Printer suggestions?

[Troels]

Hello,

My trusty old HP desktjet 880c (from 2001) will not print anything but magenta and black now, even with fresh, original HP cartridges. I have cleaned the contact conducting areas with isopropyl alcohol, and cleaned the cartridge, but nothing helped. Knowing HP - they are not IBM - and you cannot get replacement parts for the printer (at least not anymore).

The printer is 600x600 dpi, but during the latter years i've been disappointed with the sharpness of text and pictures on regular paper. I'd like it to be razer-sharp.

- So i'm really considering laser printers. But i think i'll be missing the color from inkjet printers.

I just don't know where to start or end. There are hundreds and yet hundres of different models to choose from. I have the following requirements:

- Low idle power consumption (seriously!) as this is for personal use.
- Duplex-capable
- Takes A4 / (Lettersize?)
- Cheap re-fills that lasts at least as long as inkjet printer cartridges do. I don't print much - i rarely do. It's a stupidly 10 pages per month or so.
- The printer driver must contain no bloat at all, and the printer must work with Linux.
- Must function as a network printer (hub?).
- Printing on normal paper only
- Must not wreck my bank account (max. $850)

But i don't know what can be expected from the color laser quality - are they better looking than inkjet prints?

Any suggestions on a color laser printer?

Or do you think this is just an ourtrageous idea with my usage and requirements?
If yes - i'm fearing that all inkjet printers are meant for consumers, and are so competitively prices that they'll last a few years and have bloated drivers. Do you know of a great inkjet with the above-mentioned requirements that fulfills this?

[teetee]

10 pages per month requires a printer that's networkable and duplex?

I print around 500 pages per month(mostly scientific journals/papers and some data/forms) by using a $40(got it used from ebay) HP Laserjet 1100 with "manual duplex" and a $15(got it used from ebay) wireless printer server (Linksys wpc11) for more than 2 years now and haven't had any problems except the paper separation pad needed replacing, which took me about 5 minutes.

My only complaint(besides no color and no automatic duplex) about HP LJ 1100 is it prints fairly slow(~5ppm) even with 18MB memory(2MB built-in plus 16mb on the slot). Since it's for personal use, nobody else(besides me) is complaining about its speed.

There are some cheap color laser printers currently on sale(not sure about the quality though) like
http://tinyurl.com/6h5vgf
and
http://tinyurl.com/5sh2v7

that you might be interested.

(FYI)Most (99%) laser printers' toners last much much longer than the inkjet printer's cartridges. And the unit price(for the same print area per paper) for the laser printers is much cheaper than inkjets.

(FYI)Both inkjet cartridges and laser printer toners can be refilled.
Generally with laser printers, even with merely 600x600dpi, the printout is sharper and the printout don't smear if it touches water.
Ref. wikipedia (at "Inkjet disadvantages" section)
http://tinyurl.com/2ntntq

PS. "manual duplex": first print out the reversed even pages and put the stack printout back to the paper input tray to print out odd-only pages.

PS. HP LJ 1100 works perfectly with windows and linux(ljet4 driver with CUPS print service) but like most of HP laserjet printers, it requires some power at the beginning of each print job.
Ref.
http://openprinting.org/show_printer.cg ... erJet_1100

[TTY]

Any suggestions on a color laser printer?

Although i haven't seen output from any of these printers myself, i would suggest checking out the Samsung CLP-610ND and the Konica Minolta Magicolor 2550DN. The Konica Minolta has an interesting color printing enhancement technique which they call contone at a 600*600 resolution. This technology has had very positive reviews. The Samsung, on the other hand, has a resolution of up to 2400*600.

From at least one aspect, laser printer output is superior to inkjet print, as it will not smear when a reader uses a color marker on it.

Some laser printer manufacturers have a history of selling printers that emit significant amounts of ozone. Manufacturers that come to my mind, and who sell printers with no or very low ozone emissions are Samsung, Konica Minolta, HP, OKI, Xerox, Lexmark, Epson, Canon, and probably Dell.

Some time ago, i checked toner costs for the Samsung printer. If i remember correctly, the toner costs were what could be expected in this type of printer. I have not checked toner costs for the Minolta printer. A review of a previous Minolta model from this printer class showed relatively high color toner costs, but that was several years ago. Toner costs for newer Konica Minolta printers might have come down in the meantime.

[ArtShapiro]

Well, color is the biggie - if it's a "must", then it raises the stakes quite a bit. Those Xerox "Phaser" printers look interesting; they use waxlike sticks rather than toner cartridges and I've seen some very attractive output.

I personally did something a few years ago that has worked out well. I went to eBay and bought a used industrial-strength B&W laser printer: a Unisys UDS9718 for a hundred and fifty bucks or so; they're less now. I work for Unisys, so I was quite familiar with the unit, which is merely a rebranded Lexmark Optra S 1855. It's a network printer (among other connections), and uses whopping big 20K copies toner cartridges. They cost several hundred bucks, but again far less on eBay. I added a duplexer for about fifty bucks, and I'm set for quite a while. My wife prints to excess- often prints her Email for no particular reason I've ever figured out - and this thing is perfect. I'd do it again in an instant, perhaps a somewhat later Unisys / Lexmark model. This thing laughs at the demands of a home user so who knows how long it will last!

Art

[msb0b]

How much of what you print includes color images? I understand color is crucial for printing photos and pictures. Other than those, B/W should suffice for soho tasks.

Personally, I have a B/W laser all-in-one and a color inkjet. The laser handles the bulk of my printing and copying, at about 100 pages per month. Two years and 2000 pages later it is still printing perfectly on the original toner cartridge. The inkjet is there for printing on a inkjet-printable DVD and photos, but it hasn't seen much action at all. The ink cartridges are half gone, but I think more ink evaporated than printed.

[GomJabbar]

Not too long ago Kodak started selling some interesting inkjet printers. They claim to print more cheaply than the competition.

Kodak’s Consumer Desktop Inkjet Printing Systems Achieve Best-in-Class Print Permanence Ratings from Wilhelm Imaging Research

I have not tried one of these Kodak printers. I have only seen the ads.

I have a Canon MP600 all-in-one inkjet printer that I am quite happy with. I did have to bring it in for warranty service one time near the end of the first year. I use this printer with Windows XP, Vista, and Mandriva Linux. I have it connected to the USB print server port on my Netgear router, and that works pretty well. The only problem with connecting it to the print server port on the router is that you get no ink level feedback while printing. However there is an LCD display on the printer though that provides this information. This printer has a flatbed scanner and can be used as a B&W or color copier. There is a memory card slot for printing directly from memory cards. The printer drivers offer output to a number of paper sizes, incuding A4 & Letter. The printer supports full duplex printing in Windows, but not in Linux. The linux drivers work well, but are more spartan in features.

Previously I had several Epson all-in-one inkjet printers. While they worked well, they did not last (I am referring to the CX---- series). Every one of them lasted only about a year. The older Epson printers lasted much longer.

One thing to consider with inkjet printers is that the ink can dry out if you do not print very often. This is especially true of refilled cartridges. My experience indicates that refilled cartridges dry out somewhat faster than the original manufacturers cartridges. This is not a problem with laser printers.

[Purcy]

My thoughts are if you really only print about 10 pages a month, I would not go through the expense of acquiring a laser printer, even though they are indeed sharper and smear proof; we use a professional HP B&W laser and a Canon color laser all in one at work. You can definitely see the difference.

I do about 5 times that much printing per month on an HP Deskjet 3915 that I won on ebay for $11 and set up bluetooth printing on both of the laptops in the house which works really well. At my load of printing my cartridges last about 3 months and we get them refilled at Cartridge World (I think they are nationwide) for $8 B&W and $11 color.

