<p>So I'm having a difficult time finding a printer for my HP laptop. Should I go all out and get a multifunction (print/copy/scan..not fax though) or just a regular inkjet? I'm not really worried about size, just price and lifetime of the thing. Any suggestions? Thanks!</p>
<p>If your budget allows it, a laserjet is a great investment. They're far cheaper to run because they use toner (which lasts a good two or three YEARS per cartridge) and they print faster. Color lasers are still pretty expensive, but the black and white lasers are about $100 pretty much anywhere. If you need to print in color, you can usually hijack someone's printer occasionally, and you'll save a TON of money on those expensive ink cartridges by not having a printer that uses them.</p>
<p>Any place that lets you print for free...you might have to join some organizations and/or meet the right people to get such a sweet deal, but there are people on every campus who will let you print if they know you...</p>
<p>by the time I graduated, I had four different places where I could print unlimited pages for free (one in color), and three places where I could make unlimited copies for free (including one place that had free colored paper). There was also one place where I could send and receive faxes for free too.
But all those places were b/c I was so involved on campus and held leadership positions in various organizations.</p>
<p>i have a printer/copier/scanner for my hp, and i love it. while i see the practicality of a laser jet, i opted for my printer beause i heard a lot of good things about it and so far it has lived up to it's reputation.</p>
<p>I agree with kk06, get one that scans. You will save a ton of money copying stuff in your room rather than having to pay a fee to do so.</p>
<p>i'm getting one of those 3-in-1 HP things, the ones that are like $99. they seem good quality and affordable.</p>
<p>I was thinking the HP C3180 - $99</p>
<p>i have a printer/fax/scanner/copier .. it's really nice cause i can make copies :) although if you don't really need the functions a laserjet is really practical cause the toner is cheap and doesn't run out as fast.</p>
<p>VandyTX - I have the HPC3180 and it works great. It isn't as big as most of the others and looks nice. It is super easy to use and doesn't take up that much space. It also prints really clean and the colors are great. Scanning and copying is fricken easy too.</p>
<p>You should definately get it ..... it is a great buy</p>
<p>Most printers last long enough. I want the all in 3 deal, but i bought scanner and printer seperately several years ago and they all work fine so i can't abadon it. XP I also recommend laserjet.. they are lovely if all you do is print text.</p>
<p>hey is HP compatible with Macs?</p>
<p>Sorry if I sound stupid :blush:</p>
<p>never mind- i found my answer</p>
<p>Thanks, SoCal18! I actually hadn't read many reviews about it, so I had to rely on the specs of the thing. I appreciate your input. I'm pretty sure that's the one I'll get.</p>
<p>a printer that prints</p>
<p>Does anyone have an idea of the approximate cost differential between paying for copies at the library or wherever vs. spending the extra in ink-jet ink costs for both printing and the ability to copy in the dorm room? (Doesn’t have to be overly detailed–generalizations like “a lot more” for ink-jet or “about the same” would still be some help!)</p>
<p>Does most need for copying occur at the library rather than in the dorm, anyway? Is there much need at all to be able to scan? </p>
<p>If anyone can speak to any of these considerations (or others I’ve not thought of), I’d appreciate it. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I have a Canon PIXMA MX350 and I really love it. It’s kind of big, but it has a great scanning program that allows me to rearrange scanned pages and put them together to be a multiple-page document (my old printer didn’t let me do that!) and the printing is clear and fast. It also has FAX functionality but I don’t use that. It’s also wireless, so I could imagine that a college student could print from their common area or whatever. It’s waaaaaaaaaaay better than my old printer, which was a Dell. DO NOT GET A DELL PRINTER. I have never met a person with a good story about a Dell printer.</p>
<p>Katelin, when I was in college I never had to copy anything at the library. I was a psychology major, and most of my resources could be found electronically through the Internet. In fact, I rarely ever <em>went</em> to the library. I can’t think of any case where you’d have to make lots of copies at the library. Humanities majors mostly just borrow the books from the library or buy the books they’re reading in class, and science majors can usually find the electronic resources through their university library’s intranet.</p>
<p>A decent printer will cost you around $100. That’s not even counting the ink cartridges (mine cost $20 for the black and $30 for the color) and the paper (which is cheap, but still adds up when you buy several reams). At 10 cents a copy (the usual price) you could copy 1000 pages just for the price of the printer, and I don’t think you’ll ever have to copy that much.</p>
<p>When I found the printer useful is</p>
<p>1) when I didn’t feel like going all the way to the library. My campus shared a library with two other universities/colleges and it was about a 20-minute walk to get to the library. At some schools you may have to take a shuttle just to get to your library from the dorms. When it’s 10 pm and you’re writing a paper you don’t want to trek to the library. Or when it’s 8 am and you’re rushing to class and realize “man I need to print that paper!” you can just hit print.</p>
<p>2) When it was late at night and the library was closed and I needed to copy something - maybe my friend finally showed up with the notes from chem class I missed or something like that.</p>
<p>The scanner didn’t really become useful until I came to graduate school, and it was only in a few instances, usually related to my employment or travel funds. One time I had to scan an expense report I signed and e-mail it back to the office. One time I scanned the readings from a book for a classmate who couldn’t get the book in time. Stuff like that. I don’t remember ever needing a scanner in college, although there have been those “would be nice to have a scanner” times.</p>
<p>My college charges $.10 per page to print black and white at the library. If you printed 3 ten page papers for each of five classes for eight semesters, you’d spend $120 on printing fees.</p>
<p>If you’re the type that likes to edit a printed copy, it makes sense to get a printer. If you only print the final, it makes sense to print at the library (setting aside conveniece and the like).</p>
<p>Get an All-In-One printer. I personally like any of the canon PIXMA printers. they print amazing quality photos (if your into that sort of thing) and the level of convenience a multi-function printer has is amazing. like another posted, its a real pain to have to go track down a printer or scanner or copier somewhere either late at night or just before class, then to have to pay (in most cases) with coin, or as my first school, with my student ID card. additionally, you dont have to send documents to a server or carry them around on a thumb drive and have to worry about getting your personal files off the computer in the library that you printed them from. </p>
<p>Back to the PIXMA printers…
they have separate cartidges for each color and black as well, if you find yourself printing things with just black more often, then thats the only cartridge you have to replace. Kodak pitches their printers with their cheap replacement ink cartridges, but in my experience, they printers are made very poorly and they seem to suck down ink like it was going out of style. HP printers are nice but I have had some issues with their printer drivers and the way they communicate with the computer. I haven’t had much experience with any of the epsons. but I do know that their Artisan series is prone to having the print heads clogging and rending the printer useless.</p>
<p>[Printer</a> brands from Consumer Reports](<a href=“http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/computers-internet/printers/printer-buying-advice/printer-brands/printer-brands.htm#26376]Printer”>http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/electronics-computers/computers-internet/printers/printer-buying-advice/printer-brands/printer-brands.htm#26376)</p>
<p>Personally, I have a lexmark and it’s worked well for me the last three years, and is going on its fourth year of use this year.</p>
<p>I need a printer that I can do tons of printing on, and I need a flat-bed scanner as well-- I am chronically ill and frequently have to scan assignments to email them to my professors. I had an HP inkjet all-in-one printer last year, but I go through about 200 pages of printing a week, sometimes more, so I end up going through cartridges every other week. I thought that getting a laserjet printer would alleviate some of my problems, but I don’t know. I don’t know what I should get.</p>