Laser printers, every day use?

[Whittibo]

I have a chance to purchase a laser printer for around $100. Here's the one I am considering

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutio...OID=1611250484

The printer is $399.99, but has a $40 coupon, I have an additional $15 off coupon, and I have 7 printer cartridges for my DeskJet that I could return and use the credit toward the LaserJet, brining my total to around $100.

What I need to know is, would a laser printer replace my deskjet completely? could I print everything on it? What about printing pictures on it? Do they fade like on my DeskJet?

I know I would have to keep my DeskJet for some things as it's a scanner/copier and I use it a LOT for my kids school work (I homeschool them). But my hp all in one could be a "stand alone" printer, I would just have to hook it up to use the scanner on the rare occasion I would need it.

So what are your opinions on laser printers.. good? bad? worth it? cheaper to use? what about those $100 toner cartridges! That might kill me having to fork out $100 for ONE cartridge!

[Whittibo]

Well.. never mind. I think I just talked myself out of this.

[adriennek]

I couldn't see the printer in your link.

We have two printers, a laser and an inkjet. We have the inkjet for color printing (although I don't print photos on it.) The ink jet printer runs out of ink far faster than the laser printer.

We had our previous laser printer for about 10 years before it died and we probably only changed out the cartridge every 3 years or so? Maybe 2 years. It lasted forever. Our current laser printer is about 2 years old and we haven't had to change its cartridge yet.

We use our laser printer for my business. Our first laser printer printed Doc's dissertation (a few copies of it) plus a couple of other students' dissertations without killing the cartridge. I really like our laser printer. It's fast and the cartridge life is worth it.

Adrienne

[Andrew]

We bought the Dell 1100 personal laser printer. It runs $99 on the Dell Web site, but of course there's shipping and you have to buy the USB cable so it actually came to about $150. The printer is great; fast, clear and sharp pages, and no inkjet smearing. The best thing is that when we don't use the laser printer for a month at a time, it just warms up and prints. When we didn't use our inkjet for more than a week, I had to clean the dried crud off the cartridge and print several test pages.

Toner refills are comparably priced to inkjet cartridge refills, but the toner cart lasts much much longer so it's definitely a better deal.

[Whittibo]

Darn, link doesn't work after a period of time. I didn't know that.
Anyway, here's my dilemma. I am a tech snob. I LOVE new techy stuff. I buy anything "cool" just because it's cool.

I just bought a new cell phone for $200 because it was cool and has a cool camera in it. I don't USE my cell phone. I only have 50 minutes a month on my plan, and only use about 10 of them. But in my defense, I did need a new phone, as mine was old, and the battery was not lasting, and the antenna was broken. But I certainly didn't need one for $200.

I just bought a new camera because mine broke on vacation (which was to my advantage, if it would have broken AFTER vacation, I wouldn't have had a good enough excuse to buy a new one right away). I could have bought a $100 one.. or $200 one.. but NOOO.. had to have the nicest one I could afford which was $400.

This printer, well, just because I can get it for around $100, that's why I want it. A $400 printer that my out of pocket expense would only be $100.. why NOT!? It's cool too!

But what do I print? humm.. after careful consideration, and lots of thought, I couldn't really come up with anything more then "junk". Sure I print our Christmas cards, and some correspondence, and some school work.. but mostly it's just "junk". I am a SAHM, why do I need a laser printer?

BUT, again, in my defense, it's only $100.. it's a great printer, and the cost per print is half as much as my inkjet, so all the junk I print would cost 1/2 as much.

I could see if my printer was broken or inadequate.. but it's not. And I couldn't even get rid of it because I would still need it for the scanner/copier functions. So then I would have to have TWO printers.

So.. in the spirit of trying to curb my insatiable appetite for high tech cool things.. I think I need to forgo the laser printer.

Unless someone here could give me a really GREAT reason to buy it.

[Whittibo]

Andrew, is your laser a color laser? For $99??

Here's a new link to the one I want.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...51-446153.html

[Andrew]

Andrew, is your laser a color laser? For $99??

No, it's black and white. For the very rare times I need color, I use the inkjet at my office.

I wouldn't pass up a chance to get a color laser at that price, even if I didn't think I'd need it right away. Inkjets are a losing proposition long-term.

[Whittibo]

Oh Andrew.. you're just trying to talk me into it aren't you. (Oh, I think I love you).

So would this laser printer print my pictures better then my inkjet, and they would LAST like if I had them printed at say Walmart or something? Because that's another thing I was going to be doing, printing pictures of our trips, but I hate printing them on my inkjet, they just fade.. why bother. So I was going to burn some onto a disk and go to walmart kiosk and print some. That will set me back a little money too.

