Laser Printers

rlk · Mar 16, 2003

Anyone have any experience with laser b&w printers?

In my small business I'm having to print about 200 - 300 pages a week, plus about 30 color pages. Currently using a Cannon BJC-2000. It has good print quality, but is very slow, and the b&w printer cartridges only last about a week, and color not a whole lot longer.

As business increases, the printer demands are going up, so have been thinking about switching to a laser printer for the black and white printing, however, know very little about them.

Anyone have any experience that can tell me if laser printers are less expensive to operate than bubble jet or ink jet printers. Also, are they trouble free? What brand are you using, or would you recommend?

Thanks, Bob

nicklan · Mar 16, 2003

rlk,
Look at HP printers, 1200 series, or more if you have the money. I use a 4050 with a duplexer, I got it to print the gun club's newsletter. You really cannot go wrong with any HP laser printer. Costs are usually less than a 1/20th of inkjet technology. Upfront costs (i.e. purchase price is considerable higher).

Nick

thcri · Mar 16, 2003

If your using a bubble jet for printing 2 to 300 copies per week you are getting very expensive. I would definately look in to a laser. I have 3 Samsung ML6060 that I have liked a lot. I also have some HP Laser Jets 5 and TN2100's that work pretty good. A bubble jet will run you about .14 cents per copy where a laser will run you about .05 cents per copy. Now you do have another option and that is if you need a copying machine they do have copying machine/printers. We have a Minolta tied into our network so everyone can use it and the cost runs around .02 cents per copy and we use it both for generaly copying and printing from our computers. If you are using color which we are finding also there is a colored laser printer out there. We just bought one and it just came in. I have not hooked it up yet. The printer is a Tally Printer and the normal cost is $1,299.00. I have been watching this printer for about 6 months now and it just went on sale for $699.00. So I bought one. The problem is the toner comes with it for about 4000 copies. When you go to buy more it runs about $550.00 to give you 12000 copies. This is still cheaper than the bubble jets. You can buy the individual colors on this machine also. We will only use this for the color copies we need.

Hope this helps you.

murph

Wingnut · Mar 17, 2003

Depending on how much you spend (which will translate to how much it costs to maintain) ... you can expect a laser to give you top quality print for between .02 and .05 a page. No ink jet in the world can compete ... but they sell them to people who just gotta have color.
What kills you on any printer is the "consummables" ... the cheaper the printer, it seems, the more expensive the consummables. Ink jets really take the cake in that category ... you can just about get a half-decent quality ink jet printer for free ... but you already know what the cartridges cost!
Cheap lasers may not end up being so ... check out the rated life of the consummables ... some of them need replacement drums and optics at a failry short life ... which really adds to the cost. Slightly more expensive lasers have optics and drums that last "forever" but require toner cartidges that cost in the $100 range (but last many thousands of prints). That said ... I'm still using an old Epson laser that I'm waiting and waiting and waiting (8 years now) to die so I can justify replacing it .... I think they must've used some "Timex" electronics on it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
You can't go wrong with HP ... but Brother, Epson and others also make very reliable engines.
Warning ... don't look at the inexpensive color lasers ... you can buy a Minolta/QMS at Sams for $650 .... but the supplies'll kill you!

pete

herbenus · Mar 17, 2003

Get an HP. Look at options and get as much as you can afford. It will last many years. Look at getting extra memory put in printer. It will free your pc or server sooner.

Gary_in_Indiana · Mar 17, 2003

I've had good luck with Hewlett-Packard printers in the past. Make sure you check and compare not only your up front printer costs but also your supply costs to get an accurate per page cost to use for comparison.

Good luck with whatever you decide. I hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

rlk · Mar 17, 2003

Nick, Murph, Pete, Bill, Gary
Thanks a bunch for the input. I just started doing a little research and am amazed at all the information that is available (PC magazine, Consumer Reports, PC World, etc). Almost too much to decipher.

Sounds like the right thing to do is to not only look at the up front cost of the printer, but to look at replacement items like toner, drums, etc.

I'll keep doing the research - hopefully will be able to decide on something soon as the cartridges for the ink jet printers are not only expensive, but they don't seem to be lasting as long as they used to.

Again, thanks for all the ideas.

Bob

Inspector507 · Mar 18, 2003

I use an HP 2100M and print hundreds of pages a week. I think I've had it for 3 years or better and only on it's 3rd toner cartridge.

MDNick · Mar 18, 2003

I also have to chime in for HP laser printers. I have had a 4L for 10 years now. It made it through 3 of my college years. I was the only student with his own laser printer. Made me real popular (they were just using me, LOL). It printed A LOT. My roommate was doing some reverse image printing, like 95% black. It doesn't do much now, and hasn't for the past 6 years or so, BUT IT IS STILL THE ORIGINAL TONER. It is no speed demon, compared to the current lasers, but much faster than the average inkjet. About 4ppm I think.

As an aside, this has been a very tough printer. I have made my own i/o ciruit boards, etched them, soldered on the chips, etc. Well dummy me didn't engineer out the human factor. I made the plug that comes out the back of the computer a Male DB25 connector. Note that this is the same as a printer port. TWICE I have connected my printer to the I/O board. The I/O board has 12V power going out. Amazingly enough, one of the 12V pin outs matches a 5V data line on a printer. It is hard on chips. The first time it blew a hole clean out of middle of a chip. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif To the point that I couldn't even read what the chip was. I had my dad take an identical printer apart at work and tell me what the chip was. I bought 2 of them and had an electronics tech at my college remove the remnants of the old one and solder on a new one. Worked great /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gifuntil I did it again /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. This time it not only blew the chip up but completely wripped some of the solder pads off the board. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif This time I had to do the soldering and board repair. I had to trace the circuit to the next point where it was soldered to something and ran a wire across the board from the new chip to the solder point. Needless to say, now there is tape over the I/O board when I am not playing, and I am much more careful when connecting the printer. And I am very impressed with the durability of the printer.

Nick

Gary_in_Indiana · Mar 19, 2003

Nick,

I have an HP 4L also (thought I was the only one). It's still my daily use office printer and has to be at least a dozen years old by now. I finally replaced my toner cartridge in the last half of last year. I can't imagine how many thousands of pages I've run through that machine and it's still going strong. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif