Laser Printer Recommendations

[PTNL]

I'm looking for some options on a network laser printer for my home. Here's some general details:

1. B&W would be fine, but color laser is being considered.
2. I don't do much printing, but am looking for a reputable brand.
3. Wired network connection is required, wireless is "nice to have".
4. I'd like to have all of the machines access the printer directly, and not go use a printer share on a computer.
5. My budget is around $300, but that can be extended if there's a compelling reason.
6. Majority of the machines will be Windows, but there could be a few Linux boxes -- total machine count is six.

Post any questions or suggestions. Thanks!

 

[marley1]

I like Brother models.

 

[timberdoodle]

HP!

Brothers are ok too.

 

[XOR != OR]

HP is my "go to" brand for company network printers.

And there are very few downsides to using a print server, where your clients connect to the print share. That's the only way I'll do printers anymore, as it's far easier to manage when we're talking more than 2 machines.

 

[ashman]

HP all the way, had bad experiences with Brother's. HP 1606DN is a nice b+w networked laser printer, toner cartridges can be a bit expensive, but I own two of these and they are solid. Colour laser in my opinion is too expensive and unless you are printing a lot of colour, go with an inkjet for low volume colour printing.

 

[PTNL]

Newegg has the P1606DN on sale for $133 (includes shipping). Seems like a good price.

Any objections to this?
Any other models to recommend?

 

[diizzy]

I'm by no means a printer guru but I can give some of my own experience of "low/mid-end" models (on Windows)...

HP 1000-series are pretty much shit in my experience, get a proper paper tray as they're much more reliable than the "open slots". Also have in mind that cheap printers usually have very expensive toner cartridge. What you should look for is PCL or PS-support, proper tray and possible some kind of status display which will help you a lot when troubleshooting

HP - Cheap plastic and feels pretty flimsy overall, P20**-models works pretty well although toner cartridges are pretty expensive. Almost printers by HP except the 1000-series (in general) supports PCL which will save you a lot of work. HPs drivers are usually quite heavy for some reason including the universal PCL driver.

Samsung - Cheap printers with good specs compared to other brands in the same price range, POS hardware and usually very expensive toner.

Brother - Actually most of their last year models (HL-2***-series) feels more robust then this year. They usually work pretty good although the paper feed for the tray struggles if you actually put 200+ pages and stops working pretty easily. Toner is about the same price as HP and these printer wont handle workloads well, they work fine for casual personal printing. The HL-5*** are much better but I dont get the impression that they'll last for long, toner is much cheaper than the HL-2***-series. Drivers are more lightweight than HP in general.

Lexmark / Dell - Don't go there, very expensive toners and very poor performance and reliability. They look great on paper but reality proves otherwise. Slow in general...

Canon - No idea, probably works pretty good. I'd say that this is your best bet within your budget.
http://www.amazon.com/imageCLASS-LB...ochrome/dp/tech-data/B004D3QNP6/ref=de_a_smtd
*** Update *** Just remembered that my MFP is a Canon, works good although it does have some odd quirks (scanner part) but printing works great. Good non bloatish drivers too.

Konica Minolta - See Lexmark / Dell

OKI - B4***-series are good although very expensive in the US compared to Europe, can't really justify their pricing in the US.

Kyocera - I've started to deploy some of their printers and MFPs and I have to say that they're so far working great. Low runnings costs, fast, good drivers and very few issues in general. They are a bit expensive in Europe (at least in Sweden) but so far its been paying off. This one is a bit above budget but a good choice IMHO if you're going to print mid to a lot of pages.
http://www.cdwg.com/shop/products/Kyocera-FS-1370DN-printer-B-W-laser/2486424.aspx

//Danne

 

[PTNL]

Regarding dizzy's above recommendations on HP printers, Newegg has the P2055dn for $300. Anything from HP above that model gets well beyond my budget and realistic needs.

Keep the thoughts, comments, and suggestions rolling in. If there are some good Brother models to recommend, then please post the models and/or product links.

 

[diizzy]

Any reason why you're going for the HP compared to the Canon (which btw seems to have cheaper cartridges)?
//Danne

 

[plugwash]

I like picked up a kyocera FS3900DN on ebay for £100, fast, built in network and duplex, a paper tray that can take a ream at a time (so you just rip off the wrapper and drop the whole ream in, no need to carefully open one end of the ream so that you can store the remainder) and it shouldn't need any consumables for a while since it takes a 15000 page cart and it arrived about half full.

I would certainly suggest considering used/"refurb" if buying a mono laser printer, afaict lots of places are getting rid of really nice mono lasers to replace them with color ones.

 

[dashpuppy]

My vote is brother, Lexmark kyocera hp..

It all comes down to what you want to pay and how much you want to pay for toner....

