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Laser printer that works with Mac OSX

DeSnousa

DeSnousa

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 20, 2005
1,616
0
Brisbane, Australia
As the title suggests, Im after a new printer, this time a laser as my old printer that was only one year old runs out of ink nearly every 2 weeks :mad: Never buying Epson again.

Any way I'm on a budget of about AUS$150-250, maybe AUS$300 at the most. So what suggestions would you make for a good laser printer at this price?

I found this printer made by Canon (had good experiences with this company) for AUS$250, is it features good? My main concern is that it say's that there is no Mac OSX drive.

http://www.canon.com.au/products/printers/laser_printers_low_medium_volume/lbp3200.html

This brings me to the other important question are there drives that let it work, if not which laser is within my budget that works on a Mac?

Thanks in advance :)

Edit: I would like it to work over Airport express, but I'm guessing that if it runs through USB it should be fine over wireless cause of bonjour.
 
HP 1012. Very happy with this model and it works over AE.
 
I'm not sure what the conversion rate is, but I just bought a new Xerox Phaser 6120, with OS9 and OSX compatibility, for $449 (US dollars). The quality is fabulous, and the printing profiles successfully simulate Pantone and SWOP press color ranges. Also, it has built-in postscript. Slightly noisy, but it has a small footprint (for a laser printer).

I am really pleased with it after only a few weeks.....

It also has build-in networking, ethernet, parallel and USB 2.0.
 
I find my Brother MFC-9180 works quite well with my Express and I notice that the entry-level HL-2040 has full Mac compatibility but comes in at the top of your budget (AU$299 RRP).

Whatever you get, remember that an Express will only be able to utilise the print function, nothing else. :(
 
I have an HP laserjet 1300, Very happy with it, I'm sure they have bought out a new model since then
 
Brother printers have very good quality and a reasonably sized footprint, but the times I have obtained samples in stores from the Brother HL-2040 there is a very obvious paper curl.
 
mad jew said:
I find my Brother MFC-9180 works quite well with my Express and I notice that the entry-level HL-2040 has full Mac compatibility but comes in at the top of your budget (AU$299 RRP).

Whatever you get, remember that an Express will only be able to utilise the print function, nothing else. :(
Click to expand...

http://www.computeralliance.com.au/parts.aspx?qryPart=6003

I found that printer for AUS$149 (link above), its just I have heard not so many good things about Brother. Also is the toner used in Brother good?

At Deepdale is the paper curl a major issue? I guess I'm gonna go to a store and check it at :)
 
DeSnousa said:
Deepdale is the paper curl a major issue? I guess I'm gonna go to a store and check it at :)
Click to expand...

I could live with it, but I have heard others in stores say that it is more than they care to accept. As you mentioned, the best thing is to evaluate it with your own eyes.
 
DeSnousa said:
I found that printer for AUS$149 (link above), its just I have heard not so many good things about Brother. Also is the toner used in Brother good?)
Click to expand...


Nice find. I knew it'd come in cheaper than the RRP, they always do. My Brother hasn't gone down once, worked first time with the Express and the toner is adequate. I don't have much to compare toners with but it's certainly okay for my small student uses.

On the other hand, the office I work at uses an HP which isn't nearly as reliable. To be fair, it's put through its paces far more often.
 
I just recently got the Samsung ML-2010. If you look around, you can find great deals w/ MIR (mail in rebates). Mine was on sale for $79.99USD and I have a $50 MIR pending. :p It's probably not the fastest/quietest and it is monochrome. <-- I really don't need color printing. Um, just one review from PC Magazine, linky.
 
Lexmark E232

I've got a Lexmark E232 laser and it works perfectly in OSX -- official PPDs are available on Lexmark's site. I paid US$100 for it last summer and it's already paid for itself several times over compared to ink cartridges for my old Epson C82 inkjet. It's also a lot faster than that Epson ever was. The first page is done printing within about 20 seconds and goes on to a nice 15~20 pages per minute. I have printed just over 1000 pages and not one problem. Consumables fairly reasonable compared to competition, too, since you can replace the toner cartridge seperately from the imager instead of replacing one assembly for more money like most of the others.

