HP 1300 laser and jet direct box

[jepeters]

I'm looking at an HP LaserJet 1300xi printer from Sams Club. It says it is networkable with an optional JetDirect LIO internal printer server.

We have several EXTERNAL jet direct boxes (about 6 or 7 years old) that have worked with every HP printer we've had. Is there any reason why these external boxes wouldn't work with this printer? The fact that the documentation only mentions the internal LIO server has me hesitating to buy.

[glc]

No problems, it will work just fine.

[jong2k4]

I'm assuming you're getting this laser printer for work, which you probably need a high volume printer for, but if you're ever looking for mid-range laser printers (light office work or heavy home use) I REALLY love the Minolta 1250W. Got it for $100 (with toner) and I've never had a jam, love the small footprint compared to almost all other printers, love the high speed, and love the 250 page capacity.

[wedor]

I have looked at printers from several companies, I have no direct experience with Minolta but I definitely avoid anything made by Brother in particular and some other companies because the service is so poor, or you need to drive a long distance, or you must ship the unit to another city/state to get it repaired.

My first priority now is too look at the serviceability of the unit, where, when and how. The nice thing about HP is you can buy parts for them, you can diagnose them, and you can find a lot of local places that repair them.

My experience with Brother was that not many places work on them, they will not sell you certain parts and they won't help you diagnose the problem, they just refer you to a service center. The parts can end up costing more than the printer.

The cheap printers are like gambling, if your business depends on it how much are you willing to wager?

[glc]

The only lasers I will recommend for any kind of business use are HP, Lexmark, Ricoh, and Xerox, with HP being my strong preference. Minolta merged with QMS, who has a long history of service issues. If it works, it works great - but when it needs service, look out. I sell a lot of low end HP lasers to small businesses, they have no problem handling the load. It's hard to beat a HP printer/HP Jet Direct combination until you get into the big multi-thousand $$$ machines, where Ricoh seems to be the best value - and people usually lease those with full maintenance anyway.

[jong2k4]

Those are good points that I never would have known, because I've never needed to take a printer in to be serviced... Thanks for enlightening me :)