Please help me find a printer

[Jimprindle]

In my studio, I have a second computer that is vastly inferior to the one that I have in my home. But all my music scores, and many other kinds of data are on it and I sometimes need to print them. Yes, I know I could put them onto a flash drive and walk them in to my other computer. Or I could even magically link my old computer to the new one on a homenetwork. But I don’t need to use that stuff that much, I just want to hit print and get it

I have a Windows 7 (an upgrade from XP that worked great for me for years). The printer that just died was an HP deskjet, I am trying to find a new printer but I just tried the HP envy and it was not compatible with Windows 7.

I just want a basic printer that can print from Windows 7, I do not need wireless in fact I prefer wired. Any suggestions please.

[JohnL]

You might take a look at the inexpensive Brother laser printers. It looks like they have Windows 7 drivers for at least one model (HLL2300D).

[BGuttman]

I second Brother printers. I've had good luck with several models of ink jet. One I have is a Ledger size all-in-one that I also use for scanning music. I bought them when Windows 7 was the standard OS (despite Windoze 8, which was awful).

My wife got an Epson with the ink tank. She says it's good, but I haven't seen the output.

[JerryY]

Ditto the brother printer!

[timothy42b]

I am also running my printer on an old Win7 machine that will someday die. Yours will too. Back everything up.

The printer is an old Canon black and white laser that I got at a thrift store a very long time ago. Inkjets seem cheap but if you don't really need color I think a black and white laser is the way to go. You get lots more printouts at less cost, and they don't run out of ink doing their selftest nor clog if left unattended.

[AndrewMeronek]

I'm not sure about Windows 7. But for printing music, I use a Brother HL-L6200DW, which is actually a "small office" monochrome laser printer and not a "home" printer. It's a lot faster, and it can do double-sided printing, which can be a real difference maker in some projects. (For example, printing scores where double-sided printing can be OK.) I use Windows 10 but the Windows 7 driver for this printer allegedly is OK, according to a quick Google.

The printer itself is a bit more expensive, but the per-page cost for toner is actually cheaper, which makes sense if you know you'll be printing a lot of music. At least, this was the case when I bought the thing a few years ago.

[JohnL]

...clog if left unattended.

Ah, the joys of coming back from summer break and dealing with a bunch of inkjet printers with clogged heads. Also fun was ordering replacement ink cartridges from the warehouse and finding out that what they have on hand is 2+ years past its sell-by date.

[Posaunus]

You might take a look at the inexpensive Brother laser printers. It looks like they have Windows 7 drivers for at least one model (HLL2300D).

Yes. My wife has used a Brother HL-L2320D monochrome laser printer with Windows 7 for several years. Works flawlessly. Also prints double sided. Both printer and toner cartridges are (relatively) inexpensive.

[Matt K]

I have a Brother laser printer I bought in 2007 and it's still working flawlessly. Laser is so much better, especially if you can get away with only using B&W. Color is really, really expensive. This particular printer stayed in my parents basement while I moved out west and despite having the toner cartridge sit for like 4 years, it still prints w/ no problems.

[greenbean]

I have a B&W HP LaserJet 1022 that we have had for at least 15 years! It won't do anything fancy, but what it does - it does perfectly. Every time! It never jams, complains, etc...

I can't say that about our newer (< 1 year-old) HP.

[Jimprindle]

Thanks for your advice.

When I returned the HP Envy to Staples, the cashier scratched his head when I described my problem of not being able to get a driver to work with it. He called in his tech. Who explained to me that when Windows 11 came out, Windows stopped adding updates and support to anything before Windows 10. Classic case of planned obsolescence.

I have several workarounds I can do including home networking to my newer computer that runs Windows 10 and prints on a Brothers printer. Or I could just bite the bullet and install windows 10 or 11 on this funky old computer that I have, which works pretty good actually. I do want to be able to print in color because sometimes I print out pictures on this computer.

I am disappointed that I wasn’t properly notified that Windows was not updating or supporting apps for Windows 7 anymore. Often when I turn off this computer, it tells me it’s updating.

Thanks again

[BGuttman]

Support for Windows 7 stopped a couple of years ago. When Windows 10 first came out they offered a free upgrade from Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. I think you can still do it, but Microsoft doesn't publicly acknowledge it.

