HP 5P Laserjet?

Fed up with the obscene cost of Epson ink, I am considering the
purchase of a small laser printer. I don't have much to spend on one
(about $200.00 U.S.), so let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able
to get anything fancy, but I found an ad for a HP 5P LaserJet laser
printer at an affordable price. Has anyone ever had any trouble with
this model printer? Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum"
units) apart from toner?

Isn't that model old? Maybe I'm mixing up HP models. If doing substantial
document printing an inkjet printer is not cost efficient. That's what
laser printers are for.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Fed up with the obscene cost of Epson ink, I am considering the
purchase of a small laser printer. I don't have much to spend on one
(about $200.00 U.S.), so let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able
to get anything fancy, but I found an ad for a HP 5P LaserJet laser
printer at an affordable price. Has anyone ever had any trouble with
this model printer? Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum"
units) apart from toner?

On 11 Jun 2005 18:51:15 -0700, wrote:

Fed up with the obscene cost of Epson ink, I am considering the
purchase of a small laser printer. I don't have much to spend on one
(about $200.00 U.S.), so let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able
to get anything fancy, but I found an ad for a HP 5P LaserJet laser
printer at an affordable price. Has anyone ever had any trouble with
this model printer? Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum"
units) apart from toner?

if it's going to be B&W only print out, you can probably get away with
older used models. HP Laserjet 4's are built like a tank. Mine has
38k pages count and only needed one set of output roller replaced.
The fuser may be about to burn out from age but that's why I have
another old (and cheap) laser printer sitting around.

Laserprinter's toner cart tended to cost more, to the tune of $75 to
$100 for brand cart and less for generic and refurbished but when you
break it to per page cost, they are far cheaper than ink jet. Plus
laser printer don't waste toner every few hours just because they were
left on like some ink jet printer.

I do use ink jet printer mainly because the color photo output of a
decent ink jet printer are hard to beat with most affordable color
laser printers. The only real advantage the top of line color laser
have over top of line ink jet printer is the print speed, I've seen
color laser hit almost 30 p/sec
--
When you hear the toilet flush, and hear the words "uh oh", it's already
too late. - by anonymous Mother in Austin, TX
To reply, replace digi.mon with phreaker.net

The 5P is quite old but reliable. The drum is built into the toner cartridge so
is replaced when you run out of toner.
I have seen very few problems with this model.
Tony


wrote:
Fed up with the obscene cost of Epson ink, I am considering the
purchase of a small laser printer. I don't have much to spend on one
(about $200.00 U.S.), so let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able
to get anything fancy, but I found an ad for a HP 5P LaserJet laser
printer at an affordable price. Has anyone ever had any trouble with
this model printer? Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum"
units) apart from toner?

Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum" units) apart from toner?

Units with seperate developers and drums can be cool as for the most
part you are only buying toner. I long for the days of paying $20ish
for a pint rather than $60 to $100 for a self sealed unit. Sure down
the road you might have to spend $100 on this and $100 on that but the
lower cost in toner usually makes up for it. But near as I'm aware the
C3903A toner has the drum and developer onboard. It's been a few years
since i've seen one, but I seem to remember it being somewhat slugish,
as slugish as an LaserJet II. And it is very much an older generation
unit, taking simms and even featuring an Apple Localtalk connector.
And the color I remember as being flesh tone rather that high tech
white.

But unless HP decided to rename a new model the 5p, both the 5p and 5mp
have been discontinued for some time, since 1998 if I remember
correctly. I know it was around in 1996.

wrote:
Fed up with the obscene cost of Epson ink, I am considering the
purchase of a small laser printer. I don't have much to spend on one
(about $200.00 U.S.), so let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able
to get anything fancy, but I found an ad for a HP 5P LaserJet laser
printer at an affordable price. Has anyone ever had any trouble with
this model printer? Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum"
units) apart from toner?


Another option is to get a Canon iP4000 or iP3000 and use compatible ink
for the black pigment cartridge. It uses this cartridge to print black
and white documents. I can get carts off ebay for around $1 each.
Think how many compatible ink cartridges you could buy for the price of
just one laser printer cartridge. Printing doesn't get much cheaper
than this route. It probably rivals, or might even beat, printing with
a laser.

I have used compatibles in my MP780 (has basically the same print engine
as an iP4000) for about 6 months without a single problem. I use it for
receiving numerous faxes and copying quite a few documents every week.
I would guess that one black cartridge will easily print 300-400
8.5"x11" text pages. For less than $10 (7-10 carts) I can print more
sheets than a single toner cartridge can and for less than 1/6th its cost.

