B/W laser recommendations

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeff
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J

Jeff

My ancient NEC Silentwriter 95 that worked with no complaints for 14-15
years just died (motor gone) and I therefore need another laser printer. My
requirements are low per/page cost and maintenance. This is for home use but
occasionally I will print a 100 page document. I do not have a set price
range but because this is for home use I do not wish to spend many hundreds
of dollars.

I would appreciate suggestions and remarks concerning speed, noise and
durability. Networking is not a priority.

Thanks
 
Jeff said:
My ancient NEC Silentwriter 95 that worked with no complaints for
14-15 years just died (motor gone) and I therefore need another laser
printer. My requirements are low per/page cost and maintenance. This
is for home use but occasionally I will print a 100 page document. I
do not have a set price range but because this is for home use I do
not wish to spend many hundreds of dollars.

I would appreciate suggestions and remarks concerning speed, noise and
durability. Networking is not a priority.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I forgot to add, paper handling has to be good.

Thanks
 
Jeff said:
I forgot to add, paper handling has to be good.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I just went through the same process. My criteria were about the same
as yours. I was looking for something under a hundred bucks that
preferably had a 250 page paper tray, was reasonably fast, without a
lot of complaints about jamming, and would be easy to refill. After
reading a lot of reviews, I pretty much tilted toward a Samsung,
Brother, or HP, and wound up buying a Brother HL-2040, which was $90
after a $30 rebate -- delivered free from Office Max, but only if you
live in the "trade area" of one of their stores. It's half the size of
my previous Canon inkjet, makes zero noise when it's in the sleep mode
waiting to print, and is typical laser noisy when it's actually
printing. On the minus side, all the cheaper lasers seem to curl paper
a bit, although I think it can be minimized by buying the right paper,
I've seen lots of complaints about envelope feeding -- and they can be
expensive to operate if you buy the manufacturer's toner or drums.

A convenient place to find to find rebate deals is salescircular.com.
The new stuff is published Sunday mornings.
 
I forgot to add, paper handling has to be good.

In my experience, the Epson printers are the best.
 
El said:
I just went through the same process. My criteria were about the same
as yours. I was looking for something under a hundred bucks that
preferably had a 250 page paper tray, was reasonably fast, without a
lot of complaints about jamming, and would be easy to refill. After
reading a lot of reviews, I pretty much tilted toward a Samsung,
Brother, or HP, and wound up buying a Brother HL-2040, which was $90
after a $30 rebate -- delivered free from Office Max, but only if you
live in the "trade area" of one of their stores. It's half the size of
my previous Canon inkjet, makes zero noise when it's in the sleep mode
waiting to print, and is typical laser noisy when it's actually
printing. On the minus side, all the cheaper lasers seem to curl paper
a bit, although I think it can be minimized by buying the right paper,
I've seen lots of complaints about envelope feeding -- and they can be
expensive to operate if you buy the manufacturer's toner or drums.

A convenient place to find to find rebate deals is salescircular.com.
The new stuff is published Sunday mornings.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Did you find out what the replacement toner would cost or its
cost per page?

Jeff
 
: My ancient NEC Silentwriter 95 that worked with no complaints for 14-15
: years just died (motor gone) and I therefore need another laser printer. My
: requirements are low per/page cost and maintenance. This is for home use but
: occasionally I will print a 100 page document. I do not have a set price
: range but because this is for home use I do not wish to spend many hundreds
: of dollars.
:
: I would appreciate suggestions and remarks concerning speed, noise and
: durability. Networking is not a priority.
:
: Thanks

I am in a similar search. Look at Brother 5240. About 30 pages per
minute. However, an extra $20 gets us duplexing AND neworking model
5250DN, so I am thinking why not?

I would still read what others say, but going by paper specs these
Brothers seem hard to beat.
 
Jeff said:
Thank you. Did you find out what the replacement toner would cost or its
cost per page?

Jeff
Click to expand...
A Brother TN350 toner cartridge, good for around 2,500 pages, is about
$40 on the Internet. I've read that a cartridge can be refilled twice.
A two refill kit runs around $22 from one source, and bulk toner good
for one refill is in the $7 - $14 range. Then there is the issue of
the drum, which brother claims is good for 12,000 pages, and costs
around $75. I would imagine it would be about $40 rebuilt -- if I can
find a rebuilt drum when the time comes.
 
El said:
A Brother TN350 toner cartridge, good for around 2,500 pages, is about
$40 on the Internet. I've read that a cartridge can be refilled twice.
A two refill kit runs around $22 from one source, and bulk toner good
for one refill is in the $7 - $14 range. Then there is the issue of
the drum, which brother claims is good for 12,000 pages, and costs
around $75. I would imagine it would be about $40 rebuilt -- if I can
find a rebuilt drum when the time comes.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
Jeff,
You will find a few realities today.

