PC Peripherals Want printer for home use

E

Emil

Skilled
For my daughter's place in Goa.
Usage is low and occasional. My past experience with inkjets has been bad because the head tends to clog if not used for a few weeks at a stretch. Although on paper it looks like inkjet is the way to go for low volume usage, my experience says to stay away from inkjet when there are stretches on non-use.
I was looking for a cheap laser printer. Cheap initial and running cost for low volume usage. Wireless printing is required but drives up the cost of the printer. Added to the difficulty is the non-deliverability of all good options to Goa.
In this thread, I am looking for suggestions on a low lifetime cost implementation. At first glance HP printers seem to be good from the running cost perspective but I found that the most economical HP printers have high cartridge cost and per page cost.
In general, printers with wireless connectivity have higher end features making them significantly more expensive when accounting for availability in Goa.
I also would like to know if I can get a printer with only USB interface, what is the efficient way to get wireless connectivity?
I am not confident about those USB to ethernet adaptors as I feel they may only work with a computer were the driver would be installed.
What about wireless routers that have a USB port for connecting peripherals like storage? Do they support connection to a USB printer to which pages can be sent from laptops or mobile phones? If that would work, we might sell the new Archer C6 and go for one with a USB port.

Responses addressing any one or more of the above queries would be appreciated. Feel free to question me about my assumptions and prejudices.
 
Get Single function Inktank printers from HP , Canon or Brother best may cost 7000 around. ink cost 300-500 max can can produce 4000+ pages. cheap effective.
 
very well decided, inkjet is always a headache better going with laser.
yes I agree, Brother is VFM and a cheap solution for basic printing requirements. some low priced Brother models even provide duplex printing support.
In my opinion Cannon is a better option than HP. HP's drivers and softwares isn't the best.
Inbuilt Usb port on router is generally for storage. I don't think it supports printers through USB port but there are few models which may support this feature.
most laser printers comes with in built Lan port. you can connect printer to wireless router using lan connection and enable file and print sharing for your local home network.
so here in this setup still 1 cable is used for router to printer connection. If absolutely wireless freedom is a necessity then printer with built in Wifi is the way to Go.
 
Emil said:
also would like to know if I can get a printer with only USB interface, what is the efficient way to get wireless connectivity?
Click to expand...
You will need to install ddwrt on it if the old router is supported. Ddwrt has printing support through usb interface. It doesn't make sense to buy a new router with usb port compared to buying a new laser printer with wifi direct and networking (physical lan port on printer) since overall cost will be almost same. You'll spend 2-3k on router and ~9k on just usb printer so total becomes around 11-12k. At that price point you can easily buy a new aio laser printer with all printing options.
 
I have had the Ricoh SP111 B&W laser printer for 6 years now as I mostly use it as a photocopier and for document printouts. I had purchased a toner refill 2 years back, but haven't used it yet as it is still running on the original toner. I think it cost about 3k back then, so there can be no better VFM for B&W printouts. I had a couple of inkjet printers prior to that and they are simply a waste of money for B&W.

In case of colour, it is a bit more complicated due to the upfront cost of a laser printer. Also the toner output is not good for photos compared to ink. If it is low volume colour printing you are after, then the tank-based inkjet printers are the better option.

In terms of network connectivity, you should verify in advance that the printer is supported by the DD-WRT firmware as all laser printers are not equal. In my case, the SP111 is a DDST printer, so the output is rasterized on the host, not on the printer and thus requires a host driver to work. Due to this it cannot be used directly on a router and I got it functioning on a Pi using an open source driver, but it still lacked a lot of functionality. In the end, I just connected it to an old Windows tablet I have with me.
 
Thanks guys for all the valuable feedback. I was aware of the low cost printers from Ricoh which were available in the 3K range and I had told my daughter and son-in-law that they could have a print solution in the 5K range. That set the price bar very low. I now learn that those same printers from Ricoh are far more expensive now.
Colour is not required and certainly not photo printing.
My problem is that the lowest end laser printers are not available in the network support variant. Adding to the challenge is the limited choice available in Goa. If I knew their requirement before hand, I would have purchased in Pune before driving down to Goa.
@Prakash_Rock - as I mentioned, the problem with inkjets is that they give trouble when you don't use them for 3 weeks or more.
If I use a network printer using LAN, can we print directly from mobile phone? Will some app be required for it?
 
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