Finding a Reliable Laser Printer?

SpottedKuh asks: "Perhaps the days of sturdy laser printers are over, or perhaps it is just my bad luck. I've recently been the proud owner of two paperweights: First, an HP LaserJet 1100, which continually misfed papers and smeared toner. After selling that printer, I foolishly purchased a LaserJet 1012, not realizing just how poorly it played with my BSD systems. Naturally, I've learned my lesson about checking LinuxPrinting.org; but, more than that, I'm gun-shy about purchasing yet another printer to replace my current LaserJet. I look at one of my friends who has had a LaserJet 4P for probably around ten years, and it's still going strong. Are the days of such quality gone, or am I just looking in the wrong places?" "Though compatibility with *nix is a must, it is not all that I want. I want a printer that will be sturdy and reliable, with few toner smears and jams. Also, if I'm going to be dropping all this money again, a duplexing printer is a must! I've heard that there are a lot of design problems with the LaserJet 1320, mainly regarding the manual feed mechanism. Maybe the LaserJet 1*** printers just aren't well-built? So I'm thinking of purchasing a LaserJet 2420d; but, I haven't been able to find many reviews of that printer.

Can the Slashdot community provide me with feedback regarding the printers I have mentioned, or any other reliable duplexing laser for in my home office?"

Comments

HP 24xx

[jsailor]

I can't speak to the 2400 directly, but I have an 7 year old 2100 that has yet to fail at all.
My office has used 23xx printers for (I think) 2 years without issue. My understanding is the 24xx is that it's the next generation of the 2300.

Samsung Laser Printers

[Gulthek]

Definitely check out the Samsung ML-1750 (and the cheaper ML-1710 although I believe that is not a PCL printer). I have the 1750 and it plays well with Linux, OS X, and Windows. I have printed off thousands of pages and it has never smeared, and only had two or three paper jams.

Re:Samsung Laser Printers

[rusty0101]

I concur on the ML-1750. However it does not have a duplexer.

I am planing on replacing my Epson Stylus Color 640 with a Samsung CLP-550, which does both color (obviously) and duplexing. I am not sure I will be using it to replace my 1750 until I am sure that it will run at full speed in black mode under Linux. Most of the reports I have been reading on LinuxPrinters.com have indicated that under Linux it only prints at the Color speed. I am not sure if setting it up as a postscript black printer would improve that. It will be some time before I give it a try however. I have a few bills to get taken care of first.

In any case my 1750 has been exceptionally reliable through three toner cartridges. The only time I have encountered a paper jams is when I was printing to the back side of something I have already printed. (Manually duplexing) I am reasonably sure that part of that issue is just the fact that the paper humidity has changed by being passed through the fuser already.

-Rusty

Re:Hard copy... blech.

[hab136]

Hard copies are for old people.

You must be in Korea.

HP LaserJet 4000

[vasqzr]

Buy a LaserJet 4000 or 4050. If you want a faster one get a 4100.

They're cheap, last a long time, and they don't require much maintenance.

You can find them on eBay for $400 with very low page counts ( 100,000 pages)

They do PCL and Postscript. Get one with a JetDirect card so you can plug it in your LAN and you'll be all set. Works great with Linux, Mac, Windows...

Re:HP LaserJet 4000

[afidel]

Remember that the 4500 Color series printers are not single pass, so you have to multiply the page count by 4 to get an accurate duty rating vs a typical black and white engine. So your 4500 has the equivilant of 800K pages, which while not unheard of (LJ4's went over 1 million pages routinely), is still rather high. Add to that the fact that they are WAY more mechanically complex with about 10x the moving parts and you can understand why they seem a lot more worn out at an "early" stage. Personally I think if anything major breaks on a 4500 is better to just get a new printer because it would take hours and hours to do any major work like replacing the carousel drive gear.

Oldie

[Phillup]

I'd go with an oldie if possible.

I have a laserjet 4MP and just love it. (you mentioned one of the 4 series and I've found them to be quite reliable)

So... how about something used?

Here is one and there is an optional duplexing unit on the bottom of the page.

Samsung.

