Printer ran out of toner, throw printer away?

[JimmiG]

So my trusty old Samsung ML-2010 ran out of toner.

I can get some third-party toner for about half the cost of a new printer, or an original Samsung toner for $15 *more* than a new black and white laser printer costs. Printer works fine for now, but investing that much into something that could break down at any time doesn't really make sense to me.

So do I just chuck out the printer and buy a new one? Is that what most people do when they run out of toner?

 

[VirtualLarry]

So do I just chuck out the printer and buy a new one? Is that what most people do when they run out of toner?

Wow. Just wow.

I guess, I would expect most people to replace the toner when it runs out. Generally, printers only come with "starter" toner, so you should expect to get more (nearly double) out of a factory replacement toner cart.

 

[Cerb]

Where can you get a B&W laser for $40? I have to reach page 3 on eBay to get up to $20fs.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I hate the disposable society we live in. Financially it does actually make sense to buy a new printer. Though buying a new toner will be easier. You wont need to physically install a new printer and you wont need to install drivers. Just pop the new toner in and ready to go. So if there's one reason to keep the printer it's that it will be less work.

 

[Mixolydian]

I hate the disposable society we live in. Financially it does actually make sense to buy a new printer. Though buying a new toner will be easier. You wont need to physically install a new printer and you wont need to install drivers. Just pop the new toner in and ready to go. So if there's one reason to keep the printer it's that it will be less work.

Blame the printer manufacturers for making ink/toner so damn expensive.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah pretty much. It's the same with UPSes, they charge more for a replacement battery than a new one, but at least these batteries are fairly standard so you can usually find them cheaper at a local electrical store or what not.

 

[Cerb]

Yeah pretty much. It's the same with UPSes, they charge more for a replacement battery than a new one, but at least these batteries are fairly standard so you can usually find them cheaper at a local electrical store or what not.

Since they always have the specs right on them, and are usually a nominally standard size, that's not a problem. The real annoyance is that they die so quickly, while SLAs are supposed to be able to last 5-10 years (do they float at a high voltage, or with a dirty input, or something?).

 

[C1]

In the case of inkjet printers, Ive seen instances in which if you bought replacement ink cartridges, the printer body was thrown in free.

In the case of my Samsung ML-1740 laser, that printer at one time could be picked up in a retail store new for $40 while a new toner cartridge was priced at $79. (Ive had good luck with commercial refilled cartridges, selling for a bit over half retail new price.)

Remember though, the cartridge is actually a critical part of the printer. The condition of the cartridge printer roller as well as the quality of the toner affects quality of the printout. If you do lots of high resolution graphics, a retail commercial cartridge is a good idea.

PS: Remember to clean your Samsung from time to time. That is one of the functions of "print test page" feature (ie, as stated in the user manual, it cleans/clears the print roller).

 

[Slufa111]

Better printer toners will produce better print quality and produce more printed pages.

 

[JasonCoder]

I hate the disposable society we live in. Financially it does actually make sense to buy a new printer. Though buying a new toner will be easier. You wont need to physically install a new printer and you wont need to install drivers. Just pop the new toner in and ready to go. So if there's one reason to keep the printer it's that it will be less work.

Bro: time is money. Depending on how much you value your time either buy a new toner or a new printer. Kind of interesting though that it's even close.

My grandpa would now launch into diatribe on how this is indicative of society's collapse.

 

[hackerballs]

Geez...........buy some toner..........I bought 3 x high capacity bottles of toner (2600 pages) and had them shipped to me all for under $75.......$25 apiece...........very easy to refill if you follow the instructions and it came with new counter gears also. Took 5 minutes to refill.............your drum is usually good for 25 refills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6D-aSqgrNM

 

[JimmiG]

I hate the disposable society we live in. Financially it does actually make sense to buy a new printer. Though buying a new toner will be easier. You wont need to physically install a new printer and you wont need to install drivers. Just pop the new toner in and ready to go. So if there's one reason to keep the printer it's that it will be less work.

I don't like it either, but the sad fact is that it *does* make more sense for me to buy a brand new printer. The paper feed mechanism or some other component could break down, seeing as my current printer is several years old. With a new printer, everything gets replaced, for maybe $15 more than an original toner from the manufacturer.

Buying a new printer would be easier too. I could just pick one up when I'm in town, from any of a number of electronics and computer stores. In order to find a toner that's compatible with my printer, I would probably have to shop around online, order, wait, and finally collect the package at the post office.

 

[PliotronX]

You can get like a gallon of toner for what an ink cartridge costs and no chips to deal with. Samsungs cartridges are easy to refill.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Samsung was notorious for selling cheap laser printers and then making it back up with the toner. HP also sells their toner cartridges for an arm and a leg which is why I run rosewill toners from newegg which cost half as much and print the same quality.

 

[Mixolydian]

Samsung was notorious for selling cheap laser printers and then making it back up with the toner. HP also sells their toner cartridges for an arm and a leg which is why I run rosewill toners from newegg which cost half as much and print the same quality.

refill a cartridge?! u mad?!

 

[Cerb]

refill a cartridge?! u mad?!

You could get 2-3 refills with the ML-2010 carts, before they started screwing up. I had the Lexmark version, and swapped out the little plate that kept Samsung toners from working, and then also swapped to Samsung's driver, which gave better print quality. The thing is, it wasn't that expensive when new, and would wear out with heavy use of even branded toners. So, it wasn't worth caring for quite like say, an HP 2100, or 3150, that could just keep on going forever and ever and ever.

 

[corkyg]

Maybe it's time to make allowances for where OP lives? All of these neat refill solutions that we take for granted may not be available to him. ???

 

[Puffnstuff]

refill a cartridge?! u mad?!

Where do you get that I refill my cartridges? I said I buy rosewill branded toner cartridges which cost half as much as the hp ones and print the same.