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Laser Printer Recommendations

Y

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Original poster
Aug 1, 2004
15,030
3,009
St. Louis, MO
My old Canon inkjet seems to be on its last legs, and I'm considering replacing it with a laser printer. I'm looking for something cheap, like in the $100-150 range. I don't need anything fancy like network, a gazillion pages per minute, multiple trays or any of that. I don't need color, when I have the occasional color document to print, I can use the ungodly expensive HP color laser at work :D Preferably something with cheaper toner too, I've noticed that some brands have cheaper toner than others. Obviously, it has to be Mac compatible. Any recommendations? Thanks
 
yg17 said:
My old Canon inkjet seems to be on its last legs, and I'm considering replacing it with a laser printer. I'm looking for something cheap, like in the $100-150 range. I don't need anything fancy like network, a gazillion pages per minute, multiple trays or any of that. I don't need color, when I have the occasional color document to print, I can use the ungodly expensive HP color laser at work :D Preferably something with cheaper toner too, I've noticed that some brands have cheaper toner than others. Obviously, it has to be Mac compatible. Any recommendations? Thanks
Click to expand...

My Samsung 1210 cost me £50 and the half-full cartridge that it ships with lasted for two years. A new cartridge costs $50, but new toner for £15 worked just fine. You can add new toner two or three times, so my cost is an estimated £80 for ten years of printing. It has never given me any problems, unlike an inkjet that I threw away because it was so annoying. And when it is attached to a Mac, any other Mac can print to it without problems.
 
pianojoe said:
While the Brother gets the job done, I recommend the $180 HP LaserJet 1022 Printer. Cardridges are $60, and the printing quality is superior to the Brother's.
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We obviously disagree! :)

To the OP, right now you can get the Brother for $110 at MacWarehouse. Offer expires February 5th.

Cartridges cost $40 with out drum. With drum about $70.
 
gnasher729 said:
My Samsung 1210 cost me £50 and the half-full cartridge that it ships with lasted for two years. A new cartridge costs $50, but new toner for £15 worked just fine. You can add new toner two or three times, so my cost is an estimated £80 for ten years of printing. It has never given me any problems, unlike an inkjet that I threw away because it was so annoying. And when it is attached to a Mac, any other Mac can print to it without problems.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I noticed in the ads today that Office Depot (or maybe it was Office Max, I can't keep track) and CompUSSR had a Samsung laser printer on sale, not sure if it was that model but I'll have to check.

BTW, another important thing is an enclosed tray. With my inkjet, the paper sits out and collects dust, and when it comes time to print, the dust causes the print quality to be bad. Does the SamSung (and Brother for that matter) have a fully enclosed tray so the paper isn't exposed? Thanks


Edit: The Samsung Printer on sale was ML-2510. Anyone have any experiences with it?
 
yg17 said:
Edit: The Samsung Printer on sale was ML-2510. Anyone have any experiences with it?
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I believe that that is the slightly newer model... I have the Samsung ML-2010, B&W laser printer. I love it. Sure it gets a bit noisy, yeah it's not the fastest, smallest, lightest laser printer out there-- but I got mine for like $30 AR (after rebates). Check out Fatwallet.com or slickdeals.net as they'll often have threads about these Samsung printers and you can get them for great deals.
 
If you're looking for pure footprint size, it's hard to beat the HP LaserJet 1012, if you can find it. It is quick, nice print quality, handles envelopes/alternative paper easily. It has really been nice. No Paper jams in 2 years. Works flawlessly. Seamless with 10.4.8:)
 
You'll probably do fine with any of the available options, but I'm going to back the Brother recommendation as well. I've put in several of the low-ish end models for businesses, handling everything from a single user directly connected by USB to a 15-person office network, and they've all performed very well--thrifty consumables, reliable, quite fast, very easy to get working on a network, and entirely Mac friendly (in fact, I've had more trouble getting Windows to print to them over a network than Macs). You can also get one that does automatic duplex printing quite affordably.
 
Ive been selling printers for quite a while, the best consistant reports are the brothers and the samsungs, alhtough the brother 2070 as previously mentioned isnt that great for you becuase you mentioned not needing anything fancy, where as the brother 2040 is consistantly around 100 bucks and a much simpler version, basic printer and works great
 
Shotgun Pete said:
Ive been selling printers for quite a while, the best consistant reports are the brothers and the samsungs, alhtough the brother 2070 as previously mentioned isnt that great for you becuase you mentioned not needing anything fancy, where as the brother 2040 is consistantly around 100 bucks and a much simpler version, basic printer and works great
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The Samsung is at Office Max for 80 bucks, would you recommend that one? Is the price about the best I'm going to get?
 
The Brother HL-2040 is outstanding for a low-cost laser printer. I've put about 1,000 pages through mine without a single jam.
 
Brothers for one in a while, normal home printing are fine. I have an old HL-1440 I have been using since 2002 and it hasn't failed on me yet. A buddy of mine bought an HL-1440 based on my positive experience and after heavy use, it crapped out on him after a few months.
 
Thanks for the recommendations guys.

I went ahead and got the Samsung one today. I was going to get the Brother one, but it was 40 bucks more. The Samsung was 85 and change after tax and so far, it's working great. A bit loud though
 
Two the two members that responded that they have LaserJet 1022's. Do your printers still work post 10.4.9?

Let me know. I am having issues installing it.
 
I am going to second the Brother HL-2070N. I just got it a month ago and it has been a dream. Plenty fast, 5 min to set up over the network and my roommate and I have already put 500 pages through it without a problem. I love the networking so it can always be on and connected for either of us to print (me on a Mac, him on a PC), we can even send jobs at the same time without a glitch.

Its sleep mode when it hasn't been used for a few minutes is great. It essentially shuts down, fans and lights are all off except for the network activity lights on the ethernet port in the back.

Plus, I got it for $100 off of Amazon, although they have since raised the price.
 
HP LaserJet 1320nw

Wireless, ethernet, fast.

This thing is a workhorse. It has never dissapointed me.
 
sushi said:
We obviously disagree! :)

To the OP, right now you can get the Brother for $110 at MacWarehouse. Offer expires February 5th.

Cartridges cost $40 with out drum. With drum about $70.
Click to expand...

Not that great of a deal. I got the 2070N for $70 even from Staples a few months back. OP, wait around for Staples' next blowout. You can save another 40 bucks off that printer. (They even had the HP 1022N for $190 pre-xmas, almost $140 off retail).
 
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