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Affordable Laser Printers?
paul.h.burns asks: "I'm looking now for an affordable laser printer. The qualifications are that it must be network-able, under $300, and produce decent graphics. Color is not so important because I have an inkjet that I can use if I need color on any presentations. I've looked at Tom's Hardware, CNET, Pricewatch, and just plain googled around. I've found a few printers that meet one or two of the criteria, but not all three. Also, I've found some that look decent, except user comment's say that toner usage on those models is really high. So, now I'll ask everyone here at Slashdot: Are there any laser printers that you can recommend that would meet all three of my criteria?"
... 1000 monkeys. Taking dictation from pirates. Who are working for ninjas.
~/words_by_grainfed.txt
I picked up a brother hl-5170dn. It's network ready, comes with zeroconf (bonjour in the apple world) and includes postscript and PCL emulation. The web configuration interface is quite nice, it's "just worked" with my Mac, Windows and Linux boxes, and is readily available for under $300. And as a bonus, it has a built-in duplexer. It is black-and-white only and has its toner and drum separate. (Which is a good thing, since drums generally outlast toner, and this lets you replace them separately without resorting to dodgy refilled toner).
.ppd files for best results. The postscript emulation, while good, isn't perfect. Using their .ppd files seems to take care of all the rough edges I encountered.
Do be sure to download and use Brother's
I'm admittedly a rather light user in terms of volume. But after going through a ream of paper or so I'm still on the cartridge that shipped with the printer. YMMV of course.
There may be a newer better model than this one, but I haven't tried it and this one is clearly still available. I was initially a little nervous about moving away from canon engines, but I have been quite pleased after about a year.
.sig: file not found
I'm not sure how easy it would be to still find one of these, but I've had a LaserJet 4P since I was around grade 6 (about 6 or 7 years ago), and it has never failed me yet. It's a cheap, black-and-white laserjet with all of the features you request. And I can personally attest to it's printing quality. I've had it for so long, and it's never broken down or had any real problems. I also network it just fine -- it's currently connected to my LinkSys wireless printerserver.
I don't really have anything to compare its toner usage with, but I have no complaints in that department either. Overall, a great deal.
How about theDell 1710n? It is $299, networked and does 27 pages per minute.
...USB Ethernet 20PPM Laser Printer ~ $170.
It definately meets the networking and proce requriments. The only one in question is 'decent graphics', but that is subjective! and you know best.
* Up to 20 pages per minute
* HQ1200 resolution (up to 2400x600dpi)
* 250-sheet input capacity and manual by-pass slot for letterhead and envelopes
* USB 2.0 and Parallel interfaces1
* Windows® and Mac® compatible
* One-year limited warranty
* 16MB memory standard
* PCL®6 emulation standard
* Built-in 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
* Network Interface
It's just around your price and prints like a champ...color too. I'm using it at home to print tri-folds for my wife's business and the price per hard copy isn't bad. We print several thousand tri-folds per month and only have to replace the black cartridge on a regular basis. I have it hooked to a Linksys wireless print server so we can print from anywhere in the house. We've already gotten our money out of so if it dies tomorrow I may just buy another instead of having it repaired. Can't beat HP laser printers as far as I'm concerned. The 4000 series is great for just black and white but somewhat more expensive. I've watched them at work, at work, for years.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
I've had my HP LaserJet 1200 for several years, and it's super. I have it running off of a cheap D-Link wired printserver. HP doesn't make that exact printer anymore, but the LaserJet 1320 is currently $269 at Newegg.
"Good on toner" and "good graphics" are relativly subjective terms. Can you be more specific?
As for networkable mono laser, most of the first page of this link qualifies.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
for instance, would you be needing a black and white laser printer to proofread ads? (very obscure joke)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
I used to do this for a living, but not in the US market.
You haven't mentioned how many pages you expect to produce per week/month/year, which makes this a little tricky.
Ideally you need to look at the expected usable life for the device (for corporate use 5 years, personal use maybe up to 10 years), does the device require a maintenance kit, what is the device lifetime duty cycle and what is the cost/yeild of the toner cartirdge.
Additionally, do you print a lot of postscript or PDFs, and is speed an issue?
The cost per page calcualtion is basically: ((purchase cost of the device / lifetime pages printed)+(cost of tomer cart/yield)+(cost of maintenance kit/yield))
Kyocera make good quality low TCO (total cost of ownership)laser printers - but I haven't found them to be especially durable in high volume applications.
The HP 4xxx series are generally good entry level workgroup printers, reliable and well supported.
If speed or large PDFs are a requirement, you may want to consider a memory upgrade or postscript kit. Remember that when they quote pages per minute - that is the speed per page for additional copies of the same page (engine speed) once the first instance has been processed (first page out).
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
There are many laser printers under $300. Samsung makes a few fairly nice ones. But networkable, that's another story. Probably your best bet is a USB printer supported by linux and then stick CUPs on a Linksys 54GSL or whatever it's called (the wireless router with USB support).
Although toner is very expensive, you can get a decent full-color laser for about $300-600. The HP Laserjet 2600n. See http://www.nextag.com/hp-2600n/search-html . The n designation means it comes with jetdirect too. The only downside is the printer language is not PCL or PS, but there is a CUPS driver for linux available. The extra money for color may be worth the extra couple of hundred.
