Color Laser printer - balancing quality and cost of operation?

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Clint Young

For the sake of discussion, I wanted to ask this.

What do you think is one of the best all-time Color Laser printers is when
factoring in initial investment and consumable/maintenance costs?

This does not have to be a new laser printer. I had a Minolta-QMS
Magicolor 2200GN that I used to make prints on, but had nothing but
problems with it. Since it was not that common of a printer not only was
it difficult finding parts, but it was EXPENSIVE. The toner was also not
cheap.

Since purchasing a used HP Color Laserjet 4500 I have had very good luck.
One determining factor besides the cheap initial investment, was the
availability of parts and the cheap costs of replacement toner. I think
this is a great Color laser printer for light workgroup use (only because
of the slow color speed, but the duty cycle is well up to the challenge)
and certainly for home use.

SO - what do you guys think one of the best Color Laser Printers in this
category would be? I personally wouldn't spend a dime on one of the
new "disposable" laser printers, where consumables eclipse more than the
cost of the printer itself.

Thanks ~
 
Clint Young said:
For the sake of discussion, I wanted to ask this.

What do you think is one of the best all-time Color Laser printers is when
factoring in initial investment and consumable/maintenance costs?

This does not have to be a new laser printer. I had a Minolta-QMS
Magicolor 2200GN that I used to make prints on, but had nothing but
problems with it. Since it was not that common of a printer not only was
it difficult finding parts, but it was EXPENSIVE. The toner was also not
cheap.

Since purchasing a used HP Color Laserjet 4500 I have had very good luck.
One determining factor besides the cheap initial investment, was the
availability of parts and the cheap costs of replacement toner. I think
this is a great Color laser printer for light workgroup use (only because
of the slow color speed, but the duty cycle is well up to the challenge)
and certainly for home use.

SO - what do you guys think one of the best Color Laser Printers in this
category would be? I personally wouldn't spend a dime on one of the
new "disposable" laser printers, where consumables eclipse more than the
cost of the printer itself.

Thanks ~
Click to expand...

Well I don't have any experience with other brands so can't comment on them,
but when I bought mine about a year and a half ago I looked at the Oki
c5150, Minolta Konica 2300, Samsung 510, Hp 2600 and a couple other color
printers.

I chose the OKI for it's good color, Build quality, speed, networking,
single pass, straight tru flat pass and LED technology.

It was not the cheapest but I wanted quality as I intend to use it for many
years, Consumables are not cheap but the compatible carts reduce this to a
very reasonable cost.

To date I have never had a paper jam nor any other problem with this unit, I
am totaly satisfied with it as it more than fulfills my expectations.

Regards, Rene
 
Rene,

I'm glad to read of your satisfaction with the Okidata C5150 laser
printer (a couple of times lately, as a matter of fact) since I'm
probably about to buy an Okidata C6100dn for its PCL & Postscript
ability, its fast processor (500 MHz), its large memory (256 MB), its
speed (26 ppm color, 32 ppm mono), its network interface, and its
duplex printing ability.

Of course, all that stuff doesn't come cheaply (about $1000, I
believe), but I figure I'm going to try to hold on to this printer for
quite a few years so I should probably get state-of-the-art stuff while
I'm at it. I'm going to be printing 3 family history books (probably
250 pages @ 100 copies each) and my high school class newsletter (9
issues so far) with it, so I figure I'll get a lot of work out of it.
I'll hold on to my Canon i860 inkjet printer to print photographs with
(it's on its second printhead now).

I may hold off until the new models come out this spring (as they seem
to do with Okidata), just in case there are some new, irresistible
improvements in the laser technology, especially with printing
photographs.

But I am encouraged by your experience with your C5150 printer. Many
thanks for that. Any other advice you'd give me about buying a laser
printer?

Bill Pease,
Lancaster, PA

PS:
Are you the talented guy named Lamontagne who made the reproduction of
the great Brewster-type, 17th century American chair that fooled the
museum experts at the Henry Ford Museum several decades ago? Or was
that your Dad? If so, very well done, either of you. The Museum still
keeps that chair, even though shown to be a reproduction, as a learning
tool to show how well some antique reproductions (o.k., or fakes) can
be done. Tying that chair to a stake at an ocean beach to roll in the
sand with the tide to get three to four hundred years of wear and
patina in a few weeks was brilliant. Maybe you can tell that I'm a big
fan.
 
