Printer Recomendation for Mac

AdamZ

AdamZ

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Adam Zucker
My daughter is going off to college next month and is getting a MacBook Pro -Retina. Her current MacBook purchased 5 years ago has about bought the farm and its time for something new and reliable for college.

She will obviously need a printer that has reasonable speed, will not break the bank ink wise, and keeping in mind limited dorm space is not a behemoth. I also suspect that it will be something she needs to hook up via WiFi AND Ethernet or USB cable as since the university provides WiFi to the dorms we don't want the numnut down the hall to connect and print on her printer.

We have considered just giving her our home printer a Lexmark Pro 901 because it is very economical on black ink. The black ink only costs $5.00 per cartridge. Its also a multi function machine that copies and scans. It does take up a bit more desk space than I like though.

So any recommendations out there for a great printer for a college kid?
 
Hey! That old one finally crapped out??!? :goofy:

Get the cheapest Brother laser printer you can find. Over the years, I've gotten them for all my family members with Macs, including myself. The current model is the HL2240. Look for ones with a D at the end if you want duplex printing on both sides (although this makes it bigger I think). Models with W at the end have wireless and Ethernet connections.

You will want to connect it to the Macbook via USB only, because if you connect it to the school's network (either WiFi or Ethernet), then everybody will be able to print to it!
 
2nd the recommendation on a Brother laser printer. I've had a HL-2140 for a couple of years. Your expense will be the toner cartridge, not the printer itself.
 
Yeha, a Canon is good choice. They set up so easily it's scary.
I have two Canon MP printers. You can get genuine Canon ink carts from Costco, and good Chinese clones from Monoprice, and an Amazon merchant for $5-$7 a pop.
 
If you get a Brother Printer, hack the cartridge. They cheat you by reporting the ink empty at about 40% use, and won't let you continue printing once it thinks its empty. Usually as simple as some creative use of a marker.

Also - go black and white. If you go color and one of the color cartridges reports empty, you can't print black and white until you replace it.

They're cheap, but they know how to get you!
 
Why does she need a printer? Why not use the University print services. Faster printers, all around campus, easy to refill your print quotas, etc. Have you looked into them?

UD is where she is going to school, right?

http://www.udel.edu/it/help/printing/students.html

At 100 free pages every six months and then additional prints at $.05 it may be a cheaper way to go.
 
Scott, Thanks I'll check into that. Didn't even know University's had that service. By comparison when I was in school pre computer pre cell phone and when Lowenbrau was considered a premium craft beer :yikes:

I'd take my hand written paper to a prof's secretary who wanted to make some extra money and she would type it. LOL. Thanks again Scott, that might be a good solution.
 
AdamZ said:
Scott, Thanks I'll check into that. Didn't even know University's had that service. By comparison when I was in school pre computer pre cell phone and when Lowenbrau was considered a premium craft beer :yikes:

I'd take my hand written paper to a prof's secretary who wanted to make some extra money and she would type it. LOL. Thanks again Scott, that might be a good solution.
Click to expand...

Punch cards. Fortran.

That is all.
 
Adam,

I've owned a Canon iP90v for several years. It's a compact, portable printer that is not much bigger than a laptop. I carry mine most places I go. I don't think they don't make the iP90v anymore, but they did update it with the iP100. It's not WiFi capable that I'm aware of, but it is IR and Bluetooth capable (gotta buy a Bluetooth attachment).

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consu...ltifunction/photo_inkjet_printers/pixma_ip100
 
I bought one of the cheaper, on-sale HP printers at Costco a few months ago... HP Photosmart 6525 ... was under $100 iirc. Network, wireless, etc ... printer/scanner/copier and not a huge footprint. Seems to work just fine in my mixed o/s home office.
I see Costco has a $40 off coupon online right now.
 
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Another rec for a LASER printer. I hear great things about the Brother lasers, but I ended up buying a wireless, color Dell laser for $99 from Staples about six months ago. The wireless is probably unnecessary for college since you won't have your own wi-fi network and don't want to share with everyone on the school's.

