Cheapest reliable text-printer?

[aakerman]

Hi!

I gave my grandparents (who are complete computer newbies, understandably) my old Canon bubblejet 4000, when I bought my HP 820 Cxi (yes, it's a looong time ago). But they aren't using it, because the ink dries up too quickly, when they don't use it for some weeks... and they don't want to spend money on a new cartridge each time it dries out.

So, I'm wondering if there are any cheap laser printers around, where there is no ink involved, capable of drying up - they don't need colour print-outs, just plain text for letters and so on! They are very modest, and happy with everything they get - so it doesn't have to be a flashy printer, it just needs to print-out their documents, when they press the print button in Word 97 (they're using windows 98).

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[flashbacck]

the canon is an inkjet, no? The ink actually dries? are you sure it's not just dried crusty ink on the outside of the cartridge?

I think lexmark probably has the cheapest inkjets out, but they also have the highest $/ink cartridge cost. Laser printers still tend to be pretty expensive as far as a I know...

 

[aakerman]

yes it's a cheap-ass inkjet =) was expensive when we bought it though, but that's a long time ago.

I don't know if all the ink is dry, or only the bottom part - but in both cases, my grandparents wouldn't know
how to fix it, even if I told them.. they are very slow learners :/

 

[yoda291]

try cleaning the heads on your inkjet. I've had inkjet carts sit in my printer for about a year and still work fine after cleaning

 

[tapir]

I got a Lexmark Z22 for christmas. I wondered how my parents fit a decent printer into the budget, then i saw it at wal-mart for $30 and I understood.

Lexmarks are good and the technology is new so it would be relatively easy to find ink cartridges etc.

 

[zephyrprime]

On the old canons the ink would dry up. Very annoying. I had the BJC-600 which was the best of its time (but is beat by even the cheapest printers now) but it sucked because it's ink would slowly dry up. In any event, this problem has long been solved. Any printer will work for you. Even a Canon. However, I would recommend against any printer that didn't have both color and black cartridges at the same time.

 

[osage]

check your local Goodwill or other thrift store....I have bought several OkiData 390 and 320 series printers for as little as $12.00. these are dot-matrix printers and work great for text.

 

[aakerman]

Ok, I was sorta hoping the ink-problem, was due to age of the printer.. and that it had been corrected in newer models.

So, any suggestions for a cheap - preferably small - inkjet printer? - the lexmark Z22 as it is suggested by tapir?

 

[vegetation]

I would have to agree with the use of an old dot matrix printer if you're on a tight budget and don't care about impressing others with your printout quality.

 

[ShowdOWN]

dot matrix, lol. we still use one at work, given to us by airborne express to print there shipping labels. it is also connected to a 386 computer. also given by them.

 

[T2T III]

Dot-matrix printers may still experience some issues with the ribbon drying up. Check the hot deals forum where you could find a laser printer for $150 - $200. Samsung makes a laser printer that is $150 (after a $50 mail-in rebate.) Also, there's the Brother 1440 laser jet printer for $170 or so from Dell.