Laser printers

[fatboyjim]

I have never had one, but my school has always had loads. And personally I love them (esp. the idea of them being network printers out of the box)

But I have a few questions...

The school printers are all crappy black and white (they don't want to waste big ££ on toner obviously). What am I looking at price wise for a good black and white laser compared to a colour laser?

My old HP DeskJet 670C (about 6 years old now) is having serious paper feed problems at the moment (tray loading). If you put more than one piece of paper in at a time it takes them both (sometimes half way through a job so you get half job on one page half on another). If you aren't really nice to it and feed it the paper as it asks for it (push it in) the printer locks and jams up inside.

Do laser printers suffer from the same problem after a while? Because I can tell you for nothing it is the MOST annoying thing in the world for it to happen when I'm printing essays etc. (and I want it done fast)

Thanks guys,

[Nuclear Krusader]

You can't go wrong with a laser printer.

My LaserJet went south almost two years by now and I've been using an EPSON 740i, which is a good printer but sucks up the ink fast!

How I miss my laser!!

[Floppyman]

If you don't mind having a used laser printer, take a look on ebay and search for an HP Laserjet 4. From what I've heard those printers are great workhorses. HHT

[glc]

Lasers can have feed problems just like any other printer when the rollers get old and dry out. Stay away from the top loading HP's - they have a lot of feed problems.

Jim - if you clean the feed rollers in your Deskjet you can get more life out of it. Open the lid and remove the paper tray, and get yourself a piece of Scotchbrite abrasive pad, and keep hitting the paper feed button to get the rollers to rotate - and scrub the glaze off them. Finish with a thorough vacuuming to get all the crud out of the paper path.

[sdkfz]

agreed on the rollers, eventually they get a "glaze" that can be cleaned off several times. I have a used Laser jet 4n that I sweet talked the tech for the company to service 25.00 USD and I had new rollers and a general clean etc. The printer went from a paper jamming clunker to a perfectly good BW printer.

At work we just got the HP 4600 colr laser jet, this has saved us 5 times the purchase price in printing costs at the local kinkos, 700.00 in toner cartridges (5 different color cartridges) gets you 8000+ pages in color. Mind you the black is going out the fastest as mostly we are printing BW mailings with logos and small pieces of color. we have the 4600 dn and it runs about 2300.00 USD , cut the duplux and the networking and you can get it cheaper. prints about 15 pages a minute

The Xerox phaser is good too, it has a lifetime black cartidge replacement for free and if the tomer was not wax we would have gone for that, but the IT people advised that photocopying the prints will cause james as the wax will soten and stick to the copier. If this is not a problem it will be cheaper on a per page cost fue to the free BW ink.

[fatboyjim]

Thanks for the comments

I wonder if you could tell me what price I'm looking at for new laser printers (Black and White compared to Colour)

Thanks again,

Jim

[glc]

New lasers that are not junk start at around $250US (HP 1000, USB only, winprinter) and colors start at $1000 (HP 2500, no options). My favorite small office laser is the HP 1200 at $400US.

[fatboyjim]

Thanks glc,

I don't print an awful lot in Colour, and £650 is a lot for somebody like me to spend on a printer (out of my budget :))

I like the idea of the HP 1000 though, I'll look into it

Thanks again,

Jim

[Iman74]

Yeah but the thing is for what you can pay for the lj black and white, for the same amount of money or less you can get a DJ that prints bw and color, so you get more the buck.
Just my 2cents.

[Iman74]

Originally posted by Iman74
Yeah but the thing is for what you can pay for the lj black and white, for the same amount of money or less you can get a DJ that prints bw and color, so you get more for the buck.
Just my 2cents.

[Mac Medic]

A more important difference to me is the cost per page. My lj1000 has a cpp of about 3c compared to about 25c for my ink jet. Most of my printing is b/w so i save the money and use a laser. Even with the higher purchase price of laser i save a fortune over the long run. The only time i ever need color is when i print a photo, sometimes i use my ink jet, most times now days i can print them cheaper at wolf camera.

[mike breck]

Jim,

If you're looking for a B&W laser printer, I've been using the Canon LBP-660 laser printer for six years in my home-office and it's still going strong.

It is used extensively by myself and the rest of the family and I only have to replace the toner cartridge once a year at a cost of around £40-£50 - depending where I shop.

The current in this model line is the LBP-810 which you can get from Dabs for under £200.

http://www.dabs.com/products/prod-search.asp?action=search&tid=320&mid=330&ob=manufacturer&obd=asc&stab=ref

Although a top-loader, if you prepare and insert the paper stacks the right way (as we all should, but seldom do) it doesn't have jam problems.

