Color Laser Recommendations

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junk

I've read many threads regarding color laser printers, visited sites
like pcmag.com, infoworld.com, and pcworld.com, and I'm still stumped
on what to buy.

Our (prioritized) criteria:

* Double-sided (i.e., duplex) printing.

* High quality text and graphics. About half of our printing is B&W
text and the other half is color brochures.

* Moderate per-page costs. We only print 2,000 pages per month, but
even at that volume, a few pennies on a color page can add up to
$500/year (i.e., 2500 * 0.02 * 12 months).

* Fast printing of the first page. Due to our low volume, the printer
is often on standby when we print. Thus, printers like the Xerox
Phasers (which have long start-up times or do not standby) are not
practical. Our current printer, a Lexmark C720, takes several minutes
to print the first page.

* Relatively fast printing of subsequent pages (including color). I
realize the discrepancy between published and actual times, but an
unusually slow printer would kill us when we print hundreds of
brochures.

* The price should be in the $500 to $1200 range, but I understand that
consumables factor into the price (i.e., a $500 printer might not be
cheap if we spend an extra $500/year on consumables).

* It should be network-able or be able to connect to an aging Windows
2000 computer which we use as a print server (via parallel or USB 1.x).

Can you point me at a resource to help me select a printer or offer a
suggestion based on your experience with multiple printers?

Thanks!

Steve
 
I've read many threads regarding color laser printers, visited sites
like pcmag.com, infoworld.com, and pcworld.com, and I'm still stumped
on what to buy.

Our (prioritized) criteria:

* Double-sided (i.e., duplex) printing.

* High quality text and graphics. About half of our printing is B&W
text and the other half is color brochures.

* Moderate per-page costs. We only print 2,000 pages per month, but
even at that volume, a few pennies on a color page can add up to
$500/year (i.e., 2500 * 0.02 * 12 months).

* Fast printing of the first page. Due to our low volume, the printer
is often on standby when we print. Thus, printers like the Xerox
Phasers (which have long start-up times or do not standby) are not
practical. Our current printer, a Lexmark C720, takes several minutes
to print the first page.

* Relatively fast printing of subsequent pages (including color). I
realize the discrepancy between published and actual times, but an
unusually slow printer would kill us when we print hundreds of
brochures.

* The price should be in the $500 to $1200 range, but I understand
that consumables factor into the price (i.e., a $500 printer might
not be cheap if we spend an extra $500/year on consumables).

* It should be network-able or be able to connect to an aging Windows
2000 computer which we use as a print server (via parallel or USB
1.x).

Can you point me at a resource to help me select a printer or offer a
suggestion based on your experience with multiple printers?

Thanks!

Steve
Click to expand...

Samsung 510. I have the non-network version connected to a server, but it
is available with a network card as well.

I have had it for ~ 6 months, great printer.
 
I've read many threads regarding color laser printers, visited sites
like pcmag.com, infoworld.com, and pcworld.com, and I'm still stumped
on what to buy.

Our (prioritized) criteria:

* Double-sided (i.e., duplex) printing.

* High quality text and graphics. About half of our printing is B&W
text and the other half is color brochures.

* Moderate per-page costs. We only print 2,000 pages per month, but
even at that volume, a few pennies on a color page can add up to
$500/year (i.e., 2500 * 0.02 * 12 months).

* Fast printing of the first page. Due to our low volume, the printer
is often on standby when we print. Thus, printers like the Xerox
Phasers (which have long start-up times or do not standby) are not
practical. Our current printer, a Lexmark C720, takes several minutes
to print the first page.

* Relatively fast printing of subsequent pages (including color). I
realize the discrepancy between published and actual times, but an
unusually slow printer would kill us when we print hundreds of
brochures.

* The price should be in the $500 to $1200 range, but I understand that
consumables factor into the price (i.e., a $500 printer might not be
cheap if we spend an extra $500/year on consumables).

* It should be network-able or be able to connect to an aging Windows
2000 computer which we use as a print server (via parallel or USB 1.x).

Can you point me at a resource to help me select a printer or offer a
suggestion based on your experience with multiple printers?

Thanks!

Steve
Click to expand...

http://www.freecolorprinters.com
 
Tony said:
I suggest you look at the OKI range, all of the features you require are
available, I have experience with more than 40 of different models and you can
vary the time it takes to go into standby or disable it completely on some
models.
Tony
Click to expand...
I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT OKI BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT TONY IS IN DA BUSINESS AND
ASK YOURSELF ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY IF IT BREAKS DOWN SO HE CAN MAKE MONEY.

