Is there a printer...

p90fool

...which just bloody prints?

I know printer woes are a tired old cliché but I just want something simple to print setlists and the odd postage label, which I don't have to cajole, beg, pray to and ultimately stamp on and throw into the garden with the others. 

I don't need colour and I don't need WiFi, Bluetooth or anything else although recognise that those things are probably compulsory, and I want it to be cheap.

Running Windows 10 on a laptop and am happy to connect it with an actual cable if that's still a thing. 

Thanks!

stickyfiddle

I don’t have one but I believe Brother is the recommended option for what you’re after

GoFish

Definitely not HP from my understanding. Prefereably nothing that wants to go online.

Lestratcaster

I recently got a Brother LaserJet HL-LD2400DW after my old HP inkjet packed up. It's very good and prints crisp and clear black and white text documents. I hardly ever print any colour or photos so its ideal for me.

boogieman

Brother b/w laser here too. Simple and always works first time. Connects over wifi or cable. Ours is years old and has never had any issues. 

ftumch

I happen to have a Brother mfc j6530dw for sale if your interested and local? Going cheap, pm me if your anywhere near Berkshire.

hollywoodrox

I miss my dot Matrix’s  Epson LQ , my citizen 120d   Etc 

WezV

They somehow work fine once you sign up to the PAYG ink service.

I'd say it was a conspiracy, but it's just plain old capitalism doing it's thing.

skullfunkerry

I've got a Brother laser printer, it's been far more reliable than any inkjet printer I've had. The cartridges aren't cheap but they last for ages, and I use the Cartridge World high capacity compatible ones with no problems.

horse

Another vote for a brother mono laser. I got a cheap one a good few years back when ink jets drove me mad. It's been great, and the cheaper 3rd party toner cartridges have worked ok for me too.

Jez6345789

Same here Brother laser I gave up with any sort of inkjet as it would seem every time it was left not printing something for a few weeks I would end up with blocked nozzles and end up in the endless round of test print clean rinse and repeat that went for lex mark hp and epson.

We have a 6 year old brother that prints hundreds of invoices every week packing slips etc. has needed nothing more than toner and a drum and never misses a beat and was sub £300 at home 2 smaller brother simple lasers which both are on the original toners after 3 years and get very light use but work without fault every time turned on. So for me it’s Brother for the win

Sporky

I have a Brother colour laser from when I was doing pedal decals. Very decent, but I'd say buy the proper Brother toner, the third party stuff is washed out and patchy by comparison - not worth the saving. 

Snags

Any mono laser from a mainstream make, but paying careful attention to ALL the options when running through the setup to lock down all of the extra functionality and online monitoring.

HP, Brother, Canon etc.

You'll wince at the toner cartridge costs, but they'll last you forever with that usage pattern, so cost per page won't actually be bad.

It's worth noting that at the more affordable end of the market they can all be a bit shit and are definitely built down to a price, but even so, you should be fine. Personally for the minimal per page saving I wouldn't go with after-market toners or refills, because they can still be more inclined to let go messily and puke all over the printer innards, at which point it's effectively skipware, but other mileage varies.

DiscoStu

I've got a Brother colour laser. Like Sporky, I bought it to do water slide decals when I was building guitars which means I've had it well over a decade with no major problems. 
I too have found some of the 3rd party cartridges pretty poor, colour prints come out patchy with inconsistent colour so I'm going back to the Brother cartridges next time. Which could be years!

GSPBASSES

DiscoStu said:

I've got a Brother colour laser. Like Sporky, I bought it to do water slide decals when I was building guitars which means I've had it well over a decade with no major problems. 
I too have found some of the 3rd party cartridges pretty poor, colour prints come out patchy with inconsistent colour so I'm going back to the Brother cartridges next time. Which could be years!

Slightly off the main topic, but you mentioned water slide decals. I've tried that and it found miserably as the inks I was using wasn't waterproof, so it all becomes a bit of a mess so I gave up. Perhaps you could enlighten us on how you do yours.

mikeyrob73

Brother Laser

something like this 

https://www.printerland.co.uk/product/brother-hl-1110/132615

i would always avoid ink printers, compatibles work fine on the laser printers 

DiscoStu

GSPBASSES said:

DiscoStu said:

I've got a Brother colour laser. Like Sporky, I bought it to do water slide decals when I was building guitars which means I've had it well over a decade with no major problems. 
I too have found some of the 3rd party cartridges pretty poor, colour prints come out patchy with inconsistent colour so I'm going back to the Brother cartridges next time. Which could be years!

Slightly off the main topic, but you mentioned water slide decals. I've tried that and it found miserably as the inks I was using wasn't waterproof, so it all becomes a bit of a mess so I gave up. Perhaps you could enlighten us on how you do yours.

I take it you're using an inkjet then?
Laser prints are waterproof which is why I bought the printer.

Sporky

DiscoStu said:

Laser prints are waterproof which is why I bought the printer.

Same here. Very light dusting of lacquer first or the decal crinkles or distorts, I found. 

GSPBASSES

Thank you, I will now go and search for a sensibly priced laser printer. 

euan

Sporky said:

I have a Brother colour laser from when I was doing pedal decals. Very decent, but I'd say buy the proper Brother toner, the third party stuff is washed out and patchy by comparison - not worth the saving. 

The reason why third party cartridges appear washed out and patchy is because they often recycle the cartridge but retain the drum roller. The drum is its own consumable and roller is charged(by the laser) with every print, and over time will lose capacity to retain that charge. And also just general abrasion on the surface. 

In OEM cartridges this is always new.

This is at least true for the cheaper mono laser printers, the more expensive ones with have separate toner and drum consumables to provide better servicing and cost pp. 

I used to be a OEM laser printer repair technician, and the OEM used a variety of own manufacturing and third party from Xerox, Samsung, Brother. 

The wee Brothers were great 

randella

You'll probably get the connectivity stuff anyway, it's cheap to implement and looks good on the spec sheet.

I'd go black and white laser over an inkjet for that usage, I got sick of the unreliability of inkjets when you only use them sporadically. You'll stand a better chance of not having to go down Tesco when you need to urgently print a boarding pass and the cartridge has pissed the bed.

Some of the sites that sell printers will give you a cost comparison per printed sheet between individual models, this is worth a look as there can be a fair old difference.