What colour laser printer?

[fuaran]

So my Canon inkjet printer seems to be failing (not printing some colours, and printing lines across the page etc). Cleaning it with meths doesn't seem to have helped. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to replace it with a colour laser printer.

Preferably something with ethernet, not bothered about wireless, and don't need scanning/copying.
It would be handy if it had duplex, but it seems not many of the smaller/cheaper ones do.
And something where the toner is not too expensive, or cheap/reliable compatibles/refills available (I've seen the other thread on where to get toner).

Currently looking at something like the Samsung CLP-325W or the HP Laserjet CP1525N.
The Samsung seems good value (£115), but there's a few poor reviews on Amazon about print quality and speed, and wireless not working.
The HP is a bit more expensive, but may be more reliable, and cheaper toner?

Also what are they like for printing photos? I know they won't be as good as an decent inkjet, or getting them printed at a shop, but I might want to occasionally print posters/flyers etc.

[ed_o_brain]

No, not HP. Printing costs are too high.

I don't know what they are like in a domestic situation, but a good contact of mine works for a company that provide managed print services and they recommend lexmark due to the low cost of the consumables.

They also supply Oki and Toshiba. Don't touch HP with a barge pole.

I did have an el-cheapo Lexmark Inkjet once and a set of consumables cost twice what I paid for the machine. I could ask for a recommendation for a machine most suitable to a domestic situation.

[fred the great]

I would be inclined to stick with Canon. I've had a few ink jet printers including HP, none of which were satisfactory.

Canon in spite of it's small cartridges which are in fact refillable are very cheap. If it stops printing or is producing lines etc it is normally cured by fitting new genuine cartridges.
 
My printer is about 3 to 4 years old and I have had the same problem a couple of times.

Can't advise on lasers.

[CrinklyLion]

Based on the two I've currently got causing pigging nightmares, I have to not recommend Kyocera.

Well, I did promise their customer service representative that I would dis-recommend them at every available opportunity when she woke me up, by ringing me during a little nap on my day 'off', to complete a customer satisfaction survey.... and I am a woman who likes to keep her promises.

[PaulR]

V happy with our Dell 1320c, in terms of price of the hardware, quality of output and availability of cheap consumables.  No criticisms at all from me.

[jezzasnr]

most of them are grey.....

sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Wombat]

Damn, you beat me to it...

Agree with "anything but HP"

[TimO]

Not sure I'd recommend any particular model, but I'd think carefully about why you want colour at all.

Colour Lasers are very expensive to buy toner for.  The smaller cartridges that the colour printers use, are often more expensive than those for black and white printers, even though they are generally quite a bit smaller.  As others have said, it's sometimes cheaper to buy a new printer, than a complete set of cartridges! (although you'll probably find the black one runs out more rapidly).

Ink jets are equally ludicrous to buy ink for (probably far more expensive per sheet).

I've wondered about buying a cheap black & white laser for documents, and a stupidly expensive dye sublimation for small high quality colour images.  It does depend on what you want to print though.  Currently I cheat, and print stuff out at work!

[Kim]

I've wondered about buying a cheap black & white laser for documents, and a stupidly expensive dye sublimation for small high quality colour images.  It does depend on what you want to print though.  Currently I cheat, and print stuff out at work!

This was my approach.  After a sturdy Lexmark workhorse laser (bargain that the LCS had got a job lot of and were selling cheap to re-gain some floor space) got us through university, I invested in a second hand Laserjet 4050 with the standard finicky duplexer and plenty of life left in it.  This has covered most of our printing needs for the last 7 years or so (which tends to be a mixture of the odd one-off form or letter, and hundred-page print runs for random activism stuff).  It got a new toner cartridge earlier this year.

We never got round to needing colour enough to bother with another printer.  Barakta has a colour laser at work which does for the odd proof, and if it were for something seriously photographic, we'd get it printed professionally anyway, as the stability of consumer printer inks is a joke.

The really great thing about lasers is you can ignore them for weeks, spool them up and expect the print quality to be decent.  None of this clogged nozzle rubbish.  If that's your use pattern, and you need colour, a colour laser probably does make sense.

If you can afford the space, do consider a second-hand office workhorse.  They tend to come with the useful stuff like ethernet and duplexing as standard, use enormous cartridges that cost a fortune but last for years, and seem to be a reliability win.  There are bargains to be had on ebay if you can collect!

[Feanor]

If you can afford the space, do consider a second-hand office workhorse.  They tend to come with the useful stuff like ethernet and duplexing as standard, use enormous cartridges that cost a fortune but last for years, and seem to be a reliability win.  There are bargains to be had on ebay if you can collect!

That's what I have done: A re-claimed LJ4050N for the B+W, and a Mahoosive Dell 5100cn from e-bay for colour.   Ethernet and duplexer, and fast as well. And it can do 'booklet mode' too.  3-rd party toner cartridges earlier this year, and it's great.

Mrs. F. even takes work home to print here in colour, because it's better than anything they have in the office!

But it's no good for photos.
They come out dull and horrid.

[Biggsy]

I've wondered about buying a cheap black & white laser for documents, and a stupidly expensive dye sublimation for small high quality colour images.  It does depend on what you want to print though.  Currently I cheat, and print stuff out at work!

This was my approach.

Mine too.  Except I retired the stupidly-expensive-to-run inkjet (Epson R800) after it badly clogged and got a cheap Canon inkjet with the nozzles in the cartridges rather than the printer, so you get as-new print quality each time the cartridges are replaced.

My black & white laser is a refurbished HP 4100.  These are extremely inexpensive to run as the toner cartridges are so large.  Ethernet versions are available, or get a £10 parallel port card for your PC.

The decision comes down to how many colour prints you want per year.  If it's a lot, and you don't need to photo quality, then yes get a colour laser printer.  These are good enough for flyers.  Otherwise Fuaran, and if simply replacing the cartridges doesn't help, then just get another cheap Canon inkjet and consider a mono laser printer if you do a few thousand mono prints per year.

[fred the great]

In Thailand, refill Inks are mostly made in South Korea. Photos that I have printed  with these inks  are located in photo albums and.have not faded in many years.

[rafletcher]

I'm making a similar decision. Our second colour inkjet "all-in-one" has just died (a Dell, that followed an Epson). Now my wife's no longer teaching art our need for colour reproduction is small, and if necessary can be covered either by work (if I'm working) or neighbours/print shop. Similarly scanning and copying.  So I suspect it'll be the Which? "Best Buy" mono printer, the Laserjet Pro P1102w which retails at £88 and has wireless.  The scanning/copying version is the M1217nfw and is £165, which is quite a premium, although it was useful to have a scanner when I was job hunting. I did look at the price of flatbed scanners as well, and £50 will get one from Amazon - ok, A4 and not A3 but I could live with that.

[ed_o_brain]

Well personally I've a HP Laserjet which takes care of all the document printing, a cheapy Canon multi-function (scanner/copier/printer) which serves quite well for the occasional colour print and an expensive (to buy) dye-sub which I mainly use for events, but can handle any ad-hoc photo print requirements.

The laser colour printer is one that's been inherited by a studio I freelance for at no cost. So as we have the machine we are just wondering if there is a cost-effective way of putting it into action. We want to print short runs of flyers related to whatever our current special offer is.