You are quite correct - it is slow, not sure I agree with the flesh tone bit
but the drum is definitely included in the toner cartridge.
Very reliable in my experience and speed is fine unless you are printing a
great deal.
Tony

"zakezuke" wrote:
Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum" units) apart from toner?

Units with seperate developers and drums can be cool as for the most
part you are only buying toner. I long for the days of paying $20ish
for a pint rather than $60 to $100 for a self sealed unit. Sure down
the road you might have to spend $100 on this and $100 on that but the
lower cost in toner usually makes up for it. But near as I'm aware the
C3903A toner has the drum and developer onboard. It's been a few years
since i've seen one, but I seem to remember it being somewhat slugish,
as slugish as an LaserJet II. And it is very much an older generation
unit, taking simms and even featuring an Apple Localtalk connector.
And the color I remember as being flesh tone rather that high tech
white.

But unless HP decided to rename a new model the 5p, both the 5p and 5mp
have been discontinued for some time, since 1998 if I remember
correctly. I know it was around in 1996.

We just switched from 4Ps at work to 2100s. Both are very reliable, and in
fact I prefer the older models which have a small fluorescent (I think)
readout to display error codes. The toner carts are expensive but they last
forever.

Toby

wrote in message
oups.com...
Fed up with the obscene cost of Epson ink, I am considering the
purchase of a small laser printer. I don't have much to spend on one
(about $200.00 U.S.), so let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able
to get anything fancy, but I found an ad for a HP 5P LaserJet laser
printer at an affordable price. Has anyone ever had any trouble with
this model printer? Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum"
units) apart from toner?

Another option is to get a Canon iP4000 or iP3000 and use compatible ink
for the black pigment cartridge.
For less than $10 (7-10 carts) I can print more sheets than a single toner cartridge
can and for less than 1/6th its cost.

I'm so far happy with my ip3000 and mp760. I'm the first to say it's
cost is very reasonable, and it's great bang for the buck. But once
you start talking bulk ink, cheap refills you gotta do the same thing
for the other product for it to be a fair contest.

I see e-bay has C3903A toner refill kits for $15.33 3 botttles ($10
shipping), where a typical bottle is 235g. Not sure their bottle is
235g but hey. IIRC correctly the c3903A takes 160g.

What you're talking about is units of 500p. This is pretty good. What
i'm talking about is units of 4000p per 160g, or 5875p / 235g. The
price your listing seems very outstanding, i've not see them sold for
under $4.00 each esp when you take shipping into account. But hey.
$10 for 5000p... not bad. but $25 for 17000p is a little bit cheaper.
Really close to what you'd spend on the Canon BCI-3bk if you could find
them for $1.00/each.

Easy enough to find 235g bottles of Canon 5876 toner for the Canon
LBP-VX based printers in the $10 / $12 per bottle range. Less if you
go with generic copy toner available at your local copy machine shop,
but sometimes it doesn't look as good.

But if you're going to go to the local office store for your refills,
and buy the OEM, you'd have to buy 8 BCI-3Bks to equal one C3903A, and
the new C3903A is $75.00 or so depending on where you shop. the
BCI-3BK is typicaly $12.00... or $96 for 8.

I have an HP5P that I have used extensively in my home officefor about 8 or
9 years. without a minute of down time. By today's standards it is slow,
but fast enough for my use. The "P" designation was for what was regarded
as "personal" printers in their day and were perfect for small office/home
office used. At the same time there were "industrial strength" models that
were better suited for large volume offices such as legal office, etc. As I
recall, the 4 series were more in the latter catagory. The HP5P has two
feed areas, one cassette under the printer and a top feed area that drops
down and will also take a stack of paper. There is a drop down print exit
area in the back that permits a straight paper path suitable for heavier
stock and envelopes. Although the toner cartridge is somewhat expensive
with its built in drum, you avoid periodic required servicing that fixed
drum units require. This has been a great printer for me. I haven't
shopped for a laser printer since this purchase, but a 2200 sells for less
than $500. In the long run, if you can afford it, you should consider a
2200 as it will come with a guaranty and much faster throughput. If the 5P
is "low milage" it will probably work out well for you if that is the max
you can spend.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Fed up with the obscene cost of Epson ink, I am considering the
purchase of a small laser printer. I don't have much to spend on one
(about $200.00 U.S.), so let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able
to get anything fancy, but I found an ad for a HP 5P LaserJet laser
printer at an affordable price. Has anyone ever had any trouble with
this model printer? Does it have any "hidden" expenses (such as "drum"
units) apart from toner?