So, I am looking to buy a printer. At present I have a Dell V105, which runs out of ink WAY too fast and for which ink is WAY too expensive. I understand that laser-printers use a lot less ink, so I am looking to buy one of those since it will probably save me money in the long run. However, it seems to me that if I am going to do this, I might as well buy the most efficient laser printer, i.e. the one for which it costs the least, on average, to print a given page. I am not worried about color printing or printing pictures; a really efficient black-and-white laser printer would be fine.

So what do you think is the best choice, TWW?

[Edited on March 30, 2009 at 5:37 PM. Reason : obviously I mean laser, not laster]

3/30/2009 5:37:15 PM

I have a HP LaserJet 1320. B&W and a duplexer.

Couldn't give you a price breakdown, but I've had the printer for ~5 years with no complaints.

3/30/2009 5:41:51 PM

PM fregac
You can get an older HP LaserJet for the price of a couple of ink cartridges.

3/30/2009 5:42:28 PM

how much are you wanting to spend and how much are you printing per month

without knowing those two things you might as well have said OMG I CAN HAS LASTER PRINTER?!??

3/30/2009 5:42:52 PM

< $150 if possible
how much I print per month will vary...maybe 40 pages now....probably around 100 pages in the fall...but I will keep it long enough and print enough that cost-per-page will become the most important factor

3/30/2009 5:44:12 PM

Unless you're printing in high volume, I don't think that you're really going to notice the difference between most printers. You should do some research on the cost of toner cartridges and how many pages you can get from one and base your purchase on that.

3/30/2009 5:47:43 PM

I was hoping that somebody knew where to find a comprehensive cost-per-page list or something, but that ^ is what I will do. Thanks folks

3/30/2009 7:08:43 PM

talk to fregac.

he usually has some very good/high yield laser printers for sale from surplus

for instance, i got an HP laserjet 4200dtn (extra tray and duplexer) for like $150... and it's one of the newer ones with the display on the front center, not on the right. i couldn't be happier with it.

3/30/2009 8:01:44 PM

i used a Canon ImageCLASS MF4150 for a bit - it had a good yield per cartridge but the duplexer sucks - i'm not surprised now that i see how expensive other machines with duplex are and hwo cheap i got this one for.

so now i'm with a Brother MFC-7840W Compact Laser All-in-One with Wireless Interface
the tn-330 regular yield cartridge is rated at Expected lifetime yield of 1,500 pages based on 5-percent coverage for $32 with shipping on buy.com

the tn-360 high yield cartridge is rated at Expected lifetime yield of 2,600 pages based on 5-percent coverage for $37 with shipping on concordsupplies.com

i can attest to around 1500 pages with the tn-330 - i've printed at least 1200 pages so far and the cartridge is still going strong.

3/30/2009 8:14:32 PM

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00006LHOW/ref=dp_olp_refurbished?ie=UTF8&condition=refurbished

around $45-50 per toner cartridge for the 4200 series (q1338a)
you get around 12,000 pages out of one, assuming 5% page coverage

i've had my current one in there for over a year and it has just barely under 3/4 of its life left.

3/30/2009 9:56:43 PM

WHAT THE FUCK, 12 THOUSAND!??!?!

3/30/2009 10:09:27 PM

That's pretty typical.

3/30/2009 10:24:38 PM

^^,^^^

good golly
that beats the crap out of shelling out $22, printing out tax documents and maybe 15 homework writeups, and shelling out $22 again

3/30/2009 10:43:56 PM

welcome to the world of laser printing, my friend

next stop: color laser

again, fregac is your man

i have a xerox phaser 8500dn, HP laserjet 4200dtn, and a HP laserjet 2100tn. got the 2100tn for free, bought the phaser and the 4200dtn from fregac for some VERY good prices. once you get one, you'll never go back to inkjet - when i moved, i didn't even bother unpacking mine, haha.

3/30/2009 10:53:25 PM

I got a Brother HL-4070CDW color laser printer a few weeks ago. I really like the thing so far. It's not <$150 though...

3/30/2009 10:55:56 PM

fuck my life
i was happy with 12 HUNDRED

now i will want something that can do 12 THOUSAND LoL

3/30/2009 11:32:03 PM

you can get one for about the price you'd pay for a new consumer-grade one at the store

state surplus ftw

those printers are beasts, they last forever as long as you maintain them

3/31/2009 12:44:42 AM

got a brother hl 2170w recently for 85 dollar bucks after shipping and its awesome

3/31/2009 12:50:25 AM

I have a Samsung CLP-315 color laser. It was $90 new, and the black toner lasts about 1,500 pages, color toners last about 1,000. 40 for the black, 35 each for the CYM colors.