[m0rph3us0]

Seriously, I've gotten Samsung's Linux drivers to work in OpenBSD with out emulation. Their printers work like a charm with cups + ghostscript. Even works with Windows via Samba. Something like this: Samsung ML-2250 is what I would recommend because it supports PCL6 and has memory upgradable using standard SODIMM laptop ram. The GDI printers work great too they just offload too much work on to the CPU.

OId HP for me

[Ridgelift]

I bought a LaserJet 5m and duplexer off eBay for less than $200. The older LaserJet's are built like tanks, and with the design of the toner cartridges, they really don't wear out.

600dpi, Postscript, built-in network adapter, compatible with Linux. Just because newer printers print at higher resolutions with more pages per minute doesn't necessarily make them better in my view.

This is just sad

[fm6]

HP used to be the source for quality hardware. No longer.

Hardware problems

[Robbat2]

"First, an HP LaserJet 1100, which continually misfed papers and smeared toner"

Misfed paper is a sign of a few possible things:
- incorrect paper weight or thickness.
- dirty pick-up mechanism.

By far, incorrect paper turns up far too often. If the paper is too thin or light, it's likely to slip. If the paper is too thick or heavy, it's likely to stick. Also make sure you load the paper into the printer the correct way up! Look at the ream of paper when you buy it, and on one end there will be an arrow indicating what side you should be printing on.

For the smeared toner, try to find out where in the printer it's smearing. Primarily, is it between the drum and the fuser, or after the fuser. If it's the former, then clean that part of the printer throughly! If it's after the fuser, then your fuser is malfunctioning (unfortunetly fusers often cost a lot of money to replace).

I'm the proud owner of a LaserJet 4L that's more than 10 years old. I've gone thru 7 toner units, and had a single hardware failure - the power supply, and it worked perfectly fine after that was replaced.

However it wasn't keeping up with the demand for printing, so I also got an HP LaserJet 2100TN.

HP Laserjet 2100

[Thomas A. Anderson]

I run a small dual-boot internet cafe. My old school HP DeskJet died, so I found a used HP LaserJet for $100. Only had it a few months, but it works great and plays very nicely with CUPS.

Hope this helps,

Greg

Check out local computer shows

[Aero]

Don't look on eBay for old LaserJet 4's -- the shipping cost will kill you. But if you live in or near a major city (or even a medium one), chances are there's a regularly-scheduled computer show, where the mom-and-pop shops and the used-gear dealers all show up.

I picked up a LaserJet 4M plus a newly-refurbished toner cartridge at a MarketPro computer show for $150 about a year and a half ago. Probably the last time I'll ever buy a printer.

Re:Check out local computer shows

[TYC]

Hmm. I picked up a LaserJet 4M+ and a refurbished toner cartridge on e-Bay for $40 ($15 for the printer, $25 for the toner), plus $30 for shipping. The shipping was much more than the price of the printer, but the net price of $70 is still less than half what you paid.

Oh, and the printer is big, ugly, noisy and pumps out nice printouts at decent speed day in and day out, and I have absolutely no doubt that it will keep on doing it for many years to come. Works great with Linux, too.

Same here. About a year ago, I bought a used HP4M+ with under 15k pages on it ($89, shipped) for the office. Used it for 30k pages, put new rollers (about $22, shipped) in it to fix intermittent paper jams, and I'm now near 90k pages. Since putting the rollers in, I haven't had even one error, misfeed, or other problem with it, and I feed a variety of paper, envelopes, checks and cardstock through it.

Since then, I've bought two more, and never had any trouble at all with either of those two.

If you get a 4 series, get a "plus" model. The original 4 series doesn't go into low power standby mode when idle.

It doesn't hurt that new, off brand toner cartriges are dirt cheap as well.

consumer reports

[legLess]

For a while now the Brother HL-1440 has been Consumer Report's higest-rated laser printer. My business partner has one, and had no trouble setting it up with CUPS under Red Hat. It's fast, not too loud, good quality, and less than $200.

Re:consumer reports

[UserChrisCanter4]

I have recently seen the HL-1440 advertised for $120 at Office Depot/Max, etc. I have one, and I've got to completely second that claim. In addition to being extremely reliable, Brother seems to be actively resisting the urge to gouge on consumer-line laser toner.

