I'm wondering what current recommendations are for color printers with
low initial and operating costs, that print fast. Good print quality
is also nice to have, but the purpose is printing documents with some
color graphics in them, not high-resolution photographs.

I was able to buy a 20 ppm monochrome laser printer for $300 that I
can use for around 5 cents a page, but anything like that in color
looks much more expensive. It looks to me like most "color laser
printers" are actually thermal transfer printers, not laser printers
at all. That is, they use a thermal film ribbon instead of toner,
increasing operating costs and creating a security hole (the used
ribbon holds a copy of everything you've printed with that ribbon).

But I do see some used units available pretty cheap, e.g. Color
Laserjet 5M for $100. That prints at 2-3 ppm in color but that's
about 10x faster than the Photosmart P1100 that I have right now.
Plus the consumables are a heck of a lot less expensive.

Any other suggestions?

Where do you get your onformation?Color lasers do use toner.It sounds like
you are talking about dye sub printers.As for the 5M,that thing is an
antique!Poor prints,slow as a one legged dog.I doubt you will get more than
1 page per minute!
You will not find any one printer that does all you want.My suggestion is to
lower your expectations!
"Paul Rubin" <http://(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm wondering what current recommendations are for color printers with
> low initial and operating costs, that print fast. Good print quality
> is also nice to have, but the purpose is printing documents with some
> color graphics in them, not high-resolution photographs.
>
> I was able to buy a 20 ppm monochrome laser printer for $300 that I
> can use for around 5 cents a page, but anything like that in color
> looks much more expensive. It looks to me like most "color laser
> printers" are actually thermal transfer printers, not laser printers
> at all. That is, they use a thermal film ribbon instead of toner,
> increasing operating costs and creating a security hole (the used
> ribbon holds a copy of everything you've printed with that ribbon).
>
> But I do see some used units available pretty cheap, e.g. Color
> Laserjet 5M for $100. That prints at 2-3 ppm in color but that's
> about 10x faster than the Photosmart P1100 that I have right now.
> Plus the consumables are a heck of a lot less expensive.
>
> Any other suggestions?

"Douglas" <.> writes:
> Where do you get your onformation?Color lasers do use toner.It sounds like
> you are talking about dye sub printers.As for the 5M,that thing is an
> antique!Poor prints,slow as a one legged dog.I doubt you will get more than
> 1 page per minute!
> You will not find any one printer that does all you want.My suggestion is to
> lower your expectations!

Hmm, 1 ppm is slower than I'd like, but right now I get maybe 0.3 ppm.
If I can get 2-3 ppm, that won't be too bad. 8 ppm and I'd be happy.

Color "lasers" that I saw at CompUSA definitely don't use toner. They
use supplies that come in boxes labelled "toner" which actually
contain transfer ribbons.

What's the current replacement for the 5M? 2500 series?

Can I get reasonable speed and economy with a fancy inkjet with a
continuous flow ink system?

Thanks.

"Paul Rubin" <http://(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> Can I get reasonable speed and economy with a fancy inkjet with a
> continuous flow ink system?

You might take a look at the HP Business Inkjet 1200 series. It uses large
individual ink tanks (69mL black, 28mL each for color) and models start at
$199. It is rated at 8ppm color in normal mode, 4ppm in best mode. See:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...51-411179.html

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP