HP laserJet 4p any opinions?

[blakerwry]

Hey all, I have wanted to get a laser printer for awhile. Mainly because most of the printing I do is black and white and I'm tired of baby sitting the past couple inkjet's I've had.

I want something that can print reliably and affordably every time.

My volume of printing is very sporadic, this week I printed ~50-60 pages, while some weeks I may only print once or twice.

So I was looking on ebay and saw a HP laserjet 4p... the seller stated that it was in working condition, fed properly, guaranteed against DOA, has 8MB RAM, and comes with a toner cartridge (picture shows the printer in good condition with a new looking toner cartridge box)

So I read some reviews and every one I've seen of the 4p says that they are very durable... feed very well... but are reletively slow (~4 pages per minute) 4ppm is a godsend from where i'm coming from. The toner cartridges for these things seem to be going for ~$50 new.. maybe less for refurb.. this seems like a good deal for a 3000 page rating. That puts my total cost at ~$0.04 per page for ink/paper.



I have just a handful of experience with laser printers, so can anyone tell me if this is a good printer to buy, or should I hold out for something better? on ebay it seems these things are going for $40+, is this a good deal? How much RAM do I need in a printer? anythign else i should be aware of?

 

[timwhit]

The Laserjet 4 is a big printer and will cost a bundle to ship. I'm not sure how big the 4P compared to the LJ4 but I doubt it is small.

I bought a LaserJet 5 for around $140, with less than 7,000 pages printed on it. It has worked very well for me. The LaserJet 5 is not quite as heavy as the LJ4 so it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to ship. Plus it prints 10 PPM.

When looking for a used printer on eBay check for page count. On these types of printers anything under 20,000 would be very low. Also check to see if they have replaced the rollers and otherwise refurbished the unit.

I would reccomend to anyone that they ditch their inkjet and go with a laser. It is just so much nicer.

 

[blakerwry]

4p:
H x W x D (6.8" x 14.7" x 15.4")
20lbs


5:
W x D x H (24.4 x 19.3 x 14.8 in)
24.5 lb.



One of the reasons I thought this would be a good printer for me is becasue of it's size... makes it more versitle where I can put it... but I'll manage whatever the size...

Fedex said it'd only be $11.32 from here(Kansas City) to 90210 using ground.... pretty good deal if you ask me.

 

[blakerwry]

I'm glad you mentioned page count though.. that is something i was wondering about... unfortunately only some auctions mention page count... the one I'm currently bidding on does not.


What is your opinion of refurbished or repaired units? are they better than an unrepaired used unit, equal, worse?

 

[blakerwry]

btw, what is the difference between these letters in HP's line-up? there are just numbers, then P's and N's and M's and L's and sometimes you'll see letters combined...

only thin I've been able to figure out so far is that the N should have network capability and the M is a Mac version... i think....

 

[timwhit]

I would only buy a used unit that has a low page count or has been completely refurbished/repaired. I wouldn't even bid on an auction that doesn't mention page count because it means the unit has a really high pagecount.

Personally I would look for a LJ5 you will appreciate the extra speed when you have it.

 

[timwhit]

P stands for personal, it will be smaller not as well built and slower. N does stand for network. I can't remember what M stands for, but I think it has something to do with post-script.

 

[time]

The LJ4P was a good printer for its time - 12 years ago (I had one).

Don't be seduced by claimed print speeds - it refers to the engine speed rather than the actual printer, and in those days these were often light years apart.

In other words, it's terribly slow by modern standards. A $50 inkjet would blow it into the weeds.

But a laser is a laser, and I wholeheartedly agree with timwhit's sentiments - but only if you can afford a decent one.

 

[Newtun]

I am pretty satisfied with my Brother HL-1440 - good quality and speed, horizontal paper feed, and a print driver with manual-feed duplex mode. A little loud, though. $200 after instant rebate at OfficeMax.

And my daughter likes the Samsung ML-1210 I got her. The newer ML-1430 model is $170 after $30 rebate at Best Buy.

Check out their reviews and/or test drive them. I believe both rebates end Saturday 2/7.

 

[Newtun]

Oops, that's Saturday 2/8.

 

[Pradeep]

4P is very slow. You could email the seller and ask him for a page count.

If you have a bit more money you could get a Lexmark OptraS 1625 or similar for around ~$100-$150. Much faster, postscript capable, network ready, and perhaps with duplex installed. 7000 page toner cart should last you a while.

 

[blakerwry]

how do i check the page count?



So you guys seem to agree that used is probably not the way to go.. unless maybe you've had a test drive/know who and how it was used before you buy?


Also, what are the benefits of PCL? compared to Post script? should I look for a printer with both?

 

[blakerwry]

There's a refurb with 180 day warrantee Optra S 1625 W/ cartridge and cable for ~$220 from compgeeks.com
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=OPTRA-S-1625-R

But this thing looks like overkill for my uses. I also wanted a miniumum investment... I was thinking <$100 for pinter and hopefully cartridges that were also under $75.

This seems like a decent buy considering the cost of toner cartridges for the printer... but it is more than I really want to spend.

I'll have to sleep on it.

 

[P5-133XL]

I'm a big believer in used HP LJ printers. I've had great success with them. I also avoid HP's P printer line: They are not well built and are much slower than the others. PS the "M" stands for postscript, the "N" stands for Network. You can go to the HP web site for specifications and pay attention to monthly dudty cycles as a good judge for how well a printer is built and how long you can expect it to last.

If you want the cartridge, have it shipped seperately from the printer: Any toner that gets out of the cartridge and into the printer will create problems and it's really hard to clean out of a printer. Never ship a cartridge inside a printer.

The page counts are printed with the diagnostic page. Every HP printer can print them (from LJ 1 on), but the method to get them varies from printer to printer. It will be an option on all non-P printers that have menu's. P-printers have simultanous button-press combinations to get the diagnostic page(s).

It is very good to have page counts proving low usage. All you do without page-counts is assume high useage and deal with refurbished or warrenteed printers. Your low usage would tend to be in your favor here: If it works reliabily for the first month, then I would expect it to work for a long time to come. Test it heavily during the warrentee period.

 

[Pradeep]

There's a refurb with 180 day warrantee Optra S 1625 W/ cartridge and cable for ~$220 from compgeeks.com
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=OPTRA-S-1625-R

But this thing looks like overkill for my uses. I also wanted a miniumum investment... I was thinking <$100 for pinter and hopefully cartridges that were also under $75.

This seems like a decent buy considering the cost of toner cartridges for the printer... but it is more than I really want to spend.

I'll have to sleep on it.

Try something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3400703541&category=16189

As has been stated make sure they remove the toner cart before shipping. I don't know how much compgeeks wants for shipping of close to 80 pounds but it can't be pretty. If you don't want the hassles then get a new Brother or something similar.

Personally I just love the true 1200dpi of my Optra