Best Laser Color printer?

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ScratchDrive

Limp Gawd
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Oct 17, 2005
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Well guys, the topic says it all. I was wondering if any of you knew the Best Color Laser Printer. Also by ANY chance do any of you know how much it costs to print a page, don't have to worry so much about the second question. But if you would please help me out with the first would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris
 
We have a few magicolor 2430dl's in the office. Probably 1500-2000 pages a month on the most frequently used unit. Good print quality but the cartridges will drive you into the poorhouse lol

iirc a full set will set you back around $400 (almost the cost of the printer). print costs per page depend on coverage. that set will last about a month printing spreadsheets. mostly b&w with a few color colums. if you are doing photos you'd get much less than that.
 
ScratchDrive said:
Well guys, the topic says it all. I was wondering if any of you knew the Best Color Laser Printer. Also by ANY chance do any of you know how much it costs to print a page, don't have to worry so much about the second question. But if you would please help me out with the first would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris
Click to expand...


Best at what price?

Xerox and IBM make some very nice $250,000 color laser printers.
 
dirtydr said:
We have a few magicolor 2430dl's in the office. Probably 1500-2000 pages a month on the most frequently used unit. Good print quality but the cartridges will drive you into the poorhouse lol

iirc a full set will set you back around $400 (almost the cost of the printer). print costs per page depend on coverage. that set will last about a month printing spreadsheets. mostly b&w with a few color colums. if you are doing photos you'd get much less than that.
Click to expand...


Yes, a full set of toner cartridges (of course, you don't have to replace all 4 at once) will cost almost $400.

However, since you get about 15x as much print volume out of them than an inkjet.. that's ok :)



We have a 2300DL and a CLP-500N here.
 
Don't mean to hijack, but I have also been looking at color laser printers because I think I hate inkjets.. I do pretty infrequent printing (no photos, but the occasional graphic might be in there) now that I am out of college, but I HATE that when I do need to print something, the inkjet is all dried up even though when I last printed somthing a month ago, I put in new cartridges..

Do Lasers have this problem? Or another equally annoying/expensive problem?? I don't mind spending $400 on a color laser and more on toner cartridges if the cartridges will work when I print something once a month and won't dry up and stop working ever couple months.. They list 1000+ page outputs for the cartridges, but will they last if it takes me 2 years to print that much? Which leads me to another thought... in 2 years will I still be able to get replacement toner cartridges for my model laser printer?
 
We have not had these models long enough to know how they behave after long periods of inactivity. However I've pulled B&W lasers off the shelf that have been sitting there for years and they worked fine. Since toner is a dry powder I'd venture to say that they should be just as friendly to low print volume.
 
I'd be willing to bet that lasers are much better for infrequent printing. The imaging drum and toner cartridges aren't affected by disuse. My color laser rotates thru the drums every couple of hours btw.
 
Lord Twilight said:
Don't mean to hijack, but I have also been looking at color laser printers because I think I hate inkjets.. I do pretty infrequent printing (no photos, but the occasional graphic might be in there) now that I am out of college, but I HATE that when I do need to print something, the inkjet is all dried up even though when I last printed somthing a month ago, I put in new cartridges..

Do Lasers have this problem? Or another equally annoying/expensive problem?? I don't mind spending $400 on a color laser and more on toner cartridges if the cartridges will work when I print something once a month and won't dry up and stop working ever couple months.. They list 1000+ page outputs for the cartridges, but will they last if it takes me 2 years to print that much? Which leads me to another thought... in 2 years will I still be able to get replacement toner cartridges for my model laser printer?
Click to expand...


Toner is dry powder, not a liquid. So, therefore, it can't actually "dry up" - What it can do, however, if there is a lot of humidity in your environment, is get a little "cakey" from absorbing moisture over time. - The fix is just shaking it (not tilting) from side to side like as if you were rocking a baby

The toner cartridges for the 2300DL we have

are listed at 4500 pages [of course, that's exaggerated... but no more so percentage wise than inkjets are]

at $90 for a black cartridge, that's 2 cents per page

at http://www.4inkjets.com/komiqmsma23c.html

The blacks are $49, and each color is $70
[that's for "Compatibles" mind you, which will be the only thing you are going to find in about 5 years anyhow, when your laser is still working, but your inkjet has died]

Now, assuming that This ink cart [random example] gets it's actual printing capacity, (150 pages?? damn..) for $15 -- that's a dime a page in ink.


Even if hp is being 100% accurate, and not exaggerating in ANY way... minolta could be over estimating their volume by 500% and *STILL* be the same price per page.


In those two examples (minolta black vs hp black) there is a 30x print volume difference, but even at "full retail" ($15 vs $90) there is only a 6x PRICE difference.
 
Whille I assume you know why yuou need a laser.
Some people mistake laser printers to be superior in quality to inkjets.
Inkjets in fact are much better at printing photo like images and such, while lasers give you a great value for high quality flat graphics.
I sum it up as

laser for office applications
inkjet for creative applications

MacRos
 
MacRos said:
laser for office applications
inkjet for creative applications
MacRos
Click to expand...

That really depends on what sort of ink you use. There are special inkjet inks to help with "creative" items, whereas normal everyday color ink pales in comparison to a laser. - However, HP and .. Kyocera I believe are working on "Vibrant" laser toner.

I'll put my chicagoscape printed on my 2300DL @ 2400DPI next to your epson inkjet's reproduction anyday.

The only "Real" art-level printing tech is Dye-Sub/WaxThermal

[Fargo Primera, for example]
 
Malogato said:
The only "Real" art-level printing tech is Dye-Sub/WaxThermal
Click to expand...

Indeed. I have an old alps MD5000 dye-sub that still prints photos better than laser. Even does metallic spot colors. Too bad the ribbons are getting hard to find :( Its no tektronix but it is the cleanest home owner duty printer I've seen...
 
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