Tough question because of the economics. For me, I weigh the cost of the toner vs a new machine with toner included. If the toner costs 80% of the price of a new machine and my old machine is out of warranty, I go for a new machine, preferably the same machine so I might be able to use the old one for parts. This has come about because the printer companies make their money on the inks and not the printers. Ten years ago a color laser printer was in the $1500 to $3000 for an entry level machine. Yes you fixed those machines and refilled the toners. Todays corporate philosophy makes waste almost mandatory. The new printers have lots of bells and whistles and are made as cheaply as possible. I still see Apple LaserWriter IIs and above working just fine after 15 years of service and 500,000 copies. The only problem has been networking the non-ethernet ones.
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Tough question because of the economics. For me, I weigh the cost of the toner vs a new machine with toner included. If the toner costs 80% of the price of a new machine and my old machine is out of warranty, I go for a new machine, preferably the same machine so I might be able to use the old one for parts. This has come about because the printer companies make their money on the inks and not the printers. Ten years ago a color laser printer was in the $1500 to $3000 for an entry level machine. Yes you fixed those machines and refilled the toners. Todays corporate philosophy makes waste almost mandatory. The new printers have lots of bells and whistles and are made as cheaply as possible. I still see Apple LaserWriter IIs and above working just fine after 15 years of service and 500,000 copies. The only problem has been networking the non-ethernet ones. I also still have some parts in inventory for some of those machines.
Tough question because of the economics. For me, I weigh the cost of the toner vs a new machine with toner included. If the toner costs 80% of the price of a new machine and my old machine is out of warranty, I go for a new machine, preferably the same machine so I might be able to use the old one for parts. This has come about because the printer companies make their money on the inks and not the printers. Ten years ago a color laser printer was in the $1500 to $3000 for an entry level machine. Yes you fixed those machines and refilled the toners. Todays corporate philosophy makes waste almost mandatory. The new printers have lots of bells and whistles and are made as cheaply as possible. I still see Apple LaserWriter IIs and above working just fine after 15 years of service and 500,000 copies. The only problem has been networking the non-ethernet ones.