OT: Laser Printers

[echelon_john]

I've had an inkjet all-in-one for a few years; it sees sporadic use, and tends to go through periods of non-use after which the ink is dried up and it has trouble getting going again.

I was just looking at replacing all the ink and seeing a $60+ bill for it, and I'm thinking a laser printer might be better for this use scenario.

Anyone been through the buying process lately and have input? Color would be ideal, but I'd also consider black and white if there's a deal and/or greater features & reliability to be had. Speed is NOT a factor. Wifi/wireless printing would be nice.

Thoughts?

[moose8]

I went through the same thing recently in getting my parents a printer. We ended up with a canon black and white laser printer with scanner/copier etc and they have been very happy in contrast with the ink always drying up on them with the inkjet. It's been "set and forget" since Christmas when I set it up for them.

[Keith A]

Here's a related subject that came up not too long ago with some discussion about laser printers...
forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=165808

[jasonification]

had a cheap Xerox laser printer during my undergraduate program. Lasted daily lecture note printing for 4 years without changing the ink cartridge! ($50 for 4 years is...pretty amazing IMHO).

http://www.fatwallet.com/Newegg-coupons/brother-wireless-monochrome-multifunction-laser-printer-w-document-feed-dcp-l2540dw/2760105-3

this is not bad! Although the wireless aspect has been finicky at times (this is B&W btw).

[choke]

I had the same problem - my inkjet would get so little use that on at least one occasion I couldn't get it to work at all and had to purchase a new printer. About 5 or 6 years ago I bought a cheap ($60 IIRC) Samsung B&W laser and it's still going strong.

[staggerwing]

You can purchase a duplexing, wireless networking, B+W, Brother laser printer for about $115. I've had mine for 5 years of moderate printing. Never a single issue, other than requiring 1 new toner cartridge, which was $40.

Bought another for my FIL, who finally got tired of semi-annual, $60 ink refills for his 'cheap' HP inkjet. He lost color, but has yet to buy a toner cartridge in 3 years.

I see they have replaced my 2370DW, with a lower model 2340DW, and a higher model 2380DW, which adds scanning.

[EPIC! Stratton]

I have a Brother 2270-DW. Got it on sale for cheap. Works great. Wired/wireless/USB. Double Sided.

[jumpjube]

Another vote for an all-in-one Brother (B & W) laser printer. These models get high ratings in terms of durability and non-repair history.

We recently made the move from a (lousy) HP inkjet to a Brother. What an improvement!!

[OtayBW]

For a meat-and-potatoes laser printer, you can't beat a Brother. Great value and a real workhorse.

[awdwon]

This is great info. I've not had a printer for the last several years due to minimal need as well as the pain in the ass-ness that comes with inkjets, usually end up just going to Office Depot whenever I need to print anything. I think it's high time to get a laser as well.

[Ken Robb]

I guess color doesn't matter?

[unterhausen]

You can purchase a duplexing, wireless networking, B+W, Brother laser printer for about $115. I've had mine for 5 years of moderate printing. Never a single issue, other than requiring 1 new toner cartridge, which was $40.
I got one of these for my boss. Downside is that he can't get the wireless to work because he is hopeless with networking. Funny thing is, he was a pioneer in the field.

[Ken Robb]

I just got an email from COSTCO listing an H-P: something-400 laser printer for $279 delivered which is supposed to be $100 off COSTCO's usual price. If you're a member it might be worth a look. That's all I know. I haven't used a laser printer since I retired. How long do they have to warm up before printing? I seem to remember our company policy was to turn them off at night because they use quite a bit of electricity idling. I don't know if that was really true and I wasn't paid to worry about that. :)

[Birddog]

Another vote for an all-in-one Brother (B & W) laser printer. These models get high ratings in terms of durability and non-repair history.

We recently made the move from a (lousy) HP inkjet to a Brother. What an improvement!!

I did the same about a year and half ago. I did have to buy a new toner cartridge, but at least the damn ink isn't drying out and I don't have to buy pink ink to print black.

[Don49]

I just retired a Brother B&W laser and bought the successor model (HL-L2340DW) that has duplex printing and wireless networking. Duplex printing is a killer feature for automatically printing both sides of a page. Mac friendly. Was $89 in April. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LZS5EEI?&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

[carpediemracing]

I use an HP, P1102w. I use it with Macs, the wireless is a pain to set up so it's all USB based for me. With Windows it should be easier, I've seen them in small offices (like my wife's office has one 1102w, one 1006 which isn't wireless).

I pack/unpack/drop these things all the time as I use them in the trailer for registration. I'm on my second 1102w (first one broke after a couple years, possibly because of dropping it while it was unboxed), before that I had the 1006 (non-wireless version), which still works after 5-7? years.