I assume she'll be printing lots of text documents, and the laser quality, cost per page, and speed can't be beat. Plus, you don't have to deal with ink that smudges and rubs off. Color graphics look great but photos won't be as sharp if that's a deal breaker to you/her.

Finally, of course, the toner cartridges are expensive but last FOREVER. I finally made the switch away from ink when I realized I was printing so little that my cartridges were drying out, clogging, or jamming almost every time I needed to print something. Laser has been so much less annoying.

A lot of laser printers may be too big for a dorm room, but the one I have (below) is quite compact.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&sku=225-4114

It's been as low as $86 on sale at Staples, I believe.
 
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Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I think we will use the University print services for color printing ( if they have it) As my daughter pointed out. What if I have a paper due at 8 AM and have to edit it at midnight and its raining and there are 15 other people trying to use the same print kiosk. So we will probably buy one of those suggested. In reality its the ink or toner that gets you so I don't mind paying a bit more for the printer if the black ink/toner is reasonably priced.
 
AdamZ said:
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I think we will use the University print services for color printing ( if they have it) As my daughter pointed out. What if I have a paper due at 8 AM and have to edit it at midnight and its raining and there are 15 other people trying to use the same print kiosk. So we will probably buy one of those suggested. In reality its the ink or toner that gets you so I don't mind paying a bit more for the printer if the black ink/toner is reasonably priced.
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Adam, just saw a Brother laser deal on slickdeals today -- $49.99

http://www.staples.com/Brother-HL-2240-Mono-Laser-Printer/product_886402

It's compact enough to fit in a dorm easily and lacks features like wifi, duplexing, or color, but that should be fine. You'll be able to print high quality papers for like 2 cents a page, vs 10 cents or more per page on inkjets. The only show stopper would be if you must have a scanner attached.
 
LOL I was just about to post that from dealmac :)

This is the best part about these when you can catch 'em on sale. For the price of an official Brother toner cartridge, you can just buy a new printer by the time the toner runs out!
 
Adam my son is a computer science major. PM me and I will ask him.
 
rpadula said:
LOL I was just about to post that from dealmac :)

This is the best part about these when you can catch 'em on sale. For the price of an official Brother toner cartridge, you can just buy a new printer by the time the toner runs out!
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Oh, Sure. But they put in "special edition" cartridges that only have about 12 pages worth of toner in them.
 
AdamZ said:
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I think we will use the University print services for color printing ( if they have it) As my daughter pointed out. What if I have a paper due at 8 AM and have to edit it at midnight and its raining and there are 15 other people trying to use the same print kiosk. So we will probably buy one of those suggested. In reality its the ink or toner that gets you so I don't mind paying a bit more for the printer if the black ink/toner is reasonably priced.
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And you fell for that!!!??? :rolleyes::rolleyes:;);):D:D

I was back at grad school just a couple of years ago at a big university. At the grad level I had many papers due, none of them were turned in on paper. All went in electronically for grading. I used almost all of my print allocation to print out articles that I had to read each week.

Not sure how the undergrad experience is these days. But I think she probably could get by with a simple ink jet for those last minute things, university print services for most things and for real emergencies-KINKOS!

Maybe send her without the printer for now. Then if she needs one see what the deals are on the campus. There are often school deals on printers for students to be had.

I would also check to see if the university recommends a printer. The nice thing about the university recommended hardware is that they often carry a lot of the supplies, like toner and ink, in the local bookstores, student centers, etc.
 
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ScottM said:
I was back at grad school just a couple of years ago at a big university. At the grad level I had many papers due, none of them were turned in on paper. All went in electronically for grading. I used almost all of my print allocation to print out articles that I had to read each week.
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I finished up my Master's at a major research university in 2010, so I can't imagine much has changed, but we were still printing tons of stuff at home. Rarely would I have the option to email a paper to a professor. Sure, there were and still are shared printing resources, but it would have been a royal pain to not have my own printer.

Just my 2c.
 
dukeblue219 said:
I finished up my Master's at a major research university in 2010, so I can't imagine much has changed, but we were still printing tons of stuff at home. Rarely would I have the option to email a paper to a professor. Sure, there were and still are shared printing resources, but it would have been a royal pain to not have my own printer.