It's more expensive to maintain than the HP LaserJets, but it's also gorgeous looking and it's fucking tiny. I realized after college that those used HP's might print well, but it looks like a 15 year old office printer you stole from a shitty clerk job.



[Edited on March 31, 2009 at 1:50 AM. Reason : .]

3/31/2009 1:49:13 AM

yeah this thing does look quite sexy

and i don't think i could do without my scanner

3/31/2009 2:31:24 AM

In addition to the price/page, get an automatic duplexer. You will never go back. I have an older HP 4100 with a duplexer, network card, and extra tray I got for $80 on here last year and still have not gone through the used toner cartridge. I keep my all-one ink jet for scanning and such and the occasional time I need something in color.

3/31/2009 8:11:31 AM

I had an HP 3800dtn I would have sold you for $400. 65,000/month duty cycle, 22ppm, full color, 850 sheet capacity

I bought it for $300 though, just sold it for $450

3/31/2009 9:09:21 AM

i got this one (brother MFC-7820n) on sale for $100 a few years back...i really like having the all-in-one capabilities, as well as the built-in networking jack so i can print from anything on the network...i'm still using the original cartridge, though i admit i don't print that often

i've never looked for a color laser since i've always had much nicer ones that i could afford at work, anyway, so i just use the company ones if i need to print something in color



[Edited on March 31, 2009 at 9:21 AM. Reason : 30ppm!]

3/31/2009 9:21:00 AM

Brother makes a lot of really good All-in-one laser solutions, too bad they are all 80's star trek styled.

I've had the big beast HP printers, with full duplex and networking. I don't miss them at all on the Samsung. Duplexing is manual, but it's implemented so damn well I never even think about it. And I can count on one hand the number of times I've needed a networked printer at home, rather than just having it shared through my desktop.

3/31/2009 1:44:11 PM

current plan is to go with some sort of HP Laserjet, maybe a 4200...unfortunately I live in the Midwest so Wolfweb hookups are not really an option

it would be sweet to have a duplexer too...but this will require some thought. I will let TWW know when I think I've finally decided what the hell to buy

3/31/2009 6:04:09 PM

^check ebay for local auctions. I've bought a couple of refurbed HP's on ebay for pennies (Fregac has a great service, but he charges a very hefty middleman fee for doing a maintenance check).

3/31/2009 6:45:27 PM

^it's completely worth it though, and it's really not that much. that man is the god of printers. if there's anything wrong with it, he fixes it before he sells it.

Quote :

"get an automatic duplexe"

seconded

Quote :

"but it looks like a 15 year old office printer you stole from a shitty clerk job."

that's why you put it in a closet, completely out of sight.

3/31/2009 8:38:18 PM

evan

talking about in the closet

hilarity ensues

3/31/2009 8:55:57 PM

stfu fag

3/31/2009 8:56:20 PM

don't make me kill you

3/31/2009 8:59:04 PM

Quote :

"don't make me kiss you"

fixed it for you

3/31/2009 9:20:03 PM

I do the womenz ok?

3/31/2009 9:26:01 PM

me too
what's your point? WHAT IS YOUR POINT?!

3/31/2009 9:28:56 PM

Oki B2520 Multifunction Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax $99.99
http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/158642
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203941984

3/31/2009 9:32:07 PM

certainly a steal at $99...but apparently it has lowish print quality, a confusing interface, a poor cost-per-page and takes a long-ass time to warm up

I'd be willing to spend a bit more than $150, maybe, if that's what a competent product costs

I appreciate your looking it up, tho

3/31/2009 9:39:28 PM

Quote :

"I realized after college that those used HP's might print well, but it looks like a 15 year old office printer you stole from a shitty clerk job."

So? It is an office printer. I don't need my electronics to look beautiful, personally. If you do, that's great, but you're paying more money for less efficiency/functionality.

Unless looks are an issue, I also say go HP. I've got a LaserJet 5N that I bought from garfus99 back when he was an equipment reseller--paid $50 for it in 2005. It's worked flawlessly ever since; the only reason I would even consider upgrading is I'd like a duplexer and they're expensive to ship (thought cheap to buy) via eBay. Sure, it's a little slow when you're throwing PDF jobs at is since it doesn't have much internal memory, but the b/w print quality is beautiful and the efficiency cannot be argued with. Not bad considering this piece has a manufacture date of 5/1996.

