| What color laser Printer would you reccomend? - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| GOT BOOST |
Hi Everyone,
As the title states, I am looking to purchase a color laser printer for work.
Price is not a big concern as I can deduct it off my taxes.
With that being said, I am not willing to drop $1000.00 for a piece of junk and the cartridges are $300.00 a piece.
Here is what I am looking for.
1) Good reliability
2) Ink Cartrages are well priced
3) Speed of documents to print must be reasonably quick.
4) Good Value. I am willing to spend the money on a good printer.
5) Must be Color Laser Jet and produce excellent to superior quality print.
I do not need a fax attached to it, and I do not need a scanner.
What do you reccomend?
Thanks,
Mike |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
We use a HP 3800dn here at AU, but I don't know toner costs - duplexing, built in jet-direct, prety fast - ($1000us based off HP's website) black toner - $140USD, color $170USD/each
I know a lady who bought a HP 1600.. decently quick for a home use - HP's website says $300USD($360CAD at mem express), first page in 20seconds, black toner $75USD, color $83/USD each
I have a samsung B/W laser.. pretty good, printer was $130, toner is $105 but they have a color one(clp-300) too you can buy for about $250-290 cad... comparible speed to the hp 1600n.. black toner $70, color $60/each
I've seen the output of the 3800N, I'm impressed. We have huge Xerox Phasers here at AU(Athabasca University) and it's comparible if not better.
My wife's work has a small Xerox Phaser... quality's not bad, it's slow, toner is pricey.. and every 2 days they have to repalce a toner/imager/or something. |
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| WorkInProgress |
Xerox Phaser 8560DN
Doesn't use toner, uses wax ink, and [wax] it's pretty affordable too! I find it takes a long time to warm up, but once it's warm, it's one hell of a workhorse. Especially in a networked environment. |
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| TrevorK |
We use nothing but HP at work and they all work fine. That's the brand I'd buy if I needed one. One thing to keep in mind is servicing. With the brand you choose you want to make sure that:
a) Service parts are reasonably priced (As printers do need regular service)
b) You are able to order the parts yourself
If you're considering Xerox look into this, I seem to recall our printer repair people stating that Xerox parts are more than HP. |
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| kevito_ |
Usually any color laser that comes from HP or Epson is reliable. You get what you pay for... so a cheapo $400 color laser is giong to leave banding and streaking and tend to lump up. It'll probably jam too and the drivers will suck.
You'll notice how quick that the cartrages that come with the printer are only about 20% full... You'll need to replace them quite soon after buying the printer. When you replace them they will last many times longer than they did originally. It's kinda a scam... |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
quote:
Originally posted by kevito_
Usually any color laser that comes from HP or Epson is reliable. You get what you pay for... so a cheapo $400 color laser is giong to leave banding and streaking and tend to lump up. It'll probably jam too and the drivers will suck.
You'll notice how quick that the cartrages that come with the printer are only about 20% full... You'll need to replace them quite soon after buying the printer. When you replace them they will last many times longer than they did originally. It's kinda a scam...
It's kind of a known thing that you get "starter cartridges" with printers and that they're not full. It beats not getting any toner.
Also a $400 color laser printer - Your black is prolly about $80 and the 3 colors are about $90/each so if you expect to get $350 of ink with a $400 printer... makes you wonder about the quality of the printer eh? (Yes I realize retail price and production costs are completely different.. but still) |
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| kevito_ |
Some of the higher end printers come with full cartrages, but for most of the residential and soho market designs are always low.
My work (National Oilwell) uses a HP Color LaserJet 3800... my cousin has one from the same series. The thing is a piece of junk. It jams, streaks and has pretty bad color. It is a 400-500$ printer and isn't worth the money. Some of the ones in the 750-1000$ are quite respectable and will last a long time. HP's cheaper model stuff is usually junk. I have a high end scanner from them (1998, scsi interface) and it still works perfectly today. You get what you pay for... |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
Not denying the you get what you pay for bit... I used to work for HP and hte amount of people who called when their tower that came in a $699 bundle with monitor and printer back in 2003, and were shocked that it didn't work was huge...
We have the 3800N here at the univeristy.. it was a tester and we kept it... I think it broke once and it was just an error on the screen... the in house "shop" guy had it fixed in a couple minutes. The prints are clear and good quality.... dunno...
My wife's work has a Xerox Phaser equiv to the 3800, but it cost $6000 is a POS not a day that I go in there and it doesn't have an error of some sort on it. |
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| kevito_ |
Those Xerox Phasors really suck. There was one in Astrophysics department that keeps busting.
What part of the university do you work in? Do you print a lot of colour there? I worked for the Physics department as a researcher and technician for quite some time. I helped rebuild a particle accelerator (200,000V!) haha |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
| I work in Computing Services at Athabasca University |
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