I’m planning on buying a laser printer but concerned about the life cycle of toner in the machineWhat will happen if i put colored toner in Black white laser printer cartridgeColor Printer: Laser vs InkjetBest way to save ink in inkjet printer when rarely used?Laser printer prints black perfectly but cyan magenta and yellow very badlyDo printer ink/toner refill kits work and are they safe?What causes the laser printer to print all pages with a washed out background?Epson XP-600 will not print properly with all new ink recently installedLaser printer pages covered with toner powder. What to replace first?Is any special maintenance required for an edible ink printer?Printer toner doesn't adhere well to the paper anymore

Mathematical cryptic clues

A newer friend of my brother's gave him a load of baseball cards that are supposedly extremely valuable. Is this a scam?

How is it possible to have an ability score that is less than 3?

How does strength of boric acid solution increase in presence of salicylic acid?

Writing rule stating superpower from different root cause is bad writing

Watching something be written to a file live with tail

Is it important to consider tone, melody, and musical form while writing a song?

How can I make my BBEG immortal short of making them a Lich or Vampire?

Mage Armor with Defense fighting style (for Adventurers League bladeslinger)

Collect Fourier series terms

What typically incentivizes a professor to change jobs to a lower ranking university?

Test whether all array elements are factors of a number

tikz: show 0 at the axis origin

How do we improve the relationship with a client software team that performs poorly and is becoming less collaborative?

How to find program name(s) of an installed package?

Why was the small council so happy for Tyrion to become the Master of Coin?

Modeling an IPv4 Address

I’m planning on buying a laser printer but concerned about the life cycle of toner in the machine

Can divisibility rules for digits be generalized to sum of digits

Why do falling prices hurt debtors?

Arthur Somervell: 1000 Exercises - Meaning of this notation

Can I make popcorn with any corn?

Smoothness of finite-dimensional functional calculus

Dragon forelimb placement



I’m planning on buying a laser printer but concerned about the life cycle of toner in the machine


What will happen if i put colored toner in Black white laser printer cartridgeColor Printer: Laser vs InkjetBest way to save ink in inkjet printer when rarely used?Laser printer prints black perfectly but cyan magenta and yellow very badlyDo printer ink/toner refill kits work and are they safe?What causes the laser printer to print all pages with a washed out background?Epson XP-600 will not print properly with all new ink recently installedLaser printer pages covered with toner powder. What to replace first?Is any special maintenance required for an edible ink printer?Printer toner doesn't adhere well to the paper anymore






.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty height:90px;width:728px;box-sizing:border-box;








12















I’m planning on buying a laser printer but concerned about the life cycle of the toner in the machine. I went to Brother’s website and and it says:




“The toner cartridge shelf life is 2 years if the protective bag is unopened or 6 months after the protective bag is opened.”




I print infrequently and only a few pages a month and was hoping the toner would last for years, but am I wrong?



Will it start to clump in the printer after 6 months? I was going to get a laser printer instead of an inkjet because inkjet printers clog often if not used every week or two and use a lot of ink in the cleaning cycles. But if the toner only lasts 6 months then I have a similar problem with the laser printer.



Can someone clarify which I should get for my infrequent printing needs? I only need to print black and white.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.















  • 2





    @Attie - Laser. I print so infrequently I got totally sick of having to waste 10 sheets of paper cleaning up the ink jets every time I wanted to print something. The Laser just sat there, always on [very low power sleep mode], always ready to go. The newer one, an HP all-in-one, seems to be ready to do the same. It's a lot better functionally, so I might even consider buying new ink when it runs out ;)

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago







  • 3





    Laser printers don't use "ink". They use toner.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 3





    @MichaelHarvey - potato potato. Same end result.

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago






  • 9





    If you are in a discussion about laser printers, and you talk about "ink", you will make people think you are talking about ink jet printers, and that you have made an error.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 2





    The brother printer I use hs had its toner last years - and I live in a humid environment. I dont think toner clumping is likrly to be an issue.

    – davidgo
    14 hours ago

















12















I’m planning on buying a laser printer but concerned about the life cycle of the toner in the machine. I went to Brother’s website and and it says:




“The toner cartridge shelf life is 2 years if the protective bag is unopened or 6 months after the protective bag is opened.”




I print infrequently and only a few pages a month and was hoping the toner would last for years, but am I wrong?



Will it start to clump in the printer after 6 months? I was going to get a laser printer instead of an inkjet because inkjet printers clog often if not used every week or two and use a lot of ink in the cleaning cycles. But if the toner only lasts 6 months then I have a similar problem with the laser printer.



Can someone clarify which I should get for my infrequent printing needs? I only need to print black and white.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.















  • 2





    @Attie - Laser. I print so infrequently I got totally sick of having to waste 10 sheets of paper cleaning up the ink jets every time I wanted to print something. The Laser just sat there, always on [very low power sleep mode], always ready to go. The newer one, an HP all-in-one, seems to be ready to do the same. It's a lot better functionally, so I might even consider buying new ink when it runs out ;)

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago







  • 3





    Laser printers don't use "ink". They use toner.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 3





    @MichaelHarvey - potato potato. Same end result.

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago






  • 9





    If you are in a discussion about laser printers, and you talk about "ink", you will make people think you are talking about ink jet printers, and that you have made an error.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 2





    The brother printer I use hs had its toner last years - and I live in a humid environment. I dont think toner clumping is likrly to be an issue.

    – davidgo
    14 hours ago













12












12








12








I’m planning on buying a laser printer but concerned about the life cycle of the toner in the machine. I went to Brother’s website and and it says:




“The toner cartridge shelf life is 2 years if the protective bag is unopened or 6 months after the protective bag is opened.”




I print infrequently and only a few pages a month and was hoping the toner would last for years, but am I wrong?



Will it start to clump in the printer after 6 months? I was going to get a laser printer instead of an inkjet because inkjet printers clog often if not used every week or two and use a lot of ink in the cleaning cycles. But if the toner only lasts 6 months then I have a similar problem with the laser printer.



Can someone clarify which I should get for my infrequent printing needs? I only need to print black and white.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












I’m planning on buying a laser printer but concerned about the life cycle of the toner in the machine. I went to Brother’s website and and it says:




“The toner cartridge shelf life is 2 years if the protective bag is unopened or 6 months after the protective bag is opened.”




I print infrequently and only a few pages a month and was hoping the toner would last for years, but am I wrong?



Will it start to clump in the printer after 6 months? I was going to get a laser printer instead of an inkjet because inkjet printers clog often if not used every week or two and use a lot of ink in the cleaning cycles. But if the toner only lasts 6 months then I have a similar problem with the laser printer.



Can someone clarify which I should get for my infrequent printing needs? I only need to print black and white.







printer toner






share|improve this question









New contributor




Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 2 hours ago









JakeGould

32.7k10100142




32.7k10100142






New contributor




Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 18 hours ago









Frank H.Frank H.

613




613




New contributor




Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Frank H. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.







  • 2





    @Attie - Laser. I print so infrequently I got totally sick of having to waste 10 sheets of paper cleaning up the ink jets every time I wanted to print something. The Laser just sat there, always on [very low power sleep mode], always ready to go. The newer one, an HP all-in-one, seems to be ready to do the same. It's a lot better functionally, so I might even consider buying new ink when it runs out ;)

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago







  • 3





    Laser printers don't use "ink". They use toner.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 3





    @MichaelHarvey - potato potato. Same end result.

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago






  • 9





    If you are in a discussion about laser printers, and you talk about "ink", you will make people think you are talking about ink jet printers, and that you have made an error.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 2





    The brother printer I use hs had its toner last years - and I live in a humid environment. I dont think toner clumping is likrly to be an issue.