 

[hawk82]

I've had good luck with Brother laser printers.
Check out the HL-2170W (older model) and see if that meets your requirements.
They have their new 2200 series printers but I don't have any hands-on experience with them.
I've found that the Brother printers have excellent drivers and support for various operating systems.
Clean driver installs from the disc too. Doesn't include a boat load of shit like HP printers do (unless you manually download their ITpro driver from their website).

 

[Deleted member 12106]

Dell/Lexmark all the way!

Kidding. I like the HP units, I have a handful of brothers which have been error free and pretty much idiot proof. The build quality is meh, but they have been working. I have 6 total now. All network attached.

 

[PTNL]

Any reason why you're going for the HP compared to the Canon (which btw seems to have cheaper cartridges)?
//Danne

HP was commonly within the top 2 on most of the suggested manufacturers, so HP was the first one I looked at. What model(s) should I look at from Canon?

It all comes down to what you want to pay and how much you want to pay for toner....

For the printer, around $300.. but that is flexible. What's the ballpark price for toner on the brands you would recommend?

I've had good luck with Brother laser printers.
Check out the HL-2170W (older model) and see if that meets your requirements.
They have their new 2200 series printers but I don't have any hands-on experience with them.
I've found that the Brother printers have excellent drivers and support for various operating systems.
Clean driver installs from the disc too. Doesn't include a boat load of shit like HP printers do (unless you manually download their ITpro driver from their website).

I would've used the stripped-down driver from HP's site regardless
What do you think of the HL-5370DW?

 

[dashpuppy]

HP was commonly within the top 2 on most of the suggested manufacturers, so HP was the first one I looked at. What model(s) should I look at from Canon?


For the printer, around $300.. but that is flexible. What's the ballpark price for toner on the brands you would recommend?


I would've used the stripped-down driver from HP's site regardless
What do you think of the HL-5370DW?

I bought a cheap Brother, DCP-7065dn, it was 99$ on sale has duplexer scanner fax Ethernet..

in store they wanted 75$ for the high yield toner i got it for 50$ shipped from a toner supply store in Ontario..

ive pushed 900 sheets through it perfectly no issues at all i love the duplex too.. fir 99$ its nice..

if it breaks ill fix it as im a printer tech..

I tell people when buying laser printer check the retail for toners & the high yeild toners then go from there.

I have a 4 year old Samsung color laser printer it works perfectly tooo.. in store toner each was 99$ x 4 ouch, i only paid 180$ 4 years ago too..

Online ii got all 4 toners for 60$..

sorry typing with 10month daughter on my lap holding with one hannd

dash

 

[RocketTech]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Xerox yet. They have fairly consistent quality, nice feature sets, solid drivers. Hp makes some nice printers; they also make some real dogs. I don't have the time to figure out which is which, and which features they say they have but don't bother to deliver.
Brother- I love their label makers. As for their printers... I love their label makers.
Lexmark printers just look fugly.

 

[dashpuppy]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Xerox yet. They have fairly consistent quality, nice feature sets, solid drivers. Hp makes some nice printers; they also make some real dogs. I don't have the time to figure out which is which, and which features they say they have but don't bother to deliver.
Brother- I love their label makers. As for their printers... I love their label makers.
Lexmark printers just look fugly.

Who cares what they look like, it's all about servicing them..

Bet you can't guess what training im at ?

 

[damacus]

I got a brother hl2270dw last year on cyber monday for $80. It's a B&W laser with ethernet, wireless and a built in duplexer... best money I've ever spent on a printer for home/office.

The printer is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux.

 

[dashpuppy]

I got a brother hl2270dw last year on cyber monday for $80. It's a B&W laser with ethernet, wireless and a built in duplexer... best money I've ever spent on a printer for home/office.

The printer is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux.

those are some pretty importnat key's too. 80$ is a score.. The one think i like that Brother is doing now is using toner saving methods. Plus i use cheap paper too, it's thinner but i don't need professional looking paper for my calls etc etc..

 

[Eickst]

I'll second the xerox. After messing with HP, Brother, and Dell printers for years with various companies, the company I am at now got rid of their aging inkjet fleet and got some workgroup xerox printers and not one has had a single issue. We have about 40 network printers and I wish they were all xerox.

 

[dashpuppy]

I'll second the xerox. After messing with HP, Brother, and Dell printers for years with various companies, the company I am at now got rid of their aging inkjet fleet and got some workgroup xerox printers and not one has had a single issue. We have about 40 network printers and I wish they were all xerox.

You do know that Lexmark uses the Xerox engine to run the printer right ?

 

[PTNL]

I got a brother hl2270dw last year on cyber monday for $80. It's a B&W laser with ethernet, wireless and a built in duplexer... best money I've ever spent on a printer for home/office.

The printer is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux.

Good info. The egg has it currently for $100. The manufacturer's manuals for the network configuration seem straight-forward as well. I'll keep this on the list for consideration.

