Printers

[trucks 0]

I will need a printer for when I go away to university next year and am just wondering if a colour printer is really necessary. Black and white are a little more expensive because it is laser and not inkjet but laser toners lasts a lot longer compared to ink and ink cartridges are ridiculously priced. Basically I am asking anyone in uni or already been through is a colour printer necesary for business or will black and white get the job done?

[sherwood21 0]

Depends what you are printing really. I only need my printer for essays and such (at prep school) but I have a color because I got it for free. What printers are you looking at? What's your price range?

[Vapor 0]

printers arent that expensive where you still hgave to settle for BW. You cna probably find a laser jet color printer on ebay for 5-10 bucks these days.

[pantherfan 0]

colour will ussually make your work look smarter IMO

[2048 0]

Every now and then you may need color for presentations. ALso, you should have a print quota from your school. I know I get 500 pages per semester, so I usually go to the lounge to print out my papers or course documents instead of wasting my own ink.

Also, www.monsterinkjets.com has ink cartidges for dirt cheap. I haven't used em, but my friends do and the results are ok.

[kosydar 0]

My printer from last year broke and I need another one for this upcoming year. I don't want to spend much at all, under $50 if possible. I just need it for the typical school things. I don't need a nice one, seeing as how shitty I treated my last one. Looking on Amazon was pointless as they had millions of cartridges and used printers for cheap, but no new ones. I have a Sony Vaio laptop if that makes any difference. Color would be nice, but not absolutely necessary. If B&W are significantly cheaper I wouldn't mind going that route and going to the library or whatever to print color. Gracias.

[Project_2501 0]

colour will ussually make your work look smarter IMO

Yes, because 20 page reports are printed in purple ink, right?

The only time this would make a difference, would be while graphing.

[pantherfan 0]

Colour gives you more options and you can put pictures in there with out people squinting to try and realise what they are in BW

[Project_2501 0]

If that happens, you may want to consider getting better pictures.

[hockeymom 2]

It really could be either. I usually try to print at work on the B&W laser because it is such better quality and half the time when I print at home on the inkjet, I print on greyscale to conserve the colour cartridges.

Black & White will get the job done IMO. A laser will have sharper, crisper B&W prints - MUCH easier on a tired marker's eyes - and, depending on the program you are taking, it is likely most of your work will be copy/text. A laser will also give a sharper B&W photo.

You are correct that the laser has a higher initial price point - but that the cartridges last longer, so it evens out over time.

The colour IS very nice for covers and stuff. And the initial presentation DOES set the tone; you sit down to mark and it just looks like it is going to be a good one...yes! But the quality of the work has to be there to earn the grade. When I've failed people who had lovely presentations, my thoughts have fluctuated between:

1. All style no substance, wish they had put more time into the writing rather than the pretty graphics... grumble, grumble, grumble

2. Oh gee, this is such a professional looking piece of work, it is just heartbreaking the rest of it didn't measure up.

It is also very possible to do great covers in B&W - and I think you would get a better greyscale on a laser printer.

[Drury23 0]

colour will ussually make your work look smarter IMO

I agree. my cousin had a black and white and hated it in college. He sold it to one of his friends and bought a color one from best buy I think.

BTW, Best Buy has awesome prices ;)