This post is from a blog called Adventures in GraphicsLand that I’m writing with two fellow CS grad students, Chris Gibson and Ryan Schmitt. Articles about anything related to my graduate work in graphics or my thesis will be posted there and then cross-posted here. Articles about handy tips (like fixing bugs with VirtualBox or software setup on Fedora) will remain here. This post that I wrote for AIGFX, originally appeared here.

So hopefully it doesn’t seem like we’ve jumped the shark before things have even gotten rolling, but today I’m going write about… printers.

“But Bob,” you ask, “this is a blog about graphics. Why are you writing about printers?”

Well, first of all, because my trusty HP PSC 1315 All-in-One is wheezing its way out of existence at the moment. I’m shocked that a $50 printer/scanner lasted me over 5 years, but it’s held up quite well.

Secondly, because this blog is about our graphics research and research means one thing… printing out boatloads of other people’s research to read through. Sure everything’s a PDF these days so I could read it on the screen, but screens mean internet access and internet access means hours wasted on Reddit, Facebook, or Minecraft instead of reading. Eventually you realize that while you just spent hours building TNT-powered sheep cannons in a pixelated voxel world, your PDF, sadly, did not read itself. I know that I have a much higher chance of actually reading something if I can kick back on my couch or bed away from the those horrible backlit time sinks and read something on a good ole’ stack of dead trees and ink.

Convinced yet? If not, then this post was written by Chris. If you are, check out the sweet laser printer I just ordered from Newegg.

Looks pretty humble, but check out the specs:

• 27 pages per minute (a page about every 2 seconds!)
• Wired and wireless network connectivity
• Auto-duplex (prints on both sides without having to refeed!)
• Only $150 shipped.

On top of that, the toner cartridges are only $57. That’s what it already costs me to replace my inkjet cartridges, except the toner cartridges will print about 2600 pages before needing to be replaced, and you can set the printer to toner-save mode to get even better mileage out of them.

Now, granted, it is only a monochrome printer, but I’m primarily just printing text these days anyway (research papers and whatnot). I’m particularly excited about the auto-duplexing, because I can save half my paper that way and I might actually have a fighting chance of getting a staple through some of these research papers. In fact, I’m kinda surprised at how excited I am over… a printer.

As a disclaimer, I have not received the Brother HL-2270DW yet, so I can’t comment on whether or not it’s actually all that and a bag of chips, but the Amazon and Newegg reviews are pretty positive. Assuming it doesn’t catch fire and burn my house down* when I plug it in, I think I’ll be happy with it.

* If it does catch fire and burn my house down, I reserve the right to edit this post with vicious commentary representative of only a single user’s poor experience with the HL-2270DW, neglecting everyone else’s glowing reviews. You know, like a real blogger would do.

EDIT: I’ve had the HL-2270DW for over a month now. Yes, it is all that and a bag of chips. Very happy with in, and Newegg has even run a few specials where you can pick it up for around $90. It’s an absolute steal at that price.