In the long run, this printer will save me money, even if I AM printing junk right? And my junk will even look better.

[Whittibo]

OK, I just dug out all my "paper supply" because I have some specialty paper. 2 reams haven't been touched, so I should be able to return those too.

I am out of both inks in my inkjet, so I would have to keep 1 of each cartridge, but I had an extra black (that came out of a double package).. so that only sets me back $35 for the color one I have to keep. All in all, I should come out having to pay about $140 + tax.

What I need to know is.. laser printers take special LASER paper. I have a TON of card stock that I print on for my business use, I wouldn't be able to use it then would I?? The OfficeMax guy told me NEVER to use regular paper in the laser printer because it SUCKS the ink out. Is that true?

[Andrew]

What I need to know is.. laser printers take special LASER paper. I have a TON of card stock that I print on for my business use, I wouldn't be able to use it then would I?? The OfficeMax guy told me NEVER to use regular paper in the laser printer because it SUCKS the ink out. Is that true?

The guy at Office Max's job is to sell paper.

[Whittibo]

OK, I just talked to HP, and she said some of my paper and card stock can be used. Yes it has the possibility of using more ink if I use really cheap paper. And my card stock 110# might not go through very well, it's rated to 97#.

My photo paper won't work as it is for inkjets. But I only paid $29 for that, so that's not that big of a deal.

I will talk to my husband tonight. Last night I fully expected him to say "NO WAY".. but he said, "buy it then". That just feeds into my greed when I get his approval.

[adriennek]

And I couldn't even get rid of it because I would still need it for the scanner/copier functions. So then I would have to have TWO printers.

After we bought our last laser printer, I picked up a scanner/copier for about $100. I didn't get a combination printer/copier because I already loved my laser printer. This one acts with my computer and printer as a scanner and copier.

Adrienne

[TrekkieDad]

Your photos will look very sharp on a laser printer, but they will be in black and white.

Over the last few years I have replaced every inkjet printer in our classrooms with networked laser printers. They are much faster, and while the toner cartridges are more expensive, they print 10x the pages before they run out. Laser printers don't use ink. They use toner, just like office copiers. And like office copiers they print on a variety of media, as long as the media can withstand the heat from the fuser.

Color laser printers are not cheap, and require 4 toner cartridges. We have one for the entire school (in my room), that people can print to over the network when needed. I print digital photos for bulletin boards, etc. on plain paper, and they look nice for our purposes.

If you can do without the color, an inexpensive laser printer is a great way to go.

[Whittibo]

I am so wishy-washy on this. I had myself talked out of it TWICE now already.

BUT, I just got a $400 order come in, and my commission on that will just above cover my cost of the printer. I am waiting for a final "OK" from my customer, and if I get it, I may just get my printer with the commission.

I am just not convinced I NEED it. And it will take up space, and then I have to worry about the toner for it. Ugg. At almost $100 a pop, that's something to really consider. I have to keep my inkjet, no doubt about it. So I just think of the room. My 'desk' area isn't that big. But.. I could always put it on the floor under my desk too.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I just hate to pass up this deal, will it ever be THIS cheap again?? Probably not, and I'll probably kick myself if I don't get it.

I was going to ask hubby tonight, but he's been sick, and now we just got into a fight about him going to the Dr. (men are SUCH BIG BABIES! Why is that?) so now he's mad, and I really don't want to bring up the whole printer thing.

[Alex S.]

I have a color laser printer and we used it for everything (we still have the inkjet in the closet for the last two years but haven't ever needed it).

The EyeSpy pages of MouseAdventure came out of it so that is the photo quality you can expect (laserjets don't generally work with the specialty photo printing papers, though).

The Catch 22 of a color laser printer, though, is that when it is time to replace everything it is expensive (three color cartridges, $99 each, a black cartridge, $49, and a printer drum, another $99). At those prices, it is just about the same price as just buying new color laser printer that will come with all that stuff.

[Barbossa]

For what it's worth, I bought a Brother HL-1450 laser printer about three years ago. In 2 years the "drum" started going south (which is way too soon, IMO), I know of another person who had the same experience with this series. You definitely get what you pay for, I could use a good tax write-off this year (I'm self employed) so I'm going to spend a bit more $$ on a better printer.

[Bruce Bergman]

I have two old HP LaserJet 1100 printers, and one HP LaserJet 3200 All-In-One Printer/fax/scanner, and they're worth their weight in gold. The 3200 Fax machine is almost 12 years old and going strong, and printed about 1,500 pages on each $50 toner cartridge

The printers put out roughly the same count before they went dry (but they don't have page counters) - try that with a inkjet, and you'll have replaced the ink cartridge about 30 times compared to one toner. The toner cartridges cost you a bit more, but you change them far less often.

