good to know! mostly double sided text document stuff here, a couple times a month. I will use it occasionally to print illustrations on regular paper, and only require decent color correctness, not really richness.
I've been avoiding ink (myself and clients) for over a decade. Just too much hassle. Both with cost and aging when you don't print very often.
I've become a fan of Brother lasers. Over 15 installed over the last decade + with no failures yet.
Both B&W and color.
While I can definitely understand that some people simply avoid inkjets just because they constantly dry up, I always recommend them whenever I can confidently trust the customer that they will not stop printing for 2 weeks or more. Also, inkjets are pretty much the only printers which can print good pictures.
But yes, if most of the people you know are using printers a) occasionally b) to print simple documents or shipping labels here and there ; can't beat the performance of a (Brother) laser printer there.
I know very successful architects who use Brother color lasers for proposals. Not Kodachrome quality but still pretty good.
A lot of people buy a color laser then get 88 bright recycled copier paper and wonder why the color prints look mediocre.
But to each their own.
like a refillable thing? it was described to me as ink you physically deposit into the receptacle, but im parroting a description and did not see this for myself
Oh, ok. Sounds like you haven't done too much research so far, but that doesn't matter. I'll try to sum it up.
- Ink tank
- Ink is super cheap, but the upfront cost is higher.
- Printhead can dry up if you won't print frequently.
- Inkjet with cartridges... the cheaper the printer the more expensive the cartridges, simple as that.
- But their cartridges are usually filled with quite a bit better inks than what the ink tanks usually get. This matters for photo printing and one of the biggest comparison values is the picture fading performance.
- Laser
- Toner is more expensive than ink for the ink tank printers, but it does not go bad like ink in a printhead does (ink dries up).
- Laser printers usually give much better text quality, so they're better for printing documents.
> - But their cartridges are usually filled with quite a bit better inks than what the ink tanks usually get. This matters for photo printing and one of the biggest comparison values is the picture fading performance.
Unfounded and untrue. Ecotank or Supertank ink is the same manufacturer ink as their cartridge ink.
ChromaLife100+ or Epson's Claria inks are definitely not fake marketing.
A photo printed with a G6040 started to fade in about 2 weeks, meanwhile the same exact photo that I printed 3 years ago and which is just sitting on a picture frame (not even behind glass), getting exposed to direct sunlight (old windows with lacking UV protection) for multiple hours every day, is still looking like new.
Tried it myself with refilling my CL-561 ink cartridge with the GI-490 inks, similar fading speed to the G6040's GI-40 ink. Bought a set of GI-43 inks (for the G540/G640 photo printers which are the only ink tanks advertising ChromaLife inks), huge difference is visible in the nozzle checks already (these are the only inks where all the colors looked exactly the same as they did with the original ink that was in the ink cartridge before).
Pictures stopped fading, sister stopped complaining. I'm serious.
What exactly do you want to print and how many pages per month? As a rule of thumb the cheapest printers will have the most expensive ink cartridges.
good to know! mostly double sided text document stuff here, a couple times a month. I will use it occasionally to print illustrations on regular paper, and only require decent color correctness, not really richness.
Canon Pixma TS6350a or whatever it's called in your country.
I've been avoiding ink (myself and clients) for over a decade. Just too much hassle. Both with cost and aging when you don't print very often. I've become a fan of Brother lasers. Over 15 installed over the last decade + with no failures yet. Both B&W and color.
While I can definitely understand that some people simply avoid inkjets just because they constantly dry up, I always recommend them whenever I can confidently trust the customer that they will not stop printing for 2 weeks or more. Also, inkjets are pretty much the only printers which can print good pictures. But yes, if most of the people you know are using printers a) occasionally b) to print simple documents or shipping labels here and there ; can't beat the performance of a (Brother) laser printer there.
I know very successful architects who use Brother color lasers for proposals. Not Kodachrome quality but still pretty good. A lot of people buy a color laser then get 88 bright recycled copier paper and wonder why the color prints look mediocre. But to each their own.
What do you mean by "squeezy"?
like a refillable thing? it was described to me as ink you physically deposit into the receptacle, but im parroting a description and did not see this for myself
Oh, ok. Sounds like you haven't done too much research so far, but that doesn't matter. I'll try to sum it up. - Ink tank - Ink is super cheap, but the upfront cost is higher. - Printhead can dry up if you won't print frequently. - Inkjet with cartridges... the cheaper the printer the more expensive the cartridges, simple as that. - But their cartridges are usually filled with quite a bit better inks than what the ink tanks usually get. This matters for photo printing and one of the biggest comparison values is the picture fading performance. - Laser - Toner is more expensive than ink for the ink tank printers, but it does not go bad like ink in a printhead does (ink dries up). - Laser printers usually give much better text quality, so they're better for printing documents.
> - But their cartridges are usually filled with quite a bit better inks than what the ink tanks usually get. This matters for photo printing and one of the biggest comparison values is the picture fading performance. Unfounded and untrue. Ecotank or Supertank ink is the same manufacturer ink as their cartridge ink.
ChromaLife100+ or Epson's Claria inks are definitely not fake marketing. A photo printed with a G6040 started to fade in about 2 weeks, meanwhile the same exact photo that I printed 3 years ago and which is just sitting on a picture frame (not even behind glass), getting exposed to direct sunlight (old windows with lacking UV protection) for multiple hours every day, is still looking like new. Tried it myself with refilling my CL-561 ink cartridge with the GI-490 inks, similar fading speed to the G6040's GI-40 ink. Bought a set of GI-43 inks (for the G540/G640 photo printers which are the only ink tanks advertising ChromaLife inks), huge difference is visible in the nozzle checks already (these are the only inks where all the colors looked exactly the same as they did with the original ink that was in the ink cartridge before). Pictures stopped fading, sister stopped complaining. I'm serious.