Which colour laser printer to buy?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Graeme Marion, May 1, 2004.

  1. Graeme Marion

    Graeme Marion Private E-2

    I want to buy a colour laser printer for home use. It will be used mainly for word documents with the occasional photograph thrown in.

    Don't tell me to buy an inkjet because that is not what I want. What I want is a recommendation for a laser printer capable of 1200dpi in A4 format. Preferably something that you have had personal experience with.

    This printer will not get a lot of use, but I do not want to wish that I had bought something better as soon as I get it home.

    You help in making the right choice is appreciated.
    Regards from Graeme Marion.
     
  2. Fw190

    Fw190 Lt. Anti-Social

    A few questions.
    What is your budget range? Are we talking something sub $1000? When you say 1200 DPI, do you mean 1200x1200 or 1200x600? 1200x1200 is usually on higher end printers in the $1500-$2000 range.
    Do you prefer the output of a specific engine technology? Or does the print engine (LED,Toner,Wax) not matter to you?
    Also, what kind of performance do you want in the printer, must it be single pass color machine? Or do you want the high-speed color capabilites of the single pass printers?

    Those questions being asked I dug up a few different printers in varying price ranges.
     
  3. Fw190

    Fw190 Lt. Anti-Social

    the HP Post.
    The HP Color Laserjet 3500. Uses an interpolation scheme (HPRet) to achieve it's finish quality.
    This is what HP says
    It's still not as nice as true engine DPI, but it's also a very inexspensive high-speed color printer. $799

    Basically all of the HP small office printers use that same technology, so paying for a higher model HP simply nets you more speed, how much speed depends on how much money you're willing to spend.

    Bottom line:
    The HP printers are nice, and there will be parts for some time to service your models. Good if you don't mind the interpolated image, and want good avalability of supplies such as toner and imaging drums.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2004
  4. Fw190

    Fw190 Lt. Anti-Social

    Okidata post

    Now, in that same price range an offering from Okidata.
    The C5100n.
    I'll link to okidata's page, as it's not too deep like Hp's site.
    http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/C5100n-C5300nHome.html

    A simple little printer,small footprint. Quick little hting though, 20 PPM in black, and about 12 PPM in color. Uses Oki's LED head technology to get a 600x1200 DPI. Also has a 5 year LED head warranty. The Okidata also has network connectivity standard, an expensive option on most other printers in this class. Something worth considering if you have a small home netowork. at $839 it's a lot more features for the money.

    Bottoms line:
    it's the most expensive of the budget printers, but it's also the fastest and only one of the group to have a 1200 DPI engine. Good print quality here and the network connectivity is a big plus for me. Parts are available reliably online, but unless you have an okidata authorized shop in your area don't expect to order them locally. This would be my personal choice, but I will preface this by saying that I am an authorized Okidata technician.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2004
  5. Fw190

    Fw190 Lt. Anti-Social

    Xerox

    now the Xerox post
    The Phaser 6100.
    http://www.office.xerox.com/perl-bin/product.pl?product=6100
    also a small printer. The least expensive of the group also is the only model to come with a duplexer standard. unfortunately it's on an older engine and can only print 5 PPm in color. It also does not have an engine capable of 1200 DPI and uses a technique similar to HP's to achieve it's claimed 1200 DPI mark. This would be the printer to get if you wanted the least expensive, and don't print color too often. The standard duplexer is a nice feature, and the 64MB of ram is generous, but it's an older engine, and the color speed suffers.
    Bottoms line:
    The least impressive of the group, but it's also the cheapest, and only model with a duplexer standard.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2004
  6. Fw190

    Fw190 Lt. Anti-Social

    There's a good start to your search.
    Keep in mind that I'm a little biased to the Okidata prodect, but that's because I've seen alot of them sold, and not many come back, they're proving to be a solid design.

    I'm also an HP certified technician, and I do like the laserjets. But frankly I think that HP's small office machines just don't have the standard features to justify their cost. Adding a jetdirect is an expensive ption. I'd suggest getting a print sample from somewhere so you can see that the HPimageret does work, and the HP's do have better print wuality then their hardware specs bely.

    The xerox I have no ties to, simply saw one out onsite at a customers and poked around with it a bit. Seemed like a nice unit, but it was sorely slow, and seemd to take a little bit before the first page was out. The built in duplexer was a bonus though, as was the generous amount of ram.
     
  7. Graeme Marion

    Graeme Marion Private E-2

    FW 190, thanks for those leads. You are definately in the right ball-park.

    Can anyone tell me how the Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2300 Desklaser compares against the other printers mentioned here? (Price $799.)

    I read the product review on PC World at:- http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,109565,00.asp

    Unfortunately there is no mention anywhere about it's photo print quality.

    Has anyone tried to print photos with this printer?

    Regards from Graeme Marion.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2004
  8. goldfish

    goldfish Lt. Sushi.DC

    If its anything like the higher up Magicolor models, you need to do a lot of fiddling with print settings before you get anything LIKE a decent print. First, you need to make sure its in photo mode, not graphics mode, and then you need to colour correct it. And even after that they look crummy and too contrasty. I can actually get better results with a inkjet than with that thing. I use it for my art sketchbook and the prints look abysmal.

    One thing it does do well is print serving. And the school model has plenty of ram in it too... so it can handle... a lot.... of print jobs at once.
     
  9. Brian C

    Brian C Private Peanut Gallery

    Well.......You probrably don't want to hear this, but I agree with Goldy 100%.
    I have a laser jet........unfortunately, it's in pieces from when I hurled it across the room one day. I SWEAR by a Canon injet with the "thinktank system". I have an S750, and I love it. I print a lot, and a lot of the printing is photo's. The cartridges are a snap to refill. No guesswork. I've refilled mine over 20 times, and they still work flawlessly. And if a cartridge ever does go bad, the're 7 bucks a piece.
     

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  10. Fw190

    Fw190 Lt. Anti-Social

    Cartridges are cheap for canon's and epsons because the printhead stays in the printer. WHen you're printhead finally dies then buying new ink tanks won't fix it. Just so you know, and don't go out spending $30 on ink tanks for a print quality problem they won't fix.
     
  11. Graeme Marion

    Graeme Marion Private E-2

    O'K Guys I hear you.

    Is it unanimous that lasers suck big time for printing color photos?

    You are right Brian. I didn't want to hear that. But it is better facing up to the truth now, than being disappointed after shelling out good money.

    Thanks for the input,

    Regards from Graeme Marion.
     

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