this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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Anyone have recommendations on thermal printers?
Why thermal? Seems odd, but alright.
I recommend laser for just about everyone.
Don't print much? Get a laser. Otherwise your ink will dry out and you'll have to get new ink every time you want to print.
Print a lot? Laser. Super reliable, can do tens of thousands of sheets before there's a problem, maybe more.
In fact, the only time I'd recommend an ink printer is for color accurate work like photo printing, and if you're not using photo paper for it, then there's not really much of a point, is there?
I used to think bubble jet/ink jet was the shit, then I started working in IT professionally and discovered the truth.
Just buy a laser printer folks. Don't bother with all the rest of this shit. If you want/need inkjet, then you already know you need it and why. If you're not sure, get a laser. You'll pay wayyyyyy less on materials to keep it running
I've literally never had this happen and I print so infrequently that if I have to buy a new cartridge, I'll just... not print at home anymore. Is it really that common?
I'm not going to recommend inkjets to anyone though. My recommendation anno 2025 is don't buy a printer if you can get by without one.
Dot matrix is also an option, if they neither want to bother with toner, nor inkjet.
Just ribbons an print heads
Any particular reason for going thermal? Personally, I'd recomnend against them, since thermal paper is coated with BPA, and that can come off and might have health effects if ingested.
I think it's because thermal requires no ink.
My client has a few dozen zebras. Reliable, but cost a little more up front. Some of theirs are 10+ years old, prints thousands of inventory labels a month off each one at each site.