Color Laser Printer Recommendations?
Posted March 8th, 2010 @ 08:57pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I may be printing in color quite a bit soon, and ideally in a way that looks crisp and professional, so I'm looking at potentially buying a color laser printer.
What will I be printing? Some photo content, but also some text and some charts and graphs. I haven't done the research, but something tells me that buying an inkjet may not be the way to go with the cost of inks. But maybe I'm wrong there.
I know some color laser printers are $1500, but this Samsung one is $200 and has good reviews. This HP is $244 and also has good reviews (no Mac OS X support?). So why wouldn't you get one of those over an inkjet printer?
I won't be printing a LOT, but right now I just have an HP laser printer. It's served me well, but it's also black only.
So, tips? Advice? Ideas?
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Posted 12 Mar 2010 at 9:48pm #
It hasn't had the greatest reviews
http://reviews.cnet.com/laser-printers/samsung-clp-315w/4505-3159_7-33226537.html
I was looking for something similar recently (though now I'm not for various reasons) and was edging towards a Brother Multifunction device, the DCP-6690CW
http://www.brother.co.uk/g3.cfm/s_page/166900/s_level/36230/s_product/DCP6690CWZU1
It's a UK link - I'm English, but the price will translate almost directly to dollars and it has the bonus of printing A3, handy for charts and graphs.
Posted 13 Mar 2010 at 7:41am #
I can't recommend a color ink jet, but I can't recommend an ink jet in general. I made the switch about a year ago and would never go back to an ink jet. That's very true if you won't be printing often as you do not need to worry about the ink drying.
Posted 13 Mar 2010 at 9:24am #
It occurs to me that I should check out the pricing at FedEx/Kinko's or an office supply store or something. I will be printing so few things that it might not make sense to get another printer.
Posted 13 Mar 2010 at 10:14am #
I have a Samsung CLP-300N and it has been a pretty good printer for me. There is one minor problem cropping up now in that the front door won't stay securely closed on it's own, but that could be because my kids played with it. It's been reliable, quiet, and does a decent job, but text print quality is a tad off (black text is too heavy/bold, and photo print quality can't hold a candle to my inkjet that is use exclusively for printing photos. In short, it's a good choice for everyday printing, but it doesn't truly excel at anything.
Posted 13 Mar 2010 at 12:09pm #
Oddly enough, I've been quite happy with the Dell 3130cn in an all-Mac environment. The printer is quite big, but relatively inexpensive and comes with good Mac support out of the box.
Posted 15 Mar 2010 at 12:21pm #
I got a Brother 4040cn a couple years back on a real good Newegg deal, and I have been pleased. Toner is not outrageously priced either although I have to admit I haven't had to buy new toner yet. I think this model may have been replaced with the 4070CDW now...
Xerox Phasers are not bad either but they lose their connectivity sometimes I've found.
Posted 15 Mar 2010 at 12:31pm #
I have been fairly happy with the Samsung CLP-610DN (though I don't think it is made anymore).
I'm still trying to figure out why it will print correctly the first time, but then refuses any connections until the power is cycled or the network is pulled and reset. It hasn't been quite annoying enough yet and I was rewiring my network about the time it happened.
Posted 24 Aug 2010 at 8:51pm #
Now that I found the source of my network issues were a bad D-link router, I can whole heartedly recommend this laser printer and it's replacements.
Posted 16 Mar 2010 at 9:18am #
I have a Samsung CLP-315W. I bought it to replace a Canon PIXMA iP3000 because I don't print often enough for an inkjet to make sense. Every time I would go to print, my inkjet printer's ports were always clogged. And I do mean always. I've tried several inkjet printers, and I never found one that would work for me.
I read the reviews on the CLP-315W and decided to go with one, because the reviews themselves all seemed to be missing the point of the CLP-315W. It's a color printer. It's laser. It's wireless. For $200. Think about that: Color, Laser, Wireless, $200. For what it is, it's awesome. If you want an enterprise-class laser printer, THIS IS NOT IT. If you want a cheap, personal, color, laser printer, this is a good choice. None of the reviewers understood this point.
Since I was coming from an inkjet, I wasn't as concerned with speed. Good thing, b/c the 315W is definitely not a speed demon. It's about the speed of the iP3000, so it's fast enough for me, and the Colorness and Laserness and Wirelessness of it more than make up for the Slowness of it.
I wanted color because I'm used to it, and because I print in color quite frequently. I wanted laser because of the dried-ink problems of inkjets. I wanted wireless because I wasn't sure where I was going to put the thing.
My only complaint - and yes, this is truly my only complaint about it - is that the paper tray is small, and it has only one tray. My PIXMA iP3000 had two paper trays, so I could choose used or new paper, in OS X as I was sending the print job. Today I have to choose the paper before I print. It's a nuisance, but not as much of one as clogged ports and dried ink were.
Mine is at ~750 pages so far, and I haven't had any problems yet. Setup was a PITA, but ever since I got it set up, everything is fine.
I don't print photos - I use the local 19c/photo Walgreen's for that - so I can't speak to that. But it does have a nice demo photo that I've printed on regular paper, not glossy photo paper, and it looks nice, but I don't know that the printer is capable of besting Walgreen's. But, then, it's only $200. For color. And laser. And wireless.
IM me if you want to know more about it.
Posted 25 Mar 2010 at 7:00pm #
Color Laser Printing is something of a scam.
It works like this: they sucker you in the awesome prices and then KILL YOU with price per page toner cartridges.
We have a Xerox Phaser Printer here at the office. It uses wax refills (they call it Solid Ink) which is cheap and the technology is cheaper on price per page.
Also, it's dead simple.
http://www.office.xerox.com/printers/color-printers/phaser-8560/enus.html
Posted 01 May 2010 at 6:43pm #
[...] few months ago I was looking for a Color Laser Printer. Due to a strong recommendation (and an incredibly cheap price of $119), I've ended up with an HP [...]
Posted 23 Aug 2010 at 3:14am #
The HP Officejet Pro 8000 Wireless is absolutely the best wireless ink printer on the market. It is fast and reliable, I can recommend it to everybody.
Posted 13 Sep 2010 at 6:02am #
HP printers are all great. It's a good product and there's nothing to worry about it as long as your still covered within its warranty period. Zoom! they'll always replace it at no cost as long as it's credible and in good faith.