$400-$900 laser printer

[JES]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for buying advice on a laser printer. My spouse and I both bought HP 1012s for our offices at school (we're university profs) and while they're good, they're not quite heavy-duty enough for our home office, where we do most of our writing. They get hot quickly.

We've been using an old HP 6mp since 1997 or thereabouts and it's time to trade up. Our needs:

-top quality black and white printing
-relatively low per-page cost with black toner
-must play nicely with our airport network (right now, the 6mp is hooked up to an Asantetalk and then plugged into our Airport Extreme)
-350 sheet or bigger paper tray
-easy-to-use paper and envelope feeder (we have to do lots of stuff on letterhead)
-color would be a bonus but is not necessary
-duplex printing is not a big deal to us, because we often write on the back of printouts (drafts, scratch paper, etc.)

I've been partial to HP just because toner's cheap and plentiful but I'm open to other options.

Thanks.

--JES

 

[Sun Baked]

You might want to tell us how fast you want it, how many pages per month you print, and how often you want to change the toner.

In addition to the features if you say you want a printer at least 30-40ppm (pages per minute), print 2-3 thousand pages per month, and want to change the cartridge every 3-6 months. People might be able to ballpark you.

Right now we got a envelope feeder option, multiple large paper trays and/or paper paths, and either ethernet or wireless.

 

[JES]

Thanks for the reply. I'd guess we print about 1500 pages per month, give or take. I don't care how often I have to change the toner, it's the per page cost that I want as low as possible.

As for speed, right now I'm at 6ppm, so even 20ppm is going to seem lightning fast to me.

One other thing: i'll pay for durability. I've heard too many stories of $200 printers (like the 1012) crapping out after a couple years' use. The 6mp has been used every day for the last 8 years without complaint. It's just starting to get a little bent (?!?) and the letterhead sometimes comes through the feeder looking off-center.

Okay, let me know what you think.

--JES

 

[quidire]

Thanks for the reply. I'd guess we print about 1500 pages per month, give or take. I don't care how often I have to change the toner, it's the per page cost that I want as low as possible.

As for speed, right now I'm at 6ppm, so even 20ppm is going to seem lightning fast to me.

One other thing: i'll pay for durability. I've heard too many stories of $200 printers (like the 1012) crapping out after a couple years' use. The 6mp has been used every day for the last 8 years without complaint. It's just starting to get a little bent (?!?) and the letterhead sometimes comes through the feeder looking off-center.

Okay, let me know what you think.

--JES

How about the HP Color LaserJet 2550n?

Seems to fit the bill

-RS

 

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says...I have always been partial to HP for laser printers as well so if there is something in your price range there I would check that option out first. For some stupid reason they insist on buying Lexmark lasers at work (someone up the food chain is probably getting a kickback...) and they are nothing but trouble...not a day goes by when one of them isn't needing service of some sort...and they have a nasty habit of sending refurbs for replacement parts, which is not so bad except they don't actual;ly seem to *test* the parts before sending them.....oh yeah!

 

[macbaseball]

I have had the best luck with HP Laserjets. I personally have a HP Laserjet 1200 and love it. I would just go on the HP site, and pick out one that looks good to you. Just pick out the features you want and then buy it. Basically with every hundred bucks you spend, you get another couple features, and more PPM. They all probably would work just fine.

 

[barneygumble]

I have always had good experiances with Hp currently using a 2600n at work and for the price it is fantastic

 

[GodBless]

How about the HP Color LaserJet 2550n?

Maybe even the 2550Ln. It has practically the same features and will save you $100.

 

[JES]

Hi All,

Okay, I did my homework today and after looking at the 2500 line, I decided to go for the rocketship monochrome option:

HP 2420, with extra paper tray (so I can do letterhead, regular paper and envelopes all at once) and 256mb memory. That and 20 foot USB cable to connect it to my Airport Extreme and I should be in good shape for a long time to come.

I gave up color, but I rarely print images, and as of yet haven't needed color printing. If I do, I'll get an inexpensive inkjet for the occasional job.

Thanks again!

--JES