4 ms·

Slightly OT, but what is everyone's favorite minimalist printer? Are there any? I avoid printing like the plague, but sometimes you just need to print a ticke

by furyg3 12y ago

Slightly OT, but what is everyone's favorite minimalist printer? Are there any? I avoid printing like the plague, but sometimes you just need to print a ticket, letter, or a photo of a document you have on your computer. I don't need a scanner, wifi, 500MB of software, or even color. I need something which is small and out of the way when I'm not using it (most of the time), cheap, and ready to go when I have to print something. I kinda miss dot-matrix printers, to be honest.

thearn4 12y ago
I have a Brother HL-2270DW for the rare printing that I do need to do at home. Has been great so far.
- cdr 12y ago
  I have a ~ 10-year-old HL-2040 that's somehow still running. I use it for printing throw-away stuff like notes or recipes. It was maybe $30. It predates even the toner cartridge caps being welded on, so refills are relatively painless and $4.
- benyami 12y ago
  I have this printer hidden in a corner. You would never notice it is there until it receives a job over the wifi. Simple and just works.
- beamatronic 12y ago
  I also have this printer and would highly recommend it. It's cheap and it works great.
- crazygringo 12y ago
  Yup. There's a reason it's been Amazon's best-selling laser printer for... at least a year, I think.
- angersock 12y ago
  Chinese printnet! XD EDIT: Stupid comment... Brother Industries is actually a Japanese company. Learn something new every day.
oomkiller 12y ago
Older laser printers with network support is what I prefer. No drivers, just point postscript at its IP address and go. Some have weird gotchas on Linux, so try for older HPs. Don't mind their age, they're built to last and 2D printing technology hasn't changed much in years.
agumonkey 12y ago
Just saw this http://deals.kinja.com/this-wireless-laser-printer-will-make-your-life-better-1634791809/+shepmcallister http://deals.kinja.com/this-wireless-laser-printer-will-make... Not trying to promote anybody, just read the comments. There are some people happy. I've rarely associated happiness and printers.
allegory 12y ago
Bought an HP DeskJet 2540 for £39 for home. Has WiFi, colour, a scanner and just works over the LAN without any effort so is probably the opposite to what you desire. However I've lost count of the number of times the scanner/copier has been useful even though I didn't want that bit to start with and the WiFi actually makes it easier to use. No more finding that USB cable. It's the peak of value to be honest and a worthy trade off.
- ghshephard 12y ago
  I don't think I've ever used a scanner since the camera became half decent on the iPhone. Even when I have 40 pages of text to scan, it's more straightforward to just snap it from my desk than to walk the 50' or so to the $8000 scanning/printer we have in the office. And, when I'm in the field - well, you get the idea. I guess if I was scanning hundreds of pages, It would probably be worthwhile to use a desktop scanner, but for 40 pages or less - smart phone camera wins every time.
  - aaronbrethorst 12y ago
    I bought a scanner earlier this year, but I use it exclusively for scanning film negatives. (and positives on occasion; slide film is gorgeous!) I also bought a dedicated semi-pro photo printer last year. A full load of ink costs me $120 for 8 itty bitty tanks.
  - Steuard 12y ago
    Everyone has their own priorities and processes. For me, being able to throw half a dozen pages into a document feeder and get a small, good-quality PDF in my email a minute later is a big step up from the effort I used to put into assembling image files into multi-page online resources for my students. What do you do to minimize irritants like uneven margins and wonky viewing angles? (Every time I've photographed printed pages, I've wound up feeling stuck with a bunch of work to make the output actually look reasonable.)
    - Stratoscope 12y ago
blumentopf 12y ago
Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS (1994) Got it on eBay for 1 Euro. Eats standard HP LaserJet cartridges that you can find on eBay for just a few bucks.
smacktoward 12y ago
I use Samsung's ML-2851MD, an inexpensive black and white laser: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/ML-2851ND http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/ML-2851ND Pros: fast, reliable, inexpensive to operate (I've had it for 4 years and have yet to need to buy a new toner cartridge), speaks PCL & PostScript out of the box so it works fine on Linux without any vendor-specific software, includes an Ethernet port so I can plug it into my home network, supports duplex printing (printing on front and back of a sheet of paper). Cons: can't print in color. Really, that's about it. I don't think this particular model is still for sale, but this $199 model from their current lineup looks like the modern equivalent: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/printers/SL-M3320ND/XAA http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/printers/SL-M3320ND/XAA
Gracana 12y ago
This probably isn't quite in the spirit of what you're asking, but I like old laser printers. You can get an HP LaserJet 4m for less than $75 just about anywhere, the toner cartridges are less than $50 and will probably outlast any basic needs you have, and if it has any problems it's easy enough to clean and replacement rubber rollers can be purchased cheaply. The service manual is even freely available and it describes the device's theory of operation. Cool!
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  The only thing is that the 4M and 5M probably use a large amount of power compared to their modern counterparts - anyone got any measurements? You should be able to throw most dialects of PCL and PostScript at those printers and they'll work fine, so this fits the GP's requirements (not having 500mb of software) Anyone know how to make Windows speak PostScript?
  - Gracana 12y ago
    Yep, printer drivers are already available in Windows, which is nice. According to the manual, the 4m uses 195W when printing, and 55W in standby. The 5m is 300/80, and 22W in "power save" mode. I'm guessing that's a mode where the fuser is fully cooled off, so it's probably slow to spool up if you enable that.
mmanfrin 12y ago
It's been mentioned, but the Brother HL-2270DW. Only printer I've ever felt the need to evangelize. Auto duplex, very fast, wifi, unobtrusive. It just works.
simi_ 12y ago
Whenever I have a question like this I turn to The Wirecutter, they usually deliver. http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/printers-2/ http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/printers-2/

by furyg3 12y ago

thearn4 12y ago

I have a Brother HL-2270DW for the rare printing that I do need to do at home. Has been great so far.

