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

I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[petard]

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).

Do be sure to download and use Brother's .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.

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.

Re:I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[petard]

I was totally not expecting Zeroconf support from a printer at that price point. I was very surprised when I went to save a receipt for an online purchase to PDF from my Mac (thus invoking the print dialog) and saw the printer as an option even though I had not set anything up in print center yet.

It definitely draws less power than the LJ4, and to all evidence does not suffer from the same problems with the fuser rollers that my original LJ4 did.

Re:I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[iamhassi]

The brother is a good suggestion, but doesn't this topic sound a little 1999? A laser printer that is "network-able, under $300, and produce decent graphics" isn't hard to find, especially if you don't mind using a cheap netgear print server, then there's a ton of laser printers for under $100 that will fit the rest of the requirements, and if you don't mind refilling the toner yourself you can buy toner refills for less than $15 for almost any laser printer.

Oh, and if you don't want to go through all that you can just jump to Networkable laser printers for under $300 in froogle. Every printer company has one for under $300 listed with froogle, I see the Lexmark, Samsung, Brother, HP...

I don't mean to flame but I don't see how anyone can spend more than 5 minutes looking for a laser printer and not find a laser printer that is "network-able, under $300, and produce decent graphics".

HP LaserJet 4P

[Hikaru79]

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.

Brother HL-2070N...

[TeckWrek]

...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

HP 2600n maybe

[alshithead]

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.

This model has been deprecated

[Yonder Way]

But check out the HL-5250DN which is the suggested replacement model.

Re:This model has been deprecated

[Vidar Leathershod]

Having used the HL-5170DN for many customers, with no problems, I started getting the replacement, the 5250DN. Had the same problems with envelope creasing. One thing that I like about Brother is their technical support, which is available by 800 number and has a decent amount of knowledge about their product.

For heavy paper and envelope problems, if you flip a panel down in the back, there are two adjustment levers. I would speak with tech support or find documentation before fiddling with them, because I believe that you only need to adjust one at a time (there are levers on both sides) and I can't remember which side you start on (or if it matters at all). What I do know is that it completely fixed the creasing problem, and it has been a wonderful printer since, with no issues.

Another customer had a noisy 5250DN, which Brother replaced immediately, providing a shipping label, pickup, and return of a Brand New Model (not refurb'd). I agree that the construction doesn't feel as nice as the 5170, but the product is so superior in it's price range it's not even funny. 30ppm, fake PS3, PCL, Web Management, an admin utility with pretty cool features, updateable firmware, 10/100 ethernet, optional trays, adjustable paper path, good tech support, 32MB exp to 512 I think. It costs me a whopping $230 shipped. And Brother still provides a Mac OS 9 driver!

If you need multifunction, their unit based on the 5250 is also nice (though I wouldn't bother with scanning, which IME is slow).

BTW, make sure you are not buying toner/drums from Staples. I can get, and you can probably, too, Brother's 7000 page extended life toner (5% coverage) for $60, and the Drums for $102 (about 25,000 pages at 5% coverage). I think there is no better option for inexpensive B&W printing. Only when you get up to color products do the Xerox/Tektronix products get my dollar. (Have had nightmares with modern HP printers [since 1999]). Good Luck!

Vidar

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.

Print Tracking

[Mendy]

One which wasn't on http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php would be my choice...