View Full Version : laser printer recommendations
I'm in the market for a laser printer, as I understand their running costs quickly beat the lower purchase price of inkjets. (I haven't got a printer atm, usually print at work) Looking around, I see that you can get fairly cheap (£75-100) 600 dpi laser printers, whereas 1200 dpi printers are nearer the £200 mark.
Has anyone got any experience with the 600dpi printers? Are they any good, or is it worthwile forking out the extra 100 for a 1200dpi one (seeing the extra money is not really an issue, but I can easily print high quality at work as well)?
Also, any recommendations (600 or 1200 dpi) would be welcome. I hear good stories about HP.
HP are good, but can be a bit expensive.
I have a Lexmark E210 which is a cheap 600dpi laser - and the quality is excellent. The only problem (and it applies to most of the cheap lasers) is that a new cartridge for them costs about half the cost of a new printer or more. :(
HP are good, but can be a bit expensive.
I have a Lexmark E210 which is a cheap 600dpi laser - and the quality is excellent. The only problem (and it applies to most of the cheap lasers) is that a new cartridge for them costs about half the cost of a new printer or more. :(
Cheers, is that just because your printer was cheap (so the cartridge will be relatively expensive compared to the price of the printer), or do you get more mileage out of a similarly priced cartridge for a more expensive laser (even when it has double the dpi)
I haven't properly checked this so I could be talking b*****ks- but I think most cartridges are pretty much of a similar price (mostly £60 - £120).
I haven't noticed the dpi making much difference to the price.
I'm in the market for a laser printer, as I understand their running costs quickly beat the lower purchase price of inkjets. (I haven't got a printer atm, usually print at work) Looking around, I see that you can get fairly cheap (£75-100) 600 dpi laser printers, whereas 1200 dpi printers are nearer the £200 mark.
Has anyone got any experience with the 600dpi printers? Are they any good, or is it worthwile forking out the extra 100 for a 1200dpi one (seeing the extra money is not really an issue, but I can easily print high quality at work as well)?
Also, any recommendations (600 or 1200 dpi) would be welcome. I hear good stories about HP.
I'd recommend a Laserjet 6MP, had one for for a few years, had to leave it behind when I moved and sorely miss it now :(
I haven't properly checked this so I could be talking b*****ks- but I think most cartridges are pretty much of a similar price (mostly £60 - £120).
I haven't noticed the dpi making much difference to the price.
I was going from the assumption that a similarly priced cartridge would make more prints at a lower dpi (but I might be wrong).
When you say the quality is excellent (at 600 dpi), does that mean you would happily print off your next job application at 600 dpi (i.e can you easily spot the difference between 600 and 1200)?
I have a Brother 1430 and its excellent, it cost me £99.99 +VAT from Saverstore.com before Christmas and I got sent a free toner cart!
Brother do 2 different carts for this model (it may be the same with their others too), one standard and the other is a high yield. The standard one prints approx 3000 pages (5% coverage, which is apparently the average) and the high yield one prints double that (again at 5%) the difference in price is about a tenner, which makes the standard about £35 and the high yield £45.
The printer was a doddle to install and has excellent print quality, the driver even has a toner save function if you want to use it but at £45 for 6000 pages I don;t feel the need personally.
As with any laser printer you need to replace the drum every so often, (approx 20,000 pages I believe), but as they cost about £85 you may as well buy a new printer when that time comes around.
This printer is 14 pages per min, which is adequate for home use and it has an excellent power-saving mode which switches the printer off when not in use and allows the computer to reactivate it when it is needed. The warm up time is excellent too (About 30 seconds)
All in all its a great printer, if you are planning on doing alot of black and white printing then a laser is a great investment, if I was to print out the amount I do on my ink-jet (Lexmark X75 :rolleyes: ) it would cost me all my drinking money :(
When I was looking for mine I started my search by looking a the printers that were in my price range and then narrowing it down on toner price, but as luck has it I ended up with a gem of a machine I would recommend to all ;)
Edit
When you say the quality is excellent (at 600 dpi), does that mean you would happily print off your next job application at 600 dpi (i.e can you easily spot the difference between 600 and 1200)?
I'd happily print off a letter to the Queen, the print quality on mine at 600dpi is better than the best ink-jet I've come across (printing only black and white) :)
zoombini
04-02-2004, 08:15
600 DPI is fine for almost everything that you would want to print out in Black & White, even a CV.
After having a HP6L for many years for working with I will not have any sort of printer than a laser. The primary thing to consider when looking is of course the cost of replacement toner catridges.
6000 printouts per cartridge would certainly last you a long time, far far more than BU/LJ printers & hence making the costs a saving rather than costing more.
Although if the printer does come with a cartridge beware that it may only be 1/2 capacity.
SMHarman
04-02-2004, 10:20
We've got the HP1150 it cost 179 + vat and gives fantastic results.
http://www.hp-expo.com/uk/eng/products/laserjet/q1336a.html
Its 600 dpi but HP claims it looks like 1200 due to resolution enhancement. First page is out in seconds.
My wife runs a wedding stationary business, some of the lower priced invitations are printed on this and they look great. It prints on paper, velum and all sorts of stuff.