As laser printers have gotten cheaper, "razor blading" on the consumer-line units has become more and more common. My brother made the unfortunate decision to purchase one of Samsung's consumer-level units. It's a very reliable printer, but Samsung ships it with a 1,000 page toner and has an MSRP of $79.99 on a 3,000 page toner. Comparatively, the HL-1440 ships with the normal 3,000 page toner, and replacement units carry an MSRP of $49.99 (and can be found for $35).

Re:Cleaning it...

[turtled]

I use rubbing alcohol, brings back the tackyness of the rollers. If that doesn't work, I would buy a maintainence kit; for work we get ours from http://www.printertechs.com/ They have great instructions w/pictures. Good luck.

Re:HP LJ 1100

[Hadlock]

Try using Xerox brand laser paper. Not only is it dryer than regular laser paper (which in turn, is much dryer than inkjet paper), but it has chemicals in it to resist water soak.

Reliable HP printers

[Anna Merikin]

Do NOT include the 1100 series, nor the cheap 4L, 5L, or 6L. I have no knowledge of the 1320, but the previously mentioned are all junk with respect to their page-pickers. HP had a free fix, but I guess it was only temporary, and the offer ended years ago.

The 1200 was good (PS for Linux/BSD/MAC). For those who only may need 600 dpi, the 4, 5, 6 M/P series printers are still available in good condition used....

After owning a 4L, 6L and 1100, I will stick with the 1200 I have now at all costs.

Re:Cleaning it...

[Lord Prox]

Yeah, DO NOT USE ALCOHOL. Regardless of what someone else tells you. It will dry out the rubber rollers and then you will know the true meaning of paper jams. Use something that will mosturise the rubber, soft and supple is key here.

As for the artical poster, the best solution I have found is Ebay. Buy an old Laserjet 4 - 5 with a low pagecount. They may not be the fastest things on the planet but they just work (as you know)

Also feel free to drop some hate mail over on HP and their new big chief Carly Fiorina. She must have something to do with this.

Dear Slashdot

[jazman]

I gave HP some cash and they gave me a shit printer. Then I gave them some more cash and I got another shit printer. Which HP printer should I get next?

ObAskSlashdot: I'm thinking of starting a business. How can I find people as gullible as this? I'd be able to retire in double-quick time.

HP LaserJet 1320 isn't that bad!

[MooseGuy529]

I have an HP* LaserJet 1320 myself, and it works quite nicely. The print is extremely crisp, and the duplexing works great. Grayscale graphics are a little "splotchy" (very slight variations in tone), but that's not what you get a laser printer for. The feed from the paper tray works fine--it's only jammed one page, and that was because I accidentally grabbed it after it came out halfway for duplexing and it went back in crooked. I have tried the manual feed (which is what I hear is screwed up on it) and it does have a little trouble with whole sheets*, but it works well with envelopes. The Mac OS X driver works identically with Linux, since they both run CUPS or you can use hpijs. All in all, I'd say it's a great printer, unless you do a lot of full-page manual feed stuff (like transparencies, but I doubt Slashdot users still use overhead projectors).

I am quite frustrated, as are other owners, that in a $400 printer, they include neither a USB nor a serial cable, and give you only a regular-size toner cartridge--I really can't see how it saves them that much money. But this isn't unique to HP; all printer makers have been skimping on stuff for a while. At least they didn't skimp on the actual printer itself.

* HP: I wonder if Carly made HP lowercase because they aren't her initials.

* Manual feed: I jammed the front-door-closed limit switch with a pen cap and figured out what the problem is. It's three things:

• The little guides on the side slant inward in the middle, making it harder to keep paper straight.
• The paper-detect switch is about 1 cm earlier in the paper path than the rollers it triggers.
• The rollers do not run continuously but just jerk forward about 60 degrees (maybe 0.5cm) when the paper is first detected. This means two things: First, since the paper-detect switch is 1cm away, you have to move the paper forward that 1cm in the fraction of a second before it tries to feed the paper, otherwise it misses it. Second, this means it doesn't always grab the paper firmly enough to hold it.

If you shove the paper in straight and quickly, it will work fine. If you dawdle and put it in slowly (perhaps trying to align it) the printer will not grip it.

Yes, LJ1xxxs are cheap and flimsy

[Alan Shutko]

You should definitely upgrade at least to the LJ2xxx series. The LJ1xxxs are cheap, intended to be the barest entry to laser printing HP sells. You're trying to compare it to things like the LJ4, which were built for much higher volume business use. If that's the kind of printing you do, go with the LJ2xxxs or better.

