Affordable Laser Printers?

paul.h.burns asks: "I'm looking now for an affordable laser printer. The qualifications are that it must be network-able, under $300, and produce decent graphics. Color is not so important because I have an inkjet that I can use if I need color on any presentations. I've looked at Tom's Hardware, CNET, Pricewatch, and just plain googled around. I've found a few printers that meet one or two of the criteria, but not all three. Also, I've found some that look decent, except user comment's say that toner usage on those models is really high. So, now I'll ask everyone here at Slashdot: Are there any laser printers that you can recommend that would meet all three of my criteria?"

I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[petard]

I picked up a brother hl-5170dn. It's network ready, comes with zeroconf (bonjour in the apple world) and includes postscript and PCL emulation. The web configuration interface is quite nice, it's "just worked" with my Mac, Windows and Linux boxes, and is readily available for under $300 [google.com]. And as a bonus, it has a built-in duplexer. It is black-and-white only and has its toner and drum separate. (Which is a good thing, since drums generally outlast toner, and this lets you replace them separately without resorting to dodgy refilled toner).

Do be sure to download and use Brother's .ppd files for best results. The postscript emulation, while good, isn't perfect. Using their .ppd files seems to take care of all the rough edges I encountered.

I'm admittedly a rather light user in terms of volume. But after going through a ream of paper or so I'm still on the cartridge that shipped with the printer. YMMV of course.

There may be a newer better model than this one, but I haven't tried it and this one is clearly still available. I was initially a little nervous about moving away from canon engines, but I have been quite pleased after about a year.

HP LaserJet 4P

[Hikaru79]

I'm not sure how easy it would be to still find one of these, but I've had a LaserJet 4P since I was around grade 6 (about 6 or 7 years ago), and it has never failed me yet. It's a cheap, black-and-white laserjet with all of the features you request. And I can personally attest to it's printing quality. I've had it for so long, and it's never broken down or had any real problems. I also network it just fine -- it's currently connected to my LinkSys wireless printerserver.

I don't really have anything to compare its toner usage with, but I have no complaints in that department either. Overall, a great deal.

Dell 1710n

[dduardo]

How about theDell 1710n [dell.com]? It is $299, networked and does 27 pages per minute.

Brother HL-2070N...

[TeckWrek]

...USB Ethernet 20PPM Laser Printer ~ $170.
It definately meets the networking and proce requriments. The only one in question is 'decent graphics', but that is subjective! and you know best.

        * Up to 20 pages per minute
        * HQ1200 resolution (up to 2400x600dpi)
        * 250-sheet input capacity and manual by-pass slot for letterhead and envelopes
        * USB 2.0 and Parallel interfaces1
        * Windows® and Mac® compatible
        * One-year limited warranty
        * 16MB memory standard
        * PCL®6 emulation standard
        * Built-in 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
        * Network Interface

HP 2600n maybe

[alshithead]

It's just around your price and prints like a champ...color too. I'm using it at home to print tri-folds for my wife's business and the price per hard copy isn't bad. We print several thousand tri-folds per month and only have to replace the black cartridge on a regular basis. I have it hooked to a Linksys wireless print server so we can print from anywhere in the house. We've already gotten our money out of so if it dies tomorrow I may just buy another instead of having it repaired. Can't beat HP laser printers as far as I'm concerned. The 4000 series is great for just black and white but somewhat more expensive. I've watched them at work, at work, for years.

grain of salt

[Macgrrl]

I used to do this for a living, but not in the US market.

You haven't mentioned how many pages you expect to produce per week/month/year, which makes this a little tricky.

Ideally you need to look at the expected usable life for the device (for corporate use 5 years, personal use maybe up to 10 years), does the device require a maintenance kit, what is the device lifetime duty cycle and what is the cost/yeild of the toner cartirdge.

Additionally, do you print a lot of postscript or PDFs, and is speed an issue?

The cost per page calcualtion is basically: ((purchase cost of the device / lifetime pages printed)+(cost of tomer cart/yield)+(cost of maintenance kit/yield))

Kyocera make good quality low TCO (total cost of ownership)laser printers - but I haven't found them to be especially durable in high volume applications.

The HP 4xxx series are generally good entry level workgroup printers, reliable and well supported.

If speed or large PDFs are a requirement, you may want to consider a memory upgrade or postscript kit. Remember that when they quote pages per minute - that is the speed per page for additional copies of the same page (engine speed) once the first instance has been processed (first page out).