As for myself, I have an old Okidata 10ex LED printer that is parallel only. I use a USB-Parallel adapter and plug it into my linux box (cups server) with the USB. The linux box shares it to windows and linux clients. I recently upgraded the RAM to 32 MB, so it should be able ot handle anything I throw at it for years to come, even if I have to wait a while for the pages to spit out. Toner is separate from the drum, so it's dirt cheap to fill. I recently bought a new drum for it for $60. This printer has been one of my best computer investments.
I don't have a specific printer recommendation, but if there's one you've found whose only downside is a lack of a network interface, couldn't you just share the printer from a computer?
I'll create an amusing sig when I have something meaningful to post.
You have lots of options, but I must put my vote in for the HP Laserjet 1022n.
All the B&W laser printers in this price range have about the same features. Resolutions, price, peformance... they are all about equal.
But the HP works with everything... Except I must warn you it doesn't work with Mac OS 9 or earlier.
Check out your options... If you're like me, you'll find that a good brand name and support are worth a lot.
--Pathway
But check out the HL-5250DN which is the suggested replacement model.
I'm really not sure what your graphics requirements are on a laser printer as its their weak point. However, there are older laser printers that do a wonderful job and cost nearly nothing - to buy and operate. The HP 5 line is particularly known for being a solid and reliable piece of equipment. Further, they're easy to maintain and buy parts for. Apple's LaserWriter line is based on 3rd party engines that are frequently very reliable and easy to service. Find one locally so you don't have to pay ridiculous shipping fees. Many people get rid of these older machines "upgrading" to a newer, more expensive and less reliable model.
Know what I like about atheists? I've yet to meet one that believes God is on their side.
Spend an extra $100 or so and get a Minolta 2430DL. Networkable with Bonjour/Zeroconf support, photo quality color (i.e. output like a glossy magazine), drivers for Linux, toner is affordable. I love ours.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
My recommendation: find someplace that sells (and services) used printers. There is no need to go with a new printer unless you really want to or are lulled into a false sense of security because of having a sealed box.
I have a friend who deals in government surplus and he can just about repair laser printers with his eyes closed. I got a used LaserJet 5 with duplex unit and additional paper tray from him, and it's never given me a problem even though I've printed thousands upon thousands of pages on it. The LaserJet 5 printers are the pre-Carly printers, when HP actually made quality products. The damn things can take just about any beating you can throw at it.
That and my HP DeskJet 970cxi are on my home network via a Microplex print server (LPR/LPD-based) that can support two parallel and two serial printers. By installing the LPR software that comes with Windows XP (but has to be installed manually) and the drivers from HP's site (because the built-in Windows drivers lack a lot of good features), I have all of the PCs in my house printing to both of these printers. Because the server unit is LPR/LPD based (and uses a lot of UNIX sommands like lpstat), I can print to it from my Sun workstations if I install a PostScript cartridge in my LaserJet, and SimplyMEPIS Linux prints to both of them without any problems.
The only thing that I question is your requirement that it prints "decent graphics". Anything with 600dpi or above can print decent graphics. But since I can't determine what you mean by that or why you have such a requirement, I can't say for certain that something like an LJ5 would be good. Just don't go lower. The LJ4 was good, but everything below was 300dpi. MAJOR difference in graphics quality!
If you want to buy a new printer because of a warranty, that's fine, but I have to recommend that you find a good-condition HP from the days when HP stood for "quality printers", unlike today where it seems to stand for "ink and toner supplier". Linksys and other companies sell network server boxes, too. Hell, even an old PC can do that if you want. You don't have to have a network-ready printer in order to print on a network.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
Well, that's what I use. Bought them a few years ago, printer around $250 and print server about $80, I think. I guess you'll find the prices even lower now.
Has been working great for me. Good print quality with plenty of memory, fast speed, good paper handling mechanics, does duplex printing, and the main tray holds whole bale of paper (500 sheets). Toner is about $100, and lasts a pretty good while. The print server works simply and easily with both Windows and Linux.
HP LaserJet 2600n It is color, but once you go color laser, you have very little use for Color Inkjet (other than occassional photo paper printing). It has network ability. The included toner does last for about 1000-1500 pages, and for the most part, I'm satisfied with the print quality. However, I'm very suspect of its color matching abilities, but then again, this printer I don't think is certifed for such... Fairly fast to boot to (about 5-6 seconds for first page). Despite its MSRP of $399, it can be occassionally had for $350-$299 if you look hard enough. OfficeDepot do have these guys on sale occassionally.
[VODAK - Apply Directly to the Mouth!] [VODAK - Apply Directly to the Mouth!] [VODAK - Apply Directly to the Mouth!]
I tell everyone I know to check out techbargains.com. A quick search there revealed:
Samsung Black-and-White Laser Printer for $60, not a bad deal, but I don't have any experience with Samsung laser printers, so who knows how good it is.
Here's another by Konica.
Cost per page should be more important than initial purchase cost.
You can get a refurbished/or possibly new HP4050, and with compatible 10,000 page cartridge, you get about $0.017 per page. The machine itself is approx $300. Holds 600 sheets by default.
Mind you, this is all Australian dollars.