Had it since May and we're still on the introductory toner (2500 sheets), and I know more than a box of paper has been through it! New toner thingy is £50 and HP make it an all in one thing, so thats the only replacable part.
bob_builder
04-02-2004, 11:23
A 600 dpi laser printer looks far better than any inkjet printer. In fact, a 300 dpi laser looks far better than most inkjet printers!
I have got a Samsung ML6060 and have had it for nearly 4 years. It is only 600 dpi, but I honestly cannot say you would be able to notice that it was not any higher.
SMHarman
04-02-2004, 11:26
Higher resolution is really only important with good grey scaling for image printing.
As you say if printing mainly text a 300dpi LaserJet III would do nicely.
zoombini
04-02-2004, 15:26
BTW, I have a LJ3p at home & that prints just fine too.
So HP ones are good, although its all upto personal choice, have a look at whats available & search for reviews based on the model numbers etc.
Cheers everybody. It sounds like most people are perfectly happy with 600 dpi, so I don't see any need to fork out for a higher resolution. :)
gary_580
04-02-2004, 16:01
I agree with Zoombini, i have an HP Lasetjet iiiP too, maxed mine out in memory and have a bulk paper tray on it, had it for about 12 years and never a hint of trouble. To be honest if i was you i'd look on Ebay. You can pick HP LJiiiP s up for about a fiver + delivery, just get some more memory for it off ebay too and youll be well away. Toner cartirdges are expensive BUT they last forever
I am considering this one (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=31454) now.
Only 80 quid inc VAT, yet it gets 5 stars out of 24 reviews on ebuyer. Can't be bad, I would think...
But I'll check out Ebay...
SMHarman
04-02-2004, 16:57
I am considering this one (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=31454) now.
Only 80 quid inc VAT, yet it gets 5 stars out of 24 reviews on ebuyer. Can't be bad, I would think...
But I'll check out Ebay...
The upright paper storage is a plus and minus.
plusses - the footprint is smaller
minus - and the big one IMHO is that the paper curls on the top right and left if you leave it sitting there too long. They are also more awkward for envelope handling etc.
The upright paper storage is a plus and minus.
plusses - the footprint is smaller
minus - and the big one IMHO is that the paper curls on the top right and left if you leave it sitting there too long. They are also more awkward for envelope handling etc.
Have you looked at the price of the replacemt toner carts?? £47.00 :eek:
Samsung Black Toner 2.5k
For Samsung ML1210 ML1200M and ML1250 printers For Samsung ML1210 ML1200M and ML1250 printers
http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xDN-Cartridges_and_Toners-toner-samsung
The upright paper storage is a plus and minus.
plusses - the footprint is smaller
minus - and the big one IMHO is that the paper curls on the top right and left if you leave it sitting there too long. They are also more awkward for envelope handling etc.
Cheers, that is a good point. I hadn't considered that. I think I'll go with the one one step up, which is 15 quid more but has a proper horizontal tray. It gets equally good ratings.
As for cartridge price, I don't expect to be using it very much anyway (I've never had a printer and managed just fine), so I don't think that will be much of an issue.
Cheers, that is a good point. I hadn't considered that. I think I'll go with the one one step up, which is 15 quid more but has a proper horizontal tray. It gets equally good ratings.
As for cartridge price, I don't expect to be using it very much anyway (I've never had a printer and managed just fine), so I don't think that will be much of an issue.
If your not thinking of using it much have you considered buying a Canon bubble/ink-jet, they give excellent results and the ink tanks (no chip) are relatively cheap(about £3/4), and the plus is they are colour ;)
just to add to the comments on HP lasers.
I've got a Laserjet 5L, cost to me was nothing, it had security marks on so we couldn't sell it on, it was going to be scrapped, so I took it home.
Jon
deadite66
04-02-2004, 21:02
i have a brother hl-1240 and it's been pretty good to me.
i think laser is the way to go if you don't print that much i found inkjet/bubblejet clog or dry up unless you use them a lot.
bob_builder
05-02-2004, 12:33
I am considering this one (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=31454) now.
Only 80 quid inc VAT, yet it gets 5 stars out of 24 reviews on ebuyer. Can't be bad, I would think...
But I'll check out Ebay...
They were selling the same one in Staples and PCWorld for £50 at Christmas but it is £80 now :( Might be worth keeping an eye on though...
The only real downside to this one is that it does not have a paper tray like most laser printers but a paper feeder like inkjets have. You would have to change the paper more often - but I guess it depends on how many prints you plan on doing. Mine has a tray that takes a whole ream at once so I can dispose of the wrapper and then the paper stays nice and flat and dust-free until I fill it with another ream.
I would definately recommend the ML-1710 as it is only a few quid more but has a paper tray.
I've got a Brother HL-5040 laser printer and it rocks, 16 pages per minute. :rofl: :rofl:
I would definately recommend the ML-1710 as it is only a few quid more but has a paper tray.
That is the one I ordered after SMHarman pointed out the cheaper one doesn't have a proper tray. It should arrive on Wednesday :D
But thanks ;)
bob_builder
06-02-2004, 17:22
That is the one I ordered after SMHarman pointed out the cheaper one doesn't have a proper tray. It should arrive on Wednesday :D
But thanks ;)
Let us know what it is like when you get it...