[Troels]

Thanks for all the great, in-depth replies. It took me a while before i had the time to come up with replies, but here goes:

Teetee,
Yeah, 10 pages is admittedly very low, but since more than one person uses computers elswehere in the house, it currently means that a specific computer with a shared printer MUST be on, so other persons can print. It would be great to try a networkable just for this - i have no idea when they want to do printouts.
Duplex: Well, mostly for upcoming reports and class notes that i'll print. So yeah, thinking about it, it's more likely 50 pages per month.

The HP 1100 sounds like a gem - perhaps i should check the used market too for models that are discontinued, which were probably better built than the current gen.

I'm very much afraid of buying something that will break down in no time, because my price point for a color laser printer will only get me the lower end printers which manufacturers are trying to save what they can on, to maximize profits, and probably construct it of non-durable parts, so that the customer buys a new printer a few years after. So i probably should give up on color laserjets, but it does sound tempting that unlike inkjets, the cartridges can't clog up or dry out.

TTY,
Especially the K-M 2550D looks interesting, but it costs nearly three times as much in Europe compared to the US :S, and the toners for it is quite expensive too compared to prices for HPs entrylevel solutions.
By the way, i've read that the wikipedia article for laser printers says that cheaper laser printers emit the most ozone due to either no or inefficient filtering. But a citation was needed, so not sure of the merits of that.

msb0b,
Very few pages will be for color prints. If it's for digital camera photos, i'd rather get someone to do them professionally. Doe the inkjet printouts still look good, or have they become "unsharper" as the cartridges aged?

GomJabbar,
Kodak's solutions does look very interesting - it must be ink with a very high pigment. If just it wasn't because i didn't need an all-in-one solution - already own a scanner which i never use. I'll look more into Canon, and see how they progressed from the BubbleJets..wasn't keen with those, but that was long ago.

Purcy,
So the 3915 supports bluetooth, or does one of the laptops work as the "print server", so that all data is transmitted to that laptop?

Hmm, about refills, that's what i'm very afraid of. Once upon a time i could get "Peach" branded HP880c replament cartridges as good as the originals - but suddenly, the market grew for cheap ink, and the masses loved this, although the pigment was lower, and it wasn't hard to see how inferiour and pale the end result was compared to the original. Now i can't fint replacement cartridges with proper ink here at least.

Yesterday, i found a person locally with a color laserjet 3800dtn. I tested it, and imo, the color quality isn't that good. It's a bit yellow and pale at the same time, like some chromaticity is missing. Considering this printer costs over three times as much as my budget, i think i'll be disappointed with a color laser. They might have progressed since, but i can't believe the progress to have happened in the entry level color lasers.
So i'm back to round one, and i think i should buy a inkjet printer instead. However, it must be durable - the thinkpads of inkjets maybe

So now my questions are:
What inkjets do businesses use? I see HP has a Business Jet line, but is it any better than their consumer line in general?
Does any inkjets come with duplexers (automatic)?
Does any inkjet approach the sharpness of lasers on regular paper?

[Purcy]

HP 3915 does not support bluetooth. I bought an IoGear USB bluetooth print adapter that plugs into the USB port on the printer (which used to then hook into the USB port on the laptop) and is a receiver/transmitter. You just install the bluetooth drivers from the supplied CD and it creates a new "printer" for you. You of course need to plug a USB bluetooth adapter into a port on your laptop so it can talk to the printer. We have two laptops in the house, both with these Kensington USB bluetooth adapters and they have a 65' range. It works really well for us; I've even sent files to my husband's laptop from mine several rooms away, using these bluetooth adapters. got all these things on ebay and amazon for a total of $30.