cdr 12y ago
I have a ~ 10-year-old HL-2040 that's somehow still running. I use it for printing throw-away stuff like notes or recipes. It was maybe $30. It predates even the toner cartridge caps being welded on, so refills are relatively painless and $4.
benyami 12y ago
I have this printer hidden in a corner. You would never notice it is there until it receives a job over the wifi. Simple and just works.
beamatronic 12y ago
I also have this printer and would highly recommend it. It's cheap and it works great.
crazygringo 12y ago
Yup. There's a reason it's been Amazon's best-selling laser printer for... at least a year, I think.
angersock 12y ago
Chinese printnet! XD EDIT: Stupid comment... Brother Industries is actually a Japanese company. Learn something new every day.

oomkiller 12y ago

Older laser printers with network support is what I prefer. No drivers, just point postscript at its IP address and go. Some have weird gotchas on Linux, so try for older HPs. Don't mind their age, they're built to last and 2D printing technology hasn't changed much in years.

agumonkey 12y ago

Just saw this http://deals.kinja.com/this-wireless-laser-printer-will-make-your-life-better-1634791809/+shepmcallister http://deals.kinja.com/this-wireless-laser-printer-will-make... Not trying to promote anybody, just read the comments. There are some people happy. I've rarely associated happiness and printers.

allegory 12y ago

Bought an HP DeskJet 2540 for £39 for home. Has WiFi, colour, a scanner and just works over the LAN without any effort so is probably the opposite to what you desire. However I've lost count of the number of times the scanner/copier has been useful even though I didn't want that bit to start with and the WiFi actually makes it easier to use. No more finding that USB cable. It's the peak of value to be honest and a worthy trade off.

ghshephard 12y ago
I don't think I've ever used a scanner since the camera became half decent on the iPhone. Even when I have 40 pages of text to scan, it's more straightforward to just snap it from my desk than to walk the 50' or so to the $8000 scanning/printer we have in the office. And, when I'm in the field - well, you get the idea. I guess if I was scanning hundreds of pages, It would probably be worthwhile to use a desktop scanner, but for 40 pages or less - smart phone camera wins every time.
- aaronbrethorst 12y ago
  I bought a scanner earlier this year, but I use it exclusively for scanning film negatives. (and positives on occasion; slide film is gorgeous!) I also bought a dedicated semi-pro photo printer last year. A full load of ink costs me $120 for 8 itty bitty tanks.
- Steuard 12y ago
  Everyone has their own priorities and processes. For me, being able to throw half a dozen pages into a document feeder and get a small, good-quality PDF in my email a minute later is a big step up from the effort I used to put into assembling image files into multi-page online resources for my students. What do you do to minimize irritants like uneven margins and wonky viewing angles? (Every time I've photographed printed pages, I've wound up feeling stuck with a bunch of work to make the output actually look reasonable.)
  - Stratoscope 12y ago

blumentopf 12y ago

Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS (1994) Got it on eBay for 1 Euro. Eats standard HP LaserJet cartridges that you can find on eBay for just a few bucks.

smacktoward 12y ago

I use Samsung's ML-2851MD, an inexpensive black and white laser: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/ML-2851ND http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/ML-2851ND Pros: fast, reliable, inexpensive to operate (I've had it for 4 years and have yet to need to buy a new toner cartridge), speaks PCL & PostScript out of the box so it works fine on Linux without any vendor-specific software, includes an Ethernet port so I can plug it into my home network, supports duplex printing (printing on front and back of a sheet of paper). Cons: can't print in color. Really, that's about it. I don't think this particular model is still for sale, but this $199 model from their current lineup looks like the modern equivalent: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/printers/SL-M3320ND/XAA http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/printers/SL-M3320ND/XAA

Gracana 12y ago

This probably isn't quite in the spirit of what you're asking, but I like old laser printers. You can get an HP LaserJet 4m for less than $75 just about anywhere, the toner cartridges are less than $50 and will probably outlast any basic needs you have, and if it has any problems it's easy enough to clean and replacement rubber rollers can be purchased cheaply. The service manual is even freely available and it describes the device's theory of operation. Cool!

voltagex_ 12y ago
The only thing is that the 4M and 5M probably use a large amount of power compared to their modern counterparts - anyone got any measurements? You should be able to throw most dialects of PCL and PostScript at those printers and they'll work fine, so this fits the GP's requirements (not having 500mb of software) Anyone know how to make Windows speak PostScript?
- Gracana 12y ago
  Yep, printer drivers are already available in Windows, which is nice. According to the manual, the 4m uses 195W when printing, and 55W in standby. The 5m is 300/80, and 22W in "power save" mode. I'm guessing that's a mode where the fuser is fully cooled off, so it's probably slow to spool up if you enable that.

mmanfrin 12y ago

It's been mentioned, but the Brother HL-2270DW. Only printer I've ever felt the need to evangelize. Auto duplex, very fast, wifi, unobtrusive. It just works.

simi_ 12y ago

Whenever I have a question like this I turn to The Wirecutter, they usually deliver. http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/printers-2/ http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/printers-2/