The Samsung ML-2010 laser printer is available for $80 plus shipping from Best Buy. The normal price is $129.99, so even if you have to pay shipping, it is still a big discount. If you don’t want to pay for shipping, you can always order it online and pick it up at your local Best Buy. Also, the savings is instant so you don’t have to enter any coupon code or fill out any annoying rebate forms. The sale ends on 4/22.

The ML-2010 is a high-quality machine that is fast and produces good text results. It was already one of the better bargains on the market, but this sale (at least temporarily) makes it the best bargain for a personal monochrome laser printer. Its lack of additional features and small (150-sheet capacity) may be cause for concern for some users, but since this machine isn’t meant for professional use those shortcomings are understandable.

Find the ML-201-D3 toner cartridge for the Samsung ML-2010 at our store.

Epson will give out a $45 credit to consumers to settle class-action lawsuits filed against them in California, Texas and New York. The lawsuits argued that a “substantial” amount of ink remained in Epson inkjet cartridges at the time that the printer indicated the cartridge was empty. The settlement applies to anyone who purchased an Epson inkjet printer between April 8, 1999 and May 8, 2006. The $45 credit is for use at Epson’s online store, and can be used on printers, inkjet cartridges or any other products. Also, instead of the $45 credit consumers can choose to receive a $25 check from Epson and a $20 credit for their store, or else a 25% discount ($100 is the max discount) off products at the Epson store.

Now in our opinion, this settlement is kind of lousy. This has always been a big complaint of our customers who use Epson printers and they find it pretty annoying that their printer will basically stop working because it says a cartridge is empty, even though it usually isn’t. Under the terms of the settlement, Epson admits no wrongdoing and will not change any of their technology. They will change their packaging to note that “empty” cartridges are going to still have some ink in them. So the lawyers get their big cut, Epson can say they did nothing wrong, and consumers are left with a credit from a company they may never want to buy from again. It could even prove to be a gain for Epson, if consumers use the $45 credit and then spend additional money or if they elect to take the 25% discount. What is supposed to be a penalty for them could turn into a flood of traffic for their online store.

On a positive note, the settlement is pretty large and the process to claim it does not seem that difficult. This is not the usual class-action settlement where you have to fill out five forms to get your $2 share of the loot. If you registered your printer with Epson, then you will automatically receive the credit. If you haven’t, you can go to http://www.epsonsettlement.com/ and find the claim form there.

The last day to send in a claim form is June 22, 2006.

Class Counsel and Epson America Announce Class Action Settlement [Press Release]

Update 5/30 - Ron, one of our commenters, left this note: “I got this back from Epson about the e-store code: Per this website, the settlement benefits are not distributed until AFTER the court considers final approval on the settlement. The settlement benefits will be available no sooner than the late fall of 2006. Thus, any Epson Store codes will not be activated until after the final settlement.”

This would explain why a lot of people have been wondering about actually using their benefits at the Epson store.

Update 6/1 - Another commenter, Jerry, pointed out this link: E-Store Code Notification. So if you sign up, you will be automatically notified via email or postcard that your code/benefits are ready.

Update 9/18 - The latest news on this case is that the settlement was officially accepted by the Court back on August 15th, so this should mean that everyone’s E-Store codes are valid. If you are still having trouble, you can always try calling 1-877-506-4031, which was a number set up for all class members. There is a pretty long recording that you have to listen to at first, but you could always try hitting 0 to see if an operator appears.

Update 1/22 - http://www.pacificink.com/blog/2007/01/22/epson-settlement-update-2/

The HP C6656A black cartridge is currently HP’s most common cartridge, and probably the most common on the market today. It currently works in about 70 different inkjet printers, a number that other manufacturers cannot keep with simply because they do not have the huge number of models that HP does. By comparison, the next most common cartridge would probably be the Canon BCI-3e black, which works in about 30 fewer machines. Because it is such a common and popular product, there are a number of options:

HP OEM 56 - this is the cartridge that comes with your printer and the one you will find in stores. It is usually $20 everywhere you go, which doesn’t seem like much but in reality is significantly more than the cartridge that it replaced, the 51645A. The HP 45 is $30 but contains 42ml of ink, while the C6656 only has 19ml. So it works out to be about 70 cents per milliliter for the 51645 ink and 95 cents for the C6656 ink. On the other hand, the HP 56 is a bargain compared to newer black HP cartridges like the HP 94 (retails at $20 for 11ml) or the HP 21 ($15 for 5ml).