I was going from the assumption that a similarly priced cartridge would make more prints at a lower dpi (but I might be wrong).
Wouldn`t the lower DPI merely affect the printing resolution, not the overall paper coverage (at least not to a significant degree)? I may be wrong.
Wouldn`t the lower DPI merely affect the printing resolution, not the overall paper coverage (at least not to a significant degree)? I may be wrong.
I think you are probably right, more but smaller dots per inch. But I don't know.
By the way, I noticed that Tesco (the big one I go to anyway) do paper at £2.42 per ream. Looked like a good deal compared to a lot of what I've seen on the web. The cheapest ebuyer do (out of stock) is £11 ex VAT for 5 reams.
SMHarman
06-02-2004, 17:43
Wouldn`t the lower DPI merely affect the printing resolution, not the overall paper coverage (at least not to a significant degree)? I may be wrong.
I'd agree, though the toner might need to be finer to improve granularity.
You might get through more though as the higher dpi could mean you print more detailed fuller page images etc.
Let us know what it is like when you get it...
Received my Samsung ML 1710 today (100 quid inc. VAT from Ebuyer). Installation was a breeze, I printed some web pages with photos on it, and I am amazed by the quality. Like someone said earlier, I would print a letter to the queen on it :)
The only slight annoyance is that it appears to be a bit picky regarding being on a level surface, and seeing it lives in the attic room there's not that much level surface around ;). But that's a minor (and to be expected) detail. Other than that, the quality is amazing, and the speed is excellent as well. I'm well chuffed...
Received my Samsung ML 1710 today (100 quid inc. VAT from Ebuyer). Installation was a breeze, I printed some web pages with photos on it, and I am amazed by the quality. Like someone said earlier, I would print a letter to the queen on it :)
The only slight annoyance is that it appears to be a bit picky regarding being on a level surface, and seeing it lives in the attic room there's not that much level surface around ;). But that's a minor (and to be expected) detail. Other than that, the quality is amazing, and the speed is excellent as well. I'm well chuffed...
You'll have to put a shelf up for it and make sure its level :)
Glad your happy with it, there's nothing worse then spending that sort of money and being disappointed when it arrives :)
Ive got an old Brother HL-8D. Ive only used it a few times but this one was a freebie. My Friends Dad got it from where he works (Again it had security Marks on it so it couldnt be sold), its pretty big (Probably due to its age) so my Friends Dad didnt want it, they gave it to me and im pretty pleased with it.
It can print two pages simultaniously, so there are 2 paper trays (Both hold about half a ream) and two feeders, one on top of the printer and one at the back. The only faults are.....
1.) 1 of my paper trays is slightly misaligned so It jams the printer when feeding in paper.
2.) Toner apparently Costs about £80 a shot though luckily I got 3 toner cartridges with it.
bob_builder
27-02-2004, 09:12
I am considering this one (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=31454) now.
Only 80 quid inc VAT, yet it gets 5 stars out of 24 reviews on ebuyer. Can't be bad, I would think...
But I'll check out Ebay...
If anybody is interested, I have just noticed that the Samsung ML-1210 is only £49.99 this weekend at dabs: http://www.dabs.com/uk/productview?quicklinx=1yhc
zoombini
27-02-2004, 10:38
Ive got an old Brother HL-8D. Ive only used it a few times but this one was a freebie. My Friends Dad got it from where he works (Again it had security Marks on it so it couldnt be sold), its pretty big (Probably due to its age) so my Friends Dad didnt want it, they gave it to me and im pretty pleased with it.
It can print two pages simultaniously, so there are 2 paper trays (Both hold about half a ream) and two feeders, one on top of the printer and one at the back. The only faults are.....
1.) 1 of my paper trays is slightly misaligned so It jams the printer when feeding in paper.
2.) Toner apparently Costs about £80 a shot though luckily I got 3 toner cartridges with it.
All my laser printers come by the same path, when work dont want them because they are old & the toner costs too much or it plays up too often I usually end up managing to get it. I have a HP3P with 2 spare toners (but the PSU has blown up - so its in the loft till I fix it), a Star 8P with spare toners & a HP4L with a spare, in fact they have just 1 HP4L left at work now, so am keeping an eye out for its demise so I can get the toners we have in stock.
Anyone know of a good low cost "colour" laser printer?
If anybody is interested, I have just noticed that the Samsung ML-1210 is only £49.99 this weekend at dabs: http://www.dabs.com/uk/productview?quicklinx=1yhc
I heard that some new "cheap" printers come with sample toner cartridges that don't print the full capacity. Does anyone know if this one comes with a full cartridge (£45, 2500 pgs +), I'm thinking about buying one tomorrow, although at this price I'll buy another one when the cartridge runs out.
bit late on this but my personal recomendation for a laser printer would be to look at a kyocera. They have the cheapest cost per print of any b/w laser printer on the market (because of their lifetime drum technology). The entry level FS1010 is an excellent machine (imo) and whilst the intial cost seems high, over time you