I've been getting conflict answers on whether I need a black and white printer or a colour one. I was hoping that the MacInsiders community could give me some insight on this. I don't know if this makes a difference as to what I'll be printing, but I'm in the Business program.

Black and white, laser printer. The best quality output and cheapest to run in the long-term.
Ink jet printers constantly need fresh cartridges, and even with refills, they're a constant drain.
For the odd time that you might want colour output, you can take your files to a printing service, like in the basement of the Student Centre, and that will be cheaper than keeping a colour laser printer stocked. If expense becomes an issue, you can usually buy a bottle of toner to refill your laser toner cartridge. Simple process, if you can read and follow directions.
We bought our daughter a Samsung laser printer when she started at Ryerson, finished a four-year degree, and then came to Mac for another two years. Original cartridge still prints, no refills.

Originally Posted by oldviking

Black and white, laser printer. The best quality output and cheapest to run in the long-term.
Ink jet printers constantly need fresh cartridges, and even with refills, they're a constant drain.
For the odd time that you might want colour output, you can take your files to a printing service, like in the basement of the Student Centre, and that will be cheaper than keeping a colour laser printer stocked. If expense becomes an issue, you can usually buy a bottle of toner to refill your laser toner cartridge. Simple process, if you can read and follow directions.
We bought our daughter a Samsung laser printer when she started at Ryerson, finished a four-year degree, and then came to Mac for another two years. Original cartridge still prints, no refills.

I actually purchased a Brother black and white laser printer with scanner for $79.99 on sale today so I have that down. The thing that I'm worried about regarding using the on campus printer services is that they'll be closed if I finish an assignment in the middle of the night. I'm staying in the Mary Keyes residence and there's apparently a printer on the first floor?

Hey Kevyn. Brother laser printers are the best. I have one that I purchased when I was at Mac and it is still working perfectly today (7 years later).

The nice thing about laser is that it prints Black and White with no smearing when you use a highligher. This is KEY, especially when you are printing off lecture notes and want to highlight important info to study for a test.

You will very very rarely be printing in colour. Essays and reports are usually always black/white.

There may be the odd time you have to print a report that has colour charts or graphs in it, in which case you can always go to one of the McMaster Libraries, UTS Computer Labs, The Underground printing centre run by the MSU, or even walk down the street to the UPS Store and print colour pages.

Originally Posted by Chad

Hey Kevyn. Brother laser printers are the best. I have one that I purchased when I was at Mac and it is still working perfectly today (7 years later).

The nice thing about laser is that it prints Black and White with no smearing when you use a highligher. This is KEY, especially when you are printing off lecture notes and want to highlight important info to study for a test.

You will very very rarely be printing in colour. Essays and reports are usually always black/white.

There may be the odd time you have to print a report that has colour charts or graphs in it, in which case you can always go to one of the McMaster Libraries, UTS Computer Labs, The Underground printing centre run by the MSU, or even walk down the street to the UPS Store and print colour pages.

Thanks Chad. I understand that you graduated from Mac a couple years ago, but do you know if anyone of the printing locations are available to use in the middle of the night such as 3AM? I am referring to these locations: http://printsmart.mcmaster.c a/students/locations

As I said earlier, I am staying in Mary Keyes where there is a supposed printer station.

http://printsmart.mcmaster.c a/students/locations - great link, thanks for sharing! I haven't seen that page before. It briefly mentions the UTS labs, which are all around campus and have printers. The library and Underground will most likely be the easiest for you to find and print from.

Keep in mind: Library printers and UTS printers in the computer labs require you to fill an account with money first prior to using them, while the Underground copy/print centre is pay-as-you-go you can pay the cashier for whatever you just printed.

You bring up a very important scenario though... what if it is 3am and you need to print something? The answer that I found is... buy a laser printer and have it in your res room. It is much less stress to just own your own black/white printer to print off assignments, essays, labs, reports, etc. in your own room so you don't have to go running around frantic to print.

HOWEVER, if you do have an assignment due the next morning, you can always wait until the morning when the labs and libraries open up so you can go and print your assignment off before class starts.

Libraries you can see the Hours here: http://library.mcmaster.ca/hours-info

Walmart has a $40 hp colour printer on sale this week

Originally Posted by patriots4eva

Walmart has a $40 hp colour printer on sale this week

It's probably Inkjet.

It's an all in one inkjet

There r also inkjet highlighters....