    – davidgo
    14 hours ago












  • 2





    @Attie - Laser. I print so infrequently I got totally sick of having to waste 10 sheets of paper cleaning up the ink jets every time I wanted to print something. The Laser just sat there, always on [very low power sleep mode], always ready to go. The newer one, an HP all-in-one, seems to be ready to do the same. It's a lot better functionally, so I might even consider buying new ink when it runs out ;)

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago







  • 3





    Laser printers don't use "ink". They use toner.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 3





    @MichaelHarvey - potato potato. Same end result.

    – Tetsujin
    14 hours ago






  • 9





    If you are in a discussion about laser printers, and you talk about "ink", you will make people think you are talking about ink jet printers, and that you have made an error.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago






  • 2





    The brother printer I use hs had its toner last years - and I live in a humid environment. I dont think toner clumping is likrly to be an issue.

    – davidgo
    14 hours ago







2




2





@Attie - Laser. I print so infrequently I got totally sick of having to waste 10 sheets of paper cleaning up the ink jets every time I wanted to print something. The Laser just sat there, always on [very low power sleep mode], always ready to go. The newer one, an HP all-in-one, seems to be ready to do the same. It's a lot better functionally, so I might even consider buying new ink when it runs out ;)

– Tetsujin
14 hours ago






@Attie - Laser. I print so infrequently I got totally sick of having to waste 10 sheets of paper cleaning up the ink jets every time I wanted to print something. The Laser just sat there, always on [very low power sleep mode], always ready to go. The newer one, an HP all-in-one, seems to be ready to do the same. It's a lot better functionally, so I might even consider buying new ink when it runs out ;)

– Tetsujin
14 hours ago





3




3





Laser printers don't use "ink". They use toner.

– Michael Harvey
14 hours ago





Laser printers don't use "ink". They use toner.

– Michael Harvey
14 hours ago




3




3





@MichaelHarvey - potato potato. Same end result.

– Tetsujin
14 hours ago





@MichaelHarvey - potato potato. Same end result.

– Tetsujin
14 hours ago




9




9





If you are in a discussion about laser printers, and you talk about "ink", you will make people think you are talking about ink jet printers, and that you have made an error.

– Michael Harvey
14 hours ago





If you are in a discussion about laser printers, and you talk about "ink", you will make people think you are talking about ink jet printers, and that you have made an error.

– Michael Harvey
14 hours ago




2




2





The brother printer I use hs had its toner last years - and I live in a humid environment. I dont think toner clumping is likrly to be an issue.

– davidgo
14 hours ago





The brother printer I use hs had its toner last years - and I live in a humid environment. I dont think toner clumping is likrly to be an issue.

– davidgo
14 hours ago










7 Answers
7






active

oldest

votes


















13














I flat out refused to buy a printer for a long time, but it's become more necessary for me in recent years. I decided against any inkjet technology (including HP PageWide / fixed head printers, which can be presented similarly to a consumer) for a number of reasons... critically:



  • Idle Inkjet printers get "gunked" up very quickly - if you're not printing regularly, then the head quickly becomes caked in dried ink, which requires careful and expensive cleaning (ink is expensive) - potentially requiring hand cleaning or even a replacement head (or whole printer)

  • Running costs: replacement ink is incredibly expensive, and DIY refills are becoming harder and harder due to DRM - Printer Ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the modern world - See "Ink Cartridges are A Scam".

  • I've long maintained that "printing is the weak link in computing" - Inkjet printers have a habit of jamming, chewing on paper, wearing out... mechanically they are far from a sound idea

I purchased a Samsung Laser MFD (CLX-6260FW) over two years ago, and I've had no issues with it. It came with a set of "starter" toner cartridges:



  • Black - 1503 impressions / 2000 page capacity

  • CMY - 645 impressions / 1500 page capacity

About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong.



Toner cartridges can benefit from a good shake, which helps to redistribute the contents when they start to get low and show print issues.



With the price and size of laser printers now, I'd recommend that nobody purchases an Inkjet ever again (budget permitting of course, they are still a bit more expensive in the short term).



While laser printers are quantitatively worse for high-quality photo printing, I'd suggest that unless high-quality photo printing is a very important use-case for you, laser will be just fine. For occasional photo printing, use an online service.




To expand on the running costs of an Inkjet printer briefly, consider some random HP cartridges.



While the upfront cost is much higher, the running cost is significantly lower (probably better than ~50%).



HP Inkjet Black Ink Cartridge




  • HP "No. 45", claims a coverage of ~930 pages, for £44.95

    • 4.8p / page



  • HP "No. 300XL", claims a coverage of ~600 pages, for £36.73

    • 6.1p / page


An approximate ~5.5p / page of black and white only printing... completely ignoring the use for alignment, head cleaning, wastage due to being dried out, wastage due to re-prints, wastage due to DRM, etc...



HP Laser Black Toner Cartridge




  • HP 1500, claims a coverage of ~5,000 pages, for £100.50

    • 2.1p / page



  • HP 642A, claims a coverage of ~7,500 pages, for £206.23

    • 2.7p / page



  • HP 645A, claims a coverage of ~13,000 pages, for £320.95

    • 2.5p / page


An approximate ~2.4p / page of black and white only printing.






share|improve this answer




















  • 2





    Regarding your suggestion to not buy inkjet. Im fairly certain the quality of an inkjet print is still substantially better than a laser. You can print reasonable photographs with inkjet, but not so much with laser.

    – Matt
    11 hours ago






  • 3





    "About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong." - I have found this. My Brother mono laser lasted 7 years (2008 - 2015) on its "starter" cartridge.

    – Michael Harvey
    11 hours ago






  • 2





    It was a Samsung CLX[can't remember the number] that I had for 10 years. It got a bit squeaky over time, but never failed. I just got a new one when the original toner ;) ran out, though they used to sell them with full cartridges, not part-filled like they do now.

    – Tetsujin
    8 hours ago






  • 1





    @Matt, ...there's a big difference if you're measuring "quality" by sharpness of black-and-white text, or "quality" by ability to reproduce colors. Laser printers have been reigning champions of the former category for a long, long time.

    – Charles Duffy
    2 hours ago











  • @Matt - indeed, though OP asked about black and white... I've added a statement about photo printing for completeness, but unless high-quality photo is your primary use, inkjet is generally still a poor choice (use an online service for photos)

    – Attie
    1 hour ago


















7














I have had my printer, a Fuji Xerox CM305DF for more than 3 years. The cartridges (rated at 3000 pages) are still 3/4 full - I have only printed about 1500 pages. The toner seems to be perfectly OK.



In most laser printers, the toner is stirred whenever a print is made. This is true regardless of whether the cartridge and drum are together (as is the case for most mono printers), or when the cartridge is far removed from the drum (most colour lasers). As a result caking or clumping should not be a problem.



In general, I agree with your comment about inkjets. In many inkjets only 50% or less of the ink makes it onto the page. The rest is used in regular head cleans (e.g. every time it wakes up) or in emergency cleans (when the print quality suffers from a clogged jet). Inkjets also need to be used regularly. If you leave them switched off for a couple of months, you can expect to waste large volumes of ink to get the jets working properly again. Lasers do not have any of these problems.



Inkjets have a place if your main use is printing photos. On photo paper they do a far better job than any laser. On the other hand, on plain paper any laser will print better photos than an inkjet. When considering an inkjet for photos, make sure you include the cost of photo paper, which is something like 20c for 4" x 6". Including the ink, you'll be up for close to 50c per photo. If you get them printed at the nearest shop, the same photos will cost you 10c or less and the quality will be even better. Of course, it does mean you have to wait a couple of hours to get your hands on them.






share|improve this answer




















  • 1





    I have had an HP colour laser (an M251nw) since May 2015, it came with "500 page" starter cartridges, the black lasted 3 years, and had done 500 pages when I changed it, it started giving warnings about the cyan about 100 pages ago, the page count says 708 pages, but still printing fine. I'll buy some colour toners when the output starts looking strange.

