why I don't get a Laserjet printer), smallish size. Wifi printing would be ideal, I don't really need ethernet printing, and the quality just has to be okay (photo printing is unnecessray). My experience with the Pixma has told me I would really like a printer than just prints and doesn't spend five times the period cleaning itself ineffectually.
What do people like? Regardless of what I get, I'm pretty much required to get an extended warranty from Amazon (roughly $5 to $10) because not only do electronics like to crap out on me despite being obsessively careful with them, printers are notoriously unreliable in general. I'm thinking of the Brother MFC-J480DW on Amazon, since at the very least it's better-reviewed than the Pixma I owned even if it still comes with horror stories, but I'm open to suggestions.
Also, I don't think I'll be buying Canon. Their cameras might be good, but their reputation for printers seems to suck.
EDIT: You can also recommend a Laserjet provide 1) it has duplex scanning (non negotiable) and 2) I can afford it. Good luck with that. It doesn't even need to have color printing.
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That's an option, but I'd be buying a home scanner then. I'm just not at a time in my life where I can drop $200 to $300 on a color laser printer, and I have had injket printers that were utterly unremarkable but never pissed me off.
Unless you're printing weekly the ink heads will dry up and clog permanently (the cheapo inkjet printers can't compensate for this), and you'll have to drop another $40 for new ink, or, a new printer with the included 10% ink cartridges.
So that's a good printer if you're printing 3-4 times a week.
If you're printing 3-4 times a month, stick with what chris recommended.
If I see a very affordable deal with a black-and-white Laserjet with a built in scanner, I will consider it, but ink cost really isn't so much of a problem (it's not great either). The Brother printer would take ~6 generic refills before it came to the cost of a cheap Laserjet monochrome with any kind of scanner, and some of those have pretty negative reviews as well.
They're not bad ideas, they're just not suitable. If my printer died two years ago, when I bought it, I could actually afford a good Laserjet, though there wouldn't be a good place to put it near my desktop (that's what wireless is for I guess). Thinking about it, I sort of wish I kept my printer before the Canon--but then I'd need a scanner.
EDIT: This Brother Laserjet would be okay, for example, though it doesn't come with ink. It's one thing to consider--it's too bad the text print quality isn't very good, much less anything more complex, but you get what you pay for. In light of doing more scanning, maybe I ought to just grin and bear it, keep the Canon as a pretty good scanner and skip on a new printer.
I'd say get a good monochrome laser and do color prints at kinkos. 600 dpi should be more than enough for text.
That's a lot more believable. One thing about living in Athens, GA, is that you can get ink almost for free if you put in a small amount of effort, but that's just one consideration.
(I have literally had 2 and a half printers in the 12 years--the Canon was just a particularly had outlier--so "by 3 to 6 inkjets" is a terrible argument in of itself.)
I bought a really good brother monochrome and never looked back.
I realized I never really printed in color anyways. Usually just to make copies of paperwork or print out a report or something.
At least half of what I print has some color component. I could print in grayscale, or I could just not print at all.
The Pixma, for all its crappy problems, cost me $35 total in ink in two years (via Amazon, the lazy way). Frankly, that isn't that bad. The new printer would've cost $80 at the minimum.
There's a Brother inkjet that's on sale for $40 at best buy right now. I just bought one after, coincidentally, my Canon stopped working. Brother printers are built like tanks.
Disclaimer: I work at best buy.
Cool, I'm not above going to Best Buy. Do you know what model?
I just looked it up, and the price went up since Tuesday to $50. It's the MFC-J485DW. Not an amazing unit, but for $50 it does the job just fine.
Thank you for the recommendation, but I think I'm going to scrub the idea of either Brother--the reviews aren't encouraging next to Canon Pixma.
I'm becoming more sympathetic to a Epson Workforce model, despite the increased cost. But it lacks duplex scanning (and a merely okay ADF scanner is easily $100 or more by itself--no wonder not working in an office buys scanners nowadays). Not surprisingly, Laserjet printers with good scanners very quickly become expensive--this Brother is surprisingly affordable--but again, only one-sided scanning (also the scanning apparently sucks, that might be where they cut corners cost-wise), so you need this one instead (as far as I can tell, that's the only difference). One with a good scanner is more around $300. Thanks for the lead though.