I WOULD GO TO THE REVIEW AT PCMAG.COM RATHER THAN LISTEN TO ANYBODY ON
THIS NG.
 
Tony said:
I suggest you look at the OKI range, all of the features you require are
available, I have experience with more than 40 of different models and you
can
vary the time it takes to go into standby or disable it completely on some
models.
Tony
Click to expand...

I concur with Tony, I purchased the C5150N a couple months ago and every
aspect of the printer exceeds my expectations,

Regards, Rene
 
While refilling ink cartridges yourself is the cheapest, it is not
necessarily the best way to go. Refilling can be messy. If your print
cartridge has a chip in it, the refill may work the first time, but may
refuse to work as the cartridge is reused and ages. Using
remanufacturered and off-brand cartridges is also chancy. They may leak
causing print head damage. If your printer is old or you only paid $30
for it, the cost savings may be worthwhile. If you paid $150 or more for
your printer, you may want to stick to purchasing cartridges from the
manufacturer.
 
measekite said:
I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT OKI BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT TONY IS IN DA BUSINESS AND
ASK YOURSELF ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY IF IT BREAKS DOWN SO HE CAN MAKE MONEY.

I WOULD GO TO THE REVIEW AT PCMAG.COM RATHER THAN LISTEN TO ANYBODY ON
THIS NG.
Click to expand...

Once more you show your ignorance, I do not do warranty repairs for any
manufacturer....that is by my choice.
If I wanted repair work I would recommend second hand.
And....the OKi colour printer range is perhaps the most reliable on the market,
so why would I recommend it rather than several other relatively unreliable
models made by other manufacturers?
Tony
 
measekite said:
While refilling ink cartridges yourself is the cheapest, it is not
necessarily the best way to go. Refilling can be messy. If your print
cartridge has a chip in it, the refill may work the first time, but may
refuse to work as the cartridge is reused and ages. Using remanufacturered
and off-brand cartridges is also chancy. They may leak causing print head
damage. If your printer is old or you only paid $30 for it, the cost
savings may be worthwhile. If you paid $150 or more for your printer, you
may want to stick to purchasing cartridges from the manufacturer.
Click to expand...



I go along with Tony, the OKI range is the way to go.
 
Tony said:
Once more you show your ignorance, I do not do warranty repairs for any
manufacturer....that is by my choice.
If I wanted repair work I would recommend second hand.
And....the OKi colour printer range is perhaps the most reliable on the market,
so why would I recommend it rather than several other relatively unreliable
models made by other manufacturers?
Tony
Click to expand...

I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT OKI BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT TONY IS IN DA BUSINESS AND
 
In message said:
I've read many threads regarding color laser printers, visited sites
like pcmag.com, infoworld.com, and pcworld.com, and I'm still stumped
on what to buy.

Our (prioritized) criteria:
* Double-sided (i.e., duplex) printing.
Click to expand...
I manage perfectly well without the duplex function. I just take the
paper out of one end and stick it back in the other, you have to work
out which way round it goes but apart from that its fine.
* High quality text and graphics. About half of our printing is B&W
text and the other half is color brochures.
* Moderate per-page costs. We only print 2,000 pages per month, but
even at that volume, a few pennies on a color page can add up to
$500/year (i.e., 2500 * 0.02 * 12 months).
* Fast printing of the first page. Due to our low volume, the printer
is often on standby when we print. Thus, printers like the Xerox
Phasers (which have long start-up times or do not standby) are not
practical. Our current printer, a Lexmark C720, takes several minutes
to print the first page.
Click to expand...
I have a Phaser 8200 doing about 2,500 pages per month, mostly runs of
6-12 pages at a go, and I don't find the warm up time for first copy an
issue
* Relatively fast printing of subsequent pages (including color). I
realize the discrepancy between published and actual times, but an
unusually slow printer would kill us when we print hundreds of
brochures.
* The price should be in the $500 to $1200 range, but I understand that
consumables factor into the price (i.e., a $500 printer might not be
cheap if we spend an extra $500/year on consumables).
Click to expand...
For lower printing costs, look at the Phasers, OKI's LED, and Kyocera's
FS-C50xxN (I think they've just changed the XX from 16 to 26). The
Kyocera print samples I had in February/March were very good
* It should be network-able or be able to connect to an aging Windows
2000 computer which we use as a print server (via parallel or USB 1.x).
Click to expand...

Its probably better if its going on a network to get a network model
(invariably having an N in its name!) as that will provide greater
flexibility.

The other alternative might be a refurbished/2nd hand printer, over here
(UK) there are quite a few HP 8550 (I think thats the model) turning up
in your budget range, which is a colour machine that will do A3/11x17 as
well, looking at the machine I suspect it probably has basically the
same internals as Canon's CP660.
 