I just picked up a Samsunb ML-2010 for $60 at Best Buy. It's mono (like you, I also have a color inkjet I can use if I need color), but c'mon, $60! And no rebate forms to fill out - the price is $60 at the register. It's light on features, but it does have a toner saver option, so an $80 toner cartridge gets you 5,000 pages. The toner that comes with it is rated for 1,000 pages with the 40% "Toner Saver" option turned off.
I know you didn't specify the operating system, but given that this is Slashdot, people might want to know if their next printer will work under their OS of choice. A list of printers that work (and don't work) under Linux (and in most cases just about anywhere Ghostscript will run) can be had at http://www.linuxprinting.org/.
I reviewed the hp LaserJet 1320 on my web site. In short, it's cheap (maybe not under $300, but definitely under $400, and often discounted on Newegg), has awesome text quality and very good graphics quality, prints relatively quickly, duplexes (an uncommon feature in such a cheap printer!), and conserves toner (I haven't replaced the cartridge yet, in several years of use.
ttuttle is a rankmaniac
I bought mine new in '99 and it is still going strong. I swear that thing is unkillable. You can pick one up used for around 150$ or so if you do some searching. Only two real problems. Toner and fuser are combined into one 95$ unit (good for about 10000 pages or so YMMV). No duplexer available. :).
Good things, Jetdirect, works flawlessly with all my boxen be they Win, Mac or Penguin. It's built like a tank. I can beam print jobs to its IR port from my Newton
I recently picked up a LaserJet 5M with a JetDirect ethernet card for $35. It prints great text and graphics, and has at least emulated PostScript. It's not a speed demon, but it's not slow either. Best of all, hundreds of thousands -- maybe millions -- of these same basic print engines were used by several companies over many, many, years so toner + spare parts are cheap and readily available.
The only consumable is toner (which has an integrated imaging drum so hidden costs for a $200 imaging unit every three toner cartridges!), but every couple hundred thousand pages expect to replace the fuser. The toner prints between 6000 and 8000 pages, and remanufactured cartridges, which are usually perfectly fine replacements for the OEM carts, are readily available for as little as $35 (same price as printer, which usually has at least one cartridge included). With some searching you could probably find perfectly fine cartridges for even less.
The printers themselves are 600 DPI, print at 12 pages per minute, are very well built, and with basic cleaning + a new fuser every three or four years will run almost forever.
And if it dies, you can sell the PostScript SIMM and JetDirect card for $20 on eBay - nearly recouping your initial investment!
I haven't shopped for a laser printer in 14 years because my LaserJet IIIP refuses to die. And yes, I use it every day.
When you're looking at old HPs, DO NOT go for the 4P, 5P, 6P, or any such models. The 'P' stands for 'Personal,' which translates to 'junk.' The 4P was probably the best of the lot, but the 5P and 6P had serious issues.
Instead, go for a 4+ or better model. The 4+ and 5 series are based off the same engine, a Canon, and they're bloody workhorses. You seriously can't kill these things unless you really try. They're rated for 30,000 pages per month -- 1000 pages per day -- which, while it may be overkill for you (if there were any such thing), just attests to their superior build quality.
I have a 5M here I got for $50 (including local pickup) off EBay, and that included a 500-sheet third tray, duplexer, and crappy off-brand toner cartridge that I need to replace. Which I will when it dies (I am, after all, cheap). Yeah, the lights do dim when it comes on, and I had to replace the network card -- but it's hard to beat getting a tank of a printer for $50.
If you don't need a colour laser printer, don't get one. The black toner for colour laser printers (or at least for the ones I've seen) is terrible for text, because it's made to be just as glossy as the colour toners. The output is actually quite hard to read under ordinary lighting conditions.
http://outcampaign.org/
Under $300 finding a networkable printer is very difficult. Besides, you'll have to have some sort of scheduler for that anyways. I have a Samsung ML-2250, costs $150, pretty cheap toner, and great quality, even on toner save mode. I hook the USB to my Samba server and after working out the kinks with Windows drivers, I'd say it's even better than direct networking given the control I get from all jobs coming to one server. Also, it frees a potentially valuable ethernet port!
Don't believe in miracles -- rely on them.
It's been a sweet little printer...never gave me trouble unless I used a leaky refilled cartridge. It doesn't draw as much current as the others in Gen 4 and is surprisingly light. Got it off eBay for $25 and cartridges on eBay run about the same. I think there is an LaserWriter that is identical to it except for the Appletalk interface. It's not a tank, it's a mini-tank. An SUV of a printer, if you will.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Should come in at about $300. The HP4000 is, without a doubt the best departmental laserprinter ever built. They run and run and run, recharged toner cartridges are cheap and they can be overhauled by the user. Memory is also cheap. We have 250k plus on one of ours and it's still working like a champ.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
I bought an used HP LaserJet 4000 + ethernet module for EUR 120 a few years ago and it is the best printer I've ever used (much better and faster than the ones @ work). It prints the first paper in about 5 seconds (including warm-up), cardridge lasts forever in home use (years), supports PostScript for easy netcat printing (cups? bah!) and the feeder easily eats a whole pack of copier paper.
Why buy a new sucky one when you can get an slightly used office printer for less?
Search Ebay for 4000TN for prices.