Re:I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[kherr]

I also got this printer when the toner went out on my ancient LaserJet 4. The HL-5170DN was cheaper than a new toner drum for the lj4, and it's higher resolution and faster. Because of the separate toner from the drum it'll be cheaper to operate, and it draws less power I'm sure. It also has Bonjour/Zeroconf, which makes using it with a Mac a snap.

HP Laserjet 1022n

[Pathway]

You have lots of options, but I must put my vote in for the HP Laserjet 1022n.

All the B&W laser printers in this price range have about the same features. Resolutions, price, peformance... they are all about equal.

But the HP works with everything... Except I must warn you it doesn't work with Mac OS 9 or earlier.

Check out your options... If you're like me, you'll find that a good brand name and support are worth a lot.

--Pathway

This model has been deprecated

[Yonder Way]

But check out the HL-5250DN which is the suggested replacement model.

Pick up an older laser

[mattkime]

I'm really not sure what your graphics requirements are on a laser printer as its their weak point. However, there are older laser printers that do a wonderful job and cost nearly nothing - to buy and operate. The HP 5 line is particularly known for being a solid and reliable piece of equipment. Further, they're easy to maintain and buy parts for. Apple's LaserWriter line is based on 3rd party engines that are frequently very reliable and easy to service. Find one locally so you don't have to pay ridiculous shipping fees. Many people get rid of these older machines "upgrading" to a newer, more expensive and less reliable model.

Re:grain of salt

[Macgrrl]

Addendum

Most manufacturers publish the cartridge yields for their toner carts - you may have to ferret around to find the value. Most manufacturers quote in terms of 5% coverage of a 8" x10" page.

Internal testing where I work has indicated that for a fairly standard basket of typical office documents, the average page coverage is closer to 7.5% of an A4 page (located in Australia), which is nearly twice the area fo the manufacturers quoted coverage - meaning the cartridges last half the number of pages.

If you are printing a lot of graphics, they will typically have much higher page coverage than a page of text - this coverage may go up to 20-50% coverage.

For good graphics performance, look at how many levels of greyscale can they emulate, and whether they can do some varient on fine print - allowing the software to distort/locate the dot in the greyscale render to permit shart edges on fonts and curves. It increases the subjective resolution of the device with increasing the actual resolution of the device. 600dpi is pretty standard for office applications, 1200dpi is common on engines used in the graphic design market.

Re:I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[petard]

I was totally not expecting Zeroconf support from a printer at that price point. I was very surprised when I went to save a receipt for an online purchase to PDF from my Mac (thus invoking the print dialog) and saw the printer as an option even though I had not set anything up in print center yet.

It definitely draws less power than the LJ4, and to all evidence does not suffer from the same problems with the fuser rollers that my original LJ4 did.

Best Buy/CompUSA not hacking it?

[rnelsonee]

I just picked up a Samsunb ML-2010 for $60 at Best Buy. It's mono (like you, I also have a color inkjet I can use if I need color), but c'mon, $60! And no rebate forms to fill out - the price is $60 at the register. It's light on features, but it does have a toner saver option, so an $80 toner cartridge gets you 5,000 pages. The toner that comes with it is rated for 1,000 pages with the 40% "Toner Saver" option turned off.

Re:This model has been deprecated

[walt-sjc]

I have the 5250DN.

It's not bad, but definatly more "plasticky" than my old 1270N. It also has no straight paper path option like the 1270 had so everything gets curled (envelopes and card stock are more difficult.) Heavy card stock (postcard) does not work. Envelope's get creased. It looks like you should be able to get the paper out the back, but it's got a sensor I couldn't find that prohibits this.

The front "multi-media" tray works well, but occasionally pulls mupltiple pages in at the same time.

I've run about 6000 pages through it now (on my second toner) and it works well. The starter toner only gets you about 2000 pages (max.)

Duplexing is also on the slow side (which is typical on most duplexing printers.)

I look at this printer as being disposable. By the time it needs a drum, I'll just buy a new printer.

NO NO NO -- Get a 4+ instead!

[Anonymous Coward]

When you're looking at old HPs, DO NOT go for the 4P, 5P, 6P, or any such models. The 'P' stands for 'Personal,' which translates to 'junk.' The 4P was probably the best of the lot, but the 5P and 6P had serious issues.