Just my 2c.
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My grad date for my masters was 2010 as well. All our assignments went in electronically. Top 5 research university and number one program in the nation for that field. Basically, YMMV. That is why I mentioned actually seeing what the university says is a good idea, instead of a bunch of pilots on the Internet.

But I too was printing articles left and right because I would often need to annotate them for later reference. I was mostly referring to her need to last minute printing as the reason for a kick ass laser printer. Articles could be sent to the university print systems, never even saw a line or waited for more than a minute for the printouts. If it was a need for a last minute print out, a simple ink jet would suffice for the paper.
 
I highly recommend the Epson Workforce line of multifunction inkjets. I have one at home, one at business I own and two at another office I work at. All have been extremely reliable, and the XL high capacity ink cartridges keep the costs in-line. (I think they all can use the XL cartridges, but check). The WiFi interfaces are very simple to use, some will scan direct to PDF to printer on-network, and most of them can be used to print from a phone as well.

I would NEVER buy another Brother product - everyone I've used has left me in weekly swearing fits trying to figure out why it isn't work right.

Jeff
 
Jeff Oslick said:
I highly recommend the Epson Workforce line of multifunction inkjets. I have one at home, one at business I own and two at another office I work at. All have been extremely reliable, and the XL high capacity ink cartridges keep the costs in-line. (I think they all can use the XL cartridges, but check). The WiFi interfaces are very simple to use, some will scan direct to PDF to printer on-network, and most of them can be used to print from a phone as well.

I would NEVER buy another Brother product - everyone I've used has left me in weekly swearing fits trying to figure out why it isn't work right.

Jeff
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I'm curious as to why one would use an inkjet in a business? I'm sure there is a good reason since they do have a business product line, but I can't recall ever seeing anything but laser in a commercial setting.
 
dukeblue219 said:
I'm curious as to why one would use an inkjet in a business? I'm sure there is a good reason since they do have a business product line, but I can't recall ever seeing anything but laser in a commercial setting.
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My guys had them in the lab settings to quickly print out a few things like test results that they wanted to mull over or graph. It was mainly for things that you did not print lots of pages and wanted a relatively cheap color capability.

In corp world it was easy to buy an ink jet. Laser jets, especially color one required a lot more paperwork. Did not matter what cost to operate was. This is corporate finance, they do not always think the way normal people do.
 
Sounds like you already have a good solution (the campus printing service seems like a great idea), but for my $ I'd buy an HP printer. They tend to last a bit longer than their Brother counterparts in my limited experience. While you're looking, I'd consider getting one with AirPrint built in so you can print directly from other gadgets without special software (although HP has special software that works great for this purpose for older printers).

If you end up buying one, I'd consider a multifunction printer that has a document feeder, and bonus points if you get one that can duplex scan. I have an OfficeJet 6500 that I've carried around for years. Having said that, I agree with the above that a laser printer is your best bet for $ over time considering how much inkjet ink costs.
 
Adam, many profs don't want paper anymore. Papers are sent via email as PDF or via a Dropbox style service the university has.
There are still some profs using paper, but it's changing.

There are ways to check a digital file vs the web for plagiarism, they often use it too.
 
dukeblue219 said:
I'm curious as to why one would use an inkjet in a business? I'm sure there is a good reason since they do have a business product line, but I can't recall ever seeing anything but laser in a commercial setting.
Click to expand...

Low volume relative the cost of the equivalent feature-set hardware. Epson high-yield ink cartridges aren't much more cost per page than laser. One of the printers is used in the field and powered from an inverter, which isn't as practical with a laser printer. Another is a back-up 11x17 format printer for the "workhorse" corporate Xerox high-capacity printer. 11x17 laser prices are *way* higher.

Jeff
 
I would add my own voice for an inexpensive black and white laser printer. The cost is negligible compared to the cost of university, and odds are it will save her bacon on at least a couple occasions. Some profs like printed materials, sometimes networks go down, etc…
 
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