Need a color printer suggestion

Ted

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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I'm looking for a color printer to buy. What I'm looking for is specifically something that's going to get a decent amount of use doing color printouts (no photos, just color pages), and want for the cartridges to be cheap to replace or else last such a long time that it's not really a big deal. I don't particularly care if it's laser or inkjet so long as the quality is good. It will probably not see more than about 100 pages of printing per month in its standard use.

The printer is for someone else as a surprise, and I don't know whether this person has XP or Vista, so being able to work with both is preferable.

I've looked around and Lexmark seems to have some inexpensive color laser printers, but reviews seem varried. The positive ones seem to indicate they're good, but the negatives are pretty scathing. I don't know whether people just made a bad purchase decision (i.e. buying a personal printer for a business application) or are overly picky.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!
 
If it is going to get a decent amount of use then skip the inkjet styles altogether. Oki has some nice mid $600 toner style color printers that you might be interested in. The real gotcha is the toner or ink in any color printer. The inkjet have an initially cheaper cost but get your with the supplies. So check the cost per page metric when buying.
 
I've got a Samsung CLP-315 color laser. So far, I'm happy with it. I think the price was $139 from Global Computer (also Tigerdirect - one bought the other). The toner cartridges are $50 each, and it takes four. I'm still working on the original toner that came with it, but I only do ten pages per month or so.
 
I bought a $200 color laserjet that had worked flawlessly for what little printing we do. However, if the use is going to be constant and the load light, and inkjet is the better alternative. The cartridges can be replaced inexpensively from aftermarket sources or refilled for even less. The print quality is better for the same money. Just os long as the use if often. If it is sporadic the ink can jam the jets. If the load is heavy (lots of pages needed at once) the laser jet is the better option.
 
I have a Samsung CLP-500 that I've had for several years. It's been a good unit. Cheaper per page than printing inkjet (agree with Scott - skip the inkjet...), laser quality. I've probably run 15,000-20,000 pages through the unit to date.

For personal stuff, I'd get a smaller unit, but this (larger one) one has worked for me. Paid about $400 from Newegg about 7 years ago.

I've also got a Canon large format inkjet photo printer. It drinks ink. Photos are lab quality on the right paper. But very expensive to operate.
 
I have an HP OfficeJet 6500 all-in-one (print, scan, fax) with 802.11g connectivity. I print about 20-30 pages per week, a mix of color, photo, and grayscale/B&W. For the price, I am happy with the results.

Being an HP product, ink costs a ton, but on the bright side the printer itself was cheap. I got it for sale from Tigerdirect for around $150.

I have (2) my XP desktops, and a Vista laptop setup with the print/scan driver, and it seems to work fine over the Wifi connection.
 
Just buy the CHEAPEST printer, and throw it away when the ink goes away.

BTW, Polaroid invented this marketing. Their cameras were almost free. They bent you over with the price of the film.
 
Ted,

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30891

Going strong, and the MeritLine aftermarket cartridges I mentioned work beautifully. Don't pay Dell prices on the cartridges...

It looks like the 1320 has been replaced by the 1230: http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/print...pd.aspx?refid=printer-dell-2130cn&s=dfh&cs=22

There are two editions; the "c" or "cn"; the latter (which I have) has an Ethernet port and built-in printer server; just plug it into your network and everyone on the network can use it. If it will be direct-connect to a specific computer and shared from there, the "c" model is all you need.
 
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nyoung said:
I have an HP OfficeJet 6500 all-in-one (print, scan, fax) with 802.11g connectivity. I print about 20-30 pages per week, a mix of color, photo, and grayscale/B&W. For the price, I am happy with the results.

Being an HP product, ink costs a ton, but on the bright side the printer itself was cheap. I got it for sale from Tigerdirect for around $150.

I have (2) my XP desktops, and a Vista laptop setup with the print/scan driver, and it seems to work fine over the Wifi connection.
Click to expand...
BTW I have been getting my ink refills over at the Cartridge place next to Jimmy John on Three Oaks. Give them a try Nathan. Cheaper than fresh HP ink.
 
kgruber said:
Just buy the CHEAPEST printer, and throw it away when the ink goes away.

BTW, Polaroid invented this marketing. Their cameras were almost free. They bent you over with the price of the film.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of Lexmark printers. Especially their enterprise stuff. Price extremely reasonable, quality good, price of ink or toner will take your breath away.
 