Look at the estimated duty cycles on each, and you'll see that the LJ2xxx meets a much higher spec.

Re:This is reality in the Walmart Age

[Anonymous Coward]

Before you second and third the "sad" sentiment about what HP used to be, realize something first: Realize that you are to blame. Why? Because you (i.e. the consumer) demands cheaper products each year. HP would love to build "old school" products of the same quality upon which its reputation was built back in the days of the LaserJet Series II... but unfortuantely the consumer public won't let HP do that. If consumers were willing to pay a fair price for a well built product, then there wouldn't be a problem. But unfortunately the new "Walmart Economy" in which we all now live has single-handedly made it virtually impossible for companies (like HP) to survive by making the "best" products. Consumers no longer demand the "best" products - they demand the cheapest possible product that will accomplish the task for which the product is designed. Many people complain about HP's products not being as good as they once were... But HP doesn't just randomly choose to squeeze every possible penny of cost out of a printer just because they want to sabatoge their once-loyal customer base... They do it becuase that once-loyal customer base demands it. If Lexmark didn't exist, and Dell didn't exist, then it might be possible for HP to continue building "LaserJet Series II"-quality printers because consumers wouldn't have a lower cost alternative for these devices. But because consumers demand low cost, and Dell & Lexmark are there to answer those demands, HP has unforunately been pulled down to lower & lower pricepoints. It's a fascinating study in economics, and believe me it is one that I wish could be changed... but unfortunately consumers have proven that those who win in the marketplace are those that provide the cheapest goods. It's that simple formula that has made Walmart the largest company in the world (yearly revenue of over $250B, larger than IBM, DELL, HP, and SUN combined). This isn't just about 2-gallon jars of pickles and $40 DVD players. This is about ever item you buy, including laser printers for your office. Welcome to the Walmart Age.

avoid HP

[cgenman]

I've found that as a broad generalization that HP has had far too many quality control issues to roll that dice again. Since they started farming out manufacturing to the lowest bidder HP's have gone from acceptable to roundly junk. Every now and then you'll come across a HP that works well and reliably for a long time, but for every one of those there are four or five others that shouldn't have made it off of the shipping docks.

In recent years HP has started to farm out the designs to the lowest bidder too. So not only is the manufacturing flawed, what it is that is being made isn't that great either.

I know that people like the name, and that the name invokes familiarity, but avoid HP like the plague. You'll be glad you did.

Professional Postscript Network Printer

[Tux2000]

Try to buy a professional printer. Not those with a big bright "professional" label, tools with such labels aren't "professional". Look at the vendor web pages what printers they offer for business ("enterprise") use. They may be ugly, big and expensive, but they offer better quality and longer a lifespan than those toys sold for SOHO use.

Search for a printer with Postscript support. It makes life easy with any OS (*BSD, Linux, MacOS, MacOS X, and even DOS and Windows can print on Postscript printers), and at the same time you can be sure that the printer has a real CPU and not just a chip that does nothing more interfacing the printer's hardware to a Windows-only "GDI" driver. Make sure the printer has some RAM, 8 MBytes is the absolute minimum, better try to get 32 MBytes.

The printer should have a build-in (ethernet) print server, or at least an external print server from the same manufacturer. I've seen HP printers refusing to do more than the absolute minimum work (unidirectional printing without any status reporting) until they have been connected to an HP print server. The reason for the print server: Ethernet does not die, it justs becomes faster. Parallel ports become more and more rare these days, many laptops already omit them. USB will some day be as obsolete as ISA is today. USB limits you to 2m printer cable, a parallel port may work with up to 5m, but ethernet gives you 100m. Plus you can share the printer with as many computers as you like, without the need to power up a dedicated computer for printing. And as a nice extra: With a WLAN access point or WLAN router, you can even print wireless.

My Hardware: HP Laserjet 1200N, a LJ1200 with 16 MB RAM plus an external ethernet to USB print server in the box. Yes, it's a SOHO toy (with Postscript support), and I would prefer a LJ 4000/4050/4100, but I got it for free. I've printed 1500 pages without any problems, from Windows, Linux and MacOS 9.

Tux2000