Laser printer recommendations?
 

I'll have to buy some new office equipment for my new venture. One item will bea laser printer. Any recommendations for something in the $200-$300.00 range? I'm thinking HP is probably the way to go for laser printers. Any of you guys have a strong opinion on this?

How about All-in-one printer, fax, scanners?

Canon and HP are the best. Are you looking for color laser or just black and white? How many prints do you plan on making a month and is speed important to you? If you want something that copies and scans too, let me know, I'll set you up right.

I forgot that you sell these, Evil. I don't need color, just B&W. Speed's not that important and the monthly duty cycle should be pretty low. I'll know better what I might need after I see the new boss next week.

Thanks.

I'm happy with my HP printer...it's networked at home so all the PCs have access to it. Reliable so far at year three of ownership....purchased as a refurb.

It would fit your price range but...it IS a consumer model. There is a reason that there are offerings for consumers and businesses.

If you plan on print volumes generated by a typical small business, you'd be replacing cartridges daily! A significant expense IMHO even if you can get the cartridges recharged. I'm not sure the printer would hold up to the heavy usage either.

Thanks. I'm hoping I won't be doing that much printing. Hopefully, I'll be out selling a lot more than I am sitting in my office needing a printer.

I'm enjoying all the time I have on the forum this week before I have to start really working for a living again next week.

HP Laserjets have a similar reputation as Mercedes. When the Laserjets first came out, based on the Canon print engines, they were the industry standard for duty cycle and peformance, at a price.

When HP started creating cheaper consumer models after the LJ5, things really went downhill fast. Ask anyone that got stuck with an LJ 1100 or 1100a.

Other companies, like Brother and Samsung make great low volume home lasers, some with built in networking and Macintosh support.

I've had an HP LJ II sitting in my basement for 18 years. It hasn't worked in the last 16 of those. Everytime I start to throw it away, all I can see is the $1200.00 I spent on the damned thing.

Funny coincidence. I just bought a new printer for home on Tuesday.
I'm very loyal to HP. I wanted to be able to copy & scan as well. In color.
I bought the HP CM1017. The list price is pretty steep, $699.00, but if you go to Office Depot in person by this Saturday, there are 2 rebates. One is an instant $225.00, making it $475 out the door. Then you get a $150 mail in rebate on top of that. It's one heck of a nice color laser for $325. Holds 250 sheets total. Check it out.
David
** edit** it also has multiple memory card slots, so you can look at & print from most common camera card formats without even turning on your computer. Pretty slick:idea3:

All I can say, is stay away from Staples, I got into it with them over their price matching scam that they have.

I have a LJ 4P I got new in the early 90s. It'll print a perfect page after sitting for 6 months. No way I'll use anything but HP toner cartridges (made by Canon?). Compare that to inkjets that won't print right after sitting for a couple of weeks. Who wants to pay for HP ink cartridges with that won't keep?

The best feature is no power switch. Turns on when you print, turns off when it's done. Why aren't more devices like that?

Sixto
87 300D

We have a low-end HP color laserjet at work. The toner cartridges have a chip attached to them that counts the number of pages you print. When the page count hits a predetermined limit, it tells you the toner is out and refuses to print until you replace the cartridge. A page with one letter on it still counts as a page (even though it uses no toner)... At $100 per cartridge (and 4 cartridges), a toner refill costs more than the whole printer did, and you're throwing out half-full cartridges. Very maddening.

We also got a lower-end black-and-white HP (in the $150 price range) and it would slightly shrink each page it printed, which caused us alignment trouble when printing on pre-printed forms (such as cheques, label sheets, etc). Not recommended. Plus it didn't come with a USB cable to hook it up to the computer, which meant an extra trip to the store to get one.

Having said that, I have an ancient HP laserjet 4000N at home that's great - super fast and reliable.

I think that the recurring-revenue model that's always been used for inkjet ink is starting to become the norm for laser printers now - the printers are almost free (<$200) and the supplies are where they make their money.

That's good to know, Cornblatt. Thanks for mentioning that about the page-counting chip on the cartridges. That sucks!

My 18 year old HP IIP only used one cartridge in the two years it was operational. I think it would have been okay had my daughter not fed all of my pocket change into it. It never worked right after that.

You can buy replacement chips and stick them to your existing cartridges, but it seems like an unnecessary hassle (do a web search for "HP laserjet smartchip" and you'll find them).

I don't mean to speak negatively of HP; I'd imagine that other manufacturers have adopted the same practices. But, if you can find a printer without one of these chips, it would probably save you money in the long run.

I think pretty much all of the color laser printers and most of the B/W printers will have chipped cartridges. Originally called CRUM chips (Consumer Replaceable Unit Monitor). Originally a Xerox patent, I believe, now probably expired.