Remanufactured C6656 - this is a product that we, along with a growing number of other companies, sell at a price that is lower than HP’s retail price. Not speaking for everyone, but a typical remanufactured cartridge (like ours) is a 56 cartridge that has been cleaned, refilled to capacity and then fitted with a new print head. So it is basically a new cartridge with a recycled casing, which doesn’t really have anything to do with the performance of the cartridge.

Refill kits - available for almost all common HP inkjet cartridges, refilling is the option that saves you the most money. We sell a refill kit that is $10.99 and gives you two refills, so basically it works out to be $5.50 per refill. If you bought two new HP cartridges from the store, it would be about $40. Also, this cartridge is good for refilling because black cartridges are always easier to refill (simply because it is one color, not three) and because the 56 has a nice, basic design.

Refilling service - this is where you can have someone refill your cartridge for you. In our case, the service we offer is Renew. You purchase the service, receive a mailer and then send away your empty cartridge and it comes back to you refilled. This is a service for people who like to the idea of recycling and reusing their cartridges, but don’t have the time or the desire to refill their own cartridges.

More and more people are becoming aware that you don’t just have to throw away your empty HP cartridge and go to the store and buy another one at full price. There are a number of options, and even if none of these interest you, you can still recycle your cartridges just for the sake of recycling.

According to an article from CNET, HP will soon announce the release of eight new laser printers, ranging from $129 to $2,229. Among others, they will be introducing the $299 Color LaserJet 1600, which will replace the LaserJet 2600 as HP’s entry level color laser printer. There is also a $129 machine, the LaserJet 1018, which will be one of the smallest and least expensive HP laser printers available.

HP seems to realize that laser printers are becoming more common for single users and thus they need to make more inexpensive models available. For years, the only sub-$200 laser printers you could find were manufactured by Samsung or Brother. When these new machines come out, HP will be inching closer towards a sub-$100 laser printer, a threshold that no one has crossed as of yet.

HP set for laser printer revamp [CNET]

One of the more common Dell cartridges is their T0530, which works in the Dell 720 printer. Like other common ink cartridges, there are alternatives for customers sick of buying a brand new cartridge every time. Here are some options:

Remanufactured T0530 - this is a product that we sell at a price that is lower than Dell’s retail price. A remanufactured T0530 color cartridge is one that has had its print head replaced and has been refilled with ink. So what you are left with is a cartridge that has a recycled outer casing, but new parts on it and ink guaranteed to give you the results you are used to.

Dell OEM T0530 - this is the ink cartridge that comes installed in your Dell printer and the one that you would buy directly from them. This is the one that their software alerts you to buy from their online store when your printer is getting low on ink. It is a relatively small cartridge and therefore does not have a very long life. A few full-page color prints with this cartridge and you will probably notice a decent amount of ink gone.

Refill kits - available for almost all Dell inkjet cartridges, this is the way to save the most money on ink. For the T0530, we offer a refill kit that is about $15 and gives you a significant amount of refills. All our color refill kits are usually the same price and they all contain the same amount of ink, so because this is a smaller cartridge you save even more than usual.

Refilling service - if you don’t want to use a refill kit, you can pay someone to do the refilling for you. The service we offer is called Renew, and when you purchase it you will receive a mailer from us to send away your empty cartridge. About 10 days later, you will receive a refilled cartridge in the mail. Pretty simple.

More are becoming aware that you don’t just have to throw away your empty Dell cartridge and go online and order another one. Because T0530 cartridges are pretty small they can get used pretty quickly, so sometimes it probably feels like a waste to just keep going through them. Just know that there are other options out there, and they can all save you money.

This is a common question due to the amount of choices on the market these days. A few years ago, there was just regular copy paper and then photo paper and that was pretty much it. Things like “semi-glossy” and “matte” really didn’t mean anything. Photo paper was thicker and shinier and worked better, and that was all you needed to know.

