Will it start to clump in the printer after 6 months?
Very unlikely unless you're keeping the toner in an especially warm and humid location.
I purchased a Samsung Laser MFD (CLX-6260FW) over two years ago, and I've had no issues with it. It came with a set of "starter" toner cartridges:
- Black - 1503 impressions / 2000 page capacity
- CMY - 645 impressions / 1500 page capacity
About 1.5 years after receiving it, the cartridges each showed as "0% remaining" and required "immediate user intervention" so I purchased more to be prepared (6k Black, 3.5k CMY), but a further ~7 months later, the original cartridges are still going strong. Others have suggested that toner can still be good after ten or more years.
Toner cartridges can benefit from a gentle shake (side-to-side), which helps to redistribute the contents, but this tends to be required when they start to get low and show print issues... rather than due to toner clumping up. Be wary of vigorous shaking, as any toner leaks / spills will be a significant issue (for both cleaning and respiration).
I flat out refused to buy a printer for a long time, but it's become more necessary for me in recent years. I decided against any inkjet technology (including HP PageWide / fixed head printers, which can be presented similarly to a consumer) for a number of reasons... critically:
- Idle Inkjet printers get "gunked" up very quickly - if you're not printing regularly, then the head quickly becomes caked in dried ink, which requires careful and expensive cleaning (ink is expensive) - potentially requiring hand cleaning or even a replacement head (or whole printer)
- Running costs: replacement ink is incredibly expensive, and DIY refills are becoming harder and harder due to DRM - Printer Ink is one of the most expensive liquids in the modern world - See "Ink Cartridges are A Scam".
- I've long maintained that "printing is the weak link in computing" - Inkjet printers have a habit of jamming, chewing on paper, wearing out... mechanically they are far from a sound idea
With the price and size of laser printers now, I'd recommend that nobody purchases an Inkjet ever again (budget permitting of course, they are still a bit more expensive in the short term).
While laser printers are quantitatively worse for high-quality photo printing, I'd suggest that unless high-quality photo printing is a very important and regular use-case for you, laser will be just fine. For occasional high-quality photo printing, use an online service.
To expand on the running costs of an Inkjet printer briefly, consider some random HP cartridges.
While the upfront cost is much higher, the running cost is significantly lower (probably better than ~50%).
HP Inkjet Black Ink Cartridge
An approximate ~5.5p / page of black and white only printing... completely ignoring the use for alignment, head cleaning, wastage due to being dried out, wastage due to re-prints, wastage due to DRM, etc...
High capacity inkjet cartridges (e.g: HP 973X) can work out dramatically cheaper than this on a strict per-page calculation, though their high-capacity nature will incur a far higher cost due to wastage for infrequent printing.
HP Laser Black Toner Cartridge
- HP 1500, claims a coverage of ~5,000 pages, for £100.50
- HP 642A, claims a coverage of ~7,500 pages, for £206.23
- HP 645A, claims a coverage of ~13,000 pages, for £320.95
An approximate ~2.4p / page of black and white only printing.
It might be different per manufacturer, but I bought a Samsung that lasted for 10 years on the same ink. When it eventually ran out, it was cheaper to buy a new printer than new ink. Unfortunately, the printer companies got wise to that so now sell new machines with only half-full ink. Current machine, an HP, has now been running over 2 years without issue. – Tetsujin – 2019-04-06T06:33:29.727
1@Tetsujin - Is that Ink(jet) or Toner (Laser)? - 10 years on one set of inkjet cartridges is impressive! – Attie – 2019-04-06T09:24:49.423
2@Attie - Laser. I print so infrequently I got totally sick of having to waste 10 sheets of paper cleaning up the ink jets every time I wanted to print something. The Laser just sat there, always on [very low power sleep mode], always ready to go. The newer one, an HP all-in-one, seems to be ready to do the same. It's a lot better functionally, so I might even consider buying new ink when it runs out ;) – Tetsujin – 2019-04-06T09:30:17.613
10Laser printers don't use "ink". They use toner. – Michael Harvey – 2019-04-06T09:35:12.733
9@MichaelHarvey - potato potato. Same end result. – Tetsujin – 2019-04-06T09:39:36.470
42If you are in a discussion about laser printers, and you talk about "ink", you will make people think you are talking about ink jet printers, and that you have made an error. – Michael Harvey – 2019-04-06T09:53:09.493
2The brother printer I use hs had its toner last years - and I live in a humid environment. I dont think toner clumping is likrly to be an issue. – davidgo – 2019-04-06T10:08:59.367
10I think Brother are being pessimistic to cover themselves. Most users of toner will get years out of them if they print only infrequently – Neil_UK – 2019-04-06T12:54:55.143
2
Related: Ink Cartridges Are A Scam
– Peter Mortensen – 2019-04-06T15:30:57.6074I think we can probably drop the ink vs toner discussion. It's not as though it's an answer I can edit. It's a comment which would look odd if I suddenly re-entered it in a corrected form way down here. – Tetsujin – 2019-04-06T16:56:49.930
I've found that a better solution to my ink cartridges drying out because of infrequent printing problem is simply to do my printing at the local public library at 25 cents per page. – jamesqf – 2019-04-06T17:36:45.510
1I have Brother laser printer for couple of years now, never changed cartridges, works fine so far. – n0rd – 2019-04-06T17:46:32.197
1I have a Apple LaserWriter 16/600 PS, circa 1995. Still going strong to this day, although the plastic paper tray does have a crack or two due to the plastic going brittle over the years. I only print every few months, but I've never had an issue with the toner cartridges, which I buy remanufactured. Switching to a laser printer was the best decision I ever made. The only reason anyone should buy an inkjet is if they regularly print photos. If you only print photos occasionally, go to a dedicated photo printing service, which will produce much better quality photos for cheaper than home. – Cody Gray – 2019-04-07T05:49:03.537
We recently purchased an HP with free ink for life. You get 15 pages/month. Small fee after that. And they auto ship ink to you. So far it’s been good for us as we don’t print often. – Johnny Mopp – 2019-04-07T19:40:44.037
Buy a used LaserJet 4250... – trognanders – 2019-04-07T21:23:58.223
I will second Brother being pessimistic. I have a Brother color laser with installed cartridges that are something like 4 years old. Cartridges on the shelf, though, will have some trouble. Lots of tipping before installation helps and after a while they behave anyway. – Loren Pechtel – 2019-04-07T22:16:40.510
Brother is not pessimistic, they're just trying to get you to buy more toner. Brother makes some of the most wasteful printers on the planet. Deliberately. – barbecue – 2019-04-08T13:48:52.770
Until recently I had a old laser left behind in an office (the last available drivers were for Win2000...). Once in a while I had to take it out and shake it, then it'd work well enough for printing receipts. I tossed it because I was tried of keeping a 2ooo OS going, not because it didn't work. – Mazura – 2019-04-09T00:44:45.623
@JohnnyMopp We recently purchased an HP with free ink for life. You get 15 pages/month. Small fee after that. And they auto ship ink to you. That's HP Instant Ink. Watch out (a) if you start printing more you overpay for the extras far more than the ink cartridges purchased separately and (b) you may find that you can't later easily switch to using other cartridges that you actually purchase separately. I have done a full analysis of the HP Instant Ink program if you are interested in reading more.
– manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact – 2019-04-09T01:58:36.173