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#11
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On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 12:35:02 GMT, Arthur Entlich
wrote: Any idea who is making it for Dell? Art .. you're getting bleary-eyed...lol Reread my #1 below that you quoted in your question ;-) I'm sure Dell is not making their own printers, even if they aren't Lexmarks, someone is making them... Epson, Fuji, Xerox, Minolta, Canon, Samsung, Brother.. someone... Art Coup wrote: On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:11:09 GMT, "Bill Martin -- Remove \"NOSPAM\" from address" wrote: Anyone have experience and/or recommendations on a relatively cheap color laser? I'm just looking to print text and color charts -- not photos or something. I've owned the black ones in the past. Are the color ones similar or do they require more tweaking, cleaning and maintenance than the older black only? With the black one I could pretty much forget about it for the 5,000 pages or so the toner cartridge could print. As opposed to ink jets where one seems to spend time cleaning them, etc., to keep them running well. Bill My post here a few days ago about my Dell 3100cn is relevant: Refusing to be suckered into the insanity of the ink jet scams as printer makers dispense rediculously tiny amounts of ink in carts that are becoming impossible to refill, and having had both Lexmark and Epson ink jet printers that never stopped clogging because I don't use them every day....I like many have been watching the low end color laser market. Several friends went for KonicaMinolta 2300 series units... the quality of the output is not bad, but they are bulky and noisy. I should explain that my use is a mix of colored printing (text, maps etc.) and some photographic reproduction.. and my own bias is for matte somewhat understated color, as opposed to the very high gloss reproduction with colors that many prefer but I find somewhat over saturated. I realize this plays into the laser category which in fact tends to produce less vivid photo reproduction. That said: 1. The Dell 3000cn and 3100cn are NOT rebadged Lexmarks. While I detest Lexmark inkjets, in fact I have both a Lexmark Optra R+ that has been running for 8 years thru innumerable toner/drum replacements and just keeps running and an Optra S1650 that has been equally reliable. In any event these are the first Dells that are rebadged Fuji-Xerox products... in fact they are the F-X Docuprint C525A. 2. Last week Dell had the 3000cn on sale for $270 with free ground shipping and will probably have it on sale again.. but the 3100cn is probably the better buy for reasons to be seen below. The 3000cn is a PCL6 printer, has 64m ram standard, single MFT 150 sheet tray, parallel, USB 2.0 and Ethernet inputs. You get Starter toners rated for 2K Black and 1K color toners. Replacement toner pack (4k Black and 2k color) runs $220, but if ordered 'correctly' was also subject to the 40% off sale. 3. The 3100cn differs in that you get: Postscript (making it useable by Macs), the accessory Paper Tray (250 pages), and full toner carts (4K for Black and all colors). On sale with next day shipping at 30% off it comes to $384. 4. Dell is very coy about whether both machines can use the same toner carts (they can). The "Full" color carts for the 3000cn are still actually only half filled (rated at 2k pages) while the 3100 comes with really full carts and only on the 3100 page do you see a replacement pack of all 4 toners rated for 4k at $280 (opposed to the 3000 pack including half filled color toners for $220) 5 Amazing fact: In the Configuration settings for the 3100 you will find a setting "Allow Non-Dell refilled toner carts". It's not clear if the Dell carts have chips, but this setting leaves me speachless...and clearly odds become very good that this printer can be operated economically... being brand new nobody yet offers toner for it, but with this feature the odds that someone will get very good. 6. 64Meg , standard memory, will not allow for high definition 8x10 images. It uses PC133.. you get one socket.. but oddly it uses SO-DIMM so you're unlikely to have old stuff lying around.. but at least it's cheap. I added a 256 Meg stick.. 320 seems enough for anything so far... 7. The 3100cn is a tank 17" x17" by almost 30" high, it weighs like 75 lbs. It's noisy, but not as noisy as the Minolta 2300 series. Print speeds are faster than the Minolta on color, text is sharper, but I use my b&w lasers for text. Photo reproduction, to my eye is sharper and slightly more vibrant than the Minolta, but will probably disappoint those who want very vibrant high gloss reproduction. For reference I'm using Hammermill Ultra Premium Laser (24 lb. 106 Bright) which is barely above matte and Hammermill Color Copy (28 lb. 98 Bright) which is "mildly glossy". Overall I'm so far quite satisfied with the 3100cn.. hopefully the above will help others decide if this printer is of interest to them... |
#12
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Free Printer Guy wrote:
Bill, How many color prints will you be making per month? Dennis Not many. A dozen maybe? Simple charts and graphs type stuff, not photos or anything. Bill |
#13
