I really don't want to do it, but....

My problem is my printer, it's an old HP laserjet 4M Plus. Is there any way to get it to work with Windows 8? I would hate to spend more money on another printer.

how much is your time worth?

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ctID=c03365145

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ctID=c03470332

Thank you for posting the links. My time well, depending on how busy I would be with my job. Right now everyone is well behaved so I don't have much investigating to do. In fact today I got to stay home as long as no one have any bad intention.

So, what do you do for a living?

Originally Posted by dtkw

My problem is my printer, it's an old HP laserjet 4M Plus. Is there any way to get it to work with Windows 8? I would hate to spend more money on another printer.

Though not Windows 8 related, I had a similar problem with an HP printer that was a few years older than the 4p- My trusty old HP IIIp purchased new in 1992 for $1000. I sold an Apple Imagewriter I for $200 to help with payment. Metal gears and all.

Anyway, it needed a new toner about 4 years ago- of course no one had them on the shelf, so I ordered it from Costco for ~$150. Shortly after it came in, I was browsing the toner cartridges and printers at Costco. There was a $199 HP laser printer complete with LAN connectivity.

Returned unopened toner, paid $50 bucks and now I have a great printer. I still haven't replaced the cartridge yet. It's probably paid for itself in power savings since it actually goes to sleep vs the old IIIp that would dim the neighbors lights to warm up.

i have an HP 4p as well. gave up on it because the rubber rollers have dried out and jams all the time. i have bought it back in 95 for 1500. better to just get a new one now.

Originally Posted by Sportsdad

So, what do you do for a living?

He's mentioned several times he is a Detective. Homicide I believe...

Originally Posted by AndrewZ

He's mentioned several times he is a Detective. Homicide I believe...

Oh.
Well, as a professional hit man, I didn't pay that much attention.

Yes, I am, You are correct. This city I live in doesn't have too much murder so I do have some free time but I have a life to live, hobbies to play (shooting). But if my work phone ever rings, that would mean there is a victim somewhere and then my heart would sink.

I had an HP 6L laser and remember thinking I got a great deal at about $600 back in the late 90's think (1998 maybe?). Great machine at the time.

Now I have a Brother 7860 all-in-one wireless laser duplex printer I got for $175 on Amazon in one of their lightening deals. Amazing little machine for the price that even scans wirelessly.

I think even the lowest grade current gen Laserjet should outperform the 4M you have now. Most likely, it can be had for below $100.

Have you searched the web on how to get the printer to work in Windows 8? If there are no work arounds, I think it is time for an upgrade.

I have a 5 year old HP Laserjet 1020 which works in Windows 8 and usually can be had for about $100.

I really like the low-cost brother printers - our current gen is the Brother HL-2270DW - it is a duplexing wireless printer - I can print from my laptop, ipad, any pc in the house (and there are at least 10) - and we have XP, 7, 8, home-server, linux, freebsd (although I haven't tried connecting the printer to the freebsd NAS - there simply isn't a need). We not consider these printers to be almost throw-away - buying 3-4 toner cartridges or refill kits and then they get to a drum or fuser - replace them. The drum I bought on the last brother - then it threw a fuser error code.... the replacement fuser was $150 - a newer Brother replacement printer was $145 from Amazon with free shipping on Prime.

The current price on prime is $131.74 when it comes directly from Amazon (I'd pay the $2 more to get the amazon supplied, and amazon.com merchant - rather than another merchant but fulfilled by Amazon - it simplifies things IF there is a problem I think).

I have an Epson 645 Workforce that I like a lot. Much better than my previous HP.

Originally Posted by wyb

I really like the low-cost brother printers - our current gen is the Brother HL-2270DW - it is a duplexing wireless printer - I can print from my laptop, ipad, any pc in the house (and there are at least 10) - and we have XP, 7, 8, home-server, linux, freebsd (although I haven't tried connecting the printer to the freebsd NAS - there simply isn't a need). We not consider these printers to be almost throw-away - buying 3-4 toner cartridges or refill kits and then they get to a drum or fuser - replace them. The drum I bought on the last brother - then it threw a fuser error code.... the replacement fuser was $150 - a newer Brother replacement printer was $145 from Amazon with free shipping on Prime.

The current price on prime is $131.74 when it comes directly from Amazon (I'd pay the $2 more to get the amazon supplied, and amazon.com merchant - rather than another merchant but fulfilled by Amazon - it simplifies things IF there is a problem I think).

Agreed. I prefer Amazon supplied even if it's a bit more, and that 2270 is a great machine. I bought my parents and my uncle the predecessor 2170 model for $99 and that thing is a workhorse that just goes and goes, but my parents have gone through about 9,000 pages now, I think that's about when it's due for a drum, and they need toner very soon, so I'm thinking it's about time to get them a new one rather than put money into that. I've seen them on sale as low as $99 as well, sometimes locally at the brick and mortars. Prefer to do that for them so they can take it back and not have to deal with shipping if there's a problem. They print everything and don't know how to stop a print job, so sometimes they'll hit print meaning to just print one page off the net not realizing it's some medical journal that's 100 plus pages.

I LOVE this 7860dw all-in-one though. It retails for $300, but I paid almost half that, so it was a no brainer for a laser duplex printer/scanner/copier/fax. And their app makes printing from the phone or iPad easy.