I need a color laser printer

[Santilli]

You do know this about the 550N:

Why pay over $100 for these cartridges when you can refill them in under 5 minutes and save a bundle! Did you know that buying a new set of replacement cartridges for this printer costs just as much as the printer itself? Why waste your money when you have an alternative thats quick, easy and is also good for the environment.

Does this printer come with a full set of cartridges, or just starter cartridges?

s

 

[Mercutio]

Greg, that's true of almost every low cost laser printer.

 

[Santilli]

M:

I know, but with these color Lasers, it's a WAY different prospect then just replacing a black and white toner cartridge.

I've been seriously looking at one, and decided a photo quality Epson, or Canon would be better, in conjunction with a decent Laser B&W.

What do you think? All the reviews of this printer say it really sucks in Black and white, and, with the cost of Laser color cartridges, wouldn't buying a combination of both be a better solution, for about the same money as a mediocre color laser?

s

 

[time]

Yes.

 

[Mercutio]

I've been seriously looking at one, and decided a photo quality Epson, or Canon would be better, in conjunction with a decent Laser B&W.

What do you think?

s

I think that wasn't an option in this case. My customer wanted 1. Color Laser printing and 2. for that color printer to be quiet.

Printers aren't and never have been a one-size-fits-all product.

 

[Santilli]

Mercutio:

I understand your situation. I was just venting a little frustration, after doing tons of research, and trying to find a solution, and finding there really isn't one, without spending 2000 dollars on a printer.

It looks like the best photo printers are inkjets, and, I guess for your customer, your solution is perhaps the best you could come up with.

I was hoping to figure out a better setup, for myself, out of all of this.

I guess the best solution in this case is not having a Laser Color printer...

Costco, and Canon, are offering a combo deal for a reasonable priced
photo printer, and a Canon S1, an excellent camera, for something like
290 dollars, after rebates.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?ec=BC-EC201-Cat3264&pos=1&whse=&topnav=&prodid=11067443


Both the printer, and the S1 have excellent reviews, often better then their more expensive new models, like the S2, and the same for the
higher priced printers.

It's really funny to read reviews of more expensive items, that have bigger problems, and fewer features....


s

 

[Santilli]

Tannin:

What do you use to print color photos???

Thanks

Greg

 

[sechs]

low cost laser printer

Isn't this some type of oxymoron?

 

[LunarMist]

Greg,

Epson pigment-based inkject printers are still the choice for serious photographers, though Canon printers are getting better.

BTW, the S1 is a rather special purpose P&S (bit of a mess), but OK for small prints.

 

[Mercutio]

Greg, I'm almost 100% positive that Walgreens/Walmart/Kmart is the best way to get photos printed. Sometimes as cheap as $.19 a print.

At the office we use an Epson 1280 with a continuous ink system for everyday photo printing. The ink system keeps the costs down to something manageable.

We also have a Kodak 8500-series Dye-Sub unit. It was around $1000 new, and has a fixed $.75 cost per page, but on the other hand, on-demand 8.5x11 prints that are indistinguishable from professionally printed photos kind of appealing.

 

[Mercutio]

Well, I finally installed that CLP-550N.
And for now, at least, it seems like a GREAT deal. They are dead serious about the low-noise. It makes less noise than a running Microwave, and in it's whole paper transport there're absolutely no percussive sounds - it's all white noise. Mono output was at the very least clearer than any of the inkjets I could compare it to, and colors were surprisingly vibrant compared to the HP4500s I'm used to.
The duplexing was like icing on the cake.

Considering that I only paid $450 for it I'd say - at least for now - that it's a bargain.

I guess the only thing to do is wait for the other shoe to drop with regard to consumables.

 

[.Nut]

...HP stopped selling printers through Dell.

Other way around, actually. Dell booted HP, with much grandeur as I recall, back in -- what -- 2003? Dell got tired of sending wads of cash to what suddenly became their main competitor, which was the newly-christened (at that time) Hewlitt-Packard / Compaq monolith. Hewlitt-Packard had not been much of a Dell competitor, so the printer deal stayed in place, until they merged with Dell's main competitor -- Compaq.

• Dell launches sub-$100 laser printer
  
  Dell has unveiled a black-and-white laser printer priced at $99--low enough, possibly, to kick off a price war in the home and small-office printer market.
  