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I've got to admit the Dell looks like quite a nice printer. If they
also sold it in a multifunction model I'd buy it tomorrow I think. As it is, I'll anguish over it for awhile until the price comes back down I suppose. Thanks for the info Coup. (Curiously, I don't see anyone selling the color laser engines in a multifunction format yet. I suppose they want to get some field experience with the color print engine itself first. Surely they're bolting parts together in the back room even now though.) Bill |
#14
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"Bill Martin -- Remove "NOSPAM" from address" wrote in message nk.net... I've got to admit the Dell looks like quite a nice printer. If they also sold it in a multifunction model I'd buy it tomorrow I think. As it is, I'll anguish over it for awhile until the price comes back down I suppose. Thanks for the info Coup. (Curiously, I don't see anyone selling the color laser engines in a multifunction format yet. I suppose they want to get some field experience with the color print engine itself first. Surely they're bolting parts together in the back room even now though.) Bill There are several Multifunction color lasers on the market. You're just looking in the wrong place. Look under "Networkable Color Copiers". Xerox, Canon, Minolta, etc. BTW- I just bought a Canon Imagepass 3200. Now that's quite a machine. up to 11x17, ps3 and a Fiery RIP. Prints, copies, faxes, scans and creates ..pdf files. Mark |
#15
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On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 10:28:53 -0500, "Mark" wrote:
BTW- I just bought a Canon Imagepass 3200. Now that's quite a machine. up to 11x17, ps3 and a Fiery RIP. Prints, copies, faxes, scans and creates .pdf files. Mark LOL aside from the space such a beast would take up here...I'd lust after one of those too... but somehow I think you've gone over the $400 budget I set myself ;-) |
#16
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Mark wrote:
There are several Multifunction color lasers on the market. You're just looking in the wrong place. Look under "Networkable Color Copiers". Xerox, Canon, Minolta, etc. BTW- I just bought a Canon Imagepass 3200. Now that's quite a machine. up to 11x17, ps3 and a Fiery RIP. Prints, copies, faxes, scans and creates .pdf files. ---------------------- You mean you bought an ImageRunner perhaps? That's the only 3200 model I see on Canon's web site. Anything in that class is *waaaay* out of my range. Canon won't even quote a price on it on their web pages -- must see the dealer. Like they say, "If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it." Even if I could afford it, the thing won't fit on my desk! I'm looking for a little desk top color laser copier multifunction. Bill |
#17
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"Bill Martin -- Remove "NOSPAM" from address" wrote in message nk.net... Mark wrote: There are several Multifunction color lasers on the market. You're just looking in the wrong place. Look under "Networkable Color Copiers". Xerox, Canon, Minolta, etc. BTW- I just bought a Canon Imagepass 3200. Now that's quite a machine. up to 11x17, ps3 and a Fiery RIP. Prints, copies, faxes, scans and creates .pdf files. ---------------------- You mean you bought an ImageRunner perhaps? That's the only 3200 model I see on Canon's web site. Anything in that class is *waaaay* out of my range. Canon won't even quote a price on it on their web pages -- must see the dealer. Like they say, "If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it." Even if I could afford it, the thing won't fit on my desk! I'm looking for a little desk top color laser copier multifunction. Bill You're right, it is an imageRunner. For some reason though it shows up on the network as imagePass. And really, as far as copiers go, it's not that big, but it won't fit on a desktop. With all the extras (Fiery RIP, scan to network folder, Collater, Fax, etc) is was about $15k. Mark |
#18
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On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 14:07:18 -0500, "Mark" wrote:
You're right, it is an imageRunner. For some reason though it shows up on the network as imagePass. And really, as far as copiers go, it's not that big, but it won't fit on a desktop. With all the extras (Fiery RIP, scan to network folder, Collater, Fax, etc) is was about $15k. http://www.loyal.net/copiers/copiers/iRc3200.htm has it for $11,940.00 It appears that ImageRunner is the copier, and ImagePass is the network interface. jc |
#19
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Mark wrote:
With all the extras (Fiery RIP, scan to network folder, Collater, Fax, etc) is was about $15k. I bought my current Dell computer new for $400. It would probably quit in indignation if I spent $15K for a printer! Bill |
#20
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"Bill Martin -- Remove "NOSPAM" from address" wrote in message nk.net... Mark wrote: With all the extras (Fiery RIP, scan to network folder, Collater, Fax, etc) is was about $15k. I bought my current Dell computer new for $400. It would probably quit in indignation if I spent $15K for a printer! Bill LOL!! |
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