Even if you only print a few pages a day, the costs quickly make a laser printer the way to go. People get burned because they only look at the initial purchase price that makes inkjets attractive, and not the per-page cost of owning the printer.

And lasers work just fine on any old paper you have around, as long as it's clean. Lots of dust and crud in the cheap imported 'recycled' papers can gum up the innards of the printer, but name brand paper should be fine even if it's marked 'Inkjet' or 'multi-purpose'. Printers with a straight-through bypass door (so the paper doesn't have to make a U-turn to the output tray) will work fine printing on card or cover stock.

I have a few inkjet printers around, but never seem to use them - if I need to print pictures, the results are much better (and much cheaper) if I take the media to Costco and get them exposed and developed on real photo print paper. The only thing that inkjets do that laser can't is iron-on transfers - or at least, I think so...

The way prices are dropping for color laser printers, I may end up with one of those the next time I have a decent reason for buying one. It would make using spot color practical - Do the artwork in the computer and print the letterhead and the letter all in one pass.

Oh, and Alex: With a color copier you don't have to change all four toner cartridges and the drum at the same time. One color runs dry, you change it. (But Murphy's Law says you should have one spare cartridge of each color on hand for those Saturday Night RUSH jobs.) The drum and transfer belt (if equipped) should last through three or four sets of cartridges, I'd wait till I could see visible problems with the output before changing it - or if it's been 10 years you toss the printer and get a new one, they will have gotten even better and cheaper by then.

Another trick with laser printers, especially color ones: Sometimes they ship them with the "Standard" or "Starter" cartridges that only have 500 pages worth of toner inside - but the ones they sell as replacements are the "High Capacity" cartridges that will do 2,500. Sneaky, but at least they tell you on the box. Makes the "throw out the empty printer and buy a new one" dodge a bit less practical.

NOTE: Do not buy Lexmark printers. They invented a wonderful new game, they have a computer chip in their toner cartridges that ostensibly monitors the toner level, but it just counts pages and says "Empty" after the count is exceeded, and can not be reset so the cartridges can't be recycled. And they have kept generic cartridges off the market by claiming DMCA Copyright on the software on that chip, nobody can make a substitute. That means they are the only source for refills, so they can charge whatever they want for consumables with no price competition - Not Fair.

--<< Bruce >>--

[mrcoffee]

NOTE: Do not buy Lexmark printers. They invented a wonderful new game, they have a computer chip in their toner cartridges that ostensibly monitors the toner level, but it just counts pages and says "Empty" after the count is exceeded, and can not be reset so the cartridges can't be recycled. And they have kept generic cartridges off the market by claiming DMCA Copyright on the software on that chip, nobody can make a substitute. That means they are the only source for refills, so they can charge whatever they want for consumables with no price competition - Not Fair.

--<< Bruce >>--

They tried, but they lost all the way to the Supreme Court.

See http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...id=194&tid=137

[Bruce Bergman]

They (Lexmark) tried, but they lost all the way to the Supreme Court.

See http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...id=194&tid=137

About darned time that got thrown out! I hadn't heard.

Bad enough that the consumer-grade computer printer makers follow the King Gilette philosophy of practically giving away the razor for free to get you to buy a pack of new razor blades every week. But when they try to legally lock you into buying only their brand of blades, that's going a bit too far.

The finding still stands that for the lowest per-page printing cost over the long haul, laser printers win hands down. And part of that is being readily able to get 'generic' supplies to keep the price points in check.

If you want a machine that you can beat on for decades, go a bit more expensive and get a machine designed for 'small office or departmental printing' and you'll get one that's built much better. And the better models come with important extras for some users like an Ethernet print server, automatic two-sided printing, two or three paper trays, a big tray that holds 500 or 1,000 sheets at a time, and an output sorter tray.

--<< Bruce >>--

[Alex S.]

Bruce,

I have an HP 1500L. My experience is that the drum lasts about as long as the rest of the cartridges and so far all five replaceable parts have stayed mostly in synch, though lately by black cartridge has got ahead of the rest. The first time we had to replace any of them, within two weeks we had replaced everything (including the drum).

Unfortunately, once the printer decides the drum or ink cartridges are empty it won't print any longer (or I can't figure out how to get it to print), even though there has not yet been any loss of print quality.

We've had the printer for close to two years and we're only approaching the end of the second set of toner cartridges and once again the drum is running down at the same pace as the toner.