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?"

How about any of these?

[PyroMosh]

"Good on toner" and "good graphics" are relativly subjective terms. Can you be more specific?

As for networkable mono laser, most of the first page of this link [bestbuybusiness.com] qualifies.

Buy used with a network adapter or server

[WidescreenFreak]

My recommendation: find someplace that sells (and services) used printers. There is no need to go with a new printer unless you really want to or are lulled into a false sense of security because of having a sealed box.

I have a friend who deals in government surplus and he can just about repair laser printers with his eyes closed. I got a used LaserJet 5 with duplex unit and additional paper tray from him, and it's never given me a problem even though I've printed thousands upon thousands of pages on it. The LaserJet 5 printers are the pre-Carly printers, when HP actually made quality products. The damn things can take just about any beating you can throw at it.

That and my HP DeskJet 970cxi are on my home network via a Microplex print server (LPR/LPD-based) that can support two parallel and two serial printers. By installing the LPR software that comes with Windows XP (but has to be installed manually) and the drivers from HP's site (because the built-in Windows drivers lack a lot of good features), I have all of the PCs in my house printing to both of these printers. Because the server unit is LPR/LPD based (and uses a lot of UNIX sommands like lpstat), I can print to it from my Sun workstations if I install a PostScript cartridge in my LaserJet, and SimplyMEPIS Linux prints to both of them without any problems.

The only thing that I question is your requirement that it prints "decent graphics". Anything with 600dpi or above can print decent graphics. But since I can't determine what you mean by that or why you have such a requirement, I can't say for certain that something like an LJ5 would be good. Just don't go lower. The LJ4 was good, but everything below was 300dpi. MAJOR difference in graphics quality!

If you want to buy a new printer because of a warranty, that's fine, but I have to recommend that you find a good-condition HP from the days when HP stood for "quality printers", unlike today where it seems to stand for "ink and toner supplier". Linksys and other companies sell network server boxes, too. Hell, even an old PC can do that if you want. You don't have to have a network-ready printer in order to print on a network.

Re:HP LaserJet 4P

[Zzootnik]

I'll second the "Hooray for HP Laser Printers". They really do "Just work"(tm) pretty much forever. And to beat all that, I've found scads of them at my local university Surplus store for between 20-50 bucks. Every time a friend needs a printer, I usually jusy give them the one I'm using and go pick up another one. My Current one is an HP 4000TN (with 2 paper trays) that I got for $30.00. Jetdirect card was even still intact. For some reason they couldn't find a really deep-seated piece of Paper Jam (jelly?) that I was able to pull out of it. Had someones Personal med info on it too, oddly-

In any case--- University Surplus stores rock for the basics. Used for sure, But I really haven't seen one of these completely worn out. At MOST, I think a maintenance kit would fix any problems I've seen. Mostly they're just a few years old and whatever department wanted a new one, I guess-

Re:Print Tracking

[fotbr]

Figured one of you would bring that list up. You'll notice the printers on that list are color printers. You'll notice he/she wasn't looking for a color printer. It sad that your comment got modded up to a +5 when it doesn't even apply to the question being asked. All you EFF fanatics need to grow up, join the rest of the world, and realize that just becase you don't like something, doesn't mean its a bad thing for everyone.