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Last post Author Topic: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?  (Read 26647 times)

mouser

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #25 on: September 26, 2010, 02:03 PM »
your points are excellent -- if you are doing really high volume, then all sorts of other considerations need to be considered, such as: is the machine going to hold up to the high volume, and otherwise small differences can end up being significant (toner cost, noise, speed).

johnk

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #26 on: September 26, 2010, 05:59 PM »
Yes, the most important factor (if you're doing any serious level of printing) is cost per page. So the key questions are: (1) durability of printer (2) toner cost and (3) how often the drum or other parts need replacing. Cheap printers aimed at the consumer market are often a false economy (and that goes for lasers as well as inkjets).

My best tech bargain in recent years was a second-hand laser printer on Ebay.

Business-class laser printers sell second-hand for a tiny fraction of their original value, presumably because so many companies are on those service contracts which replace printers every two or three years, whether they need them or not.

At the time I bought my printer (an HP 2300dn -- d=duplex, n=network), they were selling on Ebay for about £80, about 10 per cent of their price new.

So for £80 I got a heavy-duty laser printer in excellent condition (with an almost-full toner cartridge, new price up to £90!). The print engine is designed to cope with 25,000 pages a month. My printer had printed a total of 10,000 pages in its previous life, so it was almost new in terms of usage.

But best of all is the cost per page -- the cartridges print 6,000 pages, so even if you pay full price, that's only 1.5p per page. But I've never paid more than £30 (and that's for genuine HP units, not remanufactured/refilled stuff), so my toner cost per page is 0.5p.

It has been totally reliable, and is used as the household printer because of its network capabilities. It has never jammed, and I use duplex all the time. It's worth considering this route.

techidave

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #27 on: September 26, 2010, 07:24 PM »

Many people are quite happy with Brothers. However, they are a disposable printers.

Disposable printers?  Even then you can get a "disposable" one that last like the energizer bunny.  Our school has a HP 1100 Laserjet with 100,000 pages on it in its 12 year or so life span.  While that is rare for a printer that is rated at 30,000 pages for its life, it does happen.   The only thing that has been done to it is the kit to fix the pulling multiple pages problem.

I have had good luck with some Samsung Lasers like a ML2150 and 3050.  Also had good lluck with the HP 2200 and 2300 Laserjets along with a Xerox Docuprint N2125.

ppass

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #28 on: November 03, 2010, 05:35 AM »
Keep away from Samsung. I bought the 350N (color laser). Their customer service is terrible. The technician came 6 times into my house to try to repair it. Total waste of time on calls to the customer service center. I won't buy anything from Samsung anymore.

ahha

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #29 on: November 03, 2010, 02:48 PM »
You should seriously look at Brother printers.  I have 6 of them and they are just solid workhorses.  Have lasted years and am still using them.  Very reliable and very very cheap on toner, hardly ever jam.

corps59

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #30 on: November 03, 2010, 04:53 PM »
A few weeks ago I bought a new HP LaserJet P2055dn from Hewlett Packard on-line, and had it delivered to my home office (the printer is considered a business printer even though I bought it for home use). It was a replacement for a previous HP printer that got old, but it had an add-on duplexer that I found to be invaluable. The P2055dn was my choice because it has an internal duplexer. AND, my new printer is physically a lot smaller than my previous printer. If I remember correctly, a second paper tray can be purchased, but I did not elect that option.

The P2055dn printer is well worth buying and using.

nmr

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #31 on: November 04, 2010, 08:13 AM »
Brother HL-5250DN

I second this printer. The toners are real cheap. They print a lot well and also do auto duplex if im not mistaken. and it networks. the printer is cheap too. I second this. For my previous office i got like 5-8 of these!!!!

Rocketboy

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #32 on: November 04, 2010, 12:19 PM »
I have a Samsung  CLX-3175F.. it's color, and has a scanner/copier built in.  It can also do faxes (if you are into that sort of thing) and it has wi-fi built in, so it doesn't have to be teathered to your PC.  I got a deal and a half on it as well.

