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Printer recommendations
#19923 01/03/12 05:26 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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I finally have to admit to myself that my HP 812 deskjet has died. One of the OS X updates killed the drivers along time ago (a long...time ago) and it's never been the same since.

So I'm looking for some printer recommendations. I am considering a B&W laser, though I only print not even a page/day. Price range under $300. Color not needed. Just something reliable. I need drivers that support OS 10.4.11

Has Brother been more reliable than HP on the Mac in recent years ?


Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #19924 01/03/12 06:25 PM
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I have owned a MFC-210c desktop printer from Brother since 2005 and haven't had any problems.


Jay

I-Mac 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 3gb/500 O.S..10.6.8
Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #19925 01/03/12 06:43 PM
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I've had a Canon Pixma IP500 since Oct 2005 and it, like the battery bunny, just keeps on working.

As a general rule, if I was looking for a new printer I'd check a couple of things like:

How large are the ink tanks? The real profit in a printer is in the "consumables" and I understand that some tanks are now quite small. (More ink replacements, more profit)

Does the printer go through a cleaning cycle every time it's turned on? I understand this is not necessary but the process does consume ink.

Et cetera.

I'm sure others can provide other printer perils and pitfalls.


ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #19926 01/03/12 07:14 PM
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If you're looking for a B&W laser printer under $100, try a Lexmark E120n. I've been majorly happy with mine for the past few years.

There are drivers for every version of Mac OS (and they're available via either Lexmark or Apple).

Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #19927 01/03/12 08:01 PM
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FWIW, here are Macworld reviews of 7 monochrome laser printers under $300. In addition to purchase price, it pays to take the price of consumables (toner etc.) into account.


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Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #19929 01/03/12 09:40 PM
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I have been quite happy with both B/W and Color laser Multi-Function Machines from Brother. They use standard CUPS drivers and provide TWAIN support for the scanning function. My latest is an MFC-9320CW (Color/Wireless) and it has worked flawlessly with my Macs as well as my iPhone and iPad. (Note it takes a free iPhone/iPad app to Print or Scan.)

I have also been quite pleased with a Canon IP4500 printer that I network wirelessly through an Airport Express. It too has been very reliable and like Brother, Canon keeps the drivers up to date. I have gotten the Canon to work with the iDevices using a third party app but it requires the help of one of the Macs to do its thing whereas the Brother App only requires both the printer and iDevice to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Printer recommendations
joemikeb #19930 01/03/12 09:55 PM
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I don't want an all-in-one or a printer so big it needs to be on the floor. My printer needs are modest.

I read reviews of some Brother models (like the 2270DW and 2240 sold by OfficeMax) on Amazon and am pretty discouraged. Noise, printers dying, short starter toner life. Some hostile reviews. But then some think it's the greatest and it will have won a PC mag award. What to do.

Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #19982 01/06/12 03:34 AM
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FWIW:

I have a HEWLETT PACKARD (HP-AIO 1410) printer which works for printing, scanning and copying (PSC) when hooked up directly by cable to the computer's USB port.

However, while the printing feature will work wirelessly using Time Capsule, the SCANNER is not supported for wireless use (and no word from HP that it will ever provide such an update for this model of printer).

So . . . if you are planning to buy ANY printer for wireless connections, check with the retailer to be sure that ALL of the features of the printer can be used wirelessly.


Many thanks,
MG2009
Re: Printer recommendations
MG2009 #19988 01/06/12 03:01 PM
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deniro Offline OP
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I did some messing around with my old HP, deleting some junk with Printer Setup Repair, some uninstalling, and then installed the latest version of Gutenprint. Consequently, I don't have the same problem I had before which forced me to turn off/on the printer between jobs.

So I'm going to keep the printer now and see how it goes…

Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #19990 01/06/12 04:36 PM
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Great, congratulations! laugh

Btw, the effective footprint of many of today's low-end AIOs is pretty much comparable to your regular printer-only device. Personally, I love the availability of copying, scanning and faxing capability, even though I didn't think I'd need it all that often. Once I had it, though, I found that my copying and scanning of documents into PDFs for archival (and search) purposes gradually increased... cool


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Re: Printer recommendations
alternaut #20066 01/11/12 05:13 PM
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I was wrong. Now no draft mode, some other formatting errors with Gutenprint.

Oh, it's all a mess. I just have never gotten this printer to work well with OS 10.4

Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #44441 04/28/17 06:02 PM
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Time really moves fast. I used that HP until I was sure it was dead. I certainly got my money's worth.

I replaced it years ago with an Epson Workforce All in One color ink jet, which turned to be handier than I thought and it doesn't take up much space. Surprisingly, the wireless connected fine. The driver works fine. I've never had to update the driver from the one that came with printer's CD.