Today, none of the printer manufacturers make it easy for you. If you combine different types of photo papers from the major brands (HP, Epson and Kodak) there are over 50 different papers to chose from. If you have looked at the photo paper selection in any store, you have probably seen that there is a seemingly endless range of gloss levels for photo paper, and there is really no way to tell them apart except for the price. HP Premium Photo Paper sounds good, right? Well, not really. That is pretty much just their standard paper, as the only thing lower than that is HP Everyday Photo Paper (at least the title is fairly accurate). You have to get Premium Plus if you want the best stuff, and even then you have to decide which kind of gloss is best for you. Luckily, Epson makes it a little more simple by making Premium their best paper. In reality, it is the same situation as with their ink cartridges. Printer manufacturers give fancy names to their products, create all sorts of terminology and give things inflated prices under the assumption that you have to pay more to get more. So, what can you do?

- If possible, use the free samples of paper you get when buying a printer to decide what looks good. These samples can be very helpful, since it is your only chance to test things out for free and see if certain types of paper are worth it.

- Figure out what type of gloss you want and stick with it.

• soft gloss is subtle and as the name suggests….soft
• glossy is basically the standard for photo paper; not too soft, not too rough
• super glossy/high gloss will give you strong, vivid results
• matte paper will produce photos that are more like traditional prints. It is thicker and has a whole different feel to it than glossy paper.

- Do you print out tons of photos? If not, then maybe consider starting with a 25-pack of paper instead of the 100-pack. The 100-pack would be cheaper per page, but what if you decide you don’t like the results you get with the paper?

- Think about the type of photos you are going to be printing before buying the paper. A lot of people either print a bunch of 4 x 6 pictures, or else they use the standard size 8.5 x 11. If you take your digital camera to your drug store and print out your 4 x 6 prints there, then you probably don’t need a 100-pack at home.

- If all else fails, just buy photo paper that is the same brand as your printer. This is one of those rare times we recommend buying products from HP, Epson etc. The fact is that sometimes you can’t resist The Machine.

Interested in other helpful guides? Check out the guides section on our main site for information, troubleshooting and tips about printers and cartridges.

Big savings on the PSC 2355 from Office Depot. It is on sale for $199.80 with a $100 mail-in rebate. So you can get this machine for around $100 with no shipping. The rebate is good until 4/15. If you miss out on the rebate, you can try the coupon code 52530833 to get $30 off a purchase over $150. That code is good until 4/24.

The PSC 2355 prints, scans and copies and is rated by HP at 23 ppm black and 18 ppm color. The standard setup uses four inks, but you can use the HP 99 photo cartridge for a total of six inks. It comes with the standard HP photo editing software, and has PictBridge technology to allow printing directly from a digital camera.

Take a look at our full line of products for the PSC 2355.

Ever wonder what your printer manufacturer’s official answers are to common questions? Well thanks to Danny Allen over at PC World, you can see what the “company line” is for the following questions:

1. How Do You Solve Inkjet Text Smearing Problems?
2. Are There Multifunction Printers That Support Legal-Size Paper?
3. Which Printers Come With Drivers for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition?
4. Are There Multifunction Printers With Wireless Printing Options?

Granted, these might not be the most common questions/complaints on your mind, but they are pretty standard inquiries and it is interesting to see how printer manufacturers respond to any direct question. The companies involved were HP, Epson, Canon, Brother, Lexmark, Dell, Samsung, Xerox, Oki Data, and Ricoh. Now we know that everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting for Oki Data and Ricoh to publicly answer burning questions about their machines. So to those people, we say: your time has come.

Some general thoughts about the different manufacturers answers:

-HP gives the most in-depth answers
-Brother gives the most relevant answers
-Dell gives most robotic answers
-Lexmark gives the most vague answers
-Samsung, Ricoh and Oki Data give the most incomplete/useless answers

How Do You Solve Inkjet Text Smearing Problems?

This question probably matters most to our customers. Predictably, a few manufacturers just tell you to buy their more expensive paper, which probably is a legitimate solution in some cases, but probably not the one everyone wanted to hear. The main solution seemed to be using pigment-based ink instead of dye-based ink. Dell offered up an ultra-helpful answer which included “Waiting a few minutes for the paper to dry will obviously help with smearing.”

Are There Multifunction Printers With Wireless Printing Options?

For those who are interested in having an all-in-one machine which is wireless, you will find some laser printers but only a small number of inkjets. Canon only has one, HP only a couple and Epson doesn’t have any. Lexmark tries to pull a fast one by responding that all their all-in-one printers “have the ability to print wirelessly through a 802.11g print server.” Fascinating, except that wasn’t really the question. If you hook up any printer on the market today to a printer server, you can print wirelessly. That doesn’t mean that the printer itself is wireless.