Actually given the intended use of the printer, a higher initial cost is more desirable than the higher cost print cartridges.

Looking at it, I think an inkjet still makes more sense for the application, but need something that will provide reasonable quality for a good price.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Actually given the intended use of the printer, a higher initial cost is more desirable than the higher cost print cartridges.

Looking at it, I think an inkjet still makes more sense for the application, but need something that will provide reasonable quality for a good price.
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Do also check out the solid ink machine. Yeah the replacement toner is muy expensive, but you get around 3 to 4k copies out of it.
 
I've always been happy with the HP CLJ printers. Some of them come with full cartridges, too.

As a general rule, you'll save money with laser printers if you use them either very often, or very rarely. In the former case, toner is much cheaper per page than ink; in the latter, unused inkjet cartridges tend to evaporate or clog. Either way, the ink is way more expensive than laser toner.

-Rich
 
Ted, I have a Dell AIO fax scanner printer its ok not great. I gave Rachel my Epson C86 which is fantastic. Its fast crisp and does not take up a lot of room. The BEST part is that it has a different carteridge for each color. So if I run out of red I replace the red. My Dell and a lot of others have two carteridges one black and the other with the all the colors so if you run out of red but have tons of blue and yellow left your screwed and have to replace the whole color carteridge.
 
ScottM said:
If it is going to get a decent amount of use then skip the inkjet styles altogether. Oki has some nice mid $600 toner style color printers that you might be interested in. The real gotcha is the toner or ink in any color printer. The inkjet have an initially cheaper cost but get your with the supplies. So check the cost per page metric when buying.
Click to expand...

nyoung said:
I have an HP OfficeJet 6500 all-in-one (print, scan, fax) with 802.11g connectivity. I print about 20-30 pages per week, a mix of color, photo, and grayscale/B&W. For the price, I am happy with the results.

Being an HP product, ink costs a ton, but on the bright side the printer itself was cheap. I got it for sale from Tigerdirect for around $150.

I have (2) my XP desktops, and a Vista laptop setup with the print/scan driver, and it seems to work fine over the Wifi connection.
Click to expand...


A friend works for HP and freely admits that they make their money selling ink, not printers. Given what I pay for new cartridges for my HP Deskjet 950C (old printer) I believe him.
 
I have a Phaser 740 color Laser printer I am selling. You can have it for $200. But, you would have to pick it up. If you could get it through your A/C door, you will definitely need to re-calculate your W/B.
 
Ted, I have a Samsung, which was cheap to buy, and the toner is fairly reasonable (although I've been running for a year and not yet needed to buy any).
 
kgruber said:
Just buy the CHEAPEST printer, and throw it away when the ink goes away.
Click to expand...
The printer manufacturers have that covered. A new inkjet come with cartridges good for about one ream of paper, if that.

I think it was Kodak who started advertising that their printers used considerably less expensive ink. I've never used one of their products but it might be worth looking into unless you plan to refill used cartridges.

BTW, in case you didn't already know, the speeds listed on inkjet printers are usually extremely unrealistic and based on a minimal amount of printing per page. Lasers OTOH tend to achieve their spec'd speeds because their throughput is relatively independent on content (an exception is when the data load for a page takes longer than the actual printing).
 
PilotAlan said:
I currently have an HP CM1312 color laser multifunction, on the network. We love it. Lots of prints from the cartridges. Non-HP cartridges are a lot cheaper, and work fine.

The CP1210 has the same print engine as the multifunction:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/18972-18972-3328060-15077-3328070-3422474.html
Cheap. Buy a set of cartridges off Amazon.
Click to expand...

Good point.

While HP no longer sells their color lasers with full cartridges, there are good-quality aftermarket cartridges available; we've been using them to good effect.
 
Avoid Brother. I have a Brother MFC 490CW AIO machine that I use strictly as a network scanner / fax machine. What I didn't know when I bought the machine is that if any of the color cartridges run low, it will not print -- even in black and white -- until the color cartridge is replaced. It also cleans itself so often that the colored inks on mine run out in a few months despite never printing a single page in color.

My HP CLJ 3600, on the other hand, has been printing for well over a year on the same toner cartridges it came with, which are still more than half full. I think it's been discontinued, but if you can find one at a close-out sale, I suggest you give it a look.