I got this printer for my birthday a little while back, and I love this printer.
Fast as can be, small but beastly looking, nice good-high quality picture printing (I have done a few), very very very fast (first page out in around 8 seconds), and comes right up to your price range.
Complimentary NewEgg Link (The exact one that I bought, and I did buy it through newegg)
That particular printer is USB and LPT, however it has a cousin or two floating around with an ethernet hookup if thats what you really want.
Recap: It's a fucking awesome printer!
http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/
I had a weirdo project where I needed to print 50,000 pages _quickly_. Hit eBay, and found a used Optra S 1855, plus duplexer, extra paper trays, network adapter _and_ toner for something like $300 plus shipping. Postscript, PCL, 1200dpi - it pretty much does it all. No issues printing from Linux. It even took memory that I had sitting in my junk drawer, helped speed things up a bit.
I printed the 50k pages using the crappiest, cheapest Staples brand paper around. It jammed just twice. Oh, and predates Lexmark's evil chipped carts. It thrives on cheapo refills (each of which has gotten like 20k pages). And duplexing is excellent, highly recommend it.
jh
I use an ugly HP LJ 1200N for my home office. The "N" indicates two things for this model: an external, ugly HP Jetdirect USB print server powered from an external power supply, and 16 MBytes RAM instead of 8 MBytes. I found that upgrading the RAM to 32 MBytes (ripped out of a dead LJ 8500) makes it a little bit more responsive. A refurbished 1200N would fit into your budget, at about $300 according to cnet. A new toner cartridge costs about $65 for 2500 pages, $80 for 3500 pages if you buy from HP, $40 or less if you use a 3rd party cartridge.
There is also a 1220 model with a scanner on top of the printer. HP has replaced the 1200 series with the 1300 series.
I know the HP LJ 4000 Series (4000N, 4050N, 4100N) from my former employeer, they are very reliable until someone tortures it with inkjet overhead transparancy films. Their big advantages over the 1200 are the build-in print server, a completely closed paper cartridge below the printer, a button to cancel a print job running amok, and they need less space on the table than the 1200, because of the paper cartridges and the build-in print server. After two or three years (several 10.000 pages), they needed a new kit of paper wheels, easy to swap and low cost. And once a year, someone came to clean the printers from paper and toner dust.
Whatever printer you buy, think about buying a printer with a Postscript interpreter. I can use my 1200 (with Postscript) from each and every computer I own, even without manufacturer-supplied drivers, simply because all of my computers are able to create Postscript output. Compare that with a "GDI printer", where the printer driver does the job of putting pixels onto the paper. If you have no driver, you can not print. Will Windows Vista include support for your GDI printer? Perhaps not. Will the printer manufacturer deliver a driver for Vista? Perhaps not. Will the old driver work with Vista? Perhaps not. Will the printer work with the next iteration of Windows? Perhaps not. Will Vista be able to generate Postscript? Yes. Will it work with my 1200? Yes. A related example: Windows 98 supported all features of the Soundblaster AWE32, Windows 2000 detects it as a Soundblaster 16, no AWE features available. Creative does not deliver a driver for Windows 2000, but recommends to replace a working device with a new device.
Tux2000
Denken hilft.
I have two Samsung ML-1740s, and am thrilled with both of them. Cheap (one was $120 new, the other $100 when I purchased it later), advertises Linux support on the box and it actually does work like a charm. I eventually put one on my fileserver box, which makes a network printer, but my dad's is attached to his network via a $35 DLink network print server. Again, works like a charm. Not terribly fast, but it is cheap, reliable, very low power when idled, and does a nice job printing.
I would highly recommend considering a second hand printer. By that I mean something like a printer that is ex-lease, and may have only been running for a few years. In New Zealand I'd source something like this from TradeMe. I guess in the US you might look somewhere like eBay.
Remember. Reduce - Reuse - Recycle.
I recently replaced my crappy HP Laserjet 1000 with a Samsung ML-2251N and I've been very pleased with it. It's got an ethernet port, web configuration interface, Bonjour support and the output quality and speed are high. It seems to cost around $200 now.
One which wasn't on http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php would be my choice...
Kyocera FS-1010. Definitely. Maybe there is a successor in the meantime.
We have about 20+ Oki printers in the B4000 range (and it's predecessor, the 14ex). I usually pay about £131 for a B4250 from Dabs.com in the UK. This unit isn't networkable itself, but they also sell an own-brand print server that plugs straight into the parallel port for another £23. So that's about £155, or $290, for a networked printer with low running costs - the toner cartridges are also cheap, at £21, the only ongoing expense is a drum every 150,000 pages, at about £119.
Two, actually. One used. Linux CUPS driver -- basically seems to be a "4" anyway. Running linux, it has been punished with many manuals of several hundred pages (manually) double-sided.
$39.95 print server at Microcenter. At least one recharge from every cartridge -- works well, takes about 5 minutes like they advertise, and reduces the per-page cost of these smaller "toaster" printers.
I recently picked up a Samsung ML-2010 from Compoosa for $40 after rebate (less than the cost of a toner cartridge). It's fast, small, and relatively quiet, and produces rather nice output. It does not have onboard networking, but you said that your target price was under $300. You can easily pair this printer with an Apple Airport Express or Linksys WPS54G and still be well under $300, and then not only do you have a networked printer, you can have a wireless networked printer. Mine works quite well with my Airport Express.
