Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/12/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]When my ancient Apple laser printer bit the dust, I bought a Brother HL-2270DW. Have had it for over a year and am delighted with it. It will print double-sided automatically when asked. I do not know about legal size. The paper tray will not accommodate it, but manual feed from the back may work. I?d check with the company; their customer service is pretty good. Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org 650-326-8204 Question authority and the authorities will question you. On Dec 29, 2013, at 8:57 PM, Peter Klein <pklein at threshinc.com> wrote: > I am contemplating buying a black and white home laser printer. Our > vintage 1994 HP Deskjet 500 finally died. I think I got my money's worth > out of that one. :-) So I turn to the infinite-seeming knowledge base of > this group. > > Requirements: > * My wife needs to be able to print a dozen pages per day, give or take, > of letter-size scratch documents for translation (not final copies, those > are emailed). > * The printer must be able to print legal size (8.5x14) as well as > standard letter size. I don't mind if it must be fed from a secondary > manual-load tray. I need to print music from PDFs or scanned documents, > at up to legal size (9x12" sheet music seems to print quite readably on > legal-size paper, slightly reduced). Any bigger than that, and I'll use my > Epson R1800 with carbon ink, or go to Kinko's. > * Reliability is key. I don't want a cheap piece of junk pre-programmed to > die shortly after the warrantee expires, or to only take overly expensive > consumables (which is why Lexmark is out). > * The printer should be networkable, preferably via wireless. I don't mind > networking via an external network/print box if it will save substantial > money. > > I've pretty much decided on laser rather than inkjet. From what I've read, > laser means better quality and lower long-term cost (unless you folks have > different experience). And no clogging. I already have 2 photo inkjet > printers, an Epson R200 for color and an R1800 with cartridges hand-filled > with MIS Eboni carbon ink for B&W. The latter actually prints documents > nicely, but I don't want to be filling cartridges all the time for my > wife's language translation business. > > I thought about getting an all-in-one (scan/fax/copy/print). This would > be convenient some of the time. But my experience at work is that the > all-in-one's tend to have complex problems. And if the scanner dies, it > may stop printing, too (firmware self-test failure). Repair is not > economical, so you have to buy a new one. Also, the all-in-one's need for > you to install all the manufacturer's software, which in HPs case is > universally awful. I think I'd be better off with a simple laser printer > and getting a flatbed for music and old family photo scanning. > > I'm inclined towards HP but will entertain other suggestions. This week > Office Depot/Max and Best Buy all have sales going on. There seem to be > three price-classes, $150, $250 and $300 on the B&W printer-only models, > with $30-$50 off this week. > > Any thoughts? > > --Peter > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information