Ask Slashdot: Best SOHO Printer Choices?

rueger writes "I can remember trading up from a daisy-wheel printer to dot matrix, and can remember when Jerry Pournelle used to say 'Buy the most expensive HP printer you can afford.' Mine was a 4P. Times have changed, though, and I'm looking for trustworthy advice before buying a couple of new printers. Specifically, a B&W Laser with sheet feed scanner, and a color inkjet with a solid flatbed scanner for copying music. We want solid, reliable machines that will give a few years of small office service, that have reasonably cheap consumables, and that will "just work" with Windows and Linux. Network ready of course. Let me expand. These days there seems to be no market leader in printers — they tend to be cheap disposable items. Part of the reason is that it is hard to find any real user reviews of these machines — most of the comments on Best Buy or other sites are full of fanboy enthusiasm, or extreme negativity — nothing that can be relied on. Between those, and the sock puppets, and the astroturfing, there's nothing I'd trust. I do trust Slashdot, though, for things like this. People here are able to offer realistic advice and experience that can usually tell the story. So, I ask: who's making good printers these days?"

Comments

Re:My two rules of printing

[AC-x]

I don't think it's the lack of Ethernet in itself that's the problem, I suspect it's that:

• Has Ethernet port = printer is a business oriented printer and thus is aimed at people who know are relatively savvy and know what to look for in a printer, thus printer is relatively good
• No Ethernet port = printer is a consumer oriented printer and thus is aimed at people who know nothing about printers and will by and old crap, thus printer is any old crap

Re:My best advice: ***AVOID INKJETS*** !!!

[Connie_Lingus]

ahhh....Dads...gotta love them :)

I miss mine...he passed away about 8 years ago and I went through the exact same IT-thing with him.

I realize now that he did that stuff on purpose because it was a way for us to connect and spend time together.

Not that you need to hear it from some random stranger, but you need to hear it from a random stranger...enjoy every minute with Dad he won't be around forever.