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?"

Comments

Networkable is the catch

[caseih]

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.

Konica Minolta

[metamatic]

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.

Re:I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[rolfwind]

I second your recommendation, plus it has HTML administration/configuration, just type in the web (lan) address of the printer, and you are given a quasi-web site to change preferences and what not. Plus the toner is pretty cheap ($50) for a ton of pages. I can testify that it works well with Windows, OS X, and the latest Ubuntu pretty easily. Two years ago, it was harder to install for Ubuntu, so I'm not quite sure if Ubuntu improved in this respect, or if the driver got better.

For anyone looking for a color laser, I also got an Epson AL-CX11NF a year back (Color Copier Scan Fax multi-function) and aside some initial misgivings, it works great. The toner is more expensive than black/white so it wouldn't be a good main copier as the Brother, but the color prints are very nice, scanning function is great, copying and scanning are flawless too - it's up there at 600-800 bucks, but it replaces several machines and functions much better than I expected for a multifunction (I had some experience with really crappy Lexar multifunctions, you get what you pay for). The only complaint is while most OSes can print to it, it seems only Windows can take full advantage of its remote network scanning capabilities.

Beats Me

[sunset]

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.

Used Optra S

[hirschma]

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

Old PCs

[coyote-san]

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.