I got a printer from Amazon for $35. Yes, $35.

You can get a black and white laser printer for around $100. Toner lasts a long time. We’ve been happy with our little workhorse laser printers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The printers are not too expensive, especially with sales, but the cost of ink is outrageous.

That said, my kids have to print at home for school.

That has been our experience with ink costs.

Can you help me understand how often you find yourself purchasing ink?

4 users, need ink every 3-6 months; but I print a lot too.

This is helpful information. Thank you.

Do you find yourself troubleshooting a lot - or is it pretty point and shoot?

No, it is easy and the kids can manage it too. Also, I agree about the laser printer if you can manage the up front cost. My friends who are writers and print at home a lot use lasers because of the savings in ink cost.

Most assignments are turned in electronically but my MS and HS kids definitely still need a printer at home. I’m not even sure they have an in-school option.

We have a laser printer. DH bought 2 or 3 toner cartridges from a university surplus sale a few years ago and they’ve lasted a long time at minimal cost. As far as maintenance, once it was set up and plugged in to the computer (it does have WiFi capability but we don’t use it because there’s no need) the most I’ve ever had to do is clear a paper jam.

You sound really annoying.

These days, printers are really easy to set up, and you can set everything to black and white if you don't want to use up too much color ink. If there's a problem, there's something called the internet to help you fix the problem - in my decades of having Canon printers, this hadn't actually happened.

If your high schooler is struggling with printing at school, just buy one! School printers often break down, there are lines of people waiting to use it, and you can't just print and go when you want. Do you want your kid to stress out about this and possible not hand in his paper on time, just because you're being silly about a printer?

Seriously, OP. School is important and your kids should be properly equipped.

We haven't had a functioning printer at home for at least a couple of years. I really miss it. There are so many things I'd use it for, but I've been lazy at researching the options and I can also get by with printing things at work.

So just last week I decided to finally focus on getting a new one. My kids are getting older and could benefit from one. We ended up getting a refurbished one from Amazon for $62. It's HP4650. It arrived yesterday and set up was super easy. It's wireless, which our old one was not. It has several other functions that will be useful - scan to e-mail, printing mazes/games, duplex printing, etc. Since we just got it, I can't speak to the price of ink.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids print at home quite often, including in color. We bought an HP printer/scanner and do the ink subscription program through HP with a low volume quantity. My kids know there's a limit to the number of pages and are generally responsible with how they use it. I also use it from time to time, especially the scanning function. I can't imagine not having one at home.

Have they ever exceeded the page limit? What are the consequences?

Is yours a recent purchase? If yes, can you share model?

No, there's no consequence, but my kids understand that we get a limited number of pages that are included in our subscription and pay extra for the overs, so they know they should use it carefully and not just print out a bunch of stuff willy nilly.

I have this model at home and in my small business and it works just fine: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-pro-8600-plus-e-all-in-one-printer-series-n911/4322915

Oh, dear - I just looked up that model - it's rather a bit more cost than I was thinking to manage for another year and a half of HS printing needs!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids print at home quite often, including in color. We bought an HP printer/scanner and do the ink subscription program through HP with a low volume quantity. My kids know there's a limit to the number of pages and are generally responsible with how they use it. I also use it from time to time, especially the scanning function. I can't imagine not having one at home.

Have they ever exceeded the page limit? What are the consequences?

Is yours a recent purchase? If yes, can you share model?

No, there's no consequence, but my kids understand that we get a limited number of pages that are included in our subscription and pay extra for the overs, so they know they should use it carefully and not just print out a bunch of stuff willy nilly.

I have this model at home and in my small business and it works just fine: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-pro-8600-plus-e-all-in-one-printer-series-n911/4322915

Thank you.

Is it pretty straightforward, and free from the need to troubleshoot?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids print at home quite often, including in color. We bought an HP printer/scanner and do the ink subscription program through HP with a low volume quantity. My kids know there's a limit to the number of pages and are generally responsible with how they use it. I also use it from time to time, especially the scanning function. I can't imagine not having one at home.

Have they ever exceeded the page limit? What are the consequences?

Is yours a recent purchase? If yes, can you share model?

No, there's no consequence, but my kids understand that we get a limited number of pages that are included in our subscription and pay extra for the overs, so they know they should use it carefully and not just print out a bunch of stuff willy nilly.

I have this model at home and in my small business and it works just fine: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-officejet-pro-8600-plus-e-all-in-one-printer-series-n911/4322915

Anonymous wrote:Where do you live? DC libraries have free printing (up to 20 pages per day) and are mostly open til 9p. And you can send the job from home and just go there to pick it up. Not sure if that’s a reasonable alternative.

This is the type of thing that I am looking to add to the list of options.

We do our best to do a cost-benefit analysis - as opposed to just handing things over according to the latest whim - and get DC to understand what their requests mean in the overall picture.

Where do you live? DC libraries have free printing (up to 20 pages per day) and are mostly open til 9p. And you can send the job from home and just go there to pick it up. Not sure if that’s a reasonable alternative.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013SKI4EM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is a great little printer. I've not needed buy ink for it yet. High school sophomore prints a couple pages at a time once a week or so.

Get a black and white lazer

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The printers are not too expensive, especially with sales, but the cost of ink is outrageous.

That said, my kids have to print at home for school.

That has been our experience with ink costs.

Can you help me understand how often you find yourself purchasing ink?

4 users, need ink every 3-6 months; but I print a lot too.

This is helpful information. Thank you.

Do you find yourself troubleshooting a lot - or is it pretty point and shoot?

Anonymous wrote:
Buy a printer.

Unless you're on food stamps, you can cut back a little elsewhere, OP.

I don't know what my high schooler would do if we didn't have a printer at home. He comes back late in the evening with work due the next morning, some of which has to be printed out.

This is a fine perspective - but our budget is managed down to the penny - and I am trying to discern where the cut will need to be.

Also, as noted upthread, I am not inclined to have to figure out how to service/troubleshoot printer connections if there is another option.