Jobos Posted September 17, 2025 Posted September 17, 2025 Running a small mono HP printer at home and it works fine even though it’s USB and we have to plug the cable into our laptops. It’s cheap to run and still using the same cartridge I fitted 8 years ago. Now the wife wants a colour printer so looking for something that has a small footprint and cheap to use. What do you suggest?
6Foot2 Posted September 17, 2025 Posted September 17, 2025 We have a HP Color LaserJet MFP M181fw. We have had it for around 5 years now, and it's been no trouble, although we don't use it heavily (I have only replaced the black toner once, and the original colour cartridges are running low now) Specifications: Print speed black: Up to 16 ppm Dimensions (W x D x H): 435 x 435 x 343 mm Weight: 16.3 kg
ZeroHour Posted September 17, 2025 Posted September 17, 2025 Tbh Laser is ideal if only used occasionally. I have a Color LaserJet MFP as well which I have had for ages and unless you are printing high quality photos for the wall its fine for everything else.
Hoyt Posted September 17, 2025 Posted September 17, 2025 I still primarily use a Samsung mono color printer plugged into our wired network. Our laptops can print to it through the access point they connect to. When my old scanner got left behind by Windows 11 I picked up a cheap Epson all in one unit and it works fine, but I never print in color so when the cartridges ran out I never replaced them. Don't know if y'all have Epson over there or not but I think I got the thing delivered on sale for less than $60. I used to hate the thought of all in one units because the software always seemed cumbersome, but since I needed a scanner anyway that little Epson has been impressive.
LeMarchand Posted September 18, 2025 Posted September 18, 2025 It's not small (or still manufactured) but my Dell c1765nfw is still seeing use after over 10 years!
Jobos Posted September 18, 2025 Author Posted September 18, 2025 Yes laser is the way forward as toners would last years without drying up. So far I have looked at the Laserjet Pro 3202dw @ £230 but need to check size as it will sit on a small cupboard. I looked at a smaller HP laser too which looked great (sorry I have forgotten the model) but dismissed it because of the reviews.
southhamster Posted September 18, 2025 Posted September 18, 2025 All printers are evil and cursed. I'd agree about the laser - I was reasonably impressed with those HP 32xx in school offices, but at home we've been abusing an Epson devil-in-one workforce 4725 for about 6 years as we do a fair amount of copying and scanning as well as printing. Small footprint, quick, quiet, double sided, network, autofeed scanner and reasonable quality colour prints. Because Mrs. SH prints test artwork on it as well we use the original cartridges and bear the horrendous cost as the compatibles aren't quite as good and do fade. Mrs SH does also have the Epson 3880 A2 Giant Evil Printer ™ which although producing stunning quality prints is a bit more steampunk and not exactly a home printer 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now