Damn Lexmark! Need a new all-in-one printer. Suggestions?

My computer is an HP. The computer itself is pretty good .... but the operating system is a different story ...

Yeah that countdown chip can be found in all modern GM vehicles as well, it seems.

I'm thinking an INK & FEATHERING is in order for OBD-II designers & printer manufacturers!

Wood'nCoal wrote:I'm positive that all electronic devices have a "timer chip" somewhere inside them. The first time you power up a new device the chip begins it's countdown to doomsday.

HP had timer-chips in their ink cartridges. I would have perfectly good, never-used cartridges that when placed in the printer, would give a warning: This cartridge has expired. Please insert new cartridge. Or something like that. Thats why we got rid of our HP printers.

Yes, the HP inkjet cartridges do have date code chips in them. I learned of them the hard way when I purchased refilled cartridges from my local specialty office supply store. They were priced right and with a coupon even more so. I set them aside for future use. Only then didn't work because of the date code issue. The store refused to make good on them. Said they could order and install new chips for $5 each. I searched the Internet for work a around. It turns out you can set back your operating system clock and they will work. I set back one year because it easy to do and then return to the correct date when you are done printing. I was so pissed at the store that I told them to go ahead and order the chips. When they called that they were in I said "Sorry I don't need them, I found a work around". Now they were pissed. I'm so sorry.

In general I've found that laser printers are lower cost per printed page. You need to understand that all printers come with "starter" toner cartridges that have less than a full fill. It will tell you on the box. In many cases the replacement cartridge will cost almost what the printer did. Almost all printer software installations will also install some kind of usage monitor software. This is a guess about your usage. It's often wrong because it's biased towards you buying before you really need too. BEFORE YOU BUY ANY PRINTER... Search the Internet techie forums and find out how to reset your specific printers software and/or hardware. Many times it's a combination of printer buttons pushed in a certain sequence.

You can rejuvenate inkjet cartridges when they dry at the surface that meets the paper, by letting them soak on a wet paper towel. Again search the techie forums for specific instruction and what fluids to use. My only inkjet left is a 11" x 17" model that's often dry because of low usage.

My current printers are Brother HL03040CN and Brother HL-2240. I'm very happy with both.

murphyslaw wrote:I love my HP office jet all in one. can even print from my android phone over the wifi.

got the office jet pro here 8000 wireless awesome printer going to buy the wife a 8500 all in one very shortly they even have a continuous inking system for them doing it to my 8000 next ink change. also there cheaper to run than a laser printer, i look at both and so glad i went with the hp

Jeff

http://www.earthinkjet.com/hp-officejet ... 0-cis.html

Thanks for the great info Yanche! I have no use for any company that puts a date code chip in their ink - what a racket!

Getting down to the wire here, so I'll let you all know what I end up buying today.

If you do not need color go with a laser printer...
All the MFG suck at some point when you get stuck with a bad unit...
OKI makes great lasers...
If you ever delt with tractor feed paper it most likely came out of a OKI 390 dot matrix printer...
Tanks they were...
Brother and HP are tied for second place in the laser dept...
Suppliesguys for toner refills...
they do ink also...

We have lots of HP LaserJets at work, and they are pretty reliable. When the laser cartridge runs out of ink, turn it upside down and shake it hard, rap it with your hand, shake some more, and it's good for another one or two hundred pages. Must be that the ink powder clumps and needs to be fluffed up. Been using that trick for years.

Thanks again for all the info everyone!

I've made my purchase. Ended up with a Cannon ImageClass MF4570dn Laser all-in-one. Got it for about $100 under retail online. I'm containing my excitement for after it arrives .. and actually WORKS.


Funny you mention the shaking thing. The first time I ever heard of that was just a few months ago. Was some commercial where a bunch of office guys are watching the new guy print some stuff .. he says "it's out of ink" ... and they reply, "just shake it" ... and he picks up the whole printer & starts shaking the hell out of it. I had no idea wtf they were talking about until I thought about it & figured that shaking the cartridge must get more prints. Was a funny commercial after that! ( I've never been in an office environment except to get hired ... & then soon afterward, fired. )

Anyway this thing supposedly handles 10K pages per month. If I said I do one tenth of that I'd be off-the-chart on the exaggeration scale. Hopefully this works out better than the last 2 Lexmarks I've owned. $80 for toner is a bitter pill to swallow though. I'm hoping this thing doesn't croak if I use some generic toner .... I'm afraid to try after this last fiasco.

We just tried to send a fax with the old one, & it sounded like someone dumped chunks of steel into a truck transmission. That was the paper feeder on the top that mysteriously *censored* the bed along with the rest of the printer. Figured I'd be able to sell it to some electronics store on eBay ... but nothing works now! NOTHING! Talk about a chip ... geeesh!! Total self destruction.

It will now be relegated to target status.

good choice...
I have a cannon image class mf 5750 or somethin.... its great... usually once a year for a cartridge.... cartridge world in scranton saves $$

We took delivery of brand new Lexmark lasers at the University, and they report unsupported cartridges right from the factory. Had to update firmware to get them to work straight out of the box. Myself and my guys all recommend HP.

It's unbelievable that these business practices are allowed to continue. Crooked bastards. We could go to the moon in '69, but can't even print a page of text without firmware updates & other related BS in '11. Greed is the engine that powers today's business I guess.

The MF4570 also incorporates the Canon Single Cartridge System, which combines the toner and drum in one easy-to-replace unit, resulting in excellent image quality retention and eliminating the complication and warehousing of separate toner and drum consumables.

Read costs more to replace then separate drum and toner...

Canon Cartridge 128
CRG yield* (2,100)

*Yield based on ISO/IEC Standard

2100 pages per easy to replace unit...
$82 retail...

This is the other company I use...
http://tonerrefillkits.com/Canon-Imageclass-MF4570dn-Toner.php
Use the tool to cut a hole in the existing toner unit and pour in the powder seal it up...
The Cartridge needs to be replaced every 3 refills or so as the drum wears out...
But the cost of the powder at $25 makes it worth it...

Great link! THANKS Cape! Now I'm REAL glad I didn't buy that extra toner cartridge when I checked out.

I'm still learning about toner cartridges. Had no idea there was a "drum".