    – Michael Harvey
    14 hours ago


















3














Not to get dragged into a laser vs inkjet debate (laser was far superior.), I will simply add my experiences using lasers.



Do not be worried about the toner going bad. I have never had it happen, nor heard of it going bad.



I have a Brother H-2140 sitting next to me now, it was manufactured in January 2008. It gets little use. The toner in it now is over 2 years old (and that is only the second cartridge in its entire life). So using (very) old toner is not an issue.



There are a host of HP laser printers at work, all with mixed amounts of use, some with OEM toner others with cheap ebay toner. Some machines sit unplugged for long periods of time until needed, no issues with toner in any of them.




Under no circumstance would I consider buying an ink jet, especially for infrequent use. An inkjet will either use up all the ink sitting idle, or if you unplug the printer will ruin it. Tthe ink really can dry up and clog the print head, (have had it happen).






share|improve this answer








New contributor




David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.



























    1














    Unlike inkjet int which lasts at best a couple weeks opened/installed and unused, laser printer toner lasts years if not decades. Don't worry about it at all.






    share|improve this answer






























      1














      To add another data point, I have an inherited LaserJet 4250, and according to the supplies status page, the toner was first used in May 2008, just shy of 11 years as of this writing. The capacity and page counts are within limits, and it works perfectly fine.



      This is backed up by the fact that HP has a warranty on laser cartridges that lasts until the printer reports the toner is consumed, and states




      There is no expiration date for the use of HP toner cartridges.




      This is in contrast to inkjet supplies which are marked with a end-of-warranty date.






      share|improve this answer






























        0














        This might be only anecdotical evidence, but I'm using my HP Laserjet P3005 maybe once a week for 3 years now on the same toner cardridge that was there when I bought it used, and it still prints like new. The same was with my previous Laserjet 2200 printer before I broke it — bought in 2009 used and it printed just fine on the same cardridge long into 2015. I wouldn't worry about durability of these cardridges, it's more likely that there will be a mechanical problem.






        share|improve this answer






























          0














          If your situation is that you need a printer for occasional use and it will sit idle for months, a laser printer is really your only practical option. There are some other technologies that have a long shelf life for the supplies, but they're a lot more expensive and generally aren't used for day-to-day printing requirements.



          An inkjet will be problematic if it sits even a few weeks without use. Ink cartridges also have a real shelf life. Even unopened cartridges deteriorate in a few years. Once the cartridge is installed, its ink slowly dries out inside the cartridge and changes consistency. So besides the problem of drying on the print head, it can become unusable in a year or two.



          I suspect the Brother guidance is a "best if used by" date. A shelf life of 6 months after opening simply isn't realistic. It gives them an out if a customer has a problem with an ancient toner cartridge, and some unsuspecting customers might buy more toner so it's "fresh".



          Most of the toner content is plastic dust that survives almost forever. It's possible that over a really long time, some of the additives might deteriorate, or the toner could absorb some humidity. But the toner will still work for an extremely long time. If the toner clumps after sitting idle for 6 months, shaking the cartridge is a trivial fix.



          I'll add another example of personal experience to the responses.



          I bought an HP 1012 laser printer 15 years ago. HP discontinued it in 2006 because it was no longer compatible with Windows. It's still supported in Linux, so I kept it. It's connected to an old computer in a back room and gets used a few times a year. The toner cartridge is a dozen years old and still prints just fine.






          share|improve this answer

























            Your Answer








            StackExchange.ready(function()
            var channelOptions =
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "3"
            ;
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
            createEditor();
            );

            else
            createEditor();

            );

            function createEditor()
            StackExchange.prepareEditor(
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
            convertImagesToLinks: true,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: 10,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader:
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            ,
            onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            );



            );






            Frank H. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.









            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function ()
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1422114%2fi-m-planning-on-buying-a-laser-printer-but-concerned-about-the-life-cycle-of-ton%23new-answer', 'question_page');

            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            7 Answers
            7






            active

            oldest

            votes








            7 Answers
            7






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes









            13














            I flat out refused to buy a printer for a long time, but it's become more necessary for me in recent years. I decided against any inkjet technology (including HP PageWide / fixed head printers, which can be presented similarly to a consumer) for a number of reasons... critically:



            • Idle Inkjet printers get "gunked" up very quickly - if you're not printing regularly, then the head quickly becomes caked in dried ink, which requires careful and expensive cleaning (ink is expensive) - potentially requiring hand cleaning or even a replacement head (or whole printer)

            • Running costs: replacement ink is incredibly expensive, and DIY refills are becoming harder and harder due to DRM - Printer Ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the modern world - See "Ink Cartridges are A Scam".

            • I've long maintained that "printing is the weak link in computing" - Inkjet printers have a habit of jamming, chewing on paper, wearing out... mechanically they are far from a sound idea

            I purchased a Samsung Laser MFD (CLX-6260FW) over two years ago, and I've had no issues with it. It came with a set of "starter" toner cartridges:



            • Black - 1503 impressions / 2000 page capacity

            • CMY - 645 impressions / 1500 page capacity

            About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong.



            Toner cartridges can benefit from a good shake, which helps to redistribute the contents when they start to get low and show print issues.



            With the price and size of laser printers now, I'd recommend that nobody purchases an Inkjet ever again (budget permitting of course, they are still a bit more expensive in the short term).



            While laser printers are quantitatively worse for high-quality photo printing, I'd suggest that unless high-quality photo printing is a very important use-case for you, laser will be just fine. For occasional photo printing, use an online service.




            To expand on the running costs of an Inkjet printer briefly, consider some random HP cartridges.



            While the upfront cost is much higher, the running cost is significantly lower (probably better than ~50%).



            HP Inkjet Black Ink Cartridge




            • HP "No. 45", claims a coverage of ~930 pages, for £44.95

              • 4.8p / page



            • HP "No. 300XL", claims a coverage of ~600 pages, for £36.73

              • 6.1p / page


            An approximate ~5.5p / page of black and white only printing... completely ignoring the use for alignment, head cleaning, wastage due to being dried out, wastage due to re-prints, wastage due to DRM, etc...



            HP Laser Black Toner Cartridge




            • HP 1500, claims a coverage of ~5,000 pages, for £100.50

              • 2.1p / page



            • HP 642A, claims a coverage of ~7,500 pages, for £206.23

              • 2.7p / page



            • HP 645A, claims a coverage of ~13,000 pages, for £320.95

              • 2.5p / page


            An approximate ~2.4p / page of black and white only printing.






            share|improve this answer




















            • 2





              Regarding your suggestion to not buy inkjet. Im fairly certain the quality of an inkjet print is still substantially better than a laser. You can print reasonable photographs with inkjet, but not so much with laser.

              – Matt
              11 hours ago






            • 3





              "About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong." - I have found this. My Brother mono laser lasted 7 years (2008 - 2015) on its "starter" cartridge.

              – Michael Harvey
              11 hours ago






            • 2





              It was a Samsung CLX[can't remember the number] that I had for 10 years. It got a bit squeaky over time, but never failed. I just got a new one when the original toner ;) ran out, though they used to sell them with full cartridges, not part-filled like they do now.

              – Tetsujin
              8 hours ago






            • 1





              @Matt, ...there's a big difference if you're measuring "quality" by sharpness of black-and-white text, or "quality" by ability to reproduce colors. Laser printers have been reigning champions of the former category for a long, long time.

