Konica Minolta 4650DN - yellow toner consumption etc
 

Hi,

I have Konica Minolta 4650DN color laser printer, approx 5 years old. Now it's beginning to make really ugly prints and it uses A ****-LOAD of yellow toner - it's a total ripoff! Example: I bought new color toner cartridges in April and replaced the yellow + other cartridges - I don't use the printer much. By end of August, I had printed 75 pages (it's not being used very much) and the yellow toner was already empty! I contacted Minolta support and they told me to take out the imaging units and shake over a garbage bin, which I did - and then I realized that all the yellow toner powder was in the inside of the printer + in the imaging unit. Also the blue cartridge seemed to attract a lot of blue toner powder which shouldn't be in the imaging unit - but in the cartridges or on the paper. Does any of you have experience with this?

My problem is that I've already spend a lot of money on buying new toners cartridges and the print quality is really bad now, after 5 years. Minolta wants me to buy 2 new imaging units (blue+yellow). I can buy a high quality, totally new color laser printer for the price of that + 2 color toner cartridges - I'm thinking about throwing the printer out. Minolta wants to send out "an engineer" - I call it a technician, but they're so stupid so they want to send out "an engineer" and will probably demand a lot of money for that. But as I see it, it's not worth spending more money on this printer.

Minolta writes: "You bought a hight end office device but you used it as a SOHO printer so you will never reach the consumable lifetime mentioned in the pre-sales documentation and your reseller should have informed you about this fact." - it's ridiculous. So because I'm not using the printer very much, they claim that the problem is me - and not their stupid printer, which throws around all the yellow toner powder in places where the toner powder should not be.

I think minolta support is pretty arrogant - yes, the printer was cheap when I bought it, but I still didn't expect this to happen around 5 years after. It's not very good to throw a printer out, which I thought could last at least 10 years. I appreciate if any of you have any experience/advice - it's my first color laser printer, so I haven't really had that much experience with the internal parts and haven't had to think about problems before now where I seriously consider being cheated. Thanks for any comments/advice/input, if you have any.

Konica Minolta 4650DN - yellow toner consumption etc
 

Konica Minolta 4650DN - yellow toner consumption etc
 

Hi Tony

(sorry for delayed answer)

On 09/08/2014 12:32 AM, Tony wrote: All laser printers end up with wasted toner, in most cases it is not actually
toner but a carrier for the toner but of course it retains the colour of the
toner. This ends up in various places in the printer including the imaging
units and in some cases in a waste toner compartment.

Yes, but in this case, there's clearly something wrong - I only printed 75 color pages, before I had to replace the yellow toner cartridge (it was supposed to last for maybe 4000 pages!). Minolta support said I should shake the imaging units, so I did - and there was a LOT of yellow toner powder in it. I suspect a LOT of toner powder went into the imaging unit, because of some (mechanical) problem. Also when I shaked the imaging units, the blue one also had a lot of toner powder. When I print now, I see yellow and blue dots on places, they shouldn't be. I think Minolta wants me to replace these two parts, but they're a bit expensive, as I don't really use the printer very much anymore.

My problem is that I've already spend a lot of money on buying new toners
cartridges and the print quality is really bad now, after 5 years. Minolta
wants me to buy 2 new imaging units (blue+yellow). I can buy a high quality,
totally new color laser printer for the price of that + 2 color toner
cartridges - I'm thinking about throwing the printer out. Minolta wants to send
out "an engineer" - I call it a technician, but they're so stupid so they want
to send out "an engineer" and will probably demand a lot of money for that.
But as I see it, it's not worth spending more money on this printer.
They are probably correct, as the imaging units wear more toner is wasted..

75 color pages is way too little. And the print quality is also really bad now...

Minolta writes: "You bought a hight end office device but you used it as a
SOHO printer so you will never reach the consumable lifetime mentioned in the
pre-sales documentation and your reseller should have informed you about this
fact." - it's ridiculous. So because I'm not using the printer very much, they
claim that the problem is me - and not their stupid printer, which throws
around all the yellow toner powder in places where the toner powder should not
be.
As explained above, there is always wasted toner or carrier. If you used the
printer to near its capacity, the real cost of replacement parts (like imaging
units) becomes more reasonable - I suspect that is what they are really saying
to you.

Yes, but I'm just not very happy anymore. I think it's the quality of their product, that is the problem. But I just wanted to hear other people's opinion - thank you.

I think minolta support is pretty arrogant - yes, the printer was cheap when I
bought it, but I still didn't expect this to happen around 5 years after.. It's
not very good to throw a printer out, which I thought could last at least 10
years. I appreciate if any of you have any experience/advice - it's my first
color laser printer, so I haven't really had that much experience with the
internal parts and haven't had to think about problems before now where I
seriously consider being cheated. Thanks for any comments/advice/input, if you
have any.
I suggest that you do some careful research before you start to denigrate
companies and their employees. I have absolutely no affiliation with Minolta or

What do you mean by "careful research"? This is not a science project - it's a consumer problem. I have the right to say or write what I think to other consumers and I don't think I have a problem here. If manufacturers made their products very good, they would not hear from any unhappy customers.

any printer manufacturer but your tone left me a little bemused.
You are not being cheated, your experience is not unreasonable depending on the
total amount of printing the printer has done but you don't mention that.

Because I don't agree with you, nor minolta - inkjet manufacturers also sells cheap printers and built in various kinds of things (e.g. chips) in order to push the profits from the very expensive consumables. In my opinion Minolta is doing the same here, which I didn't know before now - I thought this kind of "trick" was only for inkjet printers. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, though.

Konica Minolta 4650DN - yellow toner consumption etc