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johnridleyA couple of months ago, we bought a Brother HL-4040CN color laser printer. So far, so good, it's doing well, I think everyone's happy with it.
There's only one company selling toner refills for it, and another company which I think really knows what they're talking about (I actually talked with the owner for probably 30 minutes a couple of months ago) said as far as he knows, there aren't proper refill toners for it yet, and the other company is probably selling (he got technical here) a toner for a lower speed Brother print engine. He said it MIGHT work OK but the grain wasn't as good, and he'd be a little nervous about it.
Anyway, he actually suggested what I'd discovered when shopping for this printer in the first place; even at normal prices, if you want to buy a set of carts, you can get the printer almost for free if you buy a new printer and just use the carts, then keep the printer as a spare.
When I went out to Staples and checked, yes, this printer is on sale for $199 again, which is a heck of a deal, especially when you realize that it's got $270 worth of toner cartridges in it. Heck, they'll even deliver it for free. That means that right now, they're PAYING you to take a printer along with a set of toner cartridge.
Yes, these are the half-full cartridges. But even so, it's a decent deal, especially if we will eventually have refill toner available, so I'll have two carts of each color to work with (and wear out the drums on).
I *really* do not want to play that game. It seems very sad from an environmental point of view - it's as big a buy-in to the "disposable society" as I can think of. And yet, it's hard to argue against - I AM going to need new carts at some point, even if I refill - the carts themselves do not last forever. And though I hope that the printer will last a long time, stuff happens. At the point where I buy new carts, I'd have been better off buying another printer in the first place.
One other consideration is that the printer is actually pretty large, and I've been trying to get RID of stuff lately in an effort to gain elbow room in the house; I really don't want another big damn thing just sitting around. It may be OK if I take the toner carts out, then store the printer itself, still wrapped up, in the attic of the garage, but the printer may be in bad shape after a couple of years of swings from -20*F to +120*F.
There's only one company selling toner refills for it, and another company which I think really knows what they're talking about (I actually talked with the owner for probably 30 minutes a couple of months ago) said as far as he knows, there aren't proper refill toners for it yet, and the other company is probably selling (he got technical here) a toner for a lower speed Brother print engine. He said it MIGHT work OK but the grain wasn't as good, and he'd be a little nervous about it.
Anyway, he actually suggested what I'd discovered when shopping for this printer in the first place; even at normal prices, if you want to buy a set of carts, you can get the printer almost for free if you buy a new printer and just use the carts, then keep the printer as a spare.
When I went out to Staples and checked, yes, this printer is on sale for $199 again, which is a heck of a deal, especially when you realize that it's got $270 worth of toner cartridges in it. Heck, they'll even deliver it for free. That means that right now, they're PAYING you to take a printer along with a set of toner cartridge.
Yes, these are the half-full cartridges. But even so, it's a decent deal, especially if we will eventually have refill toner available, so I'll have two carts of each color to work with (and wear out the drums on).
I *really* do not want to play that game. It seems very sad from an environmental point of view - it's as big a buy-in to the "disposable society" as I can think of. And yet, it's hard to argue against - I AM going to need new carts at some point, even if I refill - the carts themselves do not last forever. And though I hope that the printer will last a long time, stuff happens. At the point where I buy new carts, I'd have been better off buying another printer in the first place.
One other consideration is that the printer is actually pretty large, and I've been trying to get RID of stuff lately in an effort to gain elbow room in the house; I really don't want another big damn thing just sitting around. It may be OK if I take the toner carts out, then store the printer itself, still wrapped up, in the attic of the garage, but the printer may be in bad shape after a couple of years of swings from -20*F to +120*F.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-16 03:48 pm (UTC)A "green" printer company could clean up in the US by capturing mindshare — and then market share from governments and other cost-insensitive first adopters.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-16 04:26 pm (UTC)