Laser printers for a home office--suggestions?

[Recluse]

My old Lexmark Optra 1625 has given up the ghost and I'm now forced into researching and looking for a new laser printer. We have some HP ink-jet printers, but we've always relied primarily on the laser printer. Prior to the Lexmark, we had Apple Laser Writers.

What I'm finding is that HP continues its old trick of producing inexpensive printers but sexually assaulting you on replacement toner cartridges--made even worse because whereas the standard for laser toner cartridges used to be between 4000 and 5000 pages per toner cartridge, the new HPs are only giving you between 800 and 1500 (but claiming 2300-2500).

Now, this is for the lower-end printers under $250, so I am now looking to the midrange and again looking at another Lexmark. You pay more upfront with them, but they seem to have a superior maintenance and longevity record than HP or Canon. The Lexmark I have now was purchased used (heavily) from an office lease program and lasted another twelve years of heavy use.

If anyone has experience, knowledge or suggestions of a good laser printer, I'd love to hear from you.

:coffee:

[dbosman]

Ask around for an independent printer repair shop. There are still some.
Many have a sideline of picking up surplus units for refurbishing and resale. Many also refill cartridges and will cut you a deal on them, if you purchase their printer.

If you have room, an out of warranty copier/printer can be a great buy. Typically ridiculously low prices and sometimes free. Look for one that's been maintained under warranty or contract, and purchase a couple of toner fills. They're just too huge for most home and small offices.

[Bullshop Junior]

We used to have a Brother and it worked quite well. I dont remembee ever changing the ink cartridge..

[rattletrap1970]

I picked up a Brother wireless Color Laser Printer HL-4570CDW two years ago. I have nothing but good things to say about it. It wirelessly connected to my router and allows me to print from any computer, iphone, ipad in the house, and I can print jobs to my house from anywhere on the planet. Will do both side printing too.

[ph4570]

The Brother printers have served us well. We do a lot of printing. Not so good service from the HPs of recent vintage.

[felix]

J.D., stay with the industrial stuff. The idea of seeing a repair dealer is good. See what he has in trade. Lexmark serves the mainframe market with IBM. Patent sharing too! ... felix

[oscarflytyer]

I am biased towards Lexmark, but then, I have been employed there for the last 17 yrs... Having said that, my office printer is one of the E300 series. Works great for me. And I set the toner setting to about 3 (8 is default) and get a LOT more pages than it is rated for. Can't tell any difference in the printed page until the cartridge is nearly empty. And it is more expensive up front, but get a high yield toner cartridge. Much cheaper cost per page when all said and done.

[Gus Youmans]

I use Brothers and HPs in my accounting firm. The Brothers are cheaper to buy and cheaper to feed. Can't speak to length of service because we use the Brothers for the high volume printing and the HPs as dedicated check printers. The only downside to the Brothers is that they use a separate drum unit that is somewhat expensive but it only needs to be changed out every 15-20K copies. Even when factoring the cost of the separate drum unit the Brothers are cheaper to feed.

Edited to add - my wife and I also have a wireless Brother printer at home that gets a lot of use for the work I bring home and the things she has to print as a teacher. Don't remember what the exact purchase cost was but it was lower than your target price. Downside is that the toner cartridges have a somewhat smaller capacity than the office printers.

Gus

[waksupi]

You have different needs than I, but if I have a lot of printing to do, I save it in a file on a thumb drive, take it in to the local print shop, and have them print the file. I have also emailed them files, so they are ready to pick up when I get there. They are never out of ink!

[imashooter2]

I've had very good performance from HP printers and compatible toner from eBay. 3 cartridges for a P1102W for $49.95 delivered. Hard to beat it.

[bangerjim]

Lexmark is like the old razor sales ploy - "Give them the razor and sell them the expensive blades forever!" EXTREMELY high cost of ownership! I do not like Lexmark....I do not like them Sam I am.....not even with green eggs & ham.