One series that doesn't seem to have chipped cartridges is the HP 1000 series (1010, 1012, 1020, etc). Nice little low volume printers. Usually you can find one on sale for $100 or so. Two drawbacks though: 1). Cost per page is higher on the low-end printers like these. 2). It doesn't tell you when the cartridge is empty. You find out it's empty when the pages start coming out blank.

Stay away from new HP printers
 

If I were you I would go on ebay and find a Laserjet III or Laserjet4. The new stuff HP is putting out is not as good as the old stuff. my old LJ IIIP is a great printer (I used to sell them back in the '90s) but it cost well over a thousand bucks. It was also made in California and is built like a tank. It must weigh 30 pounds.

Fast forward to today. I have a consulting customer who just bought five HP 1022 laserjets. They are garbage. They are made in China and must weigh 3 pounds. She has had to send two of them back and the remaining three originals are getting worse with everyday. Carly really messed up HP.

To tell you the truth, I don't know what new printer to recommend.
I have a 9 year old Rx80i multifunction printer/scanner/FAX and I love it. I also bought a new one three years ago that is another hunk of junk.

No offense to anybody who loves HP, but I can't recommend them.

I would recommend the HP 1020. We have about a dozen at work. Durable, quick and at inkforever.com you can get the toners for $35. Only downside is no warning light when toner starts running low. Plus if you watch the sales they often go for $99.

HP II, III, 4 Series were commercial grade machines, made to last 5 to 10 years of hard use, and priced accordingly. HP 10_ _ Series are home office machines, made for 2 years of light duty, and priced accordingly.

IOW, you get what you pay for.

Unfortunately, nobody makes 10 year printers anymore. If they did, nobody would buy one in today's market.

Just like cars. And toasters and microwaves and stoves and kitchen sinks and VCRs and DVD players and TVs and computers and... :cry:

I've had an HP4 since the early 90's I don't use it anymore due to my newest toys.... You should see what I have in my basement! :eek::D It's like a printing company down there. Anyway, The HP 3 and 4 models are very dependable and cheap to maintain. Drum units will typically last 3 toner refills if your really thrifty and use good paper. If you want I can get you in contact with a wholesaler that will sell you a working HP 3 or 4 for around $30 plus shipping. Don't expect any warranty or customer support though.

If your looking for something networkable with cost effective consumables and can copy as well, send me a PM and I'll set you up.

Actually you'd be amazed. Very little on a copier or a printer wears out. The only thing that gets better/changes is the connectivity. Parallel, USB, Ethernet, WiFi. Anything over 600 DPI is a waste. As long as consumables are still avalable and you don't abuse the thing they last forever. I've seen copiers older than me still pumping out prints like the day they were new. Admittedly the newer copiers and printers have a lot more plastic in them than the older units but they still last forever. I've seen copiers come in with 20 million copies and run just fine. They usually look like $h!+ though. :D

You're in sales, right??:D

I'm one of the founders of the used copier industry. http://www.certifiedcopiers.com/about.aspx

Ok, That's cool

I've been in copiers since before you were born. :)

Cool! What brand(s)? What were your favorite models? Some guy was telling me that back in the 70's copiers had water baths under their transfer coronas. Have you ever seen/heard of this?

Actually, upon closer investigation, I have been at my current employer since before you were born.:D

I never hear of any copier with a water bath, although I have seen copiers underwater in floods a couple times. I had one get hit by a car once also.

I started at Apeco in 1967. Worked on the Dial-a-Flame (Dial-a-Copy), the Super-Jam (Super-Stat), and the Ultra-Jam. I even worked on a few of the old diffusion transfer process machines. I actually used to have a customer who made diazo copies using a sun frame (took a while on a cloudy day :D).

Worked at Saxon for a couple years. Worked on Canon's when they first came out (the old grease buckets, then their first dry machines). Left before monocomponent.

Probably the best hardware I ever worked on were the Sharp's in the late 80's to late 90's (9750, 9800, 2060, 2260, 3062, etc).

I have a HP LaserJet 4000N and a 4050 high volume office printer sitting around...both work fine. Will sell pretty cheap. :D PM if interested. :)

We also use two of them here at home, both 4000N's....one has the duplexer and one has a double paper tray on it. Both bought for less than $300 over three years ago. One has 389,000 pages on it, the other has 92,000 (REAL steal of a deal, got it on ebay with 48,000 pages on it!!!). They are great printers and from the era when HP made them in California instead of China like they do now. :mad: Both are networked here too. (I'm a geek) :D Only problem so far is that the one with 389,000 needs a new paper tray sensor, but I did some circuit soldering to make it think it always has the tray inserted. Has worked great since. :D