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Buying advice?
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Buying advice?
Is this a good place to ask what to buy?
I've used BubbleJets and what all. My current printer is an HP DeskJet. I'm sick to death of messing around with expensive ink cartridges. I just saw a printer at Walmart the same price as it's ink cartridge! Some time back I saw a discussion somewhere about using color laser printers at home. It was said that even with the high cost of toner you could come out better than with ink carts. One recommendation was an HP 2550. But I just read that you have to replace the drum every time you run out of toner - a proposition that costs almost as much as a new printer. Some said color laser was really poor quality (low resolution? bad color?) so don't bother. The idea of a low end professional machine sounded good, but I'd like to hear more. JimL -- America always does the right thing, but only after exhausting all other possibilities, Winston Churchhill. |
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Buying advice?
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Buying advice?
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Buying advice?
It's interesting, with the different time zones (I guess) your question
appeared after Tony's answer... Anyway,I have dealt with this question numerous times, so I am going to repeat an edited version of a previous response I supplied in this regard below: A couple of questions come to mind for consideration. Will you be working with OEM toner cartridges, or refilled/remanufactured cartridges? The reason I ask is because the availability of 3rd party remanufactured or commercialized refilled cartridges may vary considerably with the brand, and the savings can be considerable if you can refill or buy refilled cartridges. Some models make it very difficult to refill using chips which self destruct, etc. If your budget includes buying new cartridges when they empty, that changes the landscape considerably. Also, be aware that lower end printer, in particular, often come with "starter" cartridges which are only partially full, and the replacement cartridges are usually quite costly, often almost the cost of the printer. Some printers which cost more *may* come with full cartridges, at least. The laser printer industry has become a dirty game of cat and mouse, as the inkjet industry has been, only worse, because the printers cost more to produce, so they often rely upon that first replacement of the toner cartridge to make the profit, requiring that those cartridges cost the price of the whole printer. It is a horrible con game, and it is getting progressively worse. I have been following color lasers lately and as one example, HP has a entrance level printer that in Canada is selling for under $200, but it comes with half filled toner cartridge. For about $75-$100 more the next one up has the same cartridges, (only they are full), networking capability, and a considerably higher duty cycles, making it considerably cheaper in the loner run. It is really a buyer beware situation. Another thing to look into is if the memory the printer uses is standard type of proprietary. Many low end laser printers come with just enough memory to print one letter size page. For complex printing, legal size, or to queue up more than one page to save time, you may need to purchase extra memory. Most laser printer manufacturers will be happy to sell you their "own" memory sticks (at about 4 times or more the price you can buy them for at a computer store) but if the memory is design only for their product you have no choice. So, ask if the printer can use a standard memory type for expansion. Which printer is appropriate for you depends on the number of copies you plan to print, what kind of coverage your printing involves, and the speed and quality you require, the type of paper you need to print on (thickness and quality) and lastly the quality you require. Get samples from the store or manufacturer. Lastly, some toners are matte and some are glossy, and some allow for changing the characteristics by changing the fuser temperature of speed the paper goes through at, the an type of paper used. If you will be mainly printing on a glossy or semi-gloss stock, you probably want one that uses a higher gloss toner, if you mainly print on matte/flat surface papers then go for a matte surfaced toner. Unlike inkjet printers, the colorants on laser printer sit on top of the paper surface and so the toner has it's distinctive quality. White and low density areas mainly show the paper surface, white dark areas mainly show the toner surface, and this can look odd when looking at the image on an angle, where one part may be glossy and the other matte. You may wish to look at some Konica-Minolta or Samsung models. The Konica-Minolta models provide excellent output and most use a matte surfaced toner, which I prefer. However, I have not looked into cost of consumables. Samsung has a very small color printer out which allows you to reuse the drum over numerous toner cartridges, so you pay for the toner and container, rather than a complete toner/drum unit for each color. Fuji makes some models for Dell, and OKI-data also makes some interesting models using their LED imaging technology. Because color laser printers are much more complex than inkjet printers, but are now selling at similar prices, you really have to do your homework to figure out which provides the features and price range/value you need. I suggest speaking to a reputable cartridge refiller, if you are at all thinking of having your cartridges refilled, before making your purchase. This whole industry needs a good kick in the pants, IMHO. At a time when people and industry is supposed to be lowering their carbon footprint, we have printer manufacturers producing perfectly good technology which is cheaper to toss out after the cartridges empty than to replace the consumables. It is truly unconscionable in this day and age. Art wrote: Is this a good place to ask what to buy? I've used BubbleJets and what all. My current printer is an HP DeskJet. I'm sick to death of messing around with expensive ink cartridges. I just saw a printer at Walmart the same price as it's ink cartridge! Some time back I saw a discussion somewhere about using color laser printers at home. It was said that even with the high cost of toner you could come out better than with ink carts. One recommendation was an HP 2550. But I just read that you have to replace the drum every time you run out of toner - a proposition that costs almost as much as a new printer. Some said color laser was really poor quality (low resolution? bad color?) so don't bother. The idea of a low end professional machine sounded good, but I'd like to hear more. JimL |
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Buying advice?
