One of the problems with some inkjets is that they dry up if you do not use
them regularly. HP has its heads on the cartidge, so if the dry you need to
buy a new cartridge. Epson and Canon have the print heads on the printer and
if they go then you lose your printer. I had an Epson that I had to toss
because the print heads ceased to work. When we got the laser, the inkjet
became special purpose and was not used as much as it should have been.
HP's cartridges are more expensive to buy, but may be better in the long
run. You can opt to have your cartridges refilled and save some money.
Beware of cheap inks though, especially for photos, as they can degrade over
time.
As for lasers, you can get the toner cartridges refilled as well. Many also
offer an economy feature that uses less toner and can cut your costs
significantly. My toner cartridges seem to last forever.
Roy
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2009/9/28 dbneeley <dbneeley@gmail.
>
>
> With printers, it depends mostly on whether you want to pay up front or
> over time.
>
> Small, inexpensive lasers are far cheaper per page--although the cheap ones
> are monochrome, but may be a little more expensive to buy.
>
> Inkjets can be inexpensive to buy, but are generally very expensive to
> print with on a per-page basis.
>
> If you print frequently, many of the third-party ink cartridges for the
> major brands may be fine as a lower-cost alternative. However, with some
> brands, the factory ink--although expensive--doesn'
> inkjet's print heads so is better if there are some days between print jobs.
> This is the case with my present Epson, for example. When you have to do a
> head cleaning routine, it consumes a surprisingly large amount of ink.
>
> We have an Epson all-in-one, primarily because my stepson just *had* to
> have color--although we bought it about eleven months ago, and the only
> color output it's had was printing a few family pictures and *one* document
> he had for school which had a graph with a single line in blue. At the same
> time, as an inexpensive-
> cartridges which can be quite expensive per page.
>
> Be sure, therefore, that the printers you are looking at, if inkjets, will
> accept large black cartridges--
> other colors. We did not, and that was definitely a mistake.
>
> If your studies are such that you can get by with a monochrome printer, I
> would definitely suggest an inexpensive laser.
>
> As for brands and models, that depends on what your flavor of Linux will
> support. The majority are using CUPS, and it is fairly easy to find listings
> of supported printers for that.
>
> Since I rarely print myself, I haven't bothered to sort out the various
> functions of our all-in-one beyond basic printing. If I had to start
> scanning, I would begin to look at scanning support for it. However, I do a
> dual boot system with XP and it has Epson's elaborate, proprietary drivers
> for the very few things I need on that line. Sorry I can't help you more.
>
> Finally, look carefully at the space you have available for a
> printer...including any paper feed and output trays extended as they often
> must be for use to be sure the printer you are considering will fit in the
> available space. If I had the choice today, I would probably go with a
> separate printer and scanner. Some of the scanners take up very little
> space--such as the Canon LiDE series, as one example. That way, at least,
> loss of one item through accident or breakage doesn't trash the whole thing,
> as a combination unit would. In addition, for the scanners at least, you can
> often get more capable units as stand-alones. Also, if you have a used
> computer store--or look online at Craig's list and such--you can often pick
> up a perfectly good scanner for $10 or $15 or so if you need one. The key
> here is, again, to check for compatibility with Linux drivers before
> purchase.
>
> My next computer is not likely to have a dual boot setup at all--so the
> current Epson may prove to have been a bad choice--at least this particular
> model.
>
> Good luck!
>
> David
>
>
> --- In LINUX_Newbies@
> "majorridge67" <majorridge67@
> >
> > Help! I need a good printer available in the American market that will
> work on Ubuntu that won't break a college guys budget. Any suggestions?
> >
>
>
>
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