  The computing giant introduced its Dell Laser Printer 1100 on Tuesday. The device handles up to 15 pages a minute with a resolution of 600 dpi. Analysts predict competitors ranging from Hewlett-Packard to Lexmark will feel the pressure to offer something comparable, given that their low-end monochrome lasers start at roughly twice that price...
  
  
  http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5755901.html?tag=nl.e539
  

 

[blakerwry]

I bought a dell (rebranded lexmark) 1700 for < $100 roughly 6 months ago. Sounds better than what was listed in the article and was more expensive compared to the Samsung and Brother models I was also interested in.

I don't think lexmark will have any problem competing considering that most of Dell's printers come from Lexmark.

 

[Santilli]

Mercutio:

This looks like a GREAT printer deal.

Cartridges, for Laser printers, are relatively reasonable,

http://www.samsungtonershop.com/color_laser.html

and, it ships with duplex, 128 mb of ram, PPC 266 mh processor?, networking and wireless, and with full real cartridges on purchase.

Pretty amazing for the price.

s

 

[Tannin]

Tannin: What do you use to print color photos???

Nothing. Why would I want to print pictures when I already have them on screen?

 

[Buck]

Tannin: What do you use to print color photos???

Nothing. Why would I want to print pictures when I already have them on screen?

To hang on the wall in the house that you're never at anymore?

 

[Tannin]

There is pretty much no wall space left, Buck. Fair dinkum. Outside of a few essentials like kitchen shelves and windows, every spare little bit of wall is covered in bookshelves. I need to figure out a way to free up space to put a screen for my laptop projector. Probably have to make do with a roll-up one.

 

[Buck]

I don't know, what would be easier, making the walls taller, or getting a roll-up screen?

 

[Mercutio]

I'm partial to just painting some empty space on a wall with reflective paint, myself.

 

[Platform]

Setup a screen outside and charge admission to the Tannin Outdoor Theatre ("Yeah, I think I'm gonna unwind this evening and hang out at the TOT.")

 

[Buck]

'tater TOT?

 

[Platform]

<eats big mouthful of popcorn, drinks beer>


Damn. Now THAT was a pretty neat Excel trick!


<drinks more beer>


Wow. Now what the hell is that he's starting up? Oh my god, is that... OS/2???


<drinks HUGE gulp of beer>

 

[zahira1]

Colour Laser Printers

Tannin:
For some reason I thought Margarat River was just up the road from you, near Adelaide(sp) or Bells Beach, not near Perth.

s

just love "the up the road a bit" :bigeek: I think Margaret River would be several days drive away from Victoria, It takes 8hrs straight through flying from NQ (North Queensland) to Perth

Yiiiiks major dollars. :excl: Our Pastor is looking at a Lanier Colour Photocopier, never heard of the brand, but the specs come up better than a Canon <-- I was really surprised with that.

Wonder if that is an option?

 

[e_dawg]

Laser printers are something HP used to do really well. The LaserJet 4 was an all time classic. The Carly got hold of the company. I am led to believe that their laser products are not the ultimate in crapsville that their systems and inket printers are these days, but I wouldn't trust an HP-branded bootlace manufactured after about 2000.

Their LaserJet 42x0/43x0 series are excellent workhorse printers that have proven themselves in the corporate workgroup environments I've seen them in. They have 200,000+ page monthly duty cycles -- far and away higher than almost any printer HP makes. And they can be found for under $1,000 US new.

 

[Tannin]

Lanier are well-respected in the photocopier world, I believe.

 

[iGary]

Laser printers are something HP used to do really well...

I am led to believe that their laser products are not the ultimate in crapsville that their systems and inket printers are these days, but I wouldn't trust an HP-branded bootlace manufactured after about 2000.

Teannin, don't get emotional on us.

Believe me, HP still makes some serious printers -- and these are better than the old Laserjet III, 4, and 5 series in just about every conceivable way. But, HP aren't -- and have never been -- the only game in town at the upper midrange and high-end of the laser printer foodchain. As for the lower end, HP is more than a tad overpriced, but certainnly still quite good.

...They have 200,000+ page monthly duty cycles.

Are we talking 20 000 or 200 000?

 

[Tannin]

Gary, there is emotional, and then there is a reasoned and rational refusal to deal with a company that has a proven track record of shafting its customers in ways that are completely and totally unacceptable. See here:

http://redhill.net.au/w/w-hp.html

 

[mubs]

Tannin, now that Carly is gone, email that link to Mark Hurd here.