I know that, and still burned myself. I bought a laser printer rated at 100k sheets per month, and cost $1,999
unfortunately, the page I wanted to print 3000 of at a time- required more memory than the printer could handle at max res, so each page was regenerated..
so I had to wait FOREVER or add ram to the printer or reduce the complexity...
one graphic.. reduced quality vs. a lot for more ram (I shoulda bought the 2,400$ version with a duplexer, would have doubled my ram--)
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Does it have to be new? Are you near an ebay vendor selling one that will let you pick one up?
The HP 5si(MX) is a mule of a printer. It will churn out pages for ever, it can have a duplexor, envelope feeder, 4000page base, jetdirect (10bt), prints up to 11x17 (well, 11.7x17.7 technically), and is fast (24ppm). The memory it uses costs about $5/stick (old 72 pin SIMMs, I think). You can get a non-OEM cartridge for about $60, and refill toner for about $15 (precisionroller.com) for 15,000 pages. eBay prices usually run in the $150-300+ range depending on options, but...
It's heavy as sin - about 125lbs shipping weight. It's big - no compact desktop model here.
I bought one three years ago, and use it as my primary printer, hooked direectly on the network. It was $275 including shipping, and came with the network and duplexor. I did have to spend about $120 on a fuser after a couple of months, but I'm still using it. We probably go through 15,000-20,000 pages a year in my office. Images and text are far, far more crisp than the Dell 5100 color lasre I have, and every bit as good as the HP 2600n I've got (which can be had, on sale/after rebate for just under $250 if you're diligent).
OTOH, you could just go lurk on fatwallet.com in the hot deals forum - there's a b/w printer deal there about every other week, and those folks get pissed if the end price after rebate cost more than about $10.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I also have a 2600N and on quality paper it makes great color prints and is pretty fast at it too. Further I used the HP Trade in program (http://www.hp.com/united-states/tradein/home_alt
when I purchased my printer. I had an old HP Laserjet 4 (man those things are work horses) that they gave me an $80 credit on plus paid for shipping back to HP. All in all I spent about 200 - 220 on a color laser printer with networking, I'm very happy with the results.
You can have your printer Good, Fast or Cheap.
Pick 2
But seriously I've personally fallen in love with our offices new Dell 3100cn its print cartriges are cheap (45 bucks for 4000 pages of black (the drum is a seperate unit))
They seem to have replaced it with the 3010cn which looks the same but I can't personally vouch for it, its on sale for 299 right now though.
Three laws passed by the 105th Congress, which was elected before I was of voting age: NET Act, Bono Act, and DMCA.
I picked up a Brother HL 5250DN a few months ago.
1200+ dpi, duplex, networked, picked it up at Staples for $260.
I'll highly recommend it.
We bought a Samsung ML-1210 2-3 years ago for home use and have been really happy with it. It works great with both Windows and Linux (using CUPS & foomatic). I'd definitely buy a Samsung printer again.
Got a used IIP back around 1994 for cheap. Found a memory board for it and bumped it up to max memory. 2 or 3 years ago when I was building my lan, first I hung it off a print server machine on the serial port (the other printer went off the parallel, but the IIP was versitile enough to allow both printers on the one machine). More recently, I got a Linksys 3 port printer server. This printer, plus two more, now are on my home lan and just work. I was printing some forms last night on the IIP. The toner lasts for a long time too.
To the nay sayers, when I got this printer, the IIIPs were just coming out, and the 4,5,6 Ps were not around yet, so they were not an option.
The other thing about a IIP is that the drivers are rock solid. And even the oldest software supported these printers.
I've had an HP LaserJet 5L since early 1996 and its still going strong (~2 toners a year). Not bad for a 10yr old printer. 9 moves later and I've dropped it, cracked the case, had kids jam sandwiches in it and it still works. The auto power off / powersave is a little flaky sometimes (preventing it from going full poweroff) and sometimes halfway through the feed tray, the feeder will grab more than one page at a time leading to a jam, but other than that I love old reliable.
In this particular model (well 1700n/1710n) we have had to replace about 7 from 10 we purchased, all under warranty but it is a drag. besides you have to buy the imaging drum kit every 4 or so toner cartridges, wich adds up to the operating costs.
14 years eh? That's definitely a design flaw as far as a printer manufacturer is concerned - too reliable. Recent models will have this feature deliberately left out, I'm sure... What parts have you replaced in it?
I've had the Samsung ML-1740 for a few years now. Only needed to replace the toner once. Crystal-clear printing (b&w) (no color -- who really needs that?). Toner is around $80. Expect to find the printer on sale for $99 at your local electronics megastore, or $149 regularly.
I've gone through (no joke) about 10 different [ink|bubble|dot-matrix] printers and the Samsung printer is MUCH better than anything else. Even the more expensive Lexmark laser printers don't have anything on Samsung.
Oh, but this is for home use. For office use, it's a bit slow.
Best thing about it? You don't need to install any crazy drivers. Just plain vanilla Windows print screens. Nothing that talks to you while it's printing or stays eternally in your tray.
Here is a ZDNet Review], my personal review, and their specifications.