Instead, go for a 4+ or better model. The 4+ and 5 series are based off the same engine, a Canon, and they're bloody workhorses. You seriously can't kill these things unless you really try. They're rated for 30,000 pages per month -- 1000 pages per day -- which, while it may be overkill for you (if there were any such thing), just attests to their superior build quality.

I have a 5M here I got for $50 (including local pickup) off EBay, and that included a 500-sheet third tray, duplexer, and crappy off-brand toner cartridge that I need to replace. Which I will when it dies (I am, after all, cheap). Yeah, the lights do dim when it comes on, and I had to replace the network card -- but it's hard to beat getting a tank of a printer for $50.

Colour laser

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

If you don't need a colour laser printer, don't get one. The black toner for colour laser printers (or at least for the ones I've seen) is terrible for text, because it's made to be just as glossy as the colour toners. The output is actually quite hard to read under ordinary lighting conditions.

Re:HP 2600n maybe

[Afrosheen]

I guess you haven't been to a print shop lately. They're all rapeage when it comes to card stock and anything semi-professional, which seems like what this guy is using it for.

Re:HP LaserJet 4P

[1u3hr]

i got one around a year ago at my local computer recycling center for around $100. i still haven't changed the toner! watch out though... the lights dim when i turn it on...

Go for an LJ5 (or 5P if you like the smaller size); a little more than an LJ4, but many parts are compatible and has a low power mode.

I've got an LJ4 with PS and networking, only problem is that the humidity here messes up the toner, unless I leave it powered on all the time in Summer, which is a drag as it draws about 50W when idle, still cheaper than getting a "new" printer though.

I had an HP4LM fopr several years, small, light, 4 ppm, PostScript, but only 50 pages in the tray and sometimes I had to yank out jammed pages. But was at 40,000 pages and still fine when I left it.

One great advantage of older HPs is that you can get very cheap, quality toner refills or compatible cartridges.

Get a used small-office HP LJ-4xxx

[holviala]

I bought an used HP LaserJet 4000 + ethernet module for EUR 120 a few years ago and it is the best printer I've ever used (much better and faster than the ones @ work). It prints the first paper in about 5 seconds (including warm-up), cardridge lasts forever in home use (years), supports PostScript for easy netcat printing (cups? bah!) and the feeder easily eats a whole pack of copier paper.

Why buy a new sucky one when you can get an slightly used office printer for less?

Search Ebay for 4000TN for prices.

Re:I like the Brother HL-5170DN

[iamhassi]

The brother is a good suggestion, but doesn't this topic sound a little 1999? A laser printer that is "network-able, under $300, and produce decent graphics" isn't hard to find, especially if you don't mind using a cheap netgear print server [google.com], then there's a ton of laser printers for under $100 [google.com] that will fit the rest of the requirements, and if you don't mind refilling the toner yourself you can buy toner refills for less than $15 for almost any laser printer [google.com].

Oh, and if you don't want to go through all that you can just jump to Networkable laser printers for under $300 in froogle [google.com]. Every printer company has one for under $300 listed with froogle, I see the Lexmark, Samsung, Brother, HP...

I don't mean to flame but I don't see how anyone can spend more than 5 minutes looking for a laser printer and not find a laser printer that is "network-able, under $300, and produce decent graphics".

Second hand

[htnprm]

I would highly recommend considering a second hand printer. By that I mean something like a printer that is ex-lease, and may have only been running for a few years. In New Zealand I'd source something like this from TradeMe [trademe.co.nz]. I guess in the US you might look somewhere like eBay [ebay.com].

Remember. Reduce - Reuse - Recycle.

Re:Best Buy/CompUSA not hacking it?

[SoCalChris]

I've also got a Samsung laser printer. It's a few years old (Model ML-1710 I think). Not only is it an excellent printer, but the starter toner cartridge that came with the printer has a small, easy to remove plug on it to refill it. I bought a $15 toner refill kit at Sam's Club, and was able to fill it up. So far, it has lasted a few years with moderate usage, and the toner is still pretty full. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Samsung printer based on my experience.

You can get a similar model for around $50 now, and I think they sell a network enabled one for $50-$100 more.

