need a printer advice...

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Quichotte /img/forum/go_quote.gif You all made me curious, so I did a bit of research on laser printers. I must admit that I'm tempted, but the prices here in Romania are not encouraging. The cheapest b&w laser printer from Samsung, for example, costs ~$125, while the inkjet multifunctional Canon Pixma MP 520 is ~$150 (which is about my upper limit). Now, if I can refill its black ink cartridge, given the very low price of the black ink, the Canon seems obviously preferable for its numerous features. I don't care much for printing speed, btw. So, here I am asking again, perhaps more clearly this time: 1. can the black ink cartridge of this Canon be refilled? (see my previous post) 2. should I expect the Canon to last reasonably enough, or there is a good chance that it would die on me before I print, say, 10.000 pages? - I'm not talking about the cartridge getting empty, of course 3. do all the laser printers (or at least the Samsung ones) allow for cartridge refilling? (same as question1)

For the Cannon

Canon PIXMA MP-520 Ink Refills

For a Samsung laser printer

Samsung IZZI Laser Toner Refills

I've never done refills, so I don't know what's involved. I'm not recommending this site for refills, it's just what came up first in a Google search.

 

[roastpuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Don Quichotte /img/forum/go_quote.gif So, here I am asking again, perhaps more clearly this time: 1. can the black ink cartridge of this Canon be refilled? (see my previous post) 2. should I expect the Canon to last reasonably enough, or there is a good chance that it would die on me before I print, say, 10.000 pages? - I'm not talking about the cartridge getting empty, of course 3. do all the laser printers (or at least the Samsung ones) allow for cartridge refilling? (same as question1)

1. Yes, however, you will need to drill a hole into the ink cartridge so that you can use the syringe to inject more ink into the cartridge. I think there is a limit as to how many times you can refill a cartridge, as well, but I am not sure.
2. Not sure, though you might have to replace the printhead (what actually prints the ink on the paper - the little thing that moves) eventually because I don't know if inkjet printers have a lifecycle that long.
3. Yes, most do. It's also often a lot easier, because most of the laser cartridges have holes built-in already. I just have to take out two screws on mine, pry off a cap and then spend 2-3 minutes shaking my replacement bottle of toner into the cartridge. After that, I'm good for another 3000 pages, for the cost of $6.

 

[Don Quichotte]

Thank you all! FYI, I am using a ~4 years old Lexmark Z605 printer at the office and I have refilled its black ink cartridge at least 20 or 25 times. The actual capacity decreased from 17ml to 10 or 11ml and the printer has a mechanical problem, but otherwise it's still going strong.

 

[lucyrssll]

Stinkyink now offer toner cartridges for the Samsung ML2571 toner. Oh and it's free delivery too!

 

[Alcibiades]

My experience with inkjets has always been pretty crappy. I find the performance isn't always consistent among the other problems already mentioned in this thread. I also think it has the tendency to jam more though that might have something to do with the fact that it's a cheaper printer.

 

[olblueyez]

Even if you will be printing B&W the printer will be preforming cleaning functions for all the colors and you will end up replacing color cartridges as well. For your high volume B&W I suggest you get an inexpensive B&W laser, and save the inkjet for low volume color and occasional B&W printing. Inkjet + High Volume Copying = crap load of money wasted.

 

[Don Quichotte]

I bought a cheap Canon b&w laser (LBP2900) since the last time I posted here and I'm very satisfied. I have also learned how to fill the toner cartridge by myself, it's not so very simple because you have to disassemble the cartridge (which also contains the cylinder), but it's not very complicated either. So far I am very happy with my purchase, only negative is that it tends to curl the paper a bit, a problem reported by other users too, but can be ameliorated by changing the paper source setting. Oh, and at 8 or 9ppm it's quite slow, but I don't really mind it. One can finely tune the amount of toner to be used - not only does it have the standard toner save setting, but there is also a 5 step cursor telling the printer to use more toner or less.This makes for a total of 10 steps (5 x 2 (with or without toner save)), which I don't know if it's usual for lasers but I consider it a nice feature. The toner should last 2000 pages in toner save mode - after refiling it, not the half empty starting cartridge - at the overly optimistic 5% page coverage, but I think I printed more and it's still going strong.

 

[Seaside]

I was about to write my thought, but decided not to because it looks like you already knew differences between laser and inkjet. Now I am curious why you want another one when you already have two working printers?

 

[Don Quichotte]

No, it's a misunderstanding. I bought the Canon after asking for advice here, now all is good and I don't need another printer. This is just an old thread.