Home Laser Printers

[Supe]

Does anyone have any personal experiences with or recommendations for home color laser printers, preferably under the $400 mark?

I print infrequently enough that I'm always wasting ink cartridges due to clogged/dried up nozzles, and all of the inkjet printers that I buy end up costing less than the replacement color cartridges do themselves. When I do print, it's usually in a large volume (i.e. program manuals to review for work, etc.)

Things I'm looking for:

-Low maintenance costs

-Acceptable color prints (not expecting a photo printer here)

-Ability to network easily (doesn't have to be wireless, but sure wouldn't hurt)

-Preferably a copy/scan function, but also not a prerequisite

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[snickerd3]

We have a brother printer/copier/scanner/fax laser jet setup at home. It doesn't print color though. We print infrequently maybe a pg or 2 a week. One cartriage will last us about a year.

 

[knight1fox3]

I print infrequently enough that I'm always wasting ink cartridges due to clogged/dried up nozzles, and all of the inkjet printers that I buy end up costing less than the replacement color cartridges do themselves.

It depends on the brand. High end inkjet printers won't "dry up". I have a Canon .canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/printers_multifunction/pixma_mx_series/pixma_mx850'>MX850 that I absolutely love. The cartridges I have for it last the better part of a year. When I need to replace them, I can find genuine replacements on ebay for about $20 (I don't mess with refills or knock-offs). Not a bad price for 4 or 5 cartridges if you ask me. My printer has a network port that connects to my home network to allow printing from any computer. The scanner works nice and it can print photo-quality if needed. I would recommend a name-brand printer if you decide to go the laser route. Monochrome won't set you back too much but color will start increasing the price quite a bit. Check out some of the top-reviewed models on Newegg.com

 

[mudpuppy]

Not color, no. I do have an HP B&W laser printer at home. I bought it about 7 years ago for $120 and am still on the original toner cartridge. Prior to that I was going through 2-3 black ink cartridges per year at $30/each, so the printer has more than paid for itself. Even when I have to replace the toner cartridge it will still be worthwhile--I got a knockoff replacement for about $30, OEM is about $70.

I've shied away from a color laser printer just because the toner costs are times 4. I just don't see color being that much of an advantage.

 

[envirotex]

We just got this inkjet about a month ago...

HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One Printer - N911g

We use it for printing work docs, school docs,etc. up to about 200 pages. So far, no complaints. I like it because it prints double-sided, has a scanner and a fax, document feeder, and e-print so we can print from our mobile devices (iPhones and iPad). It uses the "new" ink similar to the one developed by Kodak that supposedly, prints more pages per cartridge and lasts longer, haven't run out yet, but like I said, we've only had it a little while.

'goes to knock on wood so fabulous new printer doesn't crash tonight while printing report'

 

[Supe]

I print infrequently enough that I'm always wasting ink cartridges due to clogged/dried up nozzles, and all of the inkjet printers that I buy end up costing less than the replacement color cartridges do themselves.

It depends on the brand. High end inkjet printers won't "dry up". I have a Canon .canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/printers_multifunction/pixma_mx_series/pixma_mx850'>MX850 that I absolutely love. The cartridges I have for it last the better part of a year. When I need to replace them, I can find genuine replacements on ebay for about $20 (I don't mess with re. Not a bad price for 4 or 5 cartridges if you ask me. My printer has a network port that connects to my home network to allow printing from any computer. The scanner works nice and it can print photo-quality if needed. I would recommend a name-brand printer if you decide to go the laser route. Monochrome won't set you back too much but color will start increasing the price quite a bit. Check out some of the top-reviewed models on Newegg.com

Agreed. Unfortunately, all of my photos I now handle online, which leads me down a path of forking over a decent amount of coin and cartridge refills (especially black), for the sake of the odd prints or flyers here and there. If the laser costs will ultimately offset the inkjet, then for me it's worth it.

Mudpuppy: Normally I wouldn't care, but I'm often printing race flyers and markup documents where I need to differentiate between color and B&W. Otherwise, I'd just get the B&W and be done with it.

 

[knight1fox3]

^ Understandable. Here's a mid-range color laser within your budget: http://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL4570CDW-Printer-Wireless-Networking/dp/B00439GOKY/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1350931974&sr=1-8&keywords=color+laser+printer

Seems to get some decent reviews. CNET may have additional reviews on it too. No copy or scan, but has wireless networking. Replacement cartridges seem to run about $80. I've never owned a Brother printer but it sounds like Snick likes the one they have.

 

[Supe]

That doesn't look too bad. $250 won't get you wireless, duplex printing, or resolution that high. For $100 more, that's a decent deal. We have a Brother all in one down at our satellite facility, and no problems with it to date (inkjet though). Downer looks like very pricey toner replacements.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I've had pretty good luck with Brother printers over the years. Their one big advantage over HP is that they tend to offer new drivers for their older equipment to match new operating systems. I have a HP all-in-one that is now just a printer since there are no drivers available for the scanner in a post-XP world. I think it was only 6 months old when Vista came out.

 

[engineergurl]

I have issues with the ink drying up on our printer... but usually I just fake the printer out and stick the old ones back in (if the ink leves are still registering) and they start working again... have you tried that trick? (just so you don't have to buy another printer...)

 

[csb]

So, uh, you guys just don't print at the office?

 

[snickerd3]

we don't have color printers their either anymore...so I'm still out when it comes to color

 

[knight1fox3]

we don't have color printers their either anymore...so I'm still out when it comes to color

Are you serious?! Yikes! With all our SolidWorks models seismic representations, we'd be in serious trouble if we couldn't print reports in color.

 

[Supe]

I have issues with the ink drying up on our printer... but usually I just fake the printer out and stick the old ones back in (if the ink leves are still registering) and they start working again... have you tried that trick? (just so you don't have to buy another printer...)

I can, but a) current printer sucks massive ink, and B) I can usually unclog with the print head cleaning feature, that also burns through ink.

CSB: All the time, but I work from home quite a bit as well.

 

[mudpuppy]

So, uh, you guys just don't print at the office?

Government excess!

 

[Supe]

Resurrecting this one, since I'm officially done with this POS inkjet.  I swear I JUST replaced the f'ing cartridge, and it goes empty/f*cked after sitting more than about 2 weeks.  It's also having print errors out of nowhere and the carrier is going haywire.

So, 4 1/2 years later, are there any color laser printers that you guys like?  Current criteria are color laser, wireless connectivity, copy/scan function, < $300.  11x17 is nice but not a requirement.

 

[snickerd3]

we skipped color and just did one of those all in one B&W laser printer, fax, copier, scanner(does scan color) machines by Brother.  

we thought we would miss the color, but we don't.  Sometimes it would be nice, but not worth the cost.  we replace the toner cartridge maybe once every 1-1.5yrs.

 

[Supe]

we skipped color and just did one of those all in one B&W laser printer, fax, copier, scanner(does scan color) machines by Brother.  

we thought we would miss the color, but we don't.  Sometimes it would be nice, but not worth the cost.  we replace the toner cartridge maybe once every 1-1.5yrs.

I would normally say screw it and print color at work, but they're really cracking down here as the result of the bankruptcy, and have copy police.

 

[snickerd3]

take stock of what you print in color.  pictures or stuff that doesn't really matter if it is B&W.  If we need a color print of pic or something we just run to walmart and do the 1hr.  we actually didn't print that much

 

[Supe]

take stock of what you print in color.  pictures or stuff that doesn't really matter if it is B&W.  If we need a color print of pic or something we just run to walmart and do the 1hr.  we actually didn't print that much

Usually the "mom, this is due tomorrow and I forgot about it" stuff...