              – Charles Duffy
              2 hours ago











            • @Matt - indeed, though OP asked about black and white... I've added a statement about photo printing for completeness, but unless high-quality photo is your primary use, inkjet is generally still a poor choice (use an online service for photos)

              – Attie
              1 hour ago















            13














            I flat out refused to buy a printer for a long time, but it's become more necessary for me in recent years. I decided against any inkjet technology (including HP PageWide / fixed head printers, which can be presented similarly to a consumer) for a number of reasons... critically:



            • Idle Inkjet printers get "gunked" up very quickly - if you're not printing regularly, then the head quickly becomes caked in dried ink, which requires careful and expensive cleaning (ink is expensive) - potentially requiring hand cleaning or even a replacement head (or whole printer)

            • Running costs: replacement ink is incredibly expensive, and DIY refills are becoming harder and harder due to DRM - Printer Ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the modern world - See "Ink Cartridges are A Scam".

            • I've long maintained that "printing is the weak link in computing" - Inkjet printers have a habit of jamming, chewing on paper, wearing out... mechanically they are far from a sound idea

            I purchased a Samsung Laser MFD (CLX-6260FW) over two years ago, and I've had no issues with it. It came with a set of "starter" toner cartridges:



            • Black - 1503 impressions / 2000 page capacity

            • CMY - 645 impressions / 1500 page capacity

            About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong.



            Toner cartridges can benefit from a good shake, which helps to redistribute the contents when they start to get low and show print issues.



            With the price and size of laser printers now, I'd recommend that nobody purchases an Inkjet ever again (budget permitting of course, they are still a bit more expensive in the short term).



            While laser printers are quantitatively worse for high-quality photo printing, I'd suggest that unless high-quality photo printing is a very important use-case for you, laser will be just fine. For occasional photo printing, use an online service.




            To expand on the running costs of an Inkjet printer briefly, consider some random HP cartridges.



            While the upfront cost is much higher, the running cost is significantly lower (probably better than ~50%).



            HP Inkjet Black Ink Cartridge




            • HP "No. 45", claims a coverage of ~930 pages, for £44.95

              • 4.8p / page



            • HP "No. 300XL", claims a coverage of ~600 pages, for £36.73

              • 6.1p / page


            An approximate ~5.5p / page of black and white only printing... completely ignoring the use for alignment, head cleaning, wastage due to being dried out, wastage due to re-prints, wastage due to DRM, etc...



            HP Laser Black Toner Cartridge




            • HP 1500, claims a coverage of ~5,000 pages, for £100.50

              • 2.1p / page



            • HP 642A, claims a coverage of ~7,500 pages, for £206.23

              • 2.7p / page



            • HP 645A, claims a coverage of ~13,000 pages, for £320.95

              • 2.5p / page


            An approximate ~2.4p / page of black and white only printing.






            share|improve this answer




















            • 2





              Regarding your suggestion to not buy inkjet. Im fairly certain the quality of an inkjet print is still substantially better than a laser. You can print reasonable photographs with inkjet, but not so much with laser.

              – Matt
              11 hours ago






            • 3





              "About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong." - I have found this. My Brother mono laser lasted 7 years (2008 - 2015) on its "starter" cartridge.

              – Michael Harvey
              11 hours ago






            • 2





              It was a Samsung CLX[can't remember the number] that I had for 10 years. It got a bit squeaky over time, but never failed. I just got a new one when the original toner ;) ran out, though they used to sell them with full cartridges, not part-filled like they do now.

              – Tetsujin
              8 hours ago






            • 1





              @Matt, ...there's a big difference if you're measuring "quality" by sharpness of black-and-white text, or "quality" by ability to reproduce colors. Laser printers have been reigning champions of the former category for a long, long time.

              – Charles Duffy
              2 hours ago











            • @Matt - indeed, though OP asked about black and white... I've added a statement about photo printing for completeness, but unless high-quality photo is your primary use, inkjet is generally still a poor choice (use an online service for photos)

              – Attie
              1 hour ago













            13












            13








            13







            I flat out refused to buy a printer for a long time, but it's become more necessary for me in recent years. I decided against any inkjet technology (including HP PageWide / fixed head printers, which can be presented similarly to a consumer) for a number of reasons... critically:



            • Idle Inkjet printers get "gunked" up very quickly - if you're not printing regularly, then the head quickly becomes caked in dried ink, which requires careful and expensive cleaning (ink is expensive) - potentially requiring hand cleaning or even a replacement head (or whole printer)

            • Running costs: replacement ink is incredibly expensive, and DIY refills are becoming harder and harder due to DRM - Printer Ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the modern world - See "Ink Cartridges are A Scam".

            • I've long maintained that "printing is the weak link in computing" - Inkjet printers have a habit of jamming, chewing on paper, wearing out... mechanically they are far from a sound idea

            I purchased a Samsung Laser MFD (CLX-6260FW) over two years ago, and I've had no issues with it. It came with a set of "starter" toner cartridges:



            • Black - 1503 impressions / 2000 page capacity

            • CMY - 645 impressions / 1500 page capacity

            About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong.



            Toner cartridges can benefit from a good shake, which helps to redistribute the contents when they start to get low and show print issues.



            With the price and size of laser printers now, I'd recommend that nobody purchases an Inkjet ever again (budget permitting of course, they are still a bit more expensive in the short term).



            While laser printers are quantitatively worse for high-quality photo printing, I'd suggest that unless high-quality photo printing is a very important use-case for you, laser will be just fine. For occasional photo printing, use an online service.




            To expand on the running costs of an Inkjet printer briefly, consider some random HP cartridges.



            While the upfront cost is much higher, the running cost is significantly lower (probably better than ~50%).



            HP Inkjet Black Ink Cartridge




            • HP "No. 45", claims a coverage of ~930 pages, for £44.95

              • 4.8p / page



            • HP "No. 300XL", claims a coverage of ~600 pages, for £36.73

              • 6.1p / page


            An approximate ~5.5p / page of black and white only printing... completely ignoring the use for alignment, head cleaning, wastage due to being dried out, wastage due to re-prints, wastage due to DRM, etc...



            HP Laser Black Toner Cartridge




            • HP 1500, claims a coverage of ~5,000 pages, for £100.50

              • 2.1p / page



            • HP 642A, claims a coverage of ~7,500 pages, for £206.23

              • 2.7p / page



            • HP 645A, claims a coverage of ~13,000 pages, for £320.95

              • 2.5p / page


            An approximate ~2.4p / page of black and white only printing.






            share|improve this answer















            I flat out refused to buy a printer for a long time, but it's become more necessary for me in recent years. I decided against any inkjet technology (including HP PageWide / fixed head printers, which can be presented similarly to a consumer) for a number of reasons... critically:



            • Idle Inkjet printers get "gunked" up very quickly - if you're not printing regularly, then the head quickly becomes caked in dried ink, which requires careful and expensive cleaning (ink is expensive) - potentially requiring hand cleaning or even a replacement head (or whole printer)

            • Running costs: replacement ink is incredibly expensive, and DIY refills are becoming harder and harder due to DRM - Printer Ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the modern world - See "Ink Cartridges are A Scam".

            • I've long maintained that "printing is the weak link in computing" - Inkjet printers have a habit of jamming, chewing on paper, wearing out... mechanically they are far from a sound idea

            I purchased a Samsung Laser MFD (CLX-6260FW) over two years ago, and I've had no issues with it. It came with a set of "starter" toner cartridges:



            • Black - 1503 impressions / 2000 page capacity

            • CMY - 645 impressions / 1500 page capacity

            About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong.



            Toner cartridges can benefit from a good shake, which helps to redistribute the contents when they start to get low and show print issues.



            With the price and size of laser printers now, I'd recommend that nobody purchases an Inkjet ever again (budget permitting of course, they are still a bit more expensive in the short term).



            While laser printers are quantitatively worse for high-quality photo printing, I'd suggest that unless high-quality photo printing is a very important use-case for you, laser will be just fine. For occasional photo printing, use an online service.