I've had it for about a year, and I still get amazed at the print quality. No problems at all with it, even after the time the wife used glossy inkjet paper in it  :trout:

http://www.samsung.c...unction_printer.html

Stoic Joker

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #33 on: November 04, 2010, 12:35 PM »
the wife used glossy inkjet paper in it

In a Laser Printer?!? That's an incredibly bad idea. The glossy coating can (and frequently does) melt when the paper goes through the fuser, which will gum up the rollers and leave you with a $300 repair bill.

JavaJones

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #34 on: November 16, 2010, 10:56 PM »
Ok so at my last job, rather than have a single monster machine networked that everyone used (or one per floor), most everyone had a printer of some kind on their desk. This gave me the chance to work with a lot of different models and brands, almost all of them laser printers. Here are my thoughts:

Samsung: Very good overall, some of the least problems and most consistent operation. I'd probably give the nod to Samsung for the best of the brands we had. We had a number of older Samsungs that outlasted newer purchases from e.g. Brother. I also have a Samsung at home that's been pretty good. Fairly low volume, but still haven't had to replace the toner in maybe 2 years.

Brother: Good printers overall, some jamming and streaking issues, definitely "disposable" oriented. We had a few with problems and ultimately ended up just scrapping them - repair cost wasn't worth it. Mind you we bought more Brothers than almost anything else so they were bound to crap out in higher numbers (though I don't think a higher *percentage* did).

HP: Not bad, though they used to be a lot better. We didn't buy many of them, the few we had weren't outstanding (although not miserable either). I have the same complaints about bloated drivers and whatnot though.

Xerox: Only minimal experience, was ok, but honestly I don't think they compete much in the consumer space anymore.

Canon: Really the best for inkjet when you factor in speed and quality. This is both from work and personal experience. I recently got a Canon MP640 multifunction and couldn't be happier. It's fully networked so I can print and *scan* from any computer on my home network. Very slick.

Which leads me to: Wifi in printers is NOT a gimmick! There are a few reasons why.

First, many printers still do not include basic network (RJ45) support, so to get them on a network you need to either buy a print server (more expensive than the added cost of wifi in a printer these days - it's come down a lot the last year or so), or you have to hav them connected to a computer that's always on. Add to that my experience with the best wireless print server I could find - which is not very good - and I have to say the native wifi experience is MUCH better.

Second, when a manufacturer builds wifi in instead of relying on connection to a PC or a print server, they tend to tailor the functionality to working nicely across the network. My Canon MP640 is a fantastic example. Scanning across the network is just like scanning locally. I can open up a scan app from my laptop on wifi and scan just like I would on my desktop. Alternatively I can go to the unit itself and scan something and send it to any machine on the network with the driver installed. The UI is pretty slick and everything works fast. Win!

Third, the cost of wifi added to printers these days is generally not that much. Here's an example:

The Samsung ML-2525 (no wireless) - $119
Samsung ML-2525W (wireless included) - $139

That tends to hold up in the consumer space pretty well, i.e. moving into the inkjet realm, you might see a $10-$20 difference on a ~$100 for adding wifi. A larg proportion of the Canon MFC line just comes with wireless now by default. I think more manufacturers are probably going that route, and it's just fine with me.

Finally, wireless is actually quite useful if you do want to share a printer with a household or small work group, and want freedom in where to position the thing. Not near a network port and don't want to string a cable over to it? No problem!

Really, for the small added cost, wireless is *great*.

- Oshyan

mouser

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #35 on: December 12, 2010, 07:58 AM »
One thing to look for when selecting a laser printer is whether it has a "straight-through" paper mode, which lets you set the paper path so that pages exit the rear of the machine instead of curving up to the top.  This can be important when printing on heavy stock which otherwise curls.

superboyac

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #36 on: January 12, 2011, 04:18 PM »
I never completed this adventure.  By Friday, I believe I am going to go to the store and buy the Brother Brother HL-5370DW printer.  I like to finish what I start.

superboyac

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Re: Would someone mind recommending a good laser printer?
« Reply #37 on: January 17, 2011, 02:52 PM »
I've been using my new printer.  I've been pleased with it so far.  Thanks mouser!