Commentator said:
Samsung 510. I have the non-network version connected to a server, but it
is available with a network card as well.

I have had it for ~ 6 months, great printer.
Click to expand...

How much are you printing on it? For the OPs need of about 24,000 pages
a year I think the costs on one of those will outweigh the initial
purchase price savings.
 
Tony said:
And....the OKi colour printer range is perhaps the most reliable on the
market,
so why would I recommend it rather than several other relatively unreliable
models made by other manufacturers?
Click to expand...

Have you had much experience with the Kyocera models? From what I've
read they seem to be built to last.
 
[email protected] said:
Have you had much experience with the Kyocera models? From what I've
read they seem to be built to last.
Click to expand...

Timothy
I have almost no experience with Kyocera colour lasers, and I have heard
nothing bad about them. I have several customers who are very pleased with
their Kyocera monochrome lasers other than the cost of drum units which are
more costly than a new printer where I am located but that may be a
geographical anomoly.
The reason I recommended OKI is that I have had a lot of recent experience with
their latest range.
Tony
 
I was just in an Office Max store this morning looking at color laser
printers. Unfortunately, none of the models on display were set up to
print out sample prints--all displayed error messages and the store
attendant in the printer department couldn't get any of them to work.
Not impressive.

The Konica-Minolta models on display appeared to be made of very cheap
plastic, whereas the Okidata model on display (C5200N) appeared to be
solidly high quality and built like a tank (however, it was also a
couple of hundred dollars more expensive too.) The store had no Kyocera
models on display.

I think that if I want to get a good and true comparison of the output
quality of these brands of color printers I'll have to carry a CD with
a colorful file on it that I usually print plus my own paper to the
business supply representative stores of each of these printers in my
vicinity rather than to the retail outlets (like Office Max) that seem
to be unresponsive and not knowledgeable about the very machines they
sell. I'll give it a try soon at Konica, Okidata, & Kyocera business
supply stores and I'll try to report what I find. It might not be right
away, sorry.

I would certainly also like to hear what others think of these printers
from direct experience with them.

Bill Pease
 
JUST BUY ONE OF EACH PRINTER YOU ARE CONSIDERING. TAKETHEM HOME AND
PRINT WITH THEM FOR A WEEK. KEEP THE ONE YOU LIKE AND RETURN THE OTHERS.
 
In message said:
I was just in an Office Max store this morning looking at color laser
printers. Unfortunately, none of the models on display were set up to
print out sample prints--all displayed error messages and the store
attendant in the printer department couldn't get any of them to work.
Not impressive.

The Konica-Minolta models on display appeared to be made of very cheap
plastic, whereas the Okidata model on display (C5200N) appeared to be
solidly high quality and built like a tank (however, it was also a
couple of hundred dollars more expensive too.) The store had no Kyocera
models on display.

I think that if I want to get a good and true comparison of the output
quality of these brands of color printers I'll have to carry a CD with
a colorful file on it that I usually print plus my own paper to the
business supply representative stores of each of these printers in my
vicinity rather than to the retail outlets (like Office Max) that seem
to be unresponsive and not knowledgeable about the very machines they
sell. I'll give it a try soon at Konica, Okidata, & Kyocera business
supply stores and I'll try to report what I find. It might not be right
away, sorry.
Click to expand...

When I bought my Xerox Phaser I emailed a document to a Xerox reseller
who printed it out and posted it to me, and other companies have sent me
samples. IIRC when I bought the QMS (QMS-> QMS-Minotla- >
Konica-Minotla !) they sent me samples first. The more heavy duty the
printer the less likely you are going to find it on display in a retail
store. I think the Konica 5??? Models have a 4-bit colour depth so each
dot can have 16 levels of intensity, giving you 65k colours. The
Kyocera FS-5xxxx models have the same bit depth. Its not until you
spend several thousand that you get to an 8 bit depth providing 16
million colours.

Funnily enough I was looking around for more ink for my phaser 8200 and
came across mention of a 6200 which I assumed was a typo, but going to
Xerox I found that there used to be one, which has now been replaced by
a 6350, which is a toner based machine that may be worth looking at.

I'm quite happy with the phaser 8200, which I have had for two years
(and two weeks now) and its done just over 55,000 pages in that time.
 
How much are you printing on it? For the OPs need of about 24,000
pages a year I think the costs on one of those will outweigh the
initial purchase price savings.
Click to expand...

I am printing 1,000 - 1,500 pages / month.

Consumable costs stack up quite favourably against comparable machines,
definitely lower than HP.
 
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