            To expand on the running costs of an Inkjet printer briefly, consider some random HP cartridges.



            While the upfront cost is much higher, the running cost is significantly lower (probably better than ~50%).



            HP Inkjet Black Ink Cartridge




            • HP "No. 45", claims a coverage of ~930 pages, for £44.95

              • 4.8p / page



            • HP "No. 300XL", claims a coverage of ~600 pages, for £36.73

              • 6.1p / page


            An approximate ~5.5p / page of black and white only printing... completely ignoring the use for alignment, head cleaning, wastage due to being dried out, wastage due to re-prints, wastage due to DRM, etc...



            HP Laser Black Toner Cartridge




            • HP 1500, claims a coverage of ~5,000 pages, for £100.50

              • 2.1p / page



            • HP 642A, claims a coverage of ~7,500 pages, for £206.23

              • 2.7p / page



            • HP 645A, claims a coverage of ~13,000 pages, for £320.95

              • 2.5p / page


            An approximate ~2.4p / page of black and white only printing.







            share|improve this answer














            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited 1 hour ago

























            answered 14 hours ago









            AttieAttie

            12.9k43548




            12.9k43548







            • 2





              Regarding your suggestion to not buy inkjet. Im fairly certain the quality of an inkjet print is still substantially better than a laser. You can print reasonable photographs with inkjet, but not so much with laser.

              – Matt
              11 hours ago






            • 3





              "About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong." - I have found this. My Brother mono laser lasted 7 years (2008 - 2015) on its "starter" cartridge.

              – Michael Harvey
              11 hours ago






            • 2





              It was a Samsung CLX[can't remember the number] that I had for 10 years. It got a bit squeaky over time, but never failed. I just got a new one when the original toner ;) ran out, though they used to sell them with full cartridges, not part-filled like they do now.

              – Tetsujin
              8 hours ago






            • 1





              @Matt, ...there's a big difference if you're measuring "quality" by sharpness of black-and-white text, or "quality" by ability to reproduce colors. Laser printers have been reigning champions of the former category for a long, long time.

              – Charles Duffy
              2 hours ago











            • @Matt - indeed, though OP asked about black and white... I've added a statement about photo printing for completeness, but unless high-quality photo is your primary use, inkjet is generally still a poor choice (use an online service for photos)

              – Attie
              1 hour ago












            • 2





              Regarding your suggestion to not buy inkjet. Im fairly certain the quality of an inkjet print is still substantially better than a laser. You can print reasonable photographs with inkjet, but not so much with laser.

              – Matt
              11 hours ago






            • 3





              "About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong." - I have found this. My Brother mono laser lasted 7 years (2008 - 2015) on its "starter" cartridge.

              – Michael Harvey
              11 hours ago






            • 2





              It was a Samsung CLX[can't remember the number] that I had for 10 years. It got a bit squeaky over time, but never failed. I just got a new one when the original toner ;) ran out, though they used to sell them with full cartridges, not part-filled like they do now.

              – Tetsujin
              8 hours ago






            • 1





              @Matt, ...there's a big difference if you're measuring "quality" by sharpness of black-and-white text, or "quality" by ability to reproduce colors. Laser printers have been reigning champions of the former category for a long, long time.

              – Charles Duffy
              2 hours ago











            • @Matt - indeed, though OP asked about black and white... I've added a statement about photo printing for completeness, but unless high-quality photo is your primary use, inkjet is generally still a poor choice (use an online service for photos)

              – Attie
              1 hour ago







            2




            2





            Regarding your suggestion to not buy inkjet. Im fairly certain the quality of an inkjet print is still substantially better than a laser. You can print reasonable photographs with inkjet, but not so much with laser.

            – Matt
            11 hours ago





            Regarding your suggestion to not buy inkjet. Im fairly certain the quality of an inkjet print is still substantially better than a laser. You can print reasonable photographs with inkjet, but not so much with laser.

            – Matt
            11 hours ago




            3




            3





            "About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong." - I have found this. My Brother mono laser lasted 7 years (2008 - 2015) on its "starter" cartridge.

            – Michael Harvey
            11 hours ago





            "About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later they're still going strong." - I have found this. My Brother mono laser lasted 7 years (2008 - 2015) on its "starter" cartridge.

            – Michael Harvey
            11 hours ago




            2




            2





            It was a Samsung CLX[can't remember the number] that I had for 10 years. It got a bit squeaky over time, but never failed. I just got a new one when the original toner ;) ran out, though they used to sell them with full cartridges, not part-filled like they do now.

            – Tetsujin
            8 hours ago





            It was a Samsung CLX[can't remember the number] that I had for 10 years. It got a bit squeaky over time, but never failed. I just got a new one when the original toner ;) ran out, though they used to sell them with full cartridges, not part-filled like they do now.

            – Tetsujin
            8 hours ago




            1




            1





            @Matt, ...there's a big difference if you're measuring "quality" by sharpness of black-and-white text, or "quality" by ability to reproduce colors. Laser printers have been reigning champions of the former category for a long, long time.

            – Charles Duffy
            2 hours ago





            @Matt, ...there's a big difference if you're measuring "quality" by sharpness of black-and-white text, or "quality" by ability to reproduce colors. Laser printers have been reigning champions of the former category for a long, long time.

            – Charles Duffy
            2 hours ago













            @Matt - indeed, though OP asked about black and white... I've added a statement about photo printing for completeness, but unless high-quality photo is your primary use, inkjet is generally still a poor choice (use an online service for photos)

            – Attie
            1 hour ago





            @Matt - indeed, though OP asked about black and white... I've added a statement about photo printing for completeness, but unless high-quality photo is your primary use, inkjet is generally still a poor choice (use an online service for photos)

            – Attie
            1 hour ago













            7














            I have had my printer, a Fuji Xerox CM305DF for more than 3 years. The cartridges (rated at 3000 pages) are still 3/4 full - I have only printed about 1500 pages. The toner seems to be perfectly OK.



            In most laser printers, the toner is stirred whenever a print is made. This is true regardless of whether the cartridge and drum are together (as is the case for most mono printers), or when the cartridge is far removed from the drum (most colour lasers). As a result caking or clumping should not be a problem.



            In general, I agree with your comment about inkjets. In many inkjets only 50% or less of the ink makes it onto the page. The rest is used in regular head cleans (e.g. every time it wakes up) or in emergency cleans (when the print quality suffers from a clogged jet). Inkjets also need to be used regularly. If you leave them switched off for a couple of months, you can expect to waste large volumes of ink to get the jets working properly again. Lasers do not have any of these problems.



            Inkjets have a place if your main use is printing photos. On photo paper they do a far better job than any laser. On the other hand, on plain paper any laser will print better photos than an inkjet. When considering an inkjet for photos, make sure you include the cost of photo paper, which is something like 20c for 4" x 6". Including the ink, you'll be up for close to 50c per photo. If you get them printed at the nearest shop, the same photos will cost you 10c or less and the quality will be even better. Of course, it does mean you have to wait a couple of hours to get your hands on them.






            share|improve this answer




















            • 1





              I have had an HP colour laser (an M251nw) since May 2015, it came with "500 page" starter cartridges, the black lasted 3 years, and had done 500 pages when I changed it, it started giving warnings about the cyan about 100 pages ago, the page count says 708 pages, but still printing fine. I'll buy some colour toners when the output starts looking strange.

              – Michael Harvey
              14 hours ago















            7














            I have had my printer, a Fuji Xerox CM305DF for more than 3 years. The cartridges (rated at 3000 pages) are still 3/4 full - I have only printed about 1500 pages. The toner seems to be perfectly OK.