I got the 1102w because the 1006 doesn't work with one older Mac (2010). I can't update the older Mac's drivers for other reasons and it prints gibberish in Excel, fine for PDFs and other stuff I've tried.

Toner is not cheap, I'm thinking $70 per or $130 for a 2-pack? for genuine HP toner from Staples, but the printer on sale is about $100-110, refurb (current) was $70 or something nutty, and full price is $150. Toner lasts about 800-1000 full USAC release printings, meaning printing 1000-1200 release forms with stuff all over the page, plus another 100 or so pages of misc stuff. If I don't print out all the USAC forms for my races on my printer the toner lasts a year or two.

[staggerwing]

I got one of these for my boss. Downside is that he can't get the wireless to work because he is hopeless with networking. Funny thing is, he was a pioneer in the field.

It has been a while, but I remember it was a minor PITA to setup wireless networking. Reading the Amazon reviews, I was forewarned it was much easier to complete the wireless setup over a hardwired USB connection. Not entirely obvious, but it was one of several setup options in the manual. The people that had issues tried to set it up entirely wirelessly.

Once it was working on my network with my PC's, it was readily discoverable with my MacBook.

Again, once setup, never again an issue. Wish our expensive HP here in the lab worked half as well.

And, it is a 2270DW that I have. Prices have jumped on that one, I'm guessing because it is discontinued and a has a fabulous reputation. The 2340DW and 2380DW are the newer models.

[VTCaraco]

my school uses Brother exclusively. Cheap enough that we don't go through too much fuss if it fails...but they really are tanks.
Despite this recommendation from our tech crew, I bought a nicer Xerox a few years ago. Print quality and speed was clearly better than all at school, but the first hiccup came sooner than it should have (a few months out of warranty) and cost of repair exceeded replacement cost. Sold it as spare parts.
Replaced it with a Samsung Multi-function color unit. Not nearly as nice as the Xerox was, but it's holding up just fine.
Not sure why, but I don't love the Brother devices despite lots of experience and plenty of durability....

[echelon_john]

Thanks everybody! Looks like Brother is a no-brainer; I'm probably going to get the DCPL2540DW multi-function.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PMD014A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I'd love to have color, but it seems like this will handle 99% of the day-to-day printing needs.

[pbarry]

B&H has it cheaper: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Brother+DCPL2540DW&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

[arazate]

I purchased a Brother HL-3170cdw from Office Max. This is the color version with two side printing, wireless. Office Max has them form $279, I was able to match with Amazon $229 (from Brother, no less). It received pretty impressive reviews.

[paredown]

FWIW, I'm a laser luddite. Every place we lived, I have picked up a lightly used HP 4000 series for about $100--usually with half a cartridge still in it.

Network and print--those things have a duty cycle of 5000 pages/day, so a home user will likely never have to do anything to it. The one we have now, I finally had to replace a toner cartridge after 6 years--and I picked up NOS w. sealed package for $15--and I should be good for another 10 or 12 thousand pages.

Not the best quality, but fast-ish (esp the 4100s). We used to print a lot of B/W so it was the really affordable solution.

The only downside--they are heavy and big...

[staggerwing]

Yeah, that was pretty much the last of the almost bullet proof HP's. Looking it up, it may have been the first that was energy star compliant. Still, while printing, it consumes over 350w, but drops back to 20w at idle. The earlier 4's idled at a much higher energy consumption.

For intermittent home use, just turn off when not using for several hours.

[jamesutiopia]

+1 for HP 4000/4100. You can still have these hidden in dark corners and print closets around my company, and they seem indestructible.

I have a HP P2015dn at home that is not as robust, but is fast, duplexes, has wired networking, onboard postscript, works nicely with both Windows and Mac, and has been fine for 8 years. It does check for HP branded toner cartridges, and seems to work better with them. I'd lean toward Brother or an old/common HP these days to avoid the dependency on "chipped" toner cartridges.

One nice thing about a mono laser printer is that it prints text and boarding passes great, but the kids won't print out their photos on it, as they are prone to doing with a color inkjet, at great expense...

[paredown]

Yeah, that was pretty much the last of the almost bullet proof HP's. Looking it up, it may have been the first that was energy star compliant. Still, while printing, it consumes over 350w, but drops back to 20w at idle. The earlier 4's idled at a much higher energy consumption.

For intermittent home use, just turn off when not using for several hours.

Good to know--I may start turning it off more religiously.

I remember not being able to plug other stuff into the outlet where the printer was, so I assumed that the printing draw was pretty high.

[bigreen505]

+1 for the Brother Professional printers. Overall cost of operation for a small shop is lower and they seem to be more reliable. The cost per page on a big laser is low, but the unit cost and the consumable cost is pretty high.