I have not tried airport express, so I can't comment on that. However, I do have it set up as a shared printer off my PC (SMB) and connect to it over the network. Just make sure you have the PPD installed and it should work fine.
 
Thanks all for your help, I'm looking at the Brother HL-2040 and the Lexmark E232. I like the Brother's clean look and price, while I like the specs of the Lexmark, in particular the 16MB of ram.

I've been reading alot of reviews on budget laser printers and most came to the conclusion, especially on the Brother, that graphs and that are of poor quality. That they are mainly good at text. Any opinions on this?

Once again thanks :)
 
Laserprinter that works with airport extreme

Does anyone have a couple suggestions? ballpark prices? I would like to get a color laserprinter that works with airport extreme, but that's probably asking too much.

thanx
 
Agree with rdowns, HP Laserjet 1012 is fantastic, I have zero regrets about buying this printer. I think I got it for around $130, might be able to find it on sale for less. This is a black and white printer though.
 
Another vote for the Samsung ML-2010.
I needed good quality B&W text printing primarily & I've been tremendously happy with this printer. The only downside is that they don't have their "Print Saver" option available on Mac, so the # of copies they estimate / toner cartridge isn't completely accurate.
Still, the printer works well & it's definitely cheap.

Good luck!
 
Another vote for Samsung. I have an older model ML-1430 and it is the best investment I have ever made. Perfect prints, fast, reliable, and cheap. What more can you want?
 
I don't really do anything other than uni assignments on my Brother so I haven't come across any issues with printing graphs, they seem to come out fine.

Having said that, it's great to have the maximum amount of onboard memory as possible on AirPort-attached printers. :)
 
danny_w said:
Another vote for Samsung. I have an older model ML-1430 and it is the best investment I have ever made. Perfect prints, fast, reliable, and cheap. What more can you want?
Click to expand...

I'm content with it, given the price. But you also get what you pay for...

The drivers are mediocre, so many times I've sent jobs to the printer and it just does nothing. Slow processor, not very responsive. But once it gets going, it's acceptable.

It's also hard to get straight printouts, because the paper enters at a slight slant. Very annoying. It doesn't hold much paper in the output (or input) tray, so be prepared to use some desk space for an output tray.

That being said, ours has had a long life, with little problems.
 
Go with Brother. Their mac support is pretty consistent across their entire line of printers. They have released new driveres for pretty old printers. HP, Canon, and Samsung have been known to abandon mac driver support for not-so-old printers. Also, the drivers are compatible with many different wireless printer servers. This is definitely one of the uncommon advantages of Brother. Good luck.
 
Black&Tan said:
I'm not sure what the conversion rate is, but I just bought a new Xerox Phaser 6120, with OS9 and OSX compatibility, for $449 (US dollars).
Click to expand...
Xerox Phasers are absolutely awesome, but expensive on ink, unless you get a deal with free black ink for life, where you still need to buy cleaning kits. I love the waxy finish. :) $450US = ~$600AU
 
Both HP LaserJet 1160 and 1320 work fine under Mac OS X Intel build, also when connected to AirPort Express/Extreme.
 
HiRez said:
Agree with rdowns, HP Laserjet 1012 is fantastic, I have zero regrets about buying this printer. I think I got it for around $130, might be able to find it on sale for less. This is a black and white printer though.
Click to expand...
another vote for the 1012. haven't had to change the toner yet (used for about 14 months), only one paper jam during this time...fast...small. if you're not doing office-level volumes of printing, the 1012 is inexpensive and reliable.
 
I got my Laser printer. I settled on a much more expensive model of AU$350. I know, I just wanted a good, reliable printer to last me for some time. It is a Brother HL-5240, good specs and speeds of around 28ppm. I decided on the Brother because their Mac support seems the best, and through recommendations.

So once again thanks for all your help :)
 
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