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Back when I was studying, I bought a $50 black-and-white laser printer for printing out my school work. It was fantastic to use, but when the toner cartridge ra

Back when I was studying, I bought a $50 black-and-white laser printer for printing out my school work. It was fantastic to use, but when the toner cartridge ran out, the cheapest replacement I could find was $150. It turned out to be more economical to buy a new printer rather than replace the cartridge.

tinix 8y ago
Why not just refill the toner yourself for a few bucks?
- steve19 8y ago
  Not the op but I used to do that. Now I buy fake cartridges on aliexpress or ebay. Toner can make such a mess that is hard to clean up. Just not worth the hassle.
  - tinix 8y ago
    Perhaps I've been lucky enough to buy laser printers with easy to empty and refill toner cartridges (brother)... The only problems I've had with messiness are when cleaning the roller, which, I do like, once every year or two maybe?
muro 8y ago
Maybe. The printer that comes with the printer usually only holds a fraction of what you get when buying a new toner (1/4 or so).
- magicalhippo 8y ago
  I got a HP LaserJet Pro P1102W I bought several years ago. The replacement toner cartridge costs about 40% of what I paid for the printer. However, the cartridge that came with the printer lasted for about a hundred or so pages, while the replacement cartridge lasts for about 1500 pages, so about 10x longer.
amelius 8y ago
Did you have a large room with good ventilation? Because that's still a problem with laser printers, the air pollution they produce.
- ewoodrich 8y ago
  I haven't heard about this, could you elaborate?
  - magicalhippo 8y ago
    Laser printers can produce ozone[1] which, while nice high up in the atmosphere, is not very nice to breathe. That said, it seems for casual printing this shouldn't be an issue, especially with newer models[2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards [2]: https://www.dguv.de/medien/ifa/en/pub/ada/pdf_en/aifa0276e.pdf https://www.dguv.de/medien/ifa/en/pub/ada/pdf_en/aifa0276e.p...

tinix 8y ago

Why not just refill the toner yourself for a few bucks?

steve19 8y ago
Not the op but I used to do that. Now I buy fake cartridges on aliexpress or ebay. Toner can make such a mess that is hard to clean up. Just not worth the hassle.
- tinix 8y ago
  Perhaps I've been lucky enough to buy laser printers with easy to empty and refill toner cartridges (brother)... The only problems I've had with messiness are when cleaning the roller, which, I do like, once every year or two maybe?

muro 8y ago

Maybe. The printer that comes with the printer usually only holds a fraction of what you get when buying a new toner (1/4 or so).

magicalhippo 8y ago
I got a HP LaserJet Pro P1102W I bought several years ago. The replacement toner cartridge costs about 40% of what I paid for the printer. However, the cartridge that came with the printer lasted for about a hundred or so pages, while the replacement cartridge lasts for about 1500 pages, so about 10x longer.

amelius 8y ago

Did you have a large room with good ventilation? Because that's still a problem with laser printers, the air pollution they produce.

ewoodrich 8y ago
I haven't heard about this, could you elaborate?
- magicalhippo 8y ago
  Laser printers can produce ozone[1] which, while nice high up in the atmosphere, is not very nice to breathe. That said, it seems for casual printing this shouldn't be an issue, especially with newer models[2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printing#Ozone_hazards [2]: https://www.dguv.de/medien/ifa/en/pub/ada/pdf_en/aifa0276e.pdf https://www.dguv.de/medien/ifa/en/pub/ada/pdf_en/aifa0276e.p...