Linux Format forums

Re: New printer

ajgreeny — Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:49 am

Author: ajgreeny

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:49 am

Just to add my two pennyworth, I have an HP b110 which is connected by wireless to all the machines in the house and seems to work faultlessly. It cost �39 from Currys, whom I would not go to by choice for computer gear, but at that price I was tempted. Ink is reasonable in cost from Amazon.

The HP drivers in hplip are unbeatable, in my opinion, and very easy to get either from your distro's repos, or direct from HP which I had to do as the default version in Ubuntu 10.04 was not sufficiently recent. Even that is so simple to install; you simply run the binary hplip-3-11.12.run in terminal, and follow the instructions.

A very good all in one printer/scanner/copier too, though we print very little nowadays.

Re: New printer

Ram — Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:57 pm

Author: Ram

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:57 pm

Have look at this, my printer is a all in one C310

https://h30042.www3.hp.com/SureSupply/?AppName=EMEASupplyLP&loc=gb&lang=en&searchPrinters=c310#3

It tells you the yield and if you follow the add button to the check out it'll give you the price from HP and from other places via kellco

Re: New printer

johnhudson — Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:28 am

Author: johnhudson

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:28 am

Cost per page really depends on quality - I have always used draft greyscale on my HP because it is barely distinguishable from normal greyscale and I usually use normal colour.

For anything long lasting, I have some very expensive HP paper and use photo quality and leave it to dry properly and so on.

Check out the HP Photosmart range if you want durable prints.

However, I have never checked cost per page - I tend to use three or four greyscale cartridges a year and one colour but, of course, some printers come with individual colour cartridges which saves money if you are doing colour printing.

Re: New printer

Dutch_Master — Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:55 am

Author: Dutch_Master

Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:55 am

I disabled wireless, much safer... As for costs: just got it a few weeks ago and I hardly print, so lifespan of ink is a ? to me...

Re: New printer

guy — Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:46 pm

Author: guy

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:46 pm

Thanks for the tips - wireless sounds good.

Any thoughts on cost-per-page or ink durability?

Re: New printer

Ram — Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:12 am

Author: Ram

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:12 am

johnhudson wrote:

A friend bought a wireless HP printer/scanner/copier which he is very happy with. Only tip: use a static IP address for it on the network - Windows in particular will be more comfortable with it that way and I understand it can also avoid problems with Linux.

Me too also with duplex printing, darn sight easier that using cups with my old epsons.

Re: New printer

johnhudson — Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:04 pm

Author: johnhudson

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:04 pm

A friend bought a wireless HP printer/scanner/copier which he is very happy with. Only tip: use a static IP address for it on the network - Windows in particular will be more comfortable with it that way and I understand it can also avoid problems with Linux.

Re: New printer

Dutch_Master — Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:14 pm

Author: Dutch_Master

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:14 pm

I have a Brother MFC5895CW. Wireless and cabled network, prints up to A3 paper. Very quiet, LCD, SD/xD/CF-card slot, etc. Cost: 140 Euro from an average priced PC shop. YMMV! Best of all: Brother is fervent Linux support, albeit in 'binary blob' form (no source code)...

New printer

guy — Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:31 pm

Author: guy

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:31 pm

Would appreciate advice on a new printer.

I print a mix of one-offs, colour sometimes useful, and occasional longer monochrome documents. Some for long-term use/storage. Scanner would be useful too. Networked too if it doesn't cost (mixed Linux/Windows clients).

Don't have enough space for two printers.

Ages ago, options were:
- Laser: expensive up front, lousy colour, cheap per-page.Over many years, toner sticks to plastic covers, etc.
- Inkjet: photo-real colour, but not waterproof or colour-fast (except Epson), expensive per-page (especially Epson). Canon, HP were the market leaders, Lexmark cheaper but had dodgy drivers.

Has much changed?