[RealBlackStuff]

I would advice to go for a laser-printer.
If you want good quality, duplex printing, cheap to run and eco-friendly, there is really only one printer:
Kyocera Mita FS-1020D
Replacement cartridges are for 7200 pages.
Most laser printers need their drums replaced after a certain number of pages.
This Kyocera NEVER needs to replace a drum.
If you buy it in the UK, it might be cheaper than Denmark.

For those few color pages, buy the cheapest printer you can find from Dell Outlet or even off eBay.
Throw it away when cartridges are empty and repeat the above.

[Troels]

i actually thought about b&w lasers... Is there any direct cons buying used?
I see the laserjet 6p receives raving reviews, and looks very neutral. And there's one on ebay for £25 in what appears to be great condition, but they probably pop up often.
Toners can't be that expensive for it either, either original or "refills"

The Kyocera FS-1020D does look very promising and sturdy though, and 7200 pages is much. Hmmm

You mean that the cartridges for the inkjets are more expensive than the printer (with pre-installed carts) ?
i'd really just like a solution that i don't have to think about having to reorder, or re-order + there is enough IT waste already....

I was thinking that the business inkjet 1200D or 1100D would be a good solution - but it appears HP was kind enough to implememt a chip (EEPROM most likely) in their cartridges, so they will expire and refuse to print.
That's extremely dissappointing for a business line printer that is not very cheap to buy either.
Is this still comon practice for all their inkjets?

One thing again which i'm irritated about with the 880c is the combined color cartridgde. i'd prefer three seperate cartridge, since i always run out of yellow first all the time.
The 2800d also looked promising, but it is A3, and is a behemoth! One review mentioned that a medium size TV/entertainment system table set was a good solution.

[leoblob]

I don't know how many computers you have in your house that are sharing the printer, but would it make your set-up any easier to buy an inexpensive printer that is connected directly to the "remote" computer(s) so you don't need the networking capability?

I use a HP Laserjet 4+ for every day stuff, and an Epson Stylus Photo XL for color (this is an 11x17" 6-color printer). I've found no drawbacks to the laser printer. The inkjet printers have the usual issues: consumables are expensive, printing can be slower, and the output quality is quite sensitive to the paper you use. However, I have found that you can get very good black-and-white text output from a color ink jet printer - provided you use very good paper.

[msb0b]

Very few pages will be for color prints. If it's for digital camera photos, i'd rather get someone to do them professionally. Doe the inkjet printouts still look good, or have they become "unsharper" as the cartridges aged?

The inkjet output still looks fine. It has only been in service for 1.5 years, which is not much compared to your DeskJet's 7 years of service. Have you tried head alignment? Depending on the printer, the alignment function is present either through the printer's front panel or in the printer driver.

Still, I think that a monochrome laser makes a strong case based on your usage. The main benefits are faster prints, sharper text, lower per page cost, etc. Entry level laser printers like HP LaserJet 1000 series are 100USD or 100EUR or even less. Network printing support are becoming more common on the lower end of the products.

There is not much risk for buying used laser printers. Things to note are the calendar age and page count of the printer. Make sure the seller takes the toner cartridge out of the printer and place it into a separate bag before shipping it. A toner spill in the printer is difficult to clean up and will leave streaks on print outs.

[TTY]

But i don't know what can be expected from the color laser quality - are they better looking than inkjet prints?

From what i've read, for printing photos, inkjet technology is able to deliver better results than laser printers.

I think that the amount of ozone that a laser printer emits depends on the technology used to transfer electric charge to the drum. I've read of only two manufacturers that use a contact-free method of transferring the electric charge. From what i understand, in these printers, the electric charge has to travel a short distance through air. These printers emit substantially more ozone than other laser printers. The two manufacturers that i've read of, who use a contact-free method of transferring electric charge to the drum, are Brother and Kyocera.

I can't judge whether such ozone emissions are of any relevance for users' health, though. Ozone decays to oxygen over time.

[teetee]

newegg has a Brother laser printer (N82E16828113212) with duplex and Ethernet built in. The reviews are OK.