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
It's easy to find a B&W laser printer for under $300 if you don't need speed or capacity.
However, if volume is an issue, you may need to spend a little more money.
My partners and I just bought (yesterday) an HP Laserjet 1320 for $299 after $100 instant rebate.
Howver, if you need networking suport, it will cost more money (over $100+ I think).
In my business, time is money (more than money is money), and we bought this printer because for
under $300 we get 22 Pages per minute, and up to 500 sheets capacity.
We typically print 300 - 1000 pages at a time, so this is sufficient for us.
Also, there are cost-per-page statistics out there that show most HP printers cost about $0.015 per page,
which is about 1/10 of what an inkjet costs.
The bottom line: make sure you consider capacity and speed in making your decision. It may be worth the extra money.
I bought a Dell 3000cn for about $292.98 shipped. It is full CMYK color and I love it. It has a built in Ethernet port and works well with all my Windows 2000 and XP machines. The color and printing are excellent.
/ laser?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
The only drawback is its size, but most color lasers can be pretty big.
You can usually find Dell coupons to lower the prices even more.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx
...is to find out where the closest e-bay guy is to your house.
There are lots of people who go cross-country to buy things from corporate off-lease houses and other sources of electronic junk.
Even the Laserjet4 - which is pretty small compared to the other models - ships for around $70 because it's so heavy. I bought one of the laserjet 4s and paid the shipping...cost me just shy of $100 total. Then I bought a 300 pound laserjet 5SI (the kind you find in big office buildings) for $35 because I bought from a local guy.
The things are incredibly plentiful, though. You should be able to find one for around $30. Then you'll probably have to change the rollers (the plastic in them degrades as they get older - can get 'em off ebay for $15), and buy a remanufactured cartridge. Those can be had off ebay for around $30 and will generally print at least 15,000 pages (same for the other models of printers I'm talking about here).
You may not want to fiddle with the Laserjet 4 or 4L, though. Those particular models is known to be finicky. Because of a bad design in the pickup mechanism, they'll generally only accept one thickness and consistency of paper for most of their usable lifetime, and even then they'll sometimes jam.
Laserjet 4P, 5, or one of the SI (which is bigger) models are much more robust.
Be careful buying anything after 5. They started making things cheaply after that, and you could easily have something break that's not easy to fix.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
You need to think carefully before using an 'old' old computer, three years old or older.
-- can you connect to it? Really old systems won't have USB and may not even have PCI for a network card. You can work around this, but is it worth the effort?
-- full PCs consume a lot of power compared to a networked printer or a non-network printer and a liberated Linksys router or NSLU2. I could easily believe that half of my power bill comes from idle and even "powered off" electronics, and my place looks like the bridge of the Enterprise when I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
-- old PCs may be fire hazards due to aging components.
The last point can't be overemphasized. Systems collect dust in places where it can't be easily blown out, insulation plasticizers dry out, etc. They can be safe to run when you're around, but I wouldn't trust them running when I'm asleep or away.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
It's not that there's something specifically wrong with the "P" models, it's just that they're not designed for any real longevity. In a home environment that gets maybe 20-50 pages printed a month on average, that ends up being, what, 600 total pages a year (ON AVERAGE)? Of course it'll be fine, but if you're a college student, run a home business, need a cheap BULLET-PROOF printer or are just a printing junkie, It's all about the 4+ or 5. I've replace more separation pads on the "L" series than I care to remember, and more fusers and paper pickup assemblies on the "P" series too, just not designed for any real volume of printing. That's not to say they're a bad printer (Well, maybe the L's, they REALLY suck:), it's just that the majority of purchasers never finish even one toner cartridge let alone come close to stressing the printer out...
You should be looking at older, used, well-made laser printers. I've been fairly content with a succession of Apple LaserWriter II's and 16/600PS's, both of which use the same Canon engines that were used in the same-era hp printers (LJ3=LWII, LJ4=Apple LWPro 630 & 16/600PS). I think the 16/600PS is a fantastic printer, because it has Real PostScript, Ethernet (though this requires an AAUI adapter), a parallel port, a serial port, a SCSI port and supports AppleTalk and LPR (though this requires that you load the "UNIX printing" software for Windows (or whatever MS calls it, I forget) for it to work properly with Windows machines. Plus, those older engines were built like tanks the LaserWriter II engine (only 300 dpi) is rated for 250,000 pages before major service is required.
Also look for HP LJ4's and LJ5's, especially if you can manage it, an HP LJ5SiMx or Nx series (though these are probably still out of your price range, they are a good investment).
All of these printers have easily available parts and will probably last longer than anything you could buy new for even two or three times the price.
B&W laser printers are under $130 here. At that price, you can buy a print server and have money to spare.
Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
My wife has been pining over a new color laserjet for awhile. After doing a bit of research, she said the Dell 3100CN was a good deal. Its currently on delloutlet.com for $259.
I got a 5P, added RAM, and the PS ROM to it, with shipping cost me about $89 I think. 6ppm, 600 dpi, plugs into a JetDirectEX, works perfectly.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Buy a Samsung ML-2010 for $69 http://shop4.outpost.com/%7BdvG+uA4pjhcymGxusl-wvg **.node3%7D/product/4515497;jsessionid=dvG+uA4pjhc ymGxusl-wvg**.node3?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
2 E16833162203
Get a Buffalo Print server for under $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8
Works flawlessly with Windows/Mac/Linux
(My printer is the ML-1710 and I bought it for $99)
if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
I've had my HP LaserJet 1012 for a couple years. I'm extremely pleased with it. It's B&W. I bought it for $200 back then but it should be a lot cheaper now. I'd recommend it.
