<p>I don't know what I"d do if I couldn't post questions here!!!!</p>
<p>D has a new laptop to take to college - I'm starting to think about a printer. I have NO experience with laptops and printers - anything different we should look for? I figured something smallish would be best...</p>
<p>Then I started thinking, do most kids have printers? In other words, a printer per student per computer in the room? I know there are places that kids can print stuff off on campus (like the library computer center) but it seems to make a lot of sense to have it right in your room for convenience - especially on cold Ohio winter nights....when you don't want to venture out at 10pm to print...</p>
<p>My D has a printer and wouldn't be without it. If she doesn't need color output, by a small personal laser for $100. Supplies (ink cartridges) for the color ink jets will eat you up.</p>
<p>My S used to have a stand-alone printer. Last year, we got him a 3-in-1, which was not much more expensive than a stand alone printer and took up not much more space. He's made use of all 3 functions (less often for the scanner). He had 3 problem sets per week, involving multiple pages, and all were required to be printed out. He's also an owl, and tended to finish work in the wee hours of the night, so it was very convenient to have the printer in his room.</p>
<p>My daughter didn't have a printer last year and was fine without one -- there are various printers on her campus for student use and there is some way that they can print to the network and then go pick up their stuff. At her college, they are also allowed a certain number of pages printed per week for free (something like 100 pages). As far as cold weather, I'm pretty sure that at there were printers in the dorm -- so she didn't have go go out. I think a lot of papers get submitted to profs electronically, by email -- my son didn't seem to need his own printer when he started college several years earlier, either -- same experience.</p>
<p>A well-set-up college or U will have printers in the dorms, shared of course, & networked. So you just command to print from your laptop in your dorm room & go pick up in that same dorm. (It was concern of mine, too, during the snowy weather!) If several other students have just done the same thing at their laptops, there will be a short queue at the printer, but it would really only be much of a wait during times that papers are due toward the end of a quarter or semester. The way I decided to handle it was to wait until my D declared it a problem, which she never has.</p>
<p>However, if there really are few or no printers in the dorm, and this is a concern of yours, there are really small printers now. I would just encourage the person who has one to have some kind of agreement with roomies if they're going to use it on a regular basis, as the price of cartridges add up. That's one reason I'm glad that so far, my D has not needed her own personal printer. (It's also one more piece of equipment to move every time the student moves.)
:)</p>
<p>My kids liked having their own printers. While both colleges supplied printing, they would have to go pick it up in another building that wasn't that convenient early in the morning before class. My daughter had one roomate without a printer that used my daughters. She offered to buy my daughter an ink cartridge to pay her back, but I told my daughter not to bother; I had sent her with several at the start of the year. I believe the roomate use the campus printing most of the time, but used my daughter's printer late at night.</p>
<p>I know my kids are last minute people, so having their own printers was the way to go with them.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Last year, we got him a 3-in-1, which was not much more expensive than a stand alone printer and took up not much more space. He's made use of all 3 functions (less often for the scanner).
[/quote]
Just concurring with Marite. S is also a late night worker, plus the 3-in-1 functions come in handy for the internship process, financial aid stuff, taxes, medical forms, or anything requiring signatures in a timely manner when you're many miles away from your student.</p>
<p>Neither kid had a printer at school. Both found central printing services way more convenient and much cheaper. In addition, professors pretty much wanted papers emailed to them, so printing was as much a priority as you'd think! But they both found a cheap scanner very useful.</p>
<p>first two years my D had a printer, but her dorms also had printers-
She also got a work study job working in computer services last two years, so her printing was free!</p>
<p>Re choosing printers-
we have always had EPSON- inkjets- as their drivers used to be the best with Mac- other than an Apple laser printer that I had 15 years ago that they stopped making cartridges for.</p>
<p>First I would check the inks- some are as expensive as the printer- also some are more durable than others.</p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend buying generic ink, we haven't had good luck with refillable cartridges.</p>
<p>Calmom makes a good point- lots of profs do accept work by mail-
I don't know if I would necessarily get a printer right off, if there isn't already one available.
If you can share a printer in the room or in the dorm- that will give D a chance to find out what she wants.</p>
<p>I'm staying in a dorm right now. There are centralized computers and printers in the dorm. Very convenient. I would not want to have to make room for a printer in my dorm room. It would be really problematic if both my roommate and I each had a printer.</p>
<p>There were printers on campus, so D didn't really need one, but of course they get backed up at certain times of the year, so having one became a necessity at times, so she has an inexpensive one.</p>
<p>As I wrote, S's had problem sets that were required to be printed out: I assume it is easier to make comments on math problems by hand. For his humanities class, the TF required both a hard copy and an emailed one (don't quite know why).
S and roommie will have share a room with a different space configuration next year, and I believe S will leave his printer at home as roommie has his own 3-in-1.</p>
<p>My son took his printer freshman year but is probably leaving it home in the fall - dorm room is small and he can use the space for something else. As with others, he got free printing on campus and many instructors wanted emailed papers anyway.</p>
<p>We shipped his printer (HP 8xx Heavy series) in '02 and son discovered that printers were a detriment-no one paid for the print cartridge. The printer took up valuable shipping space, had a poor weight to cost ratio, and just occupied shelving. He soon discovered that people visited him not because his great personality, handsome physique, and Einsteinian brain, but for the 8 ppm. </p>
<p>I also wonder why his mother packed so many underwear for DS when the school had working washing machines and Target/Sears/Nordstrom/Goodwill stores nearby. I seem to remember she packed for a two week wash cycle and assumed a new change of clothes everyday. I guess we were lucky in that we only had a guy to send and not a gal.</p>
<p>We gave both our kids a printer as first semester freshman and both stopped using them before the the first quarter/semester was over. I think they had minor problems and instead of fixing it, they found it easy enough to use the colleges printers. Both have said that most of their homework was e-mailed in. Both colleges had free printing, not sure how it was set up but must have been pretty simple. I would suggest waiting. Easy enough to order and have delivered on-line later. Staples has free shipping with purchases over $25.</p>
<p>Purchased D a printer freshman year which was never used. Like others who posted here, D uses one of the centrally located printers on campus or e-mails paper. But then again, she does very little work in her room as she feel more productive at the library or one of the study rooms.</p>
<p>This is fun to read. Just goes to show that one person's necessity is another person's luxury. I've never asked my S why the printer was an unexpected "must have" despite accessible free printing. Trust me, my S is a minimalist. I suspect it is the p-setting issues and preferring to work with hard copies.</p>
<p>Now my S never took his new comforter out of the bag the entire year, and he is in the northeast. His beautiful down comforter is on his bed in California and the dog is delighted.</p>
<p>My two both took 3-in-1 printers as freshmen and used them consistently in their dorm rooms. Their roommates all had their own printers too. They will bring their printers back in the fall.</p>
<p>Our son did not have a printer(he is a rising senior) and never needed one. Many assignments were transmitted by email. The study lounge in the dorm had a printer and there were hundreds of printers scattered around the campus for students to use. And all were free of charge.</p>
<p>The only time he was charged for printer usage was when he needed to produce some color sheets for an overhead projector and the computer lab charged him for the vinyl stock.</p>