Color Laser

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...

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

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

"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

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 ;-)

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

"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

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

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

"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!!