 

[diizzy]

@ PNTL
LBP-6650DN (which I linked to) seems like a very reasonable printer with good specs and as I said toner is a bit cheaper than HP P20**-series.
http://www.amazon.com/imageCLASS-LB...ata/B004D3QNP6/ref=de_a_smtd?tag=hardfocom-20

As for Xerox, aren't most models (at least low/mid-end) still OEMed?
I know that their cheaper color printers were Samsungs (CLP-3**-series) about 2-3 years ago. They were really horrible in reliability and toner was more expensive than Samsungs own models which means very expensive. I don't think Xerox have much of a market share here in Sweden at least desite having offices here etc and I can see why since at Gestetner (Richo), Minolta, Canon offers much better machines than Xerox.

We have numerous Lexmark printers at work and they're a friggin joke, slow, very expensive toner, paper jams, brakes down often. Which is pretty much my experience with any Lexmark product...

I should probably mention that "shit that works" goes a (very) long way in my book compared to being extremely cheap and having performance thereafter although you may find some great models but they're very few in general...

//Danne

 

[PTNL]

@ PNTL
LBP-6650DN (which I linked to) seems like a very reasonable printer with good specs and as I said toner is a bit cheaper than HP P20**-series.
http://www.amazon.com/imageCLASS-LB...ata/B004D3QNP6/ref=de_a_smtd?tag=hardfocom-20

I missed seeing that. Seems like a good possibility as well.

I should probably mention that "shit that works" goes a (very) long way in my book compared to being extremely cheap and having performance thereafter although you may find some great models but they're very few in general...

I generally agree. Keep the suggestions coming. I want to get a quality product from a reputable vendor, and am interested in all aspects of ownership. My budget is flexible, so long as the model doesn't get well-beyond the scope of the intended usage.

 

[Eickst]

Keep the suggestions coming. I want to get a quality product from a reputable vendor, and am interested in all aspects of ownership. My budget is flexible, so long as the model doesn't get well-beyond the scope of the intended usage.

If you want a black and white one, this model is the best we have used.

http://www.amazon.com/Xerox-Phaser-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1323882272&sr=1-1

At my location we have 5 of these but probably 20 or so throughout the company. The things are TANKS and just keep working, I never have to do anything to them, the high cap toner is around $220 and rated for 14k pages (we get closer to the 10-12k mark per toner cartridge).



For color ones, we have had good luck with the Xerox 6500N but the toner is a little pricey and not very large, have to change them too often. We have 8 or 9 here at my location, they just keep working, no issues other than the small and pricey toner (which I can forgive due to the decent print speed and lack of problems)

We also have a Xerox 8560, the wax one, but I'd avoid it if I were you. No one likes the feel of the paper, you can't write on it, no one cares if they save money printing to it when they hate the way it looks, feels, and works.

 

[PTNL]

Well.... This purchase had to be postponed until the tax refund arrived, but the timing worked out quite well. The Brother HL-2270DW is currently on sale at Newegg for ~ $80 shipped, and was too tempting to pass up.

Thanks again to everyone that contributed on this thread, I appreciate the advice and suggestions.

 

[athlon1.2]

You do know that Lexmark uses the Xerox engine to run the printer right ?

All of them? I know the larger ones e.g. W8xx, are Xerox engines... but the smaller ones like T6xx doesn't seem like it to me.

 

[/usr/home]

Dude, Laserjet 4. Cheap toner, ethernet, and a real workhorse .

 

[diizzy]

....at a size comparable to a mini bar fridge :-P
FWIW, the Kyocera machines have been working great so far...
//Danne

 

[dashpuppy]

All of them? I know the larger ones e.g. W8xx, are Xerox engines... but the smaller ones like T6xx doesn't seem like it to me.

the MFP's have xerox in them too..

....at a size comparable to a mini bar fridge :-P
FWIW, the Kyocera machines have been working great so far...
//Danne

I so want one of those, Kyocera, is a wicked printer, but $$

 

[Frosty_axe]

Regarding dizzy's above recommendations on HP printers, Newegg has the P2055dn for $300. Anything from HP above that model gets well beyond my budget and realistic needs.

Keep the thoughts, comments, and suggestions rolling in. If there are some good Brother models to recommend, then please post the models and/or product links.

I have approximately 25 of these deployed in a school environment, in a year and a half the kids have not managed to break one yet. I am planning on replacing the last 5 inkjets in the building with these at the end of the month as they have been so good to me.

If you look around you can find very decent quality 3rd party 6500 page toners for ~$25-30 each shipped!

 

[/usr/home]

I have approximately 25 of these deployed in a school environment, in a year and a half the kids have not managed to break one yet. I am planning on replacing the last 5 inkjets in the building with these at the end of the month as they have been so good to me.

If you look around you can find very decent quality 3rd party 6500 page toners for ~$25-30 each shipped!

We use the same printers. We have ~ 20 deployed and have not had an issue yet. They print very quickly as well. they've only been in service for ~ 6 months, but the build quality is good. They aren't too bad to work on either.

 

[diizzy]

I would take an OKI B4600 any day over a P2055*, P2015* is a good workhouse though.
//Danne