It somewhat depends upon how important the print quality is. Does she
need good grayscale results or it it just about text and black and white
printing.
There are a lot of small footprint laser printers on the market now, and
many are under $100 US/CAN. I have seen some for under $70 these days.
They are fast, some as high as 1200 dpi, but although that should
allow for very good grayscale printing, some get bandy at that resolution.
Here is what I would look for today:
1) how much memory is in the machine and if it upgradable by the user?
Does it use standard inexpensive computer memory or is it proprietary
and very costly?
Is there adequate memory installed to print a graphic that is 8.5" x 14"
(legal size)
2) What drivers are available. Check for drivers you may need (Win
98/ME, XP, Vista, Mac versions?)
3) what is the warranty? Stay away for 90 parts and labor or 1 year
parts, 90 day labor models... they expect the thing not to last more
than 3 months! Where do you have to go for repair? Does the store do
an over the counter exchange or do you have to ship it to Hong Kong?
4) Try to get one that has a FULL toner cartridge rather than a
"starter" one. The starter cartridges may only have 25% of the normal
toner in them, and the cost of a new cartridge may literally be MORE
than the cost of the printer to buy. Check into the cost and
availability in your area for the normal full cartridges. Most printer
specs talk about yield in terms of 5% coverage per page. Most
letters/text pages use at least 7-10% and images use a lot more, up to 50%.
If toner costs are an issue, try to find out if the printer has a toner
saver function, to print draft and non-critical pages with less toner.
5) For this you may need to do some research on line. Try to find out
what happens when the cartridge runs out. Some can be refilled by a
refiller or yourself easily. Most are at least difficult to refill and
require an "expert" to do it. Some lose functionality if you use a
refill because they literally burn out a chip when they go "empty" the
first time. The usual function lost is speed. The refilled cartridge
will only allow the printer to run at 25-50% of the original speed, and
you may have to deal with a continual nag screen on startup. Some
cartridges use proprietary chips which cannot be reset or replaced and
you simply cannot use the printer without buying an OEM cartridge. Very
wasteful! Most cartridges contain the printing drum, and most drums
last at least 2-3 refills, if not more.
6) How many sheets can be in the tray, can it take heavier paper,
stickers or card stock?
The smaller Brother brand laser printers come well recommended from what
I have read on PC mag's printer reviews.
Art