In my company we have 2 HP inkjets and one Brother MFC (multifunction). OMG...........that thing is amazing. Scans B&W & color FAST. Faxes (if you need it) and best of all prints up to 18 PPM in black & white. This is a REAL toner style laser....not a lame inkjet. The carts in a business last for months and months. If for home use, you many NEVER replace it!

check OfficeMax, BestBuy, etc for deals. Even the dreaded on-line sources, if you are so inclined. I do NOT buy things on-line.....Keep the money locally, as I am a businessman in AZ also.

But check out the Brother MFC units! It is Ethernet and USB. I can print from my other computers over the LAN. Prints from two different paper trays. Reduces, enlarges, etc.

Crisp B&W printing! FAST scans!

bangerjim

[Bohica793]

I purchased a Samsung 2250N network Laser several years ago for my home office and have never regretted it. It just works.

[btroj]

I am still using a 10 plus year old HP 4 N. Heavy duty, toners rated at 5 K plus. We got the extra capacity and haven't replaced it in over 6 years. Well worth the 120 dollar price.

We got that printer second hand, place my brother worked was going belly up and sold equip off to cover payroll.

Get something designed for the max level of use you forsee. Buy a hobby machine for serious work and you will regret it.

[brassrat]

My 7 yr. old xx brand (awl in won) printed around 20 pages, in a few yrs, and never worked, except for perfect test pages that wouldn't stop. I wasted money on new ink and that didn't help. I got a new puter and the software was a bear to get working, but I got it, despite their 'help'. It was perfect, but soon went back to normal (couple yrs ago). I would avoid that brand ;-]

[rattletrap1970]

I worked at a company that made gears for lexmark. Eff them. Their answer to why do you charge so much for supplies was, "We charge what the market will bear. Yeah? How about eff your product.

[MaryB]

I have a 7 year old Samsung CLP-520 color laser printer. Lot of pages through it and it is just first showing signs of needing a roller unit.

[wcp4570]

Recluse
I retired from a large 5A school district in Texas and ran the Technology Service and Support section for 16 years. I have repaired a many laser printers (Apple LaserWriter, HP, Brother and Lexmark). The business side and student accounting used HP from big 9000 to 4000, teacher/classroom printing was either HP or Brother with a few other brands thrown in there. Early years we used LaserWriter printers and older HP's (most LaserWriter's were made by HP). I would say that if I could find an old HP2 that was not working, I could still buy parts to repair it to return it to service. I say all this to say that if your printer just stopped working or gave an error code, it to can be repaired. If in the other hand if you just want to replace it, then you can't go wrong with any of the suggestions already made. My personal preference would be a medium level HP laser and not one of the cheaper personal lasers offered today. I stay away from inkjet printers unless you just have to have color. They are too expensive to operate for normal printing.

wcp

[clownbear69]

I don't know if they will solve your problem but I have a Kodak. Very inexpensive ink (around 10 bucks per). I have to finally change it now after a lot of printing. Also very affordable. but I do hate the wireless on it.

Also besides ink make sure you use heavier weight paper. the heavier the paper the less ink it will absorb and use. Low weight paper is like a sponge

[clownbear69]

I don't know if they will solve your problem but I have a Kodak. Very inexpensive ink (around 10 bucks per). I have to finally change it now after a lot of printing. Also very affordable. but I do hate the wireless on it.

Also besides ink make sure you use heavier weight paper. the heavier the paper the less ink it will absorb and use. Low weight paper is like a sponge

[NWPilgrim]

We've used an HP P1006 for a few years and very happy with it. I think we change the laser cartridge about once a year or two. A club I belong to has used a low end Brother laser printer to a publish monthly newsletter of 6 pages x 200 copies for a couple of years and has been very affordable and no repairs.

[Wally]

Have a four year old Samsung ML2525. I bought a toner refill kit and it works just fine. I paid under $60 for the printer--the toner refill kit was $35.00. I would have had to replace the toner cartridge three times by now, at $80 each, had I not refilled the toner Most Laser printers come with a "starter" cartridge that won't last long...