Occasionally using printers - Laser?

[malmsteen]

Hi all,

I'd like to buy a second printer, I already have Canon IP4300 and love it. However, I mostly print photos with it since it's high quality colour inkjet.

I'm looking for a second printer for black & white documents.
From my experiences, inkjet printers' ink tend to go dry after a while if I don't use it every so often, (I dunno about my new Canon, looks pretty solid though), and black ink always gets consumed the most so now I'm thinking of getting Samsung ML-2010 laser.

My concern is, I will only be using it once in a while, maybe less than 1-200 pages a year. Are laser printers OK if I don't use it for a long period of time? Would they ever dry? Can I use it once in every 2 months or so and get the same performance all year round?

Your help is appreciated.

[cwb27]

Laser printers use Toner, which is really just a dry powder.

You should be ok... Mind you now, all the environments I've worked in that use laser printers have the cartridges replaced every few months, if not sooner.

[gman]

It all depends on how much you prints. I had a HP LaserJet 5L. That took about 5 years before it ran out its original Toner. That was used mainly for printing tax forms (no Netfile back then). It was like 100 pages per year. Then, I have a Lexmark E232. That took about 2 years to finish its original toner mainly because my kids started to print stuff.

[willy]

For only 1-200 B&W pages per year, why don't you just print them out from your inkjet ? It may actually increase your utilization of your ink carts a little bit so that it will lower the chance of drying out ...

[Keas]

i think he means that he goes through long periods of time where he doesnt print and then finds the ink has dried up. even if doing 1-200 pages a year.

i have this problem also and so i keep a doc set up that i can run every few weeks to keep the ink from drying but not sure if it also is drying inside the cartridge as well.

so i have been wondering if buying a lazer printer would save me the hassle of worrying about ink drying up and that it will be ready to go wether i use it every week or once every few months to do how many pages i need at the time.

[sf1]

I have a laserjet 5P,
if you want to save toner, there is a economic mode you can turn on but the quality of the print decreases
I have been using it for a year haven't refill yet (it was 2nd hand printer)
now i am only using my inkjet to print photos occasionally, inkjet is just too expensive to buy the cartridges and they have to be changed often because they dry,
from my experience, the refilled cartridges dry even faster.
i recommend buying laserjet because it has instant on fuser and eliminates warm up time, plus you save money in the long run if you print black and white (no matter how often you print)

[woof]

For black and white printing laser is definitely the way to go. The print cost per page is usually far less than inkjets and as already stated the toner is a powder and does not dry out if you use it infrequently. I still have my old HP 5L and the toner easily lasts several years. I print a few hundred pages a year.

[Oversized Rooster]

I have two Samsung ML-2010 printers in the household. I have a very high opinion of them, especially given their low cost.

Both printers are light-to-moderately used. Both are still using their "starter" toners.

[malmsteen]

Right on!

It's just my ideal choice.

Inkjet for quality photos, and laser for b/w documents and stuff.

I'm grabbing Samsung ML-2010 tomorrow. PC Village currently is selling it for 70 bucks after 30 MIR. What a bargain.

Thanks for all your help.