The only caution I have on the HP CLJ models is to keep them covered when not in use, and not to use them in dusty or dirty rooms or rooms where people smoke. There are four mirrors inside that are a real pain in the neck to clean if they get dirty (definitely beyond the skill level of an average user). If the mirrors get dirty, the colors go out of whack. Covering the printer when not in use pretty much solves the problem.

-Rich
 
ScottM said:
BTW I have been getting my ink refills over at the Cartridge place next to Jimmy John on Three Oaks. Give them a try Nathan. Cheaper than fresh HP ink.
Click to expand...

Assuming that your ink cartridges aren't "chipped" or if so, that the shop has a way to reset the "chips". Canon chipped cartridges are difficult to use as refills.
 
wsuffa said:
Assuming that your ink cartridges aren't "chipped" or if so, that the shop has a way to reset the "chips". Canon chipped cartridges are difficult to use as refills.
Click to expand...

Epson, too. I have a multi-function on my desk that only gets used as a scanner now, because of these "chipped" ink jet cartridges, and the aforementioned "won't print, even in black, if it thinks even ONE color cartridge is too low". :incazzato:

That's when the aforementioned Dell Color Laser came into the house, and we love it. I'm not a Dell PC fan anymore, but their printers are top rated and rightly so. Just buy the MeritLine replacement toners! (Yesterday, I bought another four pack to replace the initial set I'd bought, for $55 and free shipping. They had an 8-pack for less than $100, I'll do that next time, I wanted to keep some flying money in the budget this time). :cheerswine:
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Epson, too. I have a multi-function on my desk that only gets used as a scanner now, because of these "chipped" ink jet cartridges, and the aforementioned "won't print, even in black, if it thinks even ONE color cartridge is too low". :incazzato:

That's when the aforementioned Dell Color Laser came into the house, and we love it. I'm not a Dell PC fan anymore, but their printers are top rated and rightly so. Just buy the MeritLine replacement toners! (Yesterday, I bought another four pack to replace the initial set I'd bought, for $55 and free shipping. They had an 8-pack for less than $100, I'll do that next time, I wanted to keep some flying money in the budget this time). :cheerswine:
Click to expand...

Just be careful if you want to use a Dell printer on anything except a Windows machine. They're basically re-branded Lexmark winprinters, many don't have drivers for Macs, and I don't think I've ever come across one that I could get to work properly on Linux.

But if all you use is Windows, they seem all right. A lot of my clients have Dell printers, and I haven't heard any complaints about them.

-Rich
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'm looking for a color printer to buy. What I'm looking for is specifically something that's going to get a decent amount of use doing color printouts (no photos, just color pages), and want for the cartridges to be cheap to replace or else last such a long time that it's not really a big deal. I don't particularly care if it's laser or inkjet so long as the quality is good. It will probably not see more than about 100 pages of printing per month in its standard use.

The printer is for someone else as a surprise, and I don't know whether this person has XP or Vista, so being able to work with both is preferable.

I've looked around and Lexmark seems to have some inexpensive color laser printers, but reviews seem varried. The positive ones seem to indicate they're good, but the negatives are pretty scathing. I don't know whether people just made a bad purchase decision (i.e. buying a personal printer for a business application) or are overly picky.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I own a Brother 4040CDN. I got it because it's reasonable on the toner, can be used on a network, and can auto-duplex (flip the paper) for a reasonable price.

One big detriment, it's a heavy beast. I've ordered 5 of them for friends and family other than I with no issues yet.
 
I recommend any of the Kodak printers. The supplies are inexpensive and last a long time. The ink is archival quality and waterproof.

We bought a multifunction wifi enabled one (the ESP5250) for about $100 and it is great!
 
gismo said:
...
I think it was Kodak who started advertising that their printers used considerably less expensive ink. I've never used one of their products but it might be worth looking into unless you plan to refill used cartridges.

....
Click to expand...


I can attest to the Kodak printers...best deal going! They print photos borderless and excellent quality, and they are not expensive!
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Epson, too. I have a multi-function on my desk that only gets used as a scanner now, because of these "chipped" ink jet cartridges, and the aforementioned "won't print, even in black, if it thinks even ONE color cartridge is too low". :incazzato:
Click to expand...
I have an Epson Multifunction and AFaIK it won't even let you scan if one cartridge is out of ink and to make things as annoying as possible you can't query the ink levels when one is out either unless you connect the printer directly to a PC (I use a wireless server).
 
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