On the negative side, I don't print that much, but the printer really devours ink and it lacks a duplex function. I hate wasting paper. On my old HP, I was able to print on one side, then put the paper back into the machine and print on the other side. Interesting that this doesn't work on the newer Epson. Newer isn't always better. Draft quality is quite a bit worse than draft quality on my old, old HP ink jet. Today I always have to print in normal mode. There are some other quirks which I don't recall at the moment. I've had it, I guess, at least three years, so maybe I should expect to collapse soon.

By the way, the Print Edit add-on in Firefox is quite handy. It can save you a lot of paper and ink, and newer versions have been better rather than worse, is often the case.

I've considered getting a monochrome laser because it looks like it would be cheaper than having to buy those expensive inkjet tanks for my all-in-one. Brother is often recommended, but what I saw at Office Depot is incompatible with 10.6.7. I would probably not even bother with wireless, instead just plug in the laser where I use the computer. Lots of horror stories out there about problems with drivers, wireless, and cheap build quality.

I remember when laser printers came out I thought they were coolest thing in the world. Now that I can afford one, they're cheap crap.

It's a comment I make about so many products now: I don't mind spending more on a quality product, esp. if it will have some longevity. I don't insist on having the cheapest product imaginable, nor the most disposable. Obviously I have a medieval approach to economy.

Last edited by deniro; 04/28/17 06:02 PM.
Re: Printer recommendations
deniro #44442 04/28/17 06:43 PM
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FWIW, if and when you decide to take up the search for a new printer again in the future, I recently went through that same process and landed on choosing a Brother MFC-J985DW to fill my needs....it has been 100% effective since I placed it in service. I haven't had it long enough to run the original ink carts dry, so I can't say with total assurance that it will be as economical as I was led to believe by the reviews, but they are pretty favorable.

Ease of setup for wireless was very reasonable, and print quality hasn't disappointed.

(....AND it has full AirPrint capability so my iPhone and iPads now have a color printing option)

edited to add AirPrint capability info

Last edited by MacManiac; 04/29/17 04:46 AM.

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Re: Printer recommendations
MacManiac #44443 04/28/17 07:59 PM
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I'm not going to tout my Canon Image Class LBP 6000 laser printer as anywhere near top of the line (Its most endearing attribute is that it suits my very minimal needs.), but I will say that I'm totally pleased with the concept.

If you don't require color ability, a laser printer will definitely save you money, perhaps even time, over an inkjet: my starter 700 page cartridge may last me for the rest of my life. I use my printer very infrequently, and after 4 years, the cartridge shows no signs of drying out as my inkjet cartridges used to do after only a few months.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Printer recommendations
artie505 #44444 04/28/17 08:56 PM
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Here's a caveat: Be very careful about deleting old printers after you install the new one. I recently hooked up my new Epson SureColor P600 and, after using it for about a week, found a home for my Epson Stylus Photo R2880 (which was in excellent condition). Reasoning that I no longer needed the drivers for the 2880, I went to System Preferences > Printers & Scanners and deleted that printer. Boom! I lost all my presets and was unable to reset them because certain settings (draft mode, printing in reverse order) were no longer available. (Actually, draft mode was accessed via a slider that was grayed out.)

I reset the printing system and added the P600 back, with no joy. I reinstalled drivers directly from Epson, also no joy. I finally restored from a backup and got back all the functionality that I had previously had. I'm not going to delete that former printer again!

Last edited by jchuzi; 04/29/17 12:08 AM.

Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Printer recommendations
jchuzi #44445 04/28/17 09:03 PM
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Not a problem I'm likely to ever run into, Jon, but thanks for the heads-up.

I wonder if it might be better placed in a separate thread?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Printer recommendations
MacManiac #44446 04/28/17 10:51 PM
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I will second the recommendation for a Brother. Just because the manufacturer doesn't put new compatibility labels on every box in their supply chain or the retailers update their shelf labels every time Apple releases a new version of MacOS does not mean a printer will not work with Sierra or MacOS 10.13, Mac OS 10.14, etc. when they are released. I never use the software in the box anyway as it is invariably out of date, sometimes years out of date. I go to the manufacturer's web site and download the latest version there.

My Brother printers have proven 100% reliable and I have never had a minute's problem with MacOS compatibility, which is more than I can say for either HP or Epson. Canon has also been good for me, but not as long lived as Brother.

As to ink costs remember all the printer manufacturers sell the printer hardware at or near cost and make their money from the ink/toner and paper. There are so many variables it is very difficult for an individual to arrive at a realistic cost per page.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Printer recommendations
joemikeb #44447 04/28/17 11:10 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
My Brother printers have proven 100% reliable and I have never had a minute's problem with MacOS compatibility, which is more than I can say for either HP or Epson. Canon has also been good for me, but not as long lived as Brother.

I'll note that you've mentioned before that Brother printers are Mac friendly, and I'll add to that that Canon printers are NOT.

Mine is recent enough that it should be able to work with my AirPort Express, but it doesn't, so I"ve got to cable it up whenever I need to print.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Printer recommendations
artie505 #44451 04/29/17 12:01 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
I'll note that you've mentioned before that Brother printers are Mac friendly, and I'll add to that that Canon printers are NOT.

Do you mean Canon Laser Printers? My Pixma 712 inkjet has been running without any issues since 2008…..hard to get friendlier than that.

Last edited by ryck; 04/29/17 12:02 AM.

ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: Printer recommendations
ryck #44452 04/29/17 12:40 AM
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Running is great, but by friendly, I meant documentation and support. (Yeah, I was talking about my laser printer.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Printer recommendations
artie505 #44453 04/29/17 01:08 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
I'll note that you've mentioned before that Brother printers are Mac friendly, and I'll add to that that Canon printers are NOT.

Mine is recent enough that it should be able to work with my AirPort Express, but it doesn't, so I"ve got to cable it up whenever I need to print.

All I can say is I have an elderly Canon Pixma ink jet networked through an Airport Express 802.11n (1st Generation) that I use for specialty print jobs such as graphic images on odd sized gloss or matte paper media and it works flawlessly.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Printer recommendations
joemikeb #44454 04/29/17 01:17 AM
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Maybe it's because my printer is looow end, but It's never been networkable.

As a matter of fact, this thread got me to looking, and I found an updated driver, but still no joy.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Printer recommendations
artie505 #44458 04/29/17 03:46 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Maybe it's because my printer is looow end, but It's never been networkable.

The Canon Pixma IP4500 is not supposed to be networkable and neither is a Dymo Labelwriter 450 Turbo, but I have both running on my network using Airport Express units as wireless print servers.

The way I set them up is...
  1. configure an Airport Express 802.11n (1st Generation) or later to Join a wireless network (not create or extend)
  2. connect the non-networkable printer to the Airport Express via USB
  3. In System Preferences ➢ Printers & Scanners on the Mac, click on the plus (+) sign at the bottom of the list of printers.
  4. The Airport Express connected non-networkable printer shows up in the list of available printers as "Canon IP 4500" of the type "Bonjour".
  5. Select it and click Add
  6. The printer mounts just like any networked or locally attached device.

NOTES:
  • The driver for the printer must be installed locally
  • Once a printer is mounted MacOS sees all printers the same regardless of how it is attached (USB or WiFi)
  • The printer driver is independent of the connection
  • An Airport Express can join virtually any WiFi network but it can only extend a network created by another Airport base station
Artie, I think your Canon should work. I hope there is a clue in here that will help you get it up and running. Neither my Canon or Dymo printers are networkable but both work perfectly using an Airport Express as a wireless print server. Better in fact than either did when shared from another Mac.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Printer recommendations
joemikeb #44462 04/29/17 08:49 PM
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Thanks to those who responded.

I don't expect to drain a laser cartridge in a short time. I don't print print much. My concern was more about the drivers and build quality. I guess I could ignore the requirements and return the printer if I couldn't get it to work on 10.6.

Re: Printer recommendations
joemikeb #44474 05/01/17 05:25 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: artie505
Maybe it's because my printer is looow end, but It's never been networkable.

The Canon Pixma IP4500 is not supposed to be networkable and neither is a Dymo Labelwriter 450 Turbo, but I have both running on my network using Airport Express units as wireless print servers.

The way I set them up is...
  1. configure an Airport Express 802.11n (1st Generation) or later to Join a wireless network (not create or extend)
  2. connect the non-networkable printer to the Airport Express via USB
  3. In System Preferences ➢ Printers & Scanners on the Mac, click on the plus (+) sign at the bottom of the list of printers.
  4. The Airport Express connected non-networkable printer shows up in the list of available printers as "Canon IP 4500" of the type "Bonjour".
  5. Select it and click Add
  6. The printer mounts just like any networked or locally attached device.
Artie, I think your Canon should work. I hope there is a clue in here that will help you get it up and running. Neither my Canon or Dymo printers are networkable but both work perfectly using an Airport Express as a wireless print server. Better in fact than either did when shared from another Mac.

Thanks for the instructions and encouragement. smile

I was getting absolutely nowhere with the instructions, though, and was just about to throw in the towel when I realized that, as I invariably do, I had forgotten to turn my printer on.

The going was smoother after that, except in step 1, AirPort Utility asked me to choose a network (to join) from its drop-down, and the printer wasn't on the list, nor was I able to find a way to get it there.

The newly added printer shows up as an option in a "Print" pane, but I've got no idea how to get macOS to connect to it.

Have you got any idea what, if anything, I've missed, or, as the case may be, failed to comprehend?

I also went through my Canon's documentation, and I found instructions for setting up networking via Terminal. Unfortunately, though, the instructions are generic, and, as per tech support, my printer isn't one of the supported ones.

So, unless you can get me past step 1, I'm stuck with a cable.

(It's not critical now that I've got a router with two built-in wireless networks, but going your route will turn my Base Station into a dedicated print server, leaving me unable to use it for Internet, and I was hoping for full AirPort Express functionality, i.e. Internet, printing, and AirPlay.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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