Good value for a dependable workhorse.

If I had to replace my current model then I would defintely go for this Canon model.

HTH

[glc]

That's one area where lasers excel - cost per page. Most offices I service have multiple standard black lasers and one inkjet for the occasional color job. This is going to change soon with the introduction of the 2500 color laser at that price point, it's only $1500 with a second paper tray and a Jet Direct card, I can foresee inkjets slowly going away in offices unless they can speed the color printing up and cut the cost of ink way down. If you have ever used an HP color laser, you will never go back to an inkjet without a fight, the quality is stunning on cheap paper.

[glc]

Hey Mike - you type faster than me! :D

Your LBP-660 might have a lot of HP parts in it - as a matter of fact, HP actually used Canon laser engines for many years. It looks similar to an HP6L. I have a customer with an LBP-1260 which is virtually identical to an HP 4. I understand that you have had good luck with the toploader, but I cannot recommend that style because I have seen too many customers with HP5L, 6L, and 1100's that have had nothing but grief with the feed mechanism - they are constantly replacing separator pads and it's just too darn fussy on paper quality and humidity. Note that HP's current line of lasers does not have a single toploader in it, this says something.

[fatboyjim]

Hmmm, seems like I might have to keep that old Deskjet for the odd colour job (cheaper at £15 a colour cartridge) and maybe get a laser for the B&W.

Which one though? I like the price and respect your view of thost Canon one's Mike, but am very concerned about the top loader. (I hate it when a printer won't load paper)

Any ideas?

Jim

[mike breck]

Interesting info about the parts glc. I didn't know that.

I'll keep in mind what you say when this old workhorse needs replacing. Obviously, I'm just basing opinion on one machine whereas you have based yours on scores of similar machines. So that counts for a lot.

Jim,

Dabs also has the HP 1200 that glc recommended. It's slightly more expensive at £250 but at least you now know it's a good model.

I'd love to get a colour laser myself, but, as yet, the prices are too high. But one of these days....

[fatboyjim]

:) Maybe I should just wait until I can get a colour laser :)

How much is colour toner?

[sdkfz]

depends on the printer, as, the HP 4600 we are now using at work runs at:

9K pages on BW 144.00 each
8K pages at 195.00 each for cyan,yellow magenta

the printer itself start @ 2K w/out networking and duplexing, the link is below. We are printing presenatations for prospective clients so print qaulity is a mandatory

http://pandi.itrc.hp.com/busprod/specifications/0,12513,series=74301%5Etype=18972%5Ecategory=64173,00.html?lsidebarLayId=79&rsidebarLayId=64

[glc]

Dabs has the 1000 for a little LESS than the Canon and it's a bit faster - 10ppm vice 8ppm - and it's front cassette loading. It's USB-only and requires Windows - 98 or later. Color toner is pricey, but cost per page is still a lot less than with an inkjet. Each color is separate too, no tricolor cartridges to toss when one color runs out.

[Tuf]

I haven't seen a photo out of a color laser but I've been told they are not quite as good as a good inkjet. I seldom print photos so that is not a consideration for me. Text looks way better out of a laser than any inkjet. I do like having color available for graphics and I go through two to four hundred dollars worth of HP cartridges per month. So a color laser might be a good choice after all.

[glc]

Photos out of a color laser are stunning if you use 24 pound 100 bright paper. They are matte, not glossy.

Sounds about right on the toner cost - a penny and a half per black page and about a dime for color. Beats a nickel or more for black ink - and 50 cents plus for color ink. The above mentioned 24 pound 100 bright paper is less than 2 cents a sheet, last I looked inkjet photo quality paper was about 40 cents a sheet.

[mike breck]

glc

What would you recommend as the best bang for buck for inkjet printers at the moment (non top-loader of course :) ).

My boys want one for their PC (Asus A7V333 XP 1800, Win98SE). They do a lot of downloading and printing pages from the Net for their homework - and, ofcourse, they want to print in colour. I can't fob them off with the laser B&Ws any longer.

[glc]

If you want cheap, the HP 845C does a fine job for a very low price, that looks like it's HP's price leader now. The 900 series is a workhorse but is being discontinued. The new "CP" series looks good, but I haven't had a chance to play with any yet. I'm partial to HP simply from positive experience over the years.

[morriswindgate]

Hey, GLC (And anybody else for that matter)> I have been toying around with the idea of getting a used HP Laserjet 4 plus. From your own dealings with systems, what do you think the page count life of these units are and what would you set as the upper limit on page count that you would buy.
I know that the ones we have had here at work are still going after 12 years.

[mike breck]

Thanks glc,

I'll check your suggestions out.