            In most laser printers, the toner is stirred whenever a print is made. This is true regardless of whether the cartridge and drum are together (as is the case for most mono printers), or when the cartridge is far removed from the drum (most colour lasers). As a result caking or clumping should not be a problem.



            In general, I agree with your comment about inkjets. In many inkjets only 50% or less of the ink makes it onto the page. The rest is used in regular head cleans (e.g. every time it wakes up) or in emergency cleans (when the print quality suffers from a clogged jet). Inkjets also need to be used regularly. If you leave them switched off for a couple of months, you can expect to waste large volumes of ink to get the jets working properly again. Lasers do not have any of these problems.



            Inkjets have a place if your main use is printing photos. On photo paper they do a far better job than any laser. On the other hand, on plain paper any laser will print better photos than an inkjet. When considering an inkjet for photos, make sure you include the cost of photo paper, which is something like 20c for 4" x 6". Including the ink, you'll be up for close to 50c per photo. If you get them printed at the nearest shop, the same photos will cost you 10c or less and the quality will be even better. Of course, it does mean you have to wait a couple of hours to get your hands on them.






            share|improve this answer




















            • 1





              I have had an HP colour laser (an M251nw) since May 2015, it came with "500 page" starter cartridges, the black lasted 3 years, and had done 500 pages when I changed it, it started giving warnings about the cyan about 100 pages ago, the page count says 708 pages, but still printing fine. I'll buy some colour toners when the output starts looking strange.

              – Michael Harvey
              14 hours ago













            7












            7








            7







            I have had my printer, a Fuji Xerox CM305DF for more than 3 years. The cartridges (rated at 3000 pages) are still 3/4 full - I have only printed about 1500 pages. The toner seems to be perfectly OK.



            In most laser printers, the toner is stirred whenever a print is made. This is true regardless of whether the cartridge and drum are together (as is the case for most mono printers), or when the cartridge is far removed from the drum (most colour lasers). As a result caking or clumping should not be a problem.



            In general, I agree with your comment about inkjets. In many inkjets only 50% or less of the ink makes it onto the page. The rest is used in regular head cleans (e.g. every time it wakes up) or in emergency cleans (when the print quality suffers from a clogged jet). Inkjets also need to be used regularly. If you leave them switched off for a couple of months, you can expect to waste large volumes of ink to get the jets working properly again. Lasers do not have any of these problems.



            Inkjets have a place if your main use is printing photos. On photo paper they do a far better job than any laser. On the other hand, on plain paper any laser will print better photos than an inkjet. When considering an inkjet for photos, make sure you include the cost of photo paper, which is something like 20c for 4" x 6". Including the ink, you'll be up for close to 50c per photo. If you get them printed at the nearest shop, the same photos will cost you 10c or less and the quality will be even better. Of course, it does mean you have to wait a couple of hours to get your hands on them.






            share|improve this answer















            I have had my printer, a Fuji Xerox CM305DF for more than 3 years. The cartridges (rated at 3000 pages) are still 3/4 full - I have only printed about 1500 pages. The toner seems to be perfectly OK.



            In most laser printers, the toner is stirred whenever a print is made. This is true regardless of whether the cartridge and drum are together (as is the case for most mono printers), or when the cartridge is far removed from the drum (most colour lasers). As a result caking or clumping should not be a problem.



            In general, I agree with your comment about inkjets. In many inkjets only 50% or less of the ink makes it onto the page. The rest is used in regular head cleans (e.g. every time it wakes up) or in emergency cleans (when the print quality suffers from a clogged jet). Inkjets also need to be used regularly. If you leave them switched off for a couple of months, you can expect to waste large volumes of ink to get the jets working properly again. Lasers do not have any of these problems.



            Inkjets have a place if your main use is printing photos. On photo paper they do a far better job than any laser. On the other hand, on plain paper any laser will print better photos than an inkjet. When considering an inkjet for photos, make sure you include the cost of photo paper, which is something like 20c for 4" x 6". Including the ink, you'll be up for close to 50c per photo. If you get them printed at the nearest shop, the same photos will cost you 10c or less and the quality will be even better. Of course, it does mean you have to wait a couple of hours to get your hands on them.







            share|improve this answer














            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer








            edited 1 hour ago

























            answered 15 hours ago









            hdhondthdhondt

            2,8752910




            2,8752910







            • 1





              I have had an HP colour laser (an M251nw) since May 2015, it came with "500 page" starter cartridges, the black lasted 3 years, and had done 500 pages when I changed it, it started giving warnings about the cyan about 100 pages ago, the page count says 708 pages, but still printing fine. I'll buy some colour toners when the output starts looking strange.

              – Michael Harvey
              14 hours ago












            • 1





              I have had an HP colour laser (an M251nw) since May 2015, it came with "500 page" starter cartridges, the black lasted 3 years, and had done 500 pages when I changed it, it started giving warnings about the cyan about 100 pages ago, the page count says 708 pages, but still printing fine. I'll buy some colour toners when the output starts looking strange.

              – Michael Harvey
              14 hours ago







            1




            1





            I have had an HP colour laser (an M251nw) since May 2015, it came with "500 page" starter cartridges, the black lasted 3 years, and had done 500 pages when I changed it, it started giving warnings about the cyan about 100 pages ago, the page count says 708 pages, but still printing fine. I'll buy some colour toners when the output starts looking strange.

            – Michael Harvey
            14 hours ago





            I have had an HP colour laser (an M251nw) since May 2015, it came with "500 page" starter cartridges, the black lasted 3 years, and had done 500 pages when I changed it, it started giving warnings about the cyan about 100 pages ago, the page count says 708 pages, but still printing fine. I'll buy some colour toners when the output starts looking strange.

            – Michael Harvey
            14 hours ago











            3














            Not to get dragged into a laser vs inkjet debate (laser was far superior.), I will simply add my experiences using lasers.



            Do not be worried about the toner going bad. I have never had it happen, nor heard of it going bad.



            I have a Brother H-2140 sitting next to me now, it was manufactured in January 2008. It gets little use. The toner in it now is over 2 years old (and that is only the second cartridge in its entire life). So using (very) old toner is not an issue.



            There are a host of HP laser printers at work, all with mixed amounts of use, some with OEM toner others with cheap ebay toner. Some machines sit unplugged for long periods of time until needed, no issues with toner in any of them.




            Under no circumstance would I consider buying an ink jet, especially for infrequent use. An inkjet will either use up all the ink sitting idle, or if you unplug the printer will ruin it. Tthe ink really can dry up and clog the print head, (have had it happen).






            share|improve this answer








            New contributor




            David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
            Check out our Code of Conduct.
























              3














              Not to get dragged into a laser vs inkjet debate (laser was far superior.), I will simply add my experiences using lasers.



              Do not be worried about the toner going bad. I have never had it happen, nor heard of it going bad.



              I have a Brother H-2140 sitting next to me now, it was manufactured in January 2008. It gets little use. The toner in it now is over 2 years old (and that is only the second cartridge in its entire life). So using (very) old toner is not an issue.



              There are a host of HP laser printers at work, all with mixed amounts of use, some with OEM toner others with cheap ebay toner. Some machines sit unplugged for long periods of time until needed, no issues with toner in any of them.




              Under no circumstance would I consider buying an ink jet, especially for infrequent use. An inkjet will either use up all the ink sitting idle, or if you unplug the printer will ruin it. Tthe ink really can dry up and clog the print head, (have had it happen).






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.






















                3












                3








                3







                Not to get dragged into a laser vs inkjet debate (laser was far superior.), I will simply add my experiences using lasers.



                Do not be worried about the toner going bad. I have never had it happen, nor heard of it going bad.



                I have a Brother H-2140 sitting next to me now, it was manufactured in January 2008. It gets little use. The toner in it now is over 2 years old (and that is only the second cartridge in its entire life). So using (very) old toner is not an issue.