Re:HP 2600n maybe

[grotgrot]

The 2600n uses a proprietary protocol. The Windows drivers give very good output. The Mac drivers have worse colour rendering. The only Linux drivers are at http://foo2hp.rkkda.com/ [rkkda.com] and have poor colour rendering (as the page also states). Also read his comment about how much assistance HP provided. Somewhat uniquely the printer does ship with full cartridges and the printer is cheaper than the price of the 4 cartridges!

There is a new 2605 that has Postscript and PCL but is out of the OP's price range. My local Costco has had it recently.

Print Tracking

[Mendy]

One which wasn't on http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/list.php [eff.org] would be my choice...

Re:Beg to differ about the 4p...

[Kasar]

I've replaced many office printers, the 4P (and most of the other 4* series) often are replaced while still functional with over 500k pages. I replaced a 4P a couple of years ago with over a million pages that'd been used as a main printer in a call center. They're generally limited by the feed gear/roller and when people decide not to replace the fusers.

The Si types were intended to be the workhorse versions. The L types, regarless of series, seem to have the most trouble. The 180 degree turn the paper makes just doesn't work as well over time and usage.

One caveat with eBay printers, I've seen more and more ten year old printers being listed with zero page counts. With no explanation, I'd assume they either can't print a self-test page or have been reset.

Re:This model has been deprecated

[Vidar Leathershod]

Having used the HL-5170DN for many customers, with no problems, I started getting the replacement, the 5250DN. Had the same problems with envelope creasing. One thing that I like about Brother is their technical support, which is available by 800 number and has a decent amount of knowledge about their product.

For heavy paper and envelope problems, if you flip a panel down in the back, there are two adjustment levers. I would speak with tech support or find documentation before fiddling with them, because I believe that you only need to adjust one at a time (there are levers on both sides) and I can't remember which side you start on (or if it matters at all). What I do know is that it completely fixed the creasing problem, and it has been a wonderful printer since, with no issues.

Another customer had a noisy 5250DN, which Brother replaced immediately, providing a shipping label, pickup, and return of a Brand New Model (not refurb'd). I agree that the construction doesn't feel as nice as the 5170, but the product is so superior in it's price range it's not even funny. 30ppm, fake PS3, PCL, Web Management, an admin utility with pretty cool features, updateable firmware, 10/100 ethernet, optional trays, adjustable paper path, good tech support, 32MB exp to 512 I think. It costs me a whopping $230 shipped. And Brother still provides a Mac OS 9 driver!

If you need multifunction, their unit based on the 5250 is also nice (though I wouldn't bother with scanning, which IME is slow).

BTW, make sure you are not buying toner/drums from Staples. I can get, and you can probably, too, Brother's 7000 page extended life toner (5% coverage) for $60, and the Drums for $102 (about 25,000 pages at 5% coverage). I think there is no better option for inexpensive B&W printing. Only when you get up to color products do the Xerox/Tektronix products get my dollar. (Have had nightmares with modern HP printers [since 1999]). Good Luck!

Vidar

Other specs?

[x-guru]

It's easy to find a B&W laser printer for under $300 if you don't need speed or capacity.
However, if volume is an issue, you may need to spend a little more money.

My partners and I just bought (yesterday) an HP Laserjet 1320 for $299 after $100 instant rebate.
Howver, if you need networking suport, it will cost more money (over $100+ I think).
In my business, time is money (more than money is money), and we bought this printer because for
under $300 we get 22 Pages per minute, and up to 500 sheets capacity.

We typically print 300 - 1000 pages at a time, so this is sufficient for us.

Also, there are cost-per-page statistics out there that show most HP printers cost about $0.015 per page,
which is about 1/10 of what an inkjet costs.

The bottom line: make sure you consider capacity and speed in making your decision. It may be worth the extra money.

Re:Best Buy/CompUSA not hacking it?

[VTBassMatt]

I have the ML-2010 as well. Great printer, but be warned if you plan to use it with a Mac: for some reason, I cannot turn off the toner save feature! I turned it on with the button on top, but the driver is (apparently) the only way to turn it off. The Windows driver, that is; the Mac driver does not have the capability to turn this feature off. If anyone knows how to turn toner save off with a Mac, I'd really love to know...

