<p>I will be a freshman engineering student in the fall, and I am wondering if I should bring a printer. I honestly don't know how much printing I will need to do. So:
Will I need to print a lot?
Are there printers you can pay to use in the dorms (I am in low rise 6)?
How convenient are the printers?
If I do get a printer, what kind should I get (b/w vs. color, laser vs. inkjet (I don't want to mess with refills or continuous ink doodads))?
Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>b/w printing will pile up pretty quickly for the FWS classes (4-5 page drafts and finals, x min 3). You probably won’t need a lot of color prints unless you have a class that requires color plots, which don’t usually happen until sophomore year. @7~9 cents each, some people find it easier not to have to deal with a printer. color prints are more expensive, though I’ve kinda lost track how much they cost.</p>
<p>I use a laser b/w printer for lecture notes, homework sets, review material, lab reports and project reports. I use it fairly often although I have not tried doing a cost analysis on this… Any color prints I use the ones in the computer labs.</p>
<p>the dorms do not have printers. However, the engineering quad has several relatively conveniently placed computer labs where you can print using netprint. On north, there is the lab in RPCC, a few in Appel and another underused lab in Dickson Hall.</p>
<p>thanks. that is as I suspected, a black and white laser it is then.</p>
<p>Yes, definitely! Borrowing someone else’s or using the library printer just doesn’t cut it when you’ve got a paper due immediately.
Black-and-white laser: color is unnecessary unless you have classes like photography/art and inkjet is a pain.</p>
<p>Yess, definitely buy your own printer! You never know when you’ll need to print something unexpectedly, and sometimes you can’t rely on others or walking to the nearest library is just out of your way.</p>
<p>I have used the color on the printer for a couple of classes over the years. In some cases, using color on a graphs was the ideal way to present the data for homeworks/projects. Also, I printed quite a few images for a project in my English class. I probably could have gotten by with the library for these purposes, but just keep in mind that it’s hard to anticipate your printing needs ahead of time.</p>
<p>I’d always recommend a personal printer. You never know when you’ll need to quickly need a hard copy of something; and it’s better to know that you have your own printer for use than depending on a printer in populated location.</p>
<p>I survived without a printer. I had it freshman year, but I didn’t like it taking up valuable space. It’s easy enough to print on-campus and there are 24-hour libraries…I never found it anything more than a minor inconvenience to not have a printer.</p>
<p>It’s really up to you, but you won’t have to buy it now. You’ll be able to find a good used printer around orientation or always order one online after the pre-move in rush. I got my B&W laser for $20 bucks from a senior a week after orientation, but my printing load definitely tends to be heavier than the average freshman.</p>