I have one computer still running Windows XP, although I rarely use it. I have stopped using older Windows versions, though. I also have one laptop that is running Windows Vista, but it's pretty old and I never turn it on. If I ever feel a need to use it, I'll probably convert it to Linux (which is great on my very old hardware).

[Matt K]

To be fair, it isn't Windows that's not supporting it - its the manufacturer. Windows has no problem allowing drivers into their repository and certainly HP has Windows 11 drivers... just not for printers that are "end of life". FWIW, my brother printer that is now coming up on 14 years old does have drivers for Win 11, oddly enough. But more importantly, it also has drivers for Linux, which is what I typically run myself. Manufacturers don't always package for Linux, so it's quite nice to have it be supported by the company.

[BGuttman]

The issue here is not support for a new printer under a new Windows; it's support for a new printer under an OLD version of Windows. Back in the Bad Old Days HP used to have a generic driver that worked under just about any version of Windows or DOS but maybe lacking some of the latest features. Now it seems HP has abandoned that tack on its printer line and they only support versions of Windows that are under Support. OP used to have a printer working with that box but it died and he needs to replace it.

OP: accessing your other printer over your home network is pretty easy, if you have everything on the same WiFi router. On your newer computer, you set the printer as shareable within the network. On your old computer you select the new computer under the Network tab, and the printer should be visible. You can then select it to print.

[Matt K]

That is the worst. I have a Logitec G600 mouse that worked perfectly for years. It has some programmable buttons on the side that you used to be able to program and then take the "profile" to other machines. One day, they decided to push new drivers that wipe out all of those settings as soon as you plug it into a windows machine and instead rely on this awful software that has to be installed on that machine (that ONLY supports Windows) to customize the buttons and otherwise they just do nothing.

[Claudio]

...Or I could even magically link my old computer to the new one on a homenetwork...

I know you'd prefer a wired one, but have a glance to e.g. Epson WF-7620 that can, in addition to be USB directly wired, be used by wifi by anything else a couple of settings by the printer's menu.
I bought these model because you can print ( and scan as well ) also double size documents ( i.e. A3 in Eu formats, I don't know the US equivalent ). This enable printing a handly flyer up to 4 pages into the same sheet, that sometimes is very useful for music scores.

[BGuttman]

Claudio: A4 is approximately US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches; 216 x 279 mm) . A3 is approximately US Ledger (11 x 17 inches; 279 x 432 mm).

[Claudio]

Claudio: A4 is approximately US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches; 216 x 279 mm) . A3 is approximately US Ledger (11 x 17 inches; 279 x 432 mm).

Thank you - of course you may print whichever format, but I found very useful that way because you may avoid bending the file. Anyway, I generally use a comb punching machine when the file is more pages - is very cheap and do a big work. Sorry for being OT

[Kdanielsen]

You might take a look at the inexpensive Brother laser printers. It looks like they have Windows 7 drivers for at least one model (HLL2300D).

Yes. My wife has used a Brother HL-L2320D monochrome laser printer with Windows 7 for several years. Works flawlessly. Also prints double sided. Both printer and toner cartridges are (relatively) inexpensive.

Me too. Great option.

[Jimprindle]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. On my main computer I do use a Brothers printer which I like a lot but on this back up computer running Windows 7 I wanted something more inexpensive and simple. I got a Canon PIXMA 3620 from target for $60 less than the HP Envy that I got at Staples . It installed fine and is working great on my Windows 7, I don’t think the guy that claimed to be an IT specialist at Staples really knew what he was talking about. But I’m sure he meant well.

Before I walked out of the door with it at Target, I grilled the poor electronics cashier about if it was gonna work on my Windows 7 or not. He got on his smartphone and scoped it out and said Yep should work fine and he was right.

[gbedinger]

I have a Brother laser printer I bought in 2007 and it's still working flawlessly. Laser is so much better, especially if you can get away with only using B&W. Color is really, really expensive. This particular printer stayed in my parents basement while I moved out west and despite having the toner cartridge sit for like 4 years, it still prints w/ no problems.

Yes, this. I know this thread is OBE now, but I have an HP Laserjet 1020 purchased around 2005, and have used it using Windows XP, 7, and then through several Mac OS X versions. HP no longer provides support for the printer but if you spend a little time xtra time on forums I’ve been able to find a driver download that works. Like everyone else has said, those printers still work after weeks or months of inactivity.