Apple LaserWriter 16/600PS and any equivalent HP

[amper]

You should be looking at older, used, well-made laser printers. I've been fairly content with a succession of Apple LaserWriter II's and 16/600PS's, both of which use the same Canon engines that were used in the same-era hp printers (LJ3=LWII, LJ4=Apple LWPro 630 & 16/600PS). I think the 16/600PS is a fantastic printer, because it has Real PostScript, Ethernet (though this requires an AAUI adapter), a parallel port, a serial port, a SCSI port and supports AppleTalk and LPR (though this requires that you load the "UNIX printing" software for Windows (or whatever MS calls it, I forget) for it to work properly with Windows machines. Plus, those older engines were built like tanks the LaserWriter II engine (only 300 dpi) is rated for 250,000 pages before major service is required.

Also look for HP LJ4's and LJ5's, especially if you can manage it, an HP LJ5SiMx or Nx series (though these are probably still out of your price range, they are a good investment).

All of these printers have easily available parts and will probably last longer than anything you could buy new for even two or three times the price.

Re:HP 2600n maybe

[SDF-7]

Good reason to look more at the 2605n then. The HPLIP drivers support that one:
http://hplip.sourceforge.net/supported_devices/col or_laser.html [sourceforge.net]

samsung = worthless crap

[crabpeople]

DO NOT buy samsung printers. Every high volume (1 cartridge per month or more) samsung ML series printer i have used has developed weird problems after a year or so. Little plastic and metal bits which are aparently essential to their operation fall off randomly. I have had to crazy glue so many little parts back on these printers.. Not to mention that even a small model number change nessecitates a different type of cartridge (ML-1410 takes a different cart than ML 1510 when they could have easily made them the same(same size printer etc)). They also have some toner cartridges that LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME but! they added a little piece of plastic to make the toner a different shape so that they arent interchangable! The cheap lexmarks do this as well (e240 and e232) and even go so far as to have a chip on the cart so that it will fit in the other printer but it just doesnt print!

The best printers are HP laserjets 5P 6p etc.. also the laserjet 2100N is a really fine network printer. The other printers that are absolute workhorses and do _not_ die are the HP laserjet 1000s. These things have very few moving parts and they are built so that basically the only thing that will stop it is a bad fuser. Some of the people in my office print on the order of 1000s of pages a week on those laserjet 1000s.

Old hp's are the best printers no question.

Re:Networkable is the catch

[swv3752]

One could just pay $50 for a Network printer adpater. Linksys and Dlink makes them where they hook up either to a usb or Parallel interface, and are either wireless or 10/100 rj45 jacks. Just do a search on print server.

Re:HP 2600n maybe

[grotgrot]

Are you sure? The printer does tell me pagecounts per cartridge and they are different, as well as page density for each cartridge. I have definitely seen it not decrease the colour counts on using black and white only. In fact right now it has black at 923 pages and CMY at 770. The amount remaining per cartridge is different (eg I have less C left than M or Y). Page densities are 6, 4, 5 and 5% respectively,

There is also a menu option where you can tell it to keep printing - no need to play tricks on the cartridges. There is a good explanation at http://www.bunniestudios.com/wordpress/?p=53#comme nt-977 [bunniestudios.com] - the main articile also shows the circuit board.

Buy a used Laserjet...

[cr0sh]

Specifically, buy a 5p or a 6p. If you need postscript (say you use Linux), you will need the PS SIMM. I believe the model numbers for the ones that shipped with the SIMM was the 5mp or 6mp. There are also multiple feed tray version (mv series?). I have also heard the Laserjet 2100 series is nice. Look for a low pagecount (under 50,000 if you can swing it - but these printers are workhorses, they will last for a long time).

I picked up my 6p used for $100.00. I added a refilled toner cartridge for another $70.00. That was about 3 years ago and I still haven't run out of toner. I later added extra RAM and the Postscript SIMMs. Not too long back I picked up a 5mp (with RAM and PS SIMM!) at Goodwill for $15.00! It works perfectly, and had a good toner cartridge and even a bit of paper loaded. Not bad for a Goodwill find.

You can find these printers surplus on Ebay. As I have noted, I have also found them at Goodwill. There are many resources on the Net detailing how to refurbish/repair these beasts if needed. Add on a networkable print buffer (I have found these surplus for $5.00 before), and you are set. You will never need another printer again (as long as you are doing black and white) - these things run seemingly forever. Best of all, you will spend well under $300.00 - if you do it right, you might spend under $100.00.

Believe me, it is worth it. If you are frustrated with your ink jet printer for any reason - take this route, and buy an older used Laserjet...