In the end, it is a very interesting article. Well, very interesting for us, and probably pretty interesting for consumers. We find it interesting because it gives a peak at the attitude with which each manufacturer approaches things. HP providing the most, Brother providing good quality with what they can, Dell not really caring, Ricoh just happy to serve their niche, etc.

The Print Shop: Printer Makers Answer Your Urgent Questions [PC World]

One of HP’s models that is currently popular is the Deskjet 5940, an affordable inkjet printer that is labeled by HP as a photo printer. As we mentioned recently, printer manufacturers like HP have to convince everyone that any machine they make is capable of printing photos. This way, they print more photos, which means more money on ink and specialty photo paper. HP even went so far as to give this printer the official title of HP Deskjet 5940 Photo Printer. In reality, it is no more of a photo printer than the Deskjets that HP has released over the past couple of years. The standard configuration is to have an HP 95 and 97 black and color cartridge in there with the ability to swap out the black for an HP 99 photo cartridge. Really not any different than what HP has been doing since they introduced the HP 58 photo cartridge a few years ago. So the moral is, as always, to not expect stellar photo results unless it is actually a photo printer.

The Deskjet 5940 is rated by HP at 30 pages per minute for black and 24ppm for color. While inflated as always, the color speed is even misleading when taken at face value, since most people associate color printing with photo printing. But, in their time test, PC Mag found that the 5940 took two minutes and 43 seconds to print out a 4 x 6 photo, which is a true test since people are more likely to be concerned about how long it takes to print a photo than how many draft pages with four colored boxes HP could print in one minute in their labs. The photo speed is an improvement over the Deskjet 5440, but, as PC Mag notes, is slower than the Canon PIXMA iP1600, a comparable model. On the other hand, like a lot of less-expensive HP models, the Deskjet 5940 shines at printing text. While it might not actually print 30ppm, the 5940 will give you high quality text results in a short amount of time. This, along with the affordability and reliability of HP Deskjets, is the strong suit of the machine.

Do you own the Deskjet 5940? If you do, leave a comment using the link just below and tell us and our readers how you feel about it. Do you hate it so much you want to prevent people from what you went through? Or maybe it is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you? Well probably not, but let us know anyways.

Buy this printer Buy HP Deskjet 5940 printer cartridges

The HP all-in-one PSC 1510 is on sale at Amazon for $69.99, thanks to a price drop and their $20 rebate. You enter SAVEHPPRNTER at checkout to receive the discount, which brings the cost of the printer down from $89.99. That coupon code is good until 5/1.

Because it is a sub-$100 all-in-one machine, the PSC 1510 is not packed with features. But it is a solid, compact machine that is good for basic use. It is rated at 20 pages per minute for black and 15ppm for color, which is pretty good for a multifunction machine of this price. One downside is that it does not fax, but again, for the price it is hard to complain too much. One feature that most other machines in this price range won’t have is the ability to print directly from a digital camera with the PictBridge connection on the front of the machine.

You can print using the standard cartridges that come with the machine, or like most other recent HP machines, you can swap out the black cartridge and use an HP 99 photo cartridge. In reality, you should not depend on this machine to be your primary source for printing photos. While it is capable of printing them, the results are not going to be all the spectacular, although it is doubtful that anyone is going to expect professional results when printing photos from a $70 multifunction machine. One might even suggest that for cheaper all-in-one machines like this, photo printing should not even be included. If it is not going to be that good and if most people aren’t going to use it, then why even include/advertise it? Because HP touts the photo printing abilities of all their machines these days, they might get some disappointed customers who maybe do feel like they should get really good photo results from a machine like this. If they didn’t make any mention of this machine printing photos, then if people ever did it, they wouldn’t be expecting anything so they would have to be happy with the results. Kind of like back in the days when you had an old Deskjet machine and you never printed pictures because you knew it would have to do it on ‘best’ mode and it would take forever and it would use up all your precious ink. But when you actually did it, it was a novelty and you were happy to even get anything.

As far as the PSC 1510 goes, it is hard to pass up an all-in-one at that price, especially if you are an HP fan. If you are looking for a specialty machine that excels in photo printing or office tasks, then you should be looking for a different machine. But if you need a simple, compact, fast printer that you will occasionally use for scanning and copying, then the PSC 1510 is a good choice for you.

Buy this printer Buy HP PSC 1510 inkjet cartridges