                There are a host of HP laser printers at work, all with mixed amounts of use, some with OEM toner others with cheap ebay toner. Some machines sit unplugged for long periods of time until needed, no issues with toner in any of them.




                Under no circumstance would I consider buying an ink jet, especially for infrequent use. An inkjet will either use up all the ink sitting idle, or if you unplug the printer will ruin it. Tthe ink really can dry up and clog the print head, (have had it happen).






                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.










                Not to get dragged into a laser vs inkjet debate (laser was far superior.), I will simply add my experiences using lasers.



                Do not be worried about the toner going bad. I have never had it happen, nor heard of it going bad.



                I have a Brother H-2140 sitting next to me now, it was manufactured in January 2008. It gets little use. The toner in it now is over 2 years old (and that is only the second cartridge in its entire life). So using (very) old toner is not an issue.



                There are a host of HP laser printers at work, all with mixed amounts of use, some with OEM toner others with cheap ebay toner. Some machines sit unplugged for long periods of time until needed, no issues with toner in any of them.




                Under no circumstance would I consider buying an ink jet, especially for infrequent use. An inkjet will either use up all the ink sitting idle, or if you unplug the printer will ruin it. Tthe ink really can dry up and clog the print head, (have had it happen).







                share|improve this answer








                New contributor




                David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.









                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer






                New contributor




                David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.









                answered 1 hour ago









                DavidDavid

                1313




                1313




                New contributor




                David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.





                New contributor





                David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.






                David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                Check out our Code of Conduct.





















                    1














                    Unlike inkjet int which lasts at best a couple weeks opened/installed and unused, laser printer toner lasts years if not decades. Don't worry about it at all.






                    share|improve this answer



























                      1














                      Unlike inkjet int which lasts at best a couple weeks opened/installed and unused, laser printer toner lasts years if not decades. Don't worry about it at all.






                      share|improve this answer

























                        1












                        1








                        1







                        Unlike inkjet int which lasts at best a couple weeks opened/installed and unused, laser printer toner lasts years if not decades. Don't worry about it at all.






                        share|improve this answer













                        Unlike inkjet int which lasts at best a couple weeks opened/installed and unused, laser printer toner lasts years if not decades. Don't worry about it at all.







                        share|improve this answer












                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer










                        answered 1 hour ago









                        R..R..

                        6831617




                        6831617





















                            1














                            To add another data point, I have an inherited LaserJet 4250, and according to the supplies status page, the toner was first used in May 2008, just shy of 11 years as of this writing. The capacity and page counts are within limits, and it works perfectly fine.



                            This is backed up by the fact that HP has a warranty on laser cartridges that lasts until the printer reports the toner is consumed, and states




                            There is no expiration date for the use of HP toner cartridges.




                            This is in contrast to inkjet supplies which are marked with a end-of-warranty date.






                            share|improve this answer



























                              1














                              To add another data point, I have an inherited LaserJet 4250, and according to the supplies status page, the toner was first used in May 2008, just shy of 11 years as of this writing. The capacity and page counts are within limits, and it works perfectly fine.



                              This is backed up by the fact that HP has a warranty on laser cartridges that lasts until the printer reports the toner is consumed, and states




                              There is no expiration date for the use of HP toner cartridges.




                              This is in contrast to inkjet supplies which are marked with a end-of-warranty date.






                              share|improve this answer

























                                1












                                1








                                1







                                To add another data point, I have an inherited LaserJet 4250, and according to the supplies status page, the toner was first used in May 2008, just shy of 11 years as of this writing. The capacity and page counts are within limits, and it works perfectly fine.



                                This is backed up by the fact that HP has a warranty on laser cartridges that lasts until the printer reports the toner is consumed, and states




                                There is no expiration date for the use of HP toner cartridges.




                                This is in contrast to inkjet supplies which are marked with a end-of-warranty date.






                                share|improve this answer













                                To add another data point, I have an inherited LaserJet 4250, and according to the supplies status page, the toner was first used in May 2008, just shy of 11 years as of this writing. The capacity and page counts are within limits, and it works perfectly fine.



                                This is backed up by the fact that HP has a warranty on laser cartridges that lasts until the printer reports the toner is consumed, and states




                                There is no expiration date for the use of HP toner cartridges.




                                This is in contrast to inkjet supplies which are marked with a end-of-warranty date.







                                share|improve this answer












                                share|improve this answer



                                share|improve this answer










                                answered 24 mins ago









                                user71659user71659

                                1563




                                1563





















                                    0














                                    This might be only anecdotical evidence, but I'm using my HP Laserjet P3005 maybe once a week for 3 years now on the same toner cardridge that was there when I bought it used, and it still prints like new. The same was with my previous Laserjet 2200 printer before I broke it — bought in 2009 used and it printed just fine on the same cardridge long into 2015. I wouldn't worry about durability of these cardridges, it's more likely that there will be a mechanical problem.






                                    share|improve this answer



























                                      0














                                      This might be only anecdotical evidence, but I'm using my HP Laserjet P3005 maybe once a week for 3 years now on the same toner cardridge that was there when I bought it used, and it still prints like new. The same was with my previous Laserjet 2200 printer before I broke it — bought in 2009 used and it printed just fine on the same cardridge long into 2015. I wouldn't worry about durability of these cardridges, it's more likely that there will be a mechanical problem.






                                      share|improve this answer

























                                        0












                                        0








                                        0







                                        This might be only anecdotical evidence, but I'm using my HP Laserjet P3005 maybe once a week for 3 years now on the same toner cardridge that was there when I bought it used, and it still prints like new. The same was with my previous Laserjet 2200 printer before I broke it — bought in 2009 used and it printed just fine on the same cardridge long into 2015. I wouldn't worry about durability of these cardridges, it's more likely that there will be a mechanical problem.






                                        share|improve this answer













                                        This might be only anecdotical evidence, but I'm using my HP Laserjet P3005 maybe once a week for 3 years now on the same toner cardridge that was there when I bought it used, and it still prints like new. The same was with my previous Laserjet 2200 printer before I broke it — bought in 2009 used and it printed just fine on the same cardridge long into 2015. I wouldn't worry about durability of these cardridges, it's more likely that there will be a mechanical problem.







                                        share|improve this answer












                                        share|improve this answer



                                        share|improve this answer










                                        answered 3 hours ago









                                        lioriliori

                                        2,5641835




                                        2,5641835





















                                            0














                                            If your situation is that you need a printer for occasional use and it will sit idle for months, a laser printer is really your only practical option. There are some other technologies that have a long shelf life for the supplies, but they're a lot more expensive and generally aren't used for day-to-day printing requirements.



                                            An inkjet will be problematic if it sits even a few weeks without use. Ink cartridges also have a real shelf life. Even unopened cartridges deteriorate in a few years. Once the cartridge is installed, its ink slowly dries out inside the cartridge and changes consistency. So besides the problem of drying on the print head, it can become unusable in a year or two.



                                            I suspect the Brother guidance is a "best if used by" date. A shelf life of 6 months after opening simply isn't realistic. It gives them an out if a customer has a problem with an ancient toner cartridge, and some unsuspecting customers might buy more toner so it's "fresh".



                                            Most of the toner content is plastic dust that survives almost forever. It's possible that over a really long time, some of the additives might deteriorate, or the toner could absorb some humidity. But the toner will still work for an extremely long time. If the toner clumps after sitting idle for 6 months, shaking the cartridge is a trivial fix.



                                            I'll add another example of personal experience to the responses.



                                            I bought an HP 1012 laser printer 15 years ago. HP discontinued it in 2006 because it was no longer compatible with Windows. It's still supported in Linux, so I kept it. It's connected to an old computer in a back room and gets used a few times a year. The toner cartridge is a dozen years old and still prints just fine.