Michael Johnson said:
wrote: Is this a good place to ask what to buy? I've used BubbleJets and what all. My current printer is an HP DeskJet. I'm sick to death of messing around with expensive ink cartridges. I just saw a printer at Walmart the same price as it's ink cartridge! Some time back I saw a discussion somewhere about using color laser printers at home. It was said that even with the high cost of toner you could come out better than with ink carts. One recommendation was an HP 2550. But I just read that you have to replace the drum every time you run out of toner - a proposition that costs almost as much as a new printer. Some said color laser was really poor quality (low resolution? bad color?) so don't bother. The idea of a low end professional machine sounded good, but I'd like to hear more. If you are looking for economical operating costs find a Canon printer that suits you that uses the CLI-8 cartridges and refill them. This method is by far more economical than a laser printer or buying OEM cartridges. This gets immediately into the topic of getting messages of empty carts and/or the printer screeching to a halt when there is still ink to print with. I've been refilling carts for my HP DeskJet 930C. I got it hoping it was old enough to not have the fake "Out Of Ink" timers, but I think I missed it on that one. Sometimes by switching cartridges back and forth and back and forth and leaving the printer umplugged for long periods I can get refilling to work - sometimes not. So the question is, what's the "out of ink" deal with Canon and the CLI-8's? Are they resettable? I had an Epson that was resettable, but the carts dried out almost over night. There's supposed to be a procedure for resetting mine, but it doesn't seem to work. Actually I may have a bad color cart right now. Somewhere at least near the time I put the last one in I started getting an off register in blue. If not for that I'd be in no hurry. JimL -- America always does the right thing, but only after exhausting all other possibilities, Winston Churchhill. |
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Buying advice?
Tony said:
I don't know who told you that the LJ2550 needs a new drum every toner change but that is not correct. I wouldn't necessarily blame a user for that. There are plenty of businesses ready and willing to tell you anything they think will make them a buck. "Hey Buddy, you need to replace the entire guts of your printer! If you don't the moon will turn purple!" I'm presently dealing with the amazing spiels to be heard from used car salesmen... There are some new inkjets that use high capacity cartridges and that are as fast as most colour lasers, these are in the mid to high end of the business inkjet ranges. Most of these are HP printers. Cost per page is comparable to or less than most laser printers. See the OfficeJet Pro K5400 for an idea. These have very long life heads This is a very interesting printer and not all that terribly priced compared to some $400+ printers out there. But my first question must be, does it demand that you toss out the tanks when they are still a third full? I'd pay double that if I knew I could simply top off a tank any time I wanted to. But if I knew it was one of those rip-offs tied to a fake-it timer that printer manufacturers are so good at I would not be interested in the least. Thanks JimL -- America always does the right thing, but only after exhausting all other possibilities, Winston Churchhill. |
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Buying advice?
wrote:
Michael Johnson said: wrote: Is this a good place to ask what to buy? I've used BubbleJets and what all. My current printer is an HP DeskJet. I'm sick to death of messing around with expensive ink cartridges. I just saw a printer at Walmart the same price as it's ink cartridge! Some time back I saw a discussion somewhere about using color laser printers at home. It was said that even with the high cost of toner you could come out better than with ink carts. One recommendation was an HP 2550. But I just read that you have to replace the drum every time you run out of toner - a proposition that costs almost as much as a new printer. Some said color laser was really poor quality (low resolution? bad color?) so don't bother. The idea of a low end professional machine sounded good, but I'd like to hear more. If you are looking for economical operating costs find a Canon printer that suits you that uses the CLI-8 cartridges and refill them. This method is by far more economical than a laser printer or buying OEM cartridges. This gets immediately into the topic of getting messages of empty carts and/or the printer screeching to a halt when there is still ink to print with. I've been refilling carts for my HP DeskJet 930C. I got it hoping it was old enough to not have the fake "Out Of Ink" timers, but I think I missed it on that one. Sometimes by switching cartridges back and forth and back and forth and leaving the printer umplugged for long periods I can get refilling to work - sometimes not. So the question is, what's the "out of ink" deal with Canon and the CLI-8's? Are they resettable? I had an Epson that was resettable, but the carts dried out almost over night. There's supposed to be a procedure for resetting mine, but it doesn't seem to work. The Canon printers using the CLI-8 cartridges give you and out of ink warning but will still let you print. You just lose ink monitoring through software so you need to manually check the cartridges occasionally. Others here can probably give more detail about what exactly happens. You can refill the CLI-8 cartridges for less than $1 each which brings ink costs down to being nearly inconsequential. Actually I may have a bad color cart right now. Somewhere at least near the time I put the last one in I started getting an off register in blue. If not for that I'd be in no hurry. |
#10
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Buying advice?
Warren Block said:
And of course it depends a lot on what you print. If you print documents and pictures, a monochrome laser along with getting your photos printed at the local X-Mart can be the least expensive and most dependable setup. I have a broad mix of color photos and text documents with relatively light quantities. But when I need prints I need them now. Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA Hey, I've been through Rapid several times. Would it be giving away my age if I said when I was there so were the fly boys? JimL -- America always does the right thing, but only after exhausting all other possibilities, Winston Churchhill. |
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