I need a basic b/w laser with low op. costs

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Gerry

I have looked at the CNET site but find that many of the reviews are quite
old. I don't need anything particularly fancy but I do print a lot of pages
off the Internet, so cost and print quality are my prime concerns.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Gerry
 
Gerry said:
I have looked at the CNET site but find that many of the reviews are quite
old. I don't need anything particularly fancy but I do print a lot of pages
off the Internet, so cost and print quality are my prime concerns.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Gerry
Click to expand...

As a general rule the more you pay for a printer the less the cost per page is
over the printers life.
Most entry level lasers have very similar costs per page. The Brother HP1270
and HP LJ1020 were almost identical in cost per page but the HP cost more to
buy. I believe the HP 1020 is replaced now with printer that has a 1500 page
toner cartridge at 5% cover. I suspect, but have not done the maths, that this
will cost more per page than the Brother 1240 or 1270.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Tony said:
As a general rule the more you pay for a printer the less the cost per page is
over the printers life.
Most entry level lasers have very similar costs per page. The Brother HP1270
and HP LJ1020 were almost identical in cost per page but the HP cost more to
buy. I believe the HP 1020 is replaced now with printer that has a 1500 page
toner cartridge at 5% cover. I suspect, but have not done the maths, that this
will cost more per page than the Brother 1240 or 1270.
Tony
MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

What has to be taken into account is how full are the toner cartridges
that come with a new printer.


Yes its interesting math.

the HP 1600 at present costs $339 has 1000 page toners - the rebate
from HP is $200. That's back to $139.

The HP 2600N is $495 with a $200 from HP brings it down to $295 with
2000 page toners.

Genuine toners are $130 BK and $140 Col. 4 toners cost $550 that's
2000 page size.

So in ,fact if you were to add half the toner cost onto the HP1600, the
actual amount paid to make 2000 pages, would be $364 which is another
$69 more expensive than the HP2600N.

go figure!
 
I've been warning people about this for at least a year now, and been
educating sales staff in stores that carry the printers as well. Thanks
for bringing the specific numbers into the picture.

Further the 2600N comes with networking, and about twice the monthly
duty cycle of the 1600, which should, at least in theory, mean it is a
better built printer.

The only other consideration is if a person has access to a cheap
refilling service that is trustworthy.

Also, as a final comment, people should be aware that the yield numbers
are based upon 5% coverage per color. On a per color basis, that's
about equivalent to a single spaced text letter with about 2" margins
all away around. A average photo image probably uses 10 times as much
toner per color per image, of course, dependent upon the subject matter,
or about 100-150 prints with the 1600 and 200-300 prints with the 2600N.

Art
 
Gerry said:
I have looked at the CNET site but find that many of the reviews are quite
old. I don't need anything particularly fancy but I do print a lot of pages
off the Internet, so cost and print quality are my prime concerns.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.
Click to expand...

For exactly this reason I am happy with an old used HP Laserjet 5. Could
not decide to buy one of those new Laser printers, there are so many
"cheap" ones today. You can put into it more memory and even postscript.
 
I have had terrible luck with two low end Brother lasers that did not even
last a year under very light usage. Print quality was pretty dubious.
I strongly recommend HP lasers.
My ancient 1200 is still cranking out the pages every day needing nothing
except an annual cartridge change.
 
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