I use the HP for all of my b/w printing, and have a Canon Pixma all-in-one that I use for color and photo printing. That makes more sense for me, as the canon prints photos really nicely, and I don't often print in color. Color lasers are convenient, but they lose a lot of cost-efficiency compared to a b/w laser because you have to buy all the separate toners. Still more cost-effective than an inkjet though. Also they can't print photos if you care about that. If you do a lot of color printing you might want to consider a color laser, or if you only have space for one device. But I think the most bang for the buck occurs with a b/w laser and a inkjet that can do both color and photo printing.

As to model--I've used a LOT of HP models and can say--stay away from the 5L/6L/1000/1100/any model with a rear gravity-fed paper tray. The separator pads wear out way early, the printer starts ingesting multiple pieces of paper at once, and it becomes a mess. You can get a maintenance kit to fix the problem but I'd rather not deal with it. I'd say look for a 2200 if you can find one--not too big, duplexer standard, tend to hold up well. A 4000/4050/4100/4200 will be rock-solid, but they're big beasts. Great if you have the space for one. The old reliable 4 and 5 series models, while lots of them like mine still work great, have reached the age where I wouldn't really buy one anymore. The 1320 series and their successor the p2015 have been good little machines in my experience, so that's another option.

4/1/2009 1:09:16 PM

Get a HP LaserJet 1012. It is small, fast, reliable and inexpensive

amazon reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-Packard-Q2461A-ABA-LaserJet-Printer/dp/B0000C1XHY

You can buy them new for about $120.

Sure you could go buy a humongo used office printer but they will be more expensive to fix, more expensive to buy toner/supplies for, slower to start up, more electricity draw, etc. and I doubt NCSU is sending printers that are in good working order to surplus, considering the budget cuts.

4/1/2009 4:34:32 PM

this isn't brother fanboyism, but when i bought mine, it was the best bang-for-the-buck, in that, considering the cost of the toner cartridges (brother being one of the cheapest), you get more pages per dollar

that was a while ago, though...the raving reviews and excellent deal i got on it helped, too

i admit that i rarely print via the network (couple of times a month, maybe), but it's nice not having to get up and plug the laptop in (because my "desktop" is actually my HTPC, there's no place for the printer to go where it can be plugged in, so it, too, prints via the network)

4/1/2009 4:48:17 PM

Quote :

"Sure you could go buy a humongo used office printer but they will be more expensive to fix, more expensive to buy toner/supplies for, slower to start up, more electricity draw, etc. and I doubt NCSU is sending printers that are in good working order to surplus, considering the budget cuts."

more expensive to fix, yes, but i've never had one break on me. these things were built to last. there are old ass laserjet 4's that are still out there working perfectly. most of hp's consumer printers are cheap plastic crap, but there's a reason you see mostly hp laserjets in offices and why a lot of enterprises choose them for company-wide deployment.

the toner is possibly more expensive per unit, but you get frikkin 12,000 pages out of each cartridge. i can find ones for my lj4200 online for around $50, which comes out to less than half a cent per page. that's by FAR cheaper than any consumer printer ever.

my 4200 starts up in about a minute and wakes up from sleep in a couple of seconds. i'd say first page out time coming from sleep is like 5 seconds max. it goes into powersave mode after 15 minutes of idle time and uses less than 25 watts in that mode.

ncsu isn't the only place that surpluses equipment. and if there's anything wrong with a printer, you can count on fregac to fix it before he sells it.

4/1/2009 7:05:52 PM

i still have a laserjet 1100 from like 1999 lol..damn thing still prints fine

4/1/2009 7:38:00 PM

finally bought a used HP laserjet 4200dtn off Ebay for $212 and change, including shipping

we'll see how this plays out

6/10/2009 3:45:21 PM

i'll second the 1000 series HP laser jet, they're cheap and i'm probably over 4,000 pages on my current toner cartridge right now ... i've had it for about 4 years now and it's a solid printer

6/10/2009 8:49:42 PM

okay folks, thanks for all your helpful advice. I ordered a used HP Laserjet 4200 dtn and I've finally got it all set up and installed and it prints.

The only problem is, when it uses the duplexer, it prints the odd pages faintly but the even pages fine. For example, when I print a two-page document, the first page, appearing on the front side of the output sheet, is very faint, but the second page, on the back of the output sheet, is printed fine.

If someone could venture any guesses as to why the hell this is happening and what I could do to fix it, I would be most grateful. I am so close to having a functioning, efficient, autoduplexing printer!

6/19/2009 6:08:52 PM

^ That's odd. All a duplexer really does is re-route the paper to print on the back side.

6/19/2009 6:11:15 PM

I need to trade this Phaser 850 for something more practical.

6/19/2009 6:15:17 PM