Question Why does anyone ever use inkjet printers?

[The Sauce]

I am closing in on 50 years old. I have had dozens of printers in my life. Every, yes every, inkjet has been an utter disappointment. Let me point out the shortfalls:

- Sloppy, smeary print
- clogged print heads
- noisy
- slow
- expensive proprietary ink cartrisges
- constant forced firmware updates to fight "generic" ink
- ink prints fade
- require expensive, thick paper to combat smearing

I now have an inexpensive Dell color laser. Prints are perfect every time on whatever paper I use. Cheap toner. Fast and quiet. Not being snarky - I really just don't understand how they sell these things.

 

[Thump553]

I do refinance closings so I print a lot, It's not unusual for me to go through a case (10 reams) or more of paper a week. My clients require me to use a laser printer for quality (I also need it for speed). I'll go through a toner cartridge every couple of weeks. I have no need for color printing.

Over the years I've gone through a number of brands of printers. HP was fine but very expensive for supplies. I've settled on Brother because they are reliable, excellent print quality and most important to me, they accept third party non-chipped toner cartridges. (This may have changed with the latest models, be sure to check). Excellent quality third party toner cartridges cost me roughly $35 each and last 5-6,000 pages for my uses.

I used to have personal inkjet printers. It seemed like every other time I went to print on them one or more toner cartridges would be clogged. The people I do refinances for are supposed to give me a copy of their licenses. Most of them have inkjets and at least a third of the time they are out of ink or clogged.

Different users have different needs, but I agree with the OP-I'll never buy or recommend an inkjet. For the rare occasions I need color printouts, I'll run down to Staples or FedEx and get it done there. For the rare printed photos I'll also use a commercial service.

 

[mikeymikec]

I do refinance closings so I print a lot, It's not unusual for me to go through a case (10 reams) or more of paper a week.

10 reams of paper per week?!? jesus. Is there no other way?

For the record, I wouldn't recommend an inkjet for your situation I've never gone beyond about 300 UKP for an inkjet though.

One thing for people in general to remember though is to check the specs of a printer's consumables (and the printer specs as well if you're doing high yield workloads), as cheap inkjets and lasers alike are not great for economy.