7 ms·

Maybe I'm a bit out of the loop, but for every printer I've owned until my latest one has only printed on one side. I of course could print odds and then flip

Maybe I'm a bit out of the loop, but for every printer I've owned until my latest one has only printed on one side. I of course could print odds and then flip the pages over and print the evens, but when I would type up my homework in high school (which was most of the time because my handwriting is completely illegible), teachers never expected me to use both pages. It didn't even really occur to me to do anything else. ETA: My current printer is a nearly 20 year old, gigantic office printer, and it does indeed print two sides, but I think that printer cost on the order of $4,000 when it was new. Definitely was not considered "consumer grade". Happily, the generic Postscript driver and Bonjour on MacOS work fine with it, so I suspect it'll still serve its purpose as a printer for many years to come.

semanticist 3y ago
OP was in high school ~8 years ago, printers capable of doing both sides automatically were definitely commonly available in 2016 for well under four grand. Plus it could've been a school printer in any case.
- ollien 3y ago
  Heh... did you look me up? (EDIT: I forgot I recently commented about my highschool tenure until now. Hah!) Yeah, this was 2015-2016. Yes, the school printer and my home printer supported it, I was just forgetful and a bit of a smartass :)
throwanem 3y ago
What printer, if you don't mind my asking? I currently make book blocks on an M203dw that's held up surprisingly well thus far, but eventually I expect it to fail; given how I use it, an old battlewagon with a duplexer is likely a much better replacement than another low-end SOHO model.
- tombert 3y ago
  An HP P4515x. Tough to find accurate information on the actual price and release date, BUT this is what ChatGPT said (take with a grain of salt): > me: when was the HP P4515x released? Roughly how much did it cost? > ChatGPT: The HP LaserJet P4515x printer was released in 2008. It was designed for businesses with high-volume printing needs. At launch, the price of the HP LaserJet P4515x was around $1,800 to $2,000, although prices could vary based on the retailer and any additional features or accessories purchased with the printer. Keep in mind that the cost for such a printer model would likely decrease over time due to the introduction of new models and advancements in technology. So I was mistaken, it wasn't $4000 new, it was closer to $2000, and it's closer to 15-16 years old. That's what I get for writing stuff without double checking. I didn't pay anywhere near that, I bought it in 2020 used for like $150. The UberXL I had to take to get it back to my house was like another $80. ETA: I should point out that if you decide to buy one, make sure you buy a RAM upgrade as well. It comes with too small of memory for modern documents; when it prints even moderately sized PDFs you just get an out of memory error. I bought the 512MB RAM expansion for very little (I'm having trouble finding the listing that I bought from, but I think it was on the order of $25 on eBay with shipping). Once I did the upgrade, it's been a perfectly decent printer; it doesn't do color but I almost never need color; all I ever print are documents, generally created with LaTeX, and it works fine. Also, if you decide to buy this specific model, email me about the firmware upgrade process. HP's documentation on doing it is actually wrong and I had to figure it out myself, and the trial and error process cost me an entire ream of paper!
  - throwanem 3y ago
    Thanks! Yeah, I'd expect to install a RAM upgrade and a wireless JetDirect, for something of this vintage. I appreciate the offer of info on the upgrade, too - I might take you up on that, if I decide to go ahead and source a used one to have on the shelf for when I need it.
    - tombert 3y ago
      Actually, while not wireless, it did work out of the box plugging an Ethernet cable into a gigabit switch for me, and a 10 gigabit switch now. You could probably get away with one of those Ethernet WiFi adapters, though I have not tried it.

semanticist 3y ago

OP was in high school ~8 years ago, printers capable of doing both sides automatically were definitely commonly available in 2016 for well under four grand. Plus it could've been a school printer in any case.

ollien 3y ago
Heh... did you look me up? (EDIT: I forgot I recently commented about my highschool tenure until now. Hah!) Yeah, this was 2015-2016. Yes, the school printer and my home printer supported it, I was just forgetful and a bit of a smartass :)

throwanem 3y ago

What printer, if you don't mind my asking? I currently make book blocks on an M203dw that's held up surprisingly well thus far, but eventually I expect it to fail; given how I use it, an old battlewagon with a duplexer is likely a much better replacement than another low-end SOHO model.

tombert 3y ago
An HP P4515x. Tough to find accurate information on the actual price and release date, BUT this is what ChatGPT said (take with a grain of salt): > me: when was the HP P4515x released? Roughly how much did it cost? > ChatGPT: The HP LaserJet P4515x printer was released in 2008. It was designed for businesses with high-volume printing needs. At launch, the price of the HP LaserJet P4515x was around $1,800 to $2,000, although prices could vary based on the retailer and any additional features or accessories purchased with the printer. Keep in mind that the cost for such a printer model would likely decrease over time due to the introduction of new models and advancements in technology. So I was mistaken, it wasn't $4000 new, it was closer to $2000, and it's closer to 15-16 years old. That's what I get for writing stuff without double checking. I didn't pay anywhere near that, I bought it in 2020 used for like $150. The UberXL I had to take to get it back to my house was like another $80. ETA: I should point out that if you decide to buy one, make sure you buy a RAM upgrade as well. It comes with too small of memory for modern documents; when it prints even moderately sized PDFs you just get an out of memory error. I bought the 512MB RAM expansion for very little (I'm having trouble finding the listing that I bought from, but I think it was on the order of $25 on eBay with shipping). Once I did the upgrade, it's been a perfectly decent printer; it doesn't do color but I almost never need color; all I ever print are documents, generally created with LaTeX, and it works fine. Also, if you decide to buy this specific model, email me about the firmware upgrade process. HP's documentation on doing it is actually wrong and I had to figure it out myself, and the trial and error process cost me an entire ream of paper!
- throwanem 3y ago
  Thanks! Yeah, I'd expect to install a RAM upgrade and a wireless JetDirect, for something of this vintage. I appreciate the offer of info on the upgrade, too - I might take you up on that, if I decide to go ahead and source a used one to have on the shelf for when I need it.
  - tombert 3y ago
    Actually, while not wireless, it did work out of the box plugging an Ethernet cable into a gigabit switch for me, and a 10 gigabit switch now. You could probably get away with one of those Ethernet WiFi adapters, though I have not tried it.