Clint Young said:
For the sake of discussion, I wanted to ask this.

What do you think is one of the best all-time Color Laser printers is when
factoring in initial investment and consumable/maintenance costs?

This does not have to be a new laser printer. I had a Minolta-QMS
Magicolor 2200GN that I used to make prints on, but had nothing but
problems with it. Since it was not that common of a printer not only was
it difficult finding parts, but it was EXPENSIVE. The toner was also not
cheap.

Since purchasing a used HP Color Laserjet 4500 I have had very good luck.
One determining factor besides the cheap initial investment, was the
availability of parts and the cheap costs of replacement toner. I think
this is a great Color laser printer for light workgroup use (only because
of the slow color speed, but the duty cycle is well up to the challenge)
and certainly for home use.

SO - what do you guys think one of the best Color Laser Printers in this
category would be? I personally wouldn't spend a dime on one of the
new "disposable" laser printers, where consumables eclipse more than the
cost of the printer itself.

Thanks ~
Click to expand...

I know someone who's facial skin is as bad as Burt Reynolds from handling
toner cartridges.
 
Rene,

I'm glad to read of your satisfaction with the Okidata C5150 laser
printer (a couple of times lately, as a matter of fact) since I'm
probably about to buy an Okidata C6100dn for its PCL & Postscript
ability, its fast processor (500 MHz), its large memory (256 MB), its
speed (26 ppm color, 32 ppm mono), its network interface, and its
duplex printing ability.

Of course, all that stuff doesn't come cheaply (about $1000, I
believe), but I figure I'm going to try to hold on to this printer for
quite a few years so I should probably get state-of-the-art stuff while
I'm at it. I'm going to be printing 3 family history books (probably
250 pages @ 100 copies each) and my high school class newsletter (9
issues so far) with it, so I figure I'll get a lot of work out of it.
I'll hold on to my Canon i860 inkjet printer to print photographs with
(it's on its second printhead now).

I may hold off until the new models come out this spring (as they seem
to do with Okidata), just in case there are some new, irresistible
improvements in the laser technology, especially with printing
photographs.

But I am encouraged by your experience with your C5150 printer. Many
thanks for that. Any other advice you'd give me about buying a laser
printer?

Bill Pease,
Lancaster, PA

PS:
Are you the talented guy named Lamontagne who made the reproduction of
the great Brewster-type, 17th century American chair that fooled the
museum experts at the Henry Ford Museum several decades ago? Or was
that your Dad? If so, very well done, either of you. The Museum still
keeps that chair, even though shown to be a reproduction, as a learning
tool to show how well some antique reproductions (o.k., or fakes) can
be done. Tying that chair to a stake at an ocean beach to roll in the
sand with the tide to get three to four hundred years of wear and
patina in a few weeks was brilliant. Maybe you can tell that I'm a big
fan.
Click to expand...

Hi Bill, Nope I'm not that lamontagne, Woodwork is not realy my thing, I am
a Power Engineer/ Electronics Technician by trade.
Yes the Oki is not the cheapest, I paid $700.00 CDN for mine but I believe
it will last me for 10 or 12 years and from what I have seen so far it will
keep me happy for a long time.
While not up to inkjets in the photo department it does a pretty good job on
8x10s, the color is great without any tweaking and I get good black and
white prints which is more than I can say for all the Inkjets I have owned.


Regards, Rene
 
Hi Bill, Nope I'm not that lamontagne, Woodwork is not realy my thing, I am
a Power Engineer/ Electronics Technician by trade.
Yes the Oki is not the cheapest, I paid $700.00 CDN for mine but I believe
it will last me for 10 or 12 years and from what I have seen so far it will
keep me happy for a long time.
While not up to inkjets in the photo department it does a pretty good job on
8x10s, the color is great without any tweaking and I get good black and
white prints which is more than I can say for all the Inkjets I have owned.


Regards, Rene
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you guys are having such good luck with that printer. I
guess I am a little jaded by spending $2,300 on a Minolta-QMS Magicolor
2200GN 4 years ago, and only squeezing 3,000 prints out of it. I ended up
tossing it to the curb and selling my leftover consumables on eBay. One
thing I noticed while looking around for the Oki printer is that there are
not an overabundance of parts to be found on eBay. However, I can say
that my old Okidata OL810e P/S printer was Great! It did 1200x1200 DPI
and I got that around 1996. I think Okidata makes great products.
 
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