Goodwill Laser Printer for $4.99

[easysurfer]

I was over at a local Goodwill Store today and saw good condition B/W laser printer for only $4.99. I didn't do any testing of it as I don't need one as one printer is enough for me. I used to joke around before going into a Goodwill saying "There are bargains galore, maybe I'll get a laser printer for $5."

My thinking is perhaps whomever made the donation probably upgraded to a color laser and gave the B/W laser away as that was probably taking up space.

One person's junk, another person's treasure.

 

[KingB]

Or the printer run out of toner, and instead of buying a replacement toner, he bought a new printer. Sometimes, the price difference between the toner and the new printer is not that much.

 

[easysurfer]

May very well be the case about the toner running out. Guess laser printers are somewhat disposable today?

 

[bssc]

Donated a laser printer today because it only supported parallel (it was from 1994). None of our new computers had a parallel port nor could we find drivers for it.

 

[easysurfer]

About a year or so ago, I bought a Lemax Laser printer at a Goodwill for about $6 (listed at $12, but was a 50% off day). There was ink left in the toner and all I needed to do was look up the model number and download the print driver. Eventually, I ended up giving the printer to my niece she needed one more than me since I already had a laser.

 

[calmloki]

Found a Brother HL5140 laser printer scanner at a yard sale up north last summer - with software cd. Took it home and it reported something like 78% toner on board. Used it all summer and it was so superior to the HP Officejet 4500s we had up there and down here. Super fast, great computer interface, quick to come online, just a superior product. $5. We've spent maybe 10 times that amount on reman cartridges for the obscenity HP product down here and it's still f'ing up. Really want to go full Office Space on it. Cost does not equal quality.

 

[scrabbler1]

Donated a laser printer today because it only supported parallel (it was from 1994). None of our new computers had a parallel port nor could we find drivers for it.

Last year, I was able to connect an old, 1990s parallel-only printer to my dad's laptop which had only USB ports. I bought a $6(?) cable from Microcenter which has parallel at one end and USB at the other. But the tricky part was configuring the connection so the laptop could talk to the printer. After several tries, I had to choose "Other" in the printer setup so it would work.

 

[easysurfer]

An adapter like this should work for old parallel ports:

Sabrent SBT-UPPC USB 2.0 to Parallel Printer Adapter Cable - 6 ft, 36 pin Centronics, OEM at TigerDirect.com

 

[growing_older]

If you get it to work and use it, eventually you will run out of toner. Can you get replacement toner and how expensive is it?

 

[calmloki]

Just checked Monoprice - a replacement high yield cartridge full of toner is a laughable $21.59. For only $18.35 each when QTY 50+ purchased - MPI compatible Brother TN530/540/560/570 Laser/Toner-Black (High Yield)
Given our last black inkjet cartridge for the HP was bought on 3/6 from the local Office Depot for $15.11 and is spitting out smeary execrable paper three weeks later I would be all over that. in a year or so when the laser runs out.

 

[FUEGO]

You can usually buy no name toner for very cheap - $20-$30 per cartridge. We did that recently (like 5 years ago!) and still going strong on the same cartridge. Unfortunately our ~12 year old printer is starting to get outdated as I can't find any drivers newer than Vista, so my Win7 and Win8 machines can't print to it. Luckily new laser printers are $50 or so if you snag one on sale.

 

[easysurfer]

My last printer toner purchase was for about $25 by not getting the brand name but instead a brand compatible. That saved me about 70% in price and the printouts are fine.

I went ahead and stocked up with an extra cartridge.