If you're not afraid to buy a used printer, look for a refurbished HP LaserJet 2100N. The TN is the networked version but you can score a 10/100 JetDirect card off ebay for less than $100, and you can typically get the printer under $200. It does 1200 dpi at 12 ppm and 600 dpi at 17 ppm. The 600 dpi mode uses some HP thing called REt that uses variably-sized blobs of toner to get very nice output at 600 dpi. You can get additional paper trays, duplex unit, etc etc for it.
Get a refurbished model if you can. The refurb kit (about $80, IIRC) refreshes the pickup rollers and the fuser, plus the unit will come with a new, full toner cartridge. This is what I did; you can look on pricewatch to find such deals, or just google around.
The printer itself has parallel and appletalk (RS-422) inputs, and I added 10/100 ethernet. You can get postscript support for about fifty bucks (through a SIMM with some memory and I think a processor on it) but it speaks PCL 5+ or something, which is dandy.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
DO NOT buy samsung printers. Every high volume (1 cartridge per month or more) samsung ML series printer i have used has developed weird problems after a year or so. Little plastic and metal bits which are aparently essential to their operation fall off randomly. I have had to crazy glue so many little parts back on these printers.. Not to mention that even a small model number change nessecitates a different type of cartridge (ML-1410 takes a different cart than ML 1510 when they could have easily made them the same(same size printer etc)). They also have some toner cartridges that LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME but! they added a little piece of plastic to make the toner a different shape so that they arent interchangable! The cheap lexmarks do this as well (e240 and e232) and even go so far as to have a chip on the cart so that it will fit in the other printer but it just doesnt print!
The best printers are HP laserjets 5P 6p etc.. also the laserjet 2100N is a really fine network printer. The other printers that are absolute workhorses and do _not_ die are the HP laserjet 1000s. These things have very few moving parts and they are built so that basically the only thing that will stop it is a bad fuser. Some of the people in my office print on the order of 1000s of pages a week on those laserjet 1000s.
Old hp's are the best printers no question.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
I would worry more about the cost of the toner than the cost of the printer. Laser printer toner cartridges are much more expensive than ink-jet, at least the last time I checked.
We bought several Brother HL1450/1470s for my company back in '03 (this models have now long been phased out, but I assume the mechanics of the newer models isn't much different) because of their impressive feature set and comparatively low prices. They were marketed as workgroup printers by Brother, but were only slightly over your maximum price point.
Initially we were quite satisfied, but after a little over a year they started to break down one after another: Creaking noises from the paper feed mechanics, constant paper jams, toner leaking everywhere causing trouble with print quality. One of them died completely on us after 2,5 years. In the meantime we have thrown all of them out and have replaced them by HP Laserjets. Hope they last longer (back in the day they were almost indestructable, but who knows today...). We used them commercially to print invoices and stuff, but nothing a workgroup printer shouldn't be able to handle.
We also have a Brother MFC-9030 fax/scanner/printer which is still going strong after 3,5+ years, but which we hardly use as a printer. So if you have only low printing volume Brother can indeed be attractive for you, but if you want to print higher volumes just stay away.
We like Kyocera (as does our state Dept of Educ)
;-
I started out with an FS-1010 (before -two- price-drops) & have since bought an FS-1950 (on eBay)
The quality & features are fine, but the reason we (I can't speak for the Dept of Educ) chose 'em
is their claim of Au $ 0.02 per sheet printing costs ('dunno if that includes the paper).
Our only mistake was NOT choosing the Duplex (ie, two-sided) printer, ie, to help us save paper.
In the FS-1020D (model no from memory - e. & o. e.) is reportedly quite reliable, if not the
very fastest duplex laser printer on the market.
It would certainly suit us; we hardly ever need to produce paper anymore... Nor should you!
(While we -have- had some success flipping printed sheets over & printing on the back, it's a
bit risky; best if you wait until they cool off (costing time) & "it's all over" if there's a
paper-jam while printing Side 2's)
Oh, the FS-1950 came with a dated [& German-made?] TCP/IP-based LAN card, only 10 Mb/Sec.
We haven't yet worked out how to set its IP address.
Anybody know how to do that or where we might be able to find some documentation on it?
TIA for any leads.
I'm thrilled with my Samsunb 2251N. It whines if you install the drivers without a USB connection to the printer, but you just have to go and add a TCP/IP port to the printer in the control panel.
It doesn't ship with a mini toner cartridge, either. I'm still on my first after ~ 5000 pages.
You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
It is a bit above his range, but it's a really great printer. I love the fact that it comes standard with network support.
What I did to solve this was to buy a used HP Jetdirect print server on EBay. I got mine for about $40, and have used it with 2 different printers. It works very well.
I can also recommend this type.
... AND I only wanted to replace the toner, NOT the drum, because that is costly as well. Also, I was looking for a printer that was power-lean on standby, and I needed it to work with BSD.