[glc]

Morris: I have a customer with a 4 Plus on a Jet Direct that has over a million pages on its counter. It needs a new fuser and a thorough cleaning every 100,000 pages and an occasional feed roller replacement. He uses nothing but the cheapest rebuilt cartridges that he can find. Those are the Energizer bunnies of laser printers. The sucker even takes standard fast page mode 70ns single sided 4 or 16 meg simms. If the price were right I wouldn't care what the counter said, you can still get any part you need to fix them.

[morriswindgate]

Thanks for the info

[AndyM]

I thought I'd be posting a new topic tonight but found this thread pertinent to my problem:
I have a HP1100 that I use in my small business for the printing of invoices, statements and reports on regular paper. We also use it for printing reminder postcards which come 3 on a sheet in a heavier stock.
I was having problems with the printer taking several sheets of copier paper (20# stock) at a time and jamming. I replaced the sheet seperator pad and corrected the problem. Now, it won't print our on our regular postcard stock, and it will only take one sheet at a time of a different postcard stock.
This is a top loading printer as GLC was telling us about. Best I can tell there is not way to adjust for paper thickness. It looks like I can't have it both ways with this one.

[Tuf]

I have never worked on one but the 1100 prints well. The ones i have seen are finicky about what they feed. They are supposed to be self adjusting.
If glc doesn't answer I would start a new thread.

[glc]

An HP technician may have some suggestions, but if you have replaced the separator pads I personally don't know what else can be done. You might try posting in the forum at http://fixyourownprinter.com .

[AndyM]

Thanks, posted there and will report anything helpful.

[LawyerRon]

For Inkjets, keep an eye out for close-outs on the HP 900 series as these are being replaced by a new generation printer. About 3 weeks ago I picked up an HP 940C for $79 after $10 rebate. This is a fabulous printer for the money. I suspect more good deals to come.

[Floppyman]

Originally posted by LawyerRon
For Inkjets, keep an eye out for close-outs on the HP 900 series as these are being replaced by a new generation printer. About 3 weeks ago I picked up an HP 940C for $79 after $10 rebate. This is a fabulous printer for the money. I suspect more good deals to come.

Wow that is a good deal. I was looking at this printer a while back, but then it was still $100+.

[Iman74]

Someone called a HP Tech; I'm here.

All kidding aside, HP 1100 printers and any other printer that takes pages horizontally (that's up and down, right?), are a pain. The fact is static plus force of gravity make them more of a headache for both the user and the tech because they are not an exact science. GLC hit the nail on the head with the seperator pads which they do sell to everyday users. They work, but how well and how long depends on a many factors. Mostly how much you print is the major factor, and the second biggest factor is the quality of paper you use. Then there is the atmosphere, etc... I could go on and on about this. The point is, if you insist on getting a laserjet get a printer where the pages lay flat. Also I always suggest to get one that can duplex (saves paper if you can print on both sides). Also, you might want to consider getting one with infrared if you use a laptop.
Let me know if I can give any more info about this.

But I will say this again I support DJ's all the way. Especially HP DJ's. Treat them well and get a good brand and you will be happy for quite sometime.

[LawyerRon]

I've had a HP 6L for about 3 years. They had problems with early wear on the separation pad on the original models. I replaced the sep pad with an upgraded unit from fixyourownprinter.com and have had no problems.

Having said that, I would recommend the top loading HP's only for light duty home use. In that environment they work fine; for any heavy-duty office use forget it as the toploaders are a toy compared to the serious HP laser printers.

I have an old 4M Plus at the office that has been feed millions of sheets over the past 8 years and keeps on cranking out sheets with virtually NO maintenance, no cleaning, only abuse. Why this thing still works is a mystery to me.

[Big Weapons]

I just got a used 1100 for $20. It has printed over 47000 pages and it's still going strong.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Wow! This post was brought back from the dead! :eek:

[bailey]

I just got a hp 4l and it needs some tlc, in the manual it says not to let the image drum get exposed to light, how do I take this thing apart to clean all the spilled toner and the rollers without the drum getting exposed to light.

I have never repaired one yet, so is there any do's and don'ts I should be aware of

[Big Weapons]

Originally posted by bailey
I just got a hp 4l and it needs some tlc, in the manual it says not to let the image drum get exposed to light, how do I take this thing apart to clean all the spilled toner and the rollers without the drum getting exposed to light.

I have never repaired one yet, so is there any do's and don'ts I should be aware of

Just wrap paper around the cartridge.

[bailey]

cartridge ? or image drum ?

[glc]

The 4L doesn't have a separate drum, everything is in the cartridge. Pull the cartridge and stick it in a lightproof bag.

[bailey]

thanks