Help to choose & setup new printer

[Ace]

After browsing through a lot of postings here it appears a helpful group, so
here goes:

We have two (2) independent PC setups, each with a Epson Stylus Color 777
printer. Neither printer is used a lot, but we find them going through
cartridges way too fast. Aside from costing a bundle, the cartridges aren't
readily available anymore.

Hence we'd like to upgrade to one (1) laser color printer (if not too
expensive) and set up a home network to using a print server where either PC
could access it without dedicating either PC as a server.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best approach in terms of overall
print cost? Again, we do very little printing, but still want to retain the
color capability. Hopefully something which would not be obsolete within a
couple of years??

Thanks in advance,
Ace

 

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Hence we'd like to upgrade to one (1) laser color printer (if not too
expensive) and set up a home network to using a print server where either
PC could access it without dedicating either PC as a server.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best approach in terms of
overall print cost? Again, we do very little printing, but still want to
retain the color capability. Hopefully something which would not be
obsolete within a couple of years??

What will you be printing? Color lasers are not a good as inkjets for high
quality of photos and such. OK for colored text. The HP OfficePro K850 is
about $340 and has network capability. Color lasers start at about $400 and
go up to about $6000. In most cases, the plain old black lasers are cheapest
to operate for black only and are very reliable. You may want to consider
two printers for that reason.

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

What will you be printing? Color lasers are not a good as inkjets for high
quality of photos and such. OK for colored text. The HP OfficePro K850 is
about $340 and has network capability. Color lasers start at about $400 and
go up to about $6000. In most cases, the plain old black lasers are cheapest
to operate for black only and are very reliable. You may want to consider
two printers for that reason.

Consumer level color laser printers tend to be nearly as expensive as
an inkjet printer to run. That K850 is one I haven't seen before - is
that a new model? If it is, strange (but lucky) that it still takes
the #10/11 cartridges rather than the smaller, more expensive 88s. The
last time I looked into wide-format printers that take those big carts
I only found a few extremely high priced DesignJets (but I think they
took paper over 17" ) . To the original poster: if you get that
printer, even if you don't use refill kits, you'll /still/ be printing
cheaper than many lower end color lasers, /and/ have large format
capabilities.

--

http://www.FenrirOnline.com

Computer services, custom metal etching,
arts, crafts, and much more.

 

[Ace]

Thanks for the response. My personal use for color is the occasional web
page that I print, not really caring about the quality, but wanting the
colored text, etc. to be legible. For example a spec sheet for the printer
you mentioned below.

The wife uses color a lot more, but for a 'casual' homemade banner, birthday
cards, etc. Not really looking for photo quality as such.

Do you feel the HP OfficePro K850 would be a better deal in the long run
than the Dell 3100CN? It was rated 'good' by Comsumersearch ???? I haven't
checked yet to see if it is network ready.

Thanks again for the help,
Ace

 

[Arthur Entlich]

If you have the space for a color laser printer, and you color use is
not regular, and you don't need fully photographic quality, it is
probably your best choice. It will be slightly cheaper to run cost
wise, especially because it does not need to run cleaning cycles as both
solid ink and inkjet printers do, which use up ink,

It also will likely not cause maintenance issues when you leave it
unused for days or weeks or even months at a time, while other printers
will often run into problems due to sitting idle.

Cost used to be the main reason people bought inkjet over laser when
quality didn't need to be photographic quality. You paid less to buy
the unit, but slowly paid it off via ink purchases.

Current color laser printers use a similar business model, except you
can conserve the toner by using it only when you need color printing.

Since the toner cartridges for color laser printers are now quite
costly, since they have cut the initial acquisition costs, bedsides
looking at print quality, build quality, speed for first image out, also
look at how many pages yield the toner cartridges provided with the
printer at purchase are indicated. Make sure the same specification is
used for all models (usually 5% coverage per color, per page) when
making comparisons. Also consider what other consumables may be
involved and the cost, such as fuser oil, transfer belts, etc.

Lastly, be aware that although text makes pretty conservative use of the
toner, full color images can be quite glutinous, using up to 15 times
the amount of each toner color in one page, as a scant text page will.

Art

 

[me]

If you have the space for a color laser printer, and you color use is
not regular, and you don't need fully photographic quality, it is
probably your best choice. It will be slightly cheaper to run cost
wise, especially because it does not need to run cleaning cycles as
both solid ink and inkjet printers do, which use up ink,

It also will likely not cause maintenance issues when you leave it
unused for days or weeks or even months at a time, while other printers
will often run into problems due to sitting idle.

Since this is for occasional colour, a two printer option maybe worth
considering: a mono laser and a low clogging inkjet.