Signs It’s Time to Replace Your Old Printer

1800 Office SOlutions Team member - Elie Vigile
1800 Team

How long do printers last? If you’re asking, you’re probably having some…

issues with your printer. Read on to learn when it’s time to replace your old printer.
You finish typing, you hit ‘print’, and then… ugh.

We’ve all been there. You have an aging printer that seems to be doing the job at either the bare minimum or below it. And as we all can attest, the worst time for your printer not to work is, well, any time it doesn’t work.

At the same time, getting a new printer or printers can be pricy and leave you without a printing capability while you wait for one to arrive.

So you want to make sure that you know exactly what to look for in your existing printer to see if you actually need a new one. Fortunately, you’re in the right place. In this post, we go over some of the essential questions about printers, like ‘how long do printers last’ and ‘what are the basic signs that I need a new printer?’

Because knowing what the symptoms are is half the battle.

Sound interesting? Keep reading to find out more!

Replace Old Printer

Replace your Old Printer! How Long Do Printers Last?

Well, there’s a short answer and a long answer.

The short answer first. The consulting firm InfoTrends says that the average inkjet lasts around four years. So, that’s at least a ballpark for you to consider.

The longer answer is that it depends on the printer make and model, how much you use it, and other factors. So your best option is generally to keep an eye on your printer and know what the primary signs are that it’s on its last legs.

Because if you can spot the signs of an aging printer before it completely goes on you, you’ll have a better chance of getting a new one set up so there’s no gap in coverage.

It’s Not Keeping Up

How would you know that you need to replace your old printer? The first and perhaps most obvious sign that a printer is on the way out is that it’s not doing what you ask it to do.

If it suddenly won’t print or has glitches in the print quality, those are pretty clear signs that the wear and tear of printing life may have gotten the best of it. If it now can’t hold the paper capacity that you want, or it can’t print as many pages as you’d like, those are also signs you might want a new one.

Now, that’s not to say that printers will suddenly hold less paper over time. But as your needs change, your printer might need to also.

If you now find yourself with printing needs of more paper at a time, and your printer only holds a certain amount, you might need to upgrade. And with new advancements in printers and toner, newer printers will generally have the capacity to print more pages before they need toner cartridge replacements.

So, just like with your paper needs, if you now have a workload increase that requires a printer that can run through more pages full of ink at a time, you might be looking at a necessary upgrade.

You’re Angry At It

Why are you angry at a machine? Well, probably because it’s probably not functioning like it used to, and that is a sign when you need to replace your old printer.

Over time, even highly sophisticated machines start to have dips in efficiency. And printers are no exception.

A common sign of reduced capability is that your printer starts printing slower than before. And that never makes anyone happy!

Either this is because the printer is too old to keep up with the updates in the other electronics it interacts with, or its internal components are starting to fail.

Another sign is when you keep seeing blemishes on your printer paper, despite putting in new toner cartridges or running alignments.

Often if a printer is starting to fail, you’ll get bars, lines and other random marks on your pages that don’t go away when you clean or replace the cartridge.

It’s Old Enough to Drive

Well, that’s probably an exaggeration, but if your printer is more than a few years old, there’s a decent chance that it can’t keep up with the rate of change of the technology it interacts with.

An obvious example would be if you have a printer that was made before smartphones became fully integrated with print systems. In that case, it’s pretty likely that you could hit ‘print’ on your iPhone and nothing would happen.

Older printers also don’t offer the speeds that newer models do. These days, inkjet printers can generally be expected to print in the 22-24 pages per minute range.

Can your old clunker do that? Probably not. And if that’s the case, it’s likely not up to the task for your office solutions.

But there are two bigger issues with printers that are older. The first is that the older they get, the less likely it is that you’ll be able to find and replace their parts.

And even if you are able to locate parts for your old printer, the odds are decent you’ll have to pay a pretty penny for someone to install them.

The second is that toner cartridges become harder and harder to find for older models. And obviously without ink, you aren’t doing much printing, right?

A Symphony of Groans

Finally, a big sign that your printer is on the downhill path is that it starts to make sounds it never used to make.

If you are hearing grinding or clicking sounds, it probably means that somewhere inside the printer there are loose or broken parts.

And if it isn’t making sounds, it’s probably giving you visual indications that it’s not up to the task anymore.

If it’s constantly jammed, or having other malfunctions on a regular basis, that’s probably a sign that there’s something going on internally that is in need of repair or replacement.

And like we said earlier, the cost and annoyance of replacing a part in an older printer are probably not worth it. Get out there and buy a new one!

Step Up Your Printing Game

As you can see, there are some fairly obvious signs that you should replace your old printer.

So next time you ask, “How long do printers last?” or “Do you really need to replace your old printer?” just keep in mind that it can vary, but that you’ll be able to tell as long as you keep an eye on yours!

And if you have any questions, or want to know more, contact us today!

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