When we looked at printers last time I spent a lot of time looking at the costs and options.
The base requirements were:
- Linux, Mac and Windows support
- AirPrint
- Duplex
- Laser
- Colour
Beyond that I looked at the cost of the printer on a price per page with the included toner, so if there were 1000 pages of colour, and 2500 black then I would use the lower number.
I also looked at the cost of the replacement cartridges but in all cases the real brand toner was too expensive, and in many cases fakes/refills we’re not cheaper than a new printer, or were not available at all due to constantly changing DRM mechanisms.
This may have changed, and it is ridiculous that buying two printers is the cheapest way to get two sets of toner, but that was the case last time.
I have a slightly older Lexmark printer similar to the one we have I can look up the model, Makerspace can have this if the toner is cheap enough to warrant using this over our current model.
The issue with injecting is that many of the inkjet and toner cartridges have a chip that must be present for it to work, and it determines when the cartridge is empty based on a digital usage rather than actual content.