I had similar conditions: bw laser, lan, cheap
Apart from the fact that its very noisy (not when it prints, but the cool-down fan) and has no PostScript (it's PCL but that's really not a problem), this is perfect.
Another plus compared to the once-fabulous HP 5L is that the paper tray is contained within so the rollers don't get dusty and slippery, which is what kills most 5L's.
"Good news, everyone!"
These printers have an estimated 1.5 million pages of "print-life". ;-)
You should get one that is in the 50k to 100k (printed pages) range. If you maintain it well (don't let it catch too much dust) it should really out-live 3 or 4 generations of PCs around your house
The Brother printer from the top of the thread also looks good - I'd seriously consider it, if I needed a printer now.
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
Fast.
1000 sheet capacity.
Duplex printing.
High toner capacity.
Networkable.
And cheap.... $50.
Looks arond salvage / surplus companies -- that's how I got one for $50, and another for $100...
I appreciate all the input on this. I haven't read through all the comments yet but I will be sure to once I get back Sunday evening. I'm sorry that I said decent graphics. It was a little vague. I would like to be able to print necessary charts, figures, diagrams, and other document related graphics (no photos) without them being skewed, blurry, or distorted in anyway.
Again, thanks for all the input, and I look forward to reading everyone's suggestions.
I recommend HP printers. Laser or colour laser printers.
under 300 bucks...fine.
Drivers for the lower-end HPs are also regurgitated excrement. Bloated, install-error prone, and don't run the install program on the CD since it installs about 70MB of unnecessary garbageware by default. Did I mention that some of the HP printer/scanner control programs don't quit gracefully when logging out of Windoze, so you have to wait 30 sec while the "trying to close ..." dialogue hangs out on the screen with the progress bars marching insufferably slowly?
Save yourself a lot of headaches and get a printer that accepts standard Postscript or PCL5. Actually, what I'd *like* to see is a printer that accepts straight HTML with .gif, .jpg, .png, and .dxf graphics and renders on the fly. Sort of a modern extension to Postscript support.
-b. -b.
Were you planning on making some counterfeit currency? http://www.pcworld.com/article/118664-1/article.ht ml/
I usually hate recommending HP because they have become more and more overrated in recent years, but I have an HP 1022n and definitely would recommend it. Its on the higher end of your $300 range but worth it. I also have a 1012 model and it works great as well, but thats not a networked model.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
I picked up my 6p used for $100.00. I added a refilled toner cartridge for another $70.00. That was about 3 years ago and I still haven't run out of toner. I later added extra RAM and the Postscript SIMMs. Not too long back I picked up a 5mp (with RAM and PS SIMM!) at Goodwill for $15.00! It works perfectly, and had a good toner cartridge and even a bit of paper loaded. Not bad for a Goodwill find.
You can find these printers surplus on Ebay. As I have noted, I have also found them at Goodwill. There are many resources on the Net detailing how to refurbish/repair these beasts if needed. Add on a networkable print buffer (I have found these surplus for $5.00 before), and you are set. You will never need another printer again (as long as you are doing black and white) - these things run seemingly forever. Best of all, you will spend well under $300.00 - if you do it right, you might spend under $100.00.
Believe me, it is worth it. If you are frustrated with your ink jet printer for any reason - take this route, and buy an older used Laserjet...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Cheap, networkable, good graphics. Choose two.
I really can't say enough good things about it - it's just a really, really solid piece of engineering and manufacturing. (I have no relationship with Oki other than as a *very* happy customer.) This is one case where a company has developed a superior technology, and then done everything they needed to to bring all the benefits of that technology to market.
I looked carefully at everything in my price range before selecting the Oki, and I'm convinced I'd have been pretty disappointed with any of the other choices. HP (#3 choice), Samsung (#2 choice), Konica/Minolta, Brother, and Xerox(Tektronix Phaser) all fell short.
The Okis have several big advantages over regular laser printers that aren't immediately obvious - here's a short list:
My Oki C5150n printer is one of the best products I've ever owned - it's *only* flaw is in not correctly using the manual bypass feeder tray without having to tell the driver you want to do that. (The manual says if there's paper there, it should use that by default, but it doesn't.) There are ne
"The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last
The LW 16/600 is a decent printer, but I think that its HP counterparts are superior. For one thing, you can configure them in the usual HP LaserJet menu rather than using some impossible to find Mac OS 8 application; they take a variety of HP MIO JetDirect cards which you can change out rather than buying an AAUI to AUI to 10BaseT series of converters.
The LaserJet 4 is the best in my opinion. The only thing that has ever failed for me is the rear feed rollers become worn out and need to be replaced or lubricated every 15-20,000 pages or so. Toner is cheap. Paper path is pretty simple, which results in almost no jamming.
The 4+ and 4M+ have Postscript, and the 4 and 4M can be upgraded by adding a Postscript ROM from a 4+ or 4M+. Throw some SIMMs in there to get the memory up around 32MB and it will print much faster. The M version is a little bit faster than the regular one, although the difference isn't monstrous.
Seriously, take a look. A lot of small companies, or home businesses that liquidate their assets will sell their stuff dirt cheap.
I got a HP4000TN for $100 off of there.
I'm happy.
"When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you." --leonstryker