PRINTER WHICH ONLY USES BLACK INK

[hakunamatata]

I am looking for a printer, purely a printer not a scanner etc, which only uses black toner. I am sick of my Dell colour cartridge running out after not a lot of work being done and not using colour. Why is it that if I try to colour my text when I havent used any colour it tells me my cartridge is emply. I HAVE ONLY USED BLACK!!!!!!!!!!!! Very annoying

[Alex H]

Set it to use 'greyscale' only (printer properties - preferences)  - then you won't get any messages about empty cartridges :-)

[Clarkkent]

Why not look for a cheap laser?

[Will]

Like this one for example: http://www.pixmania.com/fr/fr/5683427/art/samsung/imprimante-laser-ml-1665.html

[Théière]

Just check that a "cheap laser" doesn't have expensive toner cartridges, sometimes better to pay a little more and have cheaper toner cartridges.

[Iceni]

We are still using an old Samsung Izzi (using Lexmark drivers - perhaps it is) bought around the turn of the century and it was obsolete then. At least with a laser you can give the cartridge a good shake when it pretends to be empty. Di has just informed me that when the cartridge is really empty the printer will have to go.

There is a Brother of a similar age in the cupboard but it may not be possible to buy cartridges for that either. The paper feeder is prone to failure I am told.

Our copying needs are met by an elderly Epson scanner and I have successfully resisted Di's demands for a colour laser or all-in-one on the grounds that these fall into the "want" not "need" category.

Our advice? Buy the cheapest b&w laser printer you can find - unless you intend to print and reprint War and Peace regularly ink costs should not be much of an issue.

John

[Théière]

Hmm, based on all your printers being very old, can your advice be counted on as up to date? Some printers are shipped these days with barely enough ink/toner to print anything save a test sheet so before taking the plunge check! or you'll be back to the shops in no time

[hakunamatata]

Unfortunately my printer does not seem to offer the greyscale option

[Will]

The cartridges on many 'cheap' laser printers - including most Samsungs and some Brothers - can be refilled with toner, a very simple and inexpensive process involving taking out a plug and/or unscrewing the end cap. The refillable cartridges don't last for ever, but you do get at least two or three refills out of most cartridges. More expensive printers, like HP, can also be refilled, but it's a rather more complicated and messy process involving drilling holes in the toner cartridge casing.

[Loiseau]

Laser printers are outside my sphere, but I am always amazed that with inkjet printers it does not seem obligatory to show on a cartridge the amount of ink that it contains. It seems a real scam to me.

Angela

[Alex H]

[quote user="Loiseau"]Laser printers are outside my sphere, but I am always amazed that with inkjet printers it does not seem obligatory to show on a cartridge the amount of ink that it contains. It seems a real scam to me.

Angela[/quote]

indeed, according to a fair few techy websites, ink costs from  $4000 per US gallon!

[hakunamatata]

I notice the toners for the Samsung are £40 but they do add it should print 1,500 ordinary length pages my Dell has only printed 70 A4 sheets ! It does seem a right royal rip off doesnt it.

Thank you for all your posts

[cooperlola]

[quote user="hakunamatata"]my Dell has only printed 70 A4 sheets ![/quote]Does the ink really run out then, or just say that it has?  My Canon printer does this but in fact does about three times that before it gives up the ghost (and the black ink cartridges are £7 each).  Once I have ignored the ink warning it doesn't come up again (except in so far as the cartridge shows as empty in the diagram.) 

[hakunamatata]

It does a few more but not many and certainly not good quality. I cannot order a purely black cartridge for this machine its colour or nothing and as I am now using it for mainly black print once the black has gone it seems everything else has gone as well, if you see what I mean!

[Théière]

Yep, it's one of those situation where spending money sooner saves more money over the long term. Time to shopping, that Samsung did look good value.

[Finn Dooley]

Epson every time - four individual ink cartridges so only ever replace whichever colour has run out  - I HATE waste..

Cheap to buy - I bought an all-in-one Epson Stylus Photo printer/copier/scanner over 3 years ago for about € 90 (you can get newer models or about €60 now) thinking that it should last as long as the 1 year guarantee, and was prepared to replace it annually.   Heavy daily use for small business , using dirt cheap compatible cartridges from Ebay  (£12 for 12) , and still going strong. 

HTH  

[AnOther]

One way to potentially save ink is to not turn the printer off.

Strange as that may sound many printers go through a self cleaning process when first switched on - which consumes ink - so in

theory, even if you never printed a single page, either in monochrome or colour, but just continually switched the printer on and off

the cartridge(s) would slowly empty and clog up the printer waste ink reservoir in the process.

By not turning it off you will consume a little electricity but in all probability it will be far far less than the cost of the cartridges.

I solved my problem by buying the same printer as we use at work [:$] [Www]

I agree a cheap monochrome laser may be the cheapest option especially if you can find one which uses a chip on the toner as usually these can be bought from 3rd parties enabling you to reuse a supposedly depleted cartridge possibly over and over again before it is truly empty.

One of the high end colour laser machines I have at work, an HP 5500, costs the thick end of £800 for a set of 4 toners but by fitting replacement chips @ £7 apiece I can get 3 or more goes out of the same cartridge, now that IS a rip off !

[dave21478]

I would agree with Finn....I roll with a cheapo Epson inkjet that takes 4 seperate cartridges, so only the empty one needs to be replaced and I buy them in bulk from Ebay suppliers usually based in Hong Kong etc for sub £1 per Brand X cartridge. Sure, it's not particularly rapid when churning out pages of black text, but its a versatile thing that can print real photograph quality if you use the proper paper when needed.