                                            share|improve this answer





























                                              0














                                              If your situation is that you need a printer for occasional use and it will sit idle for months, a laser printer is really your only practical option. There are some other technologies that have a long shelf life for the supplies, but they're a lot more expensive and generally aren't used for day-to-day printing requirements.



                                              An inkjet will be problematic if it sits even a few weeks without use. Ink cartridges also have a real shelf life. Even unopened cartridges deteriorate in a few years. Once the cartridge is installed, its ink slowly dries out inside the cartridge and changes consistency. So besides the problem of drying on the print head, it can become unusable in a year or two.



                                              I suspect the Brother guidance is a "best if used by" date. A shelf life of 6 months after opening simply isn't realistic. It gives them an out if a customer has a problem with an ancient toner cartridge, and some unsuspecting customers might buy more toner so it's "fresh".



                                              Most of the toner content is plastic dust that survives almost forever. It's possible that over a really long time, some of the additives might deteriorate, or the toner could absorb some humidity. But the toner will still work for an extremely long time. If the toner clumps after sitting idle for 6 months, shaking the cartridge is a trivial fix.



                                              I'll add another example of personal experience to the responses.



                                              I bought an HP 1012 laser printer 15 years ago. HP discontinued it in 2006 because it was no longer compatible with Windows. It's still supported in Linux, so I kept it. It's connected to an old computer in a back room and gets used a few times a year. The toner cartridge is a dozen years old and still prints just fine.






                                              share|improve this answer



























                                                0












                                                0








                                                0







                                                If your situation is that you need a printer for occasional use and it will sit idle for months, a laser printer is really your only practical option. There are some other technologies that have a long shelf life for the supplies, but they're a lot more expensive and generally aren't used for day-to-day printing requirements.



                                                An inkjet will be problematic if it sits even a few weeks without use. Ink cartridges also have a real shelf life. Even unopened cartridges deteriorate in a few years. Once the cartridge is installed, its ink slowly dries out inside the cartridge and changes consistency. So besides the problem of drying on the print head, it can become unusable in a year or two.



                                                I suspect the Brother guidance is a "best if used by" date. A shelf life of 6 months after opening simply isn't realistic. It gives them an out if a customer has a problem with an ancient toner cartridge, and some unsuspecting customers might buy more toner so it's "fresh".



                                                Most of the toner content is plastic dust that survives almost forever. It's possible that over a really long time, some of the additives might deteriorate, or the toner could absorb some humidity. But the toner will still work for an extremely long time. If the toner clumps after sitting idle for 6 months, shaking the cartridge is a trivial fix.



                                                I'll add another example of personal experience to the responses.



                                                I bought an HP 1012 laser printer 15 years ago. HP discontinued it in 2006 because it was no longer compatible with Windows. It's still supported in Linux, so I kept it. It's connected to an old computer in a back room and gets used a few times a year. The toner cartridge is a dozen years old and still prints just fine.






                                                share|improve this answer















                                                If your situation is that you need a printer for occasional use and it will sit idle for months, a laser printer is really your only practical option. There are some other technologies that have a long shelf life for the supplies, but they're a lot more expensive and generally aren't used for day-to-day printing requirements.



                                                An inkjet will be problematic if it sits even a few weeks without use. Ink cartridges also have a real shelf life. Even unopened cartridges deteriorate in a few years. Once the cartridge is installed, its ink slowly dries out inside the cartridge and changes consistency. So besides the problem of drying on the print head, it can become unusable in a year or two.



                                                I suspect the Brother guidance is a "best if used by" date. A shelf life of 6 months after opening simply isn't realistic. It gives them an out if a customer has a problem with an ancient toner cartridge, and some unsuspecting customers might buy more toner so it's "fresh".



                                                Most of the toner content is plastic dust that survives almost forever. It's possible that over a really long time, some of the additives might deteriorate, or the toner could absorb some humidity. But the toner will still work for an extremely long time. If the toner clumps after sitting idle for 6 months, shaking the cartridge is a trivial fix.



                                                I'll add another example of personal experience to the responses.



                                                I bought an HP 1012 laser printer 15 years ago. HP discontinued it in 2006 because it was no longer compatible with Windows. It's still supported in Linux, so I kept it. It's connected to an old computer in a back room and gets used a few times a year. The toner cartridge is a dozen years old and still prints just fine.







                                                share|improve this answer














                                                share|improve this answer



                                                share|improve this answer








                                                edited 2 hours ago

























                                                answered 3 hours ago









                                                fixer1234fixer1234

                                                19.3k145082




                                                19.3k145082




















                                                    Frank H. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.









                                                    draft saved

                                                    draft discarded


















                                                    Frank H. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












                                                    Frank H. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.











                                                    Frank H. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.














                                                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!


                                                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                                                    But avoid


                                                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                                                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

                                                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                                                    draft saved


                                                    draft discarded














                                                    StackExchange.ready(
                                                    function ()
                                                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1422114%2fi-m-planning-on-buying-a-laser-printer-but-concerned-about-the-life-cycle-of-ton%23new-answer', 'question_page');

                                                    );

                                                    Post as a guest















                                                    Required, but never shown





















































                                                    Required, but never shown














                                                    Required, but never shown












                                                    Required, but never shown







                                                    Required, but never shown

































                                                    Required, but never shown














                                                    Required, but never shown












                                                    Required, but never shown







                                                    Required, but never shown







                                                    Popular posts from this blog

                                                    How to create a command for the “strange m” symbol in latex? Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)How do you make your own symbol when Detexify fails?Writing bold small caps with mathpazo packageplus-minus symbol with parenthesis around the minus signGreek character in Beamer document titleHow to create dashed right arrow over symbol?Currency symbol: Turkish LiraDouble prec as a single symbol?Plus Sign Too Big; How to Call adfbullet?Is there a TeX macro for three-legged pi?How do I get my integral-like symbol to align like the integral?How to selectively substitute a letter with another symbol representing the same letterHow do I generate a less than symbol and vertical bar that are the same height?

                                                    Българска екзархия Съдържание История | Български екзарси | Вижте също | Външни препратки | Литература | Бележки | НавигацияУстав за управлението на българската екзархия. Цариград, 1870Слово на Ловешкия митрополит Иларион при откриването на Българския народен събор в Цариград на 23. II. 1870 г.Българската правда и гръцката кривда. От С. М. (= Софийски Мелетий). Цариград, 1872Предстоятели на Българската екзархияПодмененият ВеликденИнформационна агенция „Фокус“Димитър Ризов. Българите в техните исторически, етнографически и политически граници (Атлас съдържащ 40 карти). Berlin, Königliche Hoflithographie, Hof-Buch- und -Steindruckerei Wilhelm Greve, 1917Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars

                                                    Чепеларе Съдържание География | История | Население | Спортни и природни забележителности | Културни и исторически обекти | Религии | Обществени институции | Известни личности | Редовни събития | Галерия | Източници | Литература | Външни препратки | Навигация41°43′23.99″ с. ш. 24°41′09.99″ и. д. / 41.723333° с. ш. 24.686111° и. д.*ЧепелареЧепеларски Linux fest 2002Начало на Зимен сезон 2005/06Национални хайдушки празници „Капитан Петко Войвода“Град ЧепелареЧепеларе – народният ски курортbgrod.orgwww.terranatura.hit.bgСправка за населението на гр. Исперих, общ. Исперих, обл. РазградМузей на родопския карстМузей на спорта и скитеЧепеларебългарскибългарскианглийскитукИстория на градаСки писти в ЧепелареВремето в ЧепелареРадио и телевизия в ЧепелареЧепеларе мами с родопски чар и добри пистиЕвтин туризъм и снежни атракции в ЧепелареМестоположениеИнформация и снимки от музея на родопския карст3D панорами от ЧепелареЧепелареррр