1) Very few, if any, laser printers produced today will give you the
type of durability your earlier one did.

2) Almost anything will be faster and probably provide a higher
resolution image than your previous model.

3) Costs are way down. You can get them for as little as $50 US after
rebates now.

4) Like inkjet printers, the business model has moved to consumables
versus the cost of the machine itself. Your printer will come with a
"starter toner cartridge" which is partially full.

The main consideration after print quality should probably be: warranty,
yield of initial cartridge, cost of consumables, speed of first page
out, how much memory is included, cost of extra memory, noise level.

Most units today are small, handle up to legal size, have small paper
trays, can handle up to card stock thickness, and use costly toner
cartridges. It might be worthwhile to speak to a toner refiller as to
which models most easily entertain refilling to keep you costs down.

If you need duplex printing you'll pay more. Sadly, durability ain't
what it used to be, so expect to have to replace the machine in a few years.

Art
 
: Very few, if any, laser printers produced today will give you the
: type of durability your earlier one did.

If durability and rugged use are prime criteria, look at Kyocera-Mita
line. Their drums are rated for 100,000 pages.

For personal use, I would pick the recently introduced Brother 5200
series right now. (This is not a permanent recommendation. Right now
they seem like best deals but competitors would bring out their own
models sooner or later, so look again whenever you are ready to buy.)

The basic 5240 is around US$ 199 with rebate. One up is 5250DN with
duplex and networking, I see the best prices around $235.
 
Jeff said:
My ancient NEC Silentwriter 95 that worked with no complaints for 14-15
years just died (motor gone) and I therefore need another laser printer. My
requirements are low per/page cost and maintenance. This is for home use but
occasionally I will print a 100 page document. I do not have a set price
range but because this is for home use I do not wish to spend many hundreds
of dollars.

I would appreciate suggestions and remarks concerning speed, noise and
durability. Networking is not a priority.
Click to expand...


Kyocera is your best bet with the FS-720 looking like a good option
http://usa.kyoceramita.com/KMAGlobalpub/jsp/Kyocera/products_printer.jsp?cid=10555.
Also check out the TCO calculator and their Ecosys technology
http://usa.kyoceramita.com/KMAGlobalpub/jsp/Kyocera/kmaenv.jsp


Their products cost a little more to buy but cost a lot less to run,
they also have a better build quality and that will reflect in its
performance, reliability and life expectancy.

I have worked with their equipment (under various brands) for a few
years now and can say that the new equipment is super reliable.

In general you get what you pay for.

www.oceansidebizmachines.co.uk
 
Like you, I've tried to keep my older machines running. I still use a
HP Laserjet II, and a Panasonic KX series printer (mainly because I was
given 4 brand new toner cartridges for it)...

I do have a brand new Konica-Minolta 1250W but not having used it, I
can't say much other than research indicates it may band with images,
and if you refill the cartridge it slows the printer down 50-75%. This
is some scam K-M built into it to "punish" refillers.

I commonly see Brother and Samsung models. The smaller Lexmark models
are made by Samsung but cost more for less memory and sometimes less
toner too.

I have a hard time making a specific recommendation, but others have
given some suggestions.

Art
 
: Kyocera is your best bet with the FS-720 looking like a good option
:
: http://usa.kyoceramita.com/KMAGlobalpub/jsp/Kyocera/products_printer.jsp?cid=1
: 0555 .

"A matter of fax" has FS-720 for $289. For a little more ($336), you
can get duplexing, postcript emulation with FS-1020D.

For me it is very hard to ignore the value offered by the new Brother
line: HL-5240 ($179 street) has postscript emulation;
HL-5250DN ($235 street) has that + duplex + networking.
Both are 30 ppm, about 50-100% faster than the Kyocera's.

Kyocera as well as Brother should have low toner costs. Kyocera is
definitely the better built printer and should have longer life. Their
drum is rated at 100,000 pages; Brother's will need replacement at
20,000 and you might as well buy a new printer then.

You have to weigh this against Kyocera's higher price, plus the fact
that you might actually want a more appealing technology, eg, color
laser, in a few years.
 
See www.fatwallet.com/c/18/ -> sales threads on laser printers. You can
easily get a new Brother/Samsung/etc for <$60, and they'll run forever.
Naturally, you may simply buy two or more units at this price - the
cost of the new printer + toner is cheaper than a replacement toner!
Donate the used, empty toner printer afterwards.
 
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