Resolved Best color laser printer for photos (was: HP Color LaserJet M856x (review))

[ZombiePhysicist]

First Driver thoughts:

I now have HP drivers installed on Windows and Mac. Windows had 3 choices, I went with PCL 6 v3. It's going to take time to sort through them. I also have reference prints from ye olde inkguzzler on Photo paper.

With these choices, first of note is that the Windows and Mac drivers yield very different results. Is it different color matching? The Mac output has more contrast by default. Printing on Mac more closely matches the inkjet and monitor reference (which are actually pretty close to each other). Enhanced produces more colors than Normal, though perhaps overdoing the saturation in the process. Inkjet on Photo paper does show less texture and a larger gamut (ofc) but the Mac Enhanced prints are pretty close. The Windows prints were farther from the reference.

Their were only minor screening differences between Standard, Enhanced, and Fine Lines on Windows. Both Win and Mac with the M776 handily beat the inkjet on plain paper.

I also need some better laser paper! So much to try...

Yes, the paper makes a DRASTIC change. It is impressive, to me at least, that even with crap paper, if you use 'enhanced' (on mac) it does a really better than expected job. You get magazine slick results. But it does improve greatly with good gloss paper. I have a link here where I found some stuff that works well for me. YMMV.

Also, the color matching is pretty great out of the box for me on the Mac. I havent tried windows, but I suspect that is a difference.

 

[lofat]

Windows color management is 💩 Printing out a grayscale image generates a greenish blue cast, whereas from Mac it is.... gray. I can't figure out how to fix it so more research needed. I use both Macs and a Windows PC at home so gotta figure out how to achieve parity!

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Make the mac a printer server?

 

[diegopampin]

Well, I posted here some time ago about buying a Xerox VersaLink C7000. I bought it on March came to my house on June and its all have been a mess. The big problem is the printer drivers, the good ones are made for Windows, not for Mac. So the issue is that every print that has some kind of image it prints pixelated. It`s unreal. If I try the same exact print done with the AirPrint driver it prints perfect, but the options are very limited on that driver.

Ive tried everything, even 2400dpi pdf resolutions etc etc. With an HP 454dw I get a better result than with the c7000 (250$ vs 1.300$) so surreal. So I asked the support because it was clear that the software or something was not good. They just said, the machine prints like that, and that was all. So Im in the process of returning it.

What im going to do now: Just stop trying to find another good laser printer.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Well, I posted here some time ago about buying a Xerox VersaLink C7000. I bought it on March came to my house on June and its all have been a mess. The big problem is the printer drivers, the good ones are made for Windows, not for Mac. So the issue is that every print that has some kind of image it prints pixelated. It`s unreal. If I try the same exact print done with the AirPrint driver it prints perfect, but the options are very limited on that driver.

Ive tried everything, even 2400dpi pdf resolutions etc etc. With an HP 454dw I get a better result than with the c7000 (250$ vs 1.300$) so surreal. So I asked the support because it was clear that the software or something was not good. They just said, the machine prints like that, and that was all. So Im in the process of returning it.

View attachment 2387581

What im going to do now: Just stop trying to find another good laser printer.

I’m not sure what’s crazier. That it prints like that or that xerox knows it prints like that and doesn’t care!? So sorry to hear.

I’m curious, how do photos print via windows. Is the printer itself a good color photo printer despite its broken Mac driver?

Btw have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Mac driver or older versions of the Mac driver?

 

[diegopampin]

Well they just dont care, at least in Spain. Try prefer to refund me than helping me or talking to the department that does the software to address the issue.

I haven't tried with windows to be honest. I don't want to waste more time. But if the support around the globe from Xerox is like the one is Spain, don't buy a Xerox product please. They told me multiple times they were going to call me and they just didn't. I had to wait a week just to get someone to connect to my computer because they told me only one person in Spain could do it.

I mean, I am an individual that is a simple packaging designer, imagine getting this for a printer shop and have to deal with all of this.

Please don't buy Xerox products. Sadly it was the only laser printer A3 that fitted alongside my desk.

 

[lofat]

@diegopampin Xerox (slowly) sent me a sample of the C7000... which arrived after I had already bought and received the used M776. The halftoning scheme the C7000 uses allows for fine detail, may be better than the HP, but the color gamut is definitely not better. Getting an apples to apples comparison would be ideal.

I went on vacation for a week, and them ordered a buddy for my MFP.... which came in the box the size of a whole printer!

Yes, I ordered the two paper tray base. I also managed to roll it into the office... after removing the door lol! This is one chunky boi.

I put it on a base to hold paper... and also to lift up the printer so the manual feed tray can clear the adjacent counter. Ofc I was off by 1/2" so I had to throw a piece of plywood under everything! Hah!

Yes, I cut a slot out of the bottom of the plywood to work around the end of the heater vent

More on the printer soon but: I love it! I am glad I got the MFP with scanner; you can scan even books open flat on the tabloid size glass; it will even cut the two page scans into two pages for you if you want. I can also get all the printer reports on the touchscreen without printing them to paper.

Three trays is my perfect sweet spot (letter, legal, tabloid on hand) and I have a manual feed tray for special papers and sizes.

I am super happy with my purchase. I would never have tried it at over $6000 list price, but at nearly new for under $3300 it is an amazing value. Thank you, @ZombiePhysicist for starting this thread and encouraging me on my journey.

A full 2400dpi version would be the ultimate, and then we would never need FedEx office. Maybe that's why it doesn't exist lol. But for now, this is as good as it gets for the home user.

 

[diegopampin]

So, new update. I bought the EPSON ET-8550, is a good printer but I can't stick with inkjet. I can't find photo paper that is more than 300g or A3 and there is no coated options. I have returned it and now my journey continues.

I have bought an OKI C844dnw (like 1500$). This seems to be the one, it prints in 1200x1200dpi, A3 format but also up to a to 1,3m paper roll. Also it seems that the color management is going to be good because it has a color correction software you can use to adjust the color.

Lets see how it goes.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

Just curious if @diegopampin and @lofat have any updates, tests, etc.

 

[diegopampin]

Just curious if @diegopampin and @lofat have any updates, tests, etc.

I do, Im done haha

I got my OKI printer but all the things got out the printer misaligned. A technician came to my house and couldn't solve the problem. I had no other option than return the printer again and just give up on A3 printing.

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I do, Im done haha

I got my OKI printer but all the things got out the printer misaligned. A technician came to my house and couldn't solve the problem. I had no other option than return the printer again and just give up on A3 printing.

Sorry to hear. I guess for now, the only options seem to be the HP lasers that support 4800 ImageREt, which do not come cheap, sadly.

 

[JayHam]

Add me to the list of those thanking ZombiePhysicist for creating this thread. I have the same revulsion to inkjet but found no good information anywhere other than this thread regarding laser printers.

My situation is a bit different so I believe I have something to add. I wanted to find a color laser printer under $1,000 that can do very good photo quality. Doesn't need to be as good as high-end inkjet, nor quite as close to it as ZombiePhysicist achieved with the HP M856.

I had a Canon i9900, 4800x2400, 12"x18", 8-color, inkjet that I used for about 5 years before it crapped out. It was tedious and costly to keep working well, and I've gone without the capability for years since then because I couldn't bring myself to re-up with inkjet tech.

After reading through this entire thread I was convinced to go with HP and ImageREt. As ZombiePhysicist noted, there's no way on the HP site to filter by ImageREt, so I went through all their offerings and made a list of all the current models that offer it. I don't include MFPs in the list, for reasons of cost and durability.

I wanted at least ImageREt 3600, and at least 1200x1200 dpi max res even if it didn't use that for ImageREt. I was willing to do without tabloid size.

I didn't really have to waffle much. The M554dn meets the minimum and came in at $799. To get ImageREt 4800 at lowest cost would be the M751n at $2,749. Getting ImageREt 4800 at and tabloid was tempting... but at 3.5x the price just a bit too much.

I ordered the M554dn from Amazon and received it in 2 days. It was up and running in short order (some setup hiccups, of course, but no support calls required. Printing from a Win10 system. Will connect a Mac later.).

I printed out some samples of photos I had printed years ago with the i9900 and it's pretty impressive. Using HP 52lb gloss. As long as viewed from a distance beyond which the half-toning disappears, a bit less than arm's length for me, they're virtually indistinguishable. Probably the most noticeable difference is in light skin-tone highlight areas, where the laser tends to fall apart a bit more. But it's not nearly as bad as I worried it might be, and acceptable to me.

I intend to create some comparison samples and then post back here with a followup. I'll cover some of the setup issues and anything else the comes up after using it for a few weeks. This will include testing on black & white photos too.

Feel free to ping me if you're interested in seeing the followup and I haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[MoonCakeTropics]

Thanks @JayHam. Please do let us know how your testing goes. This thread is basically the only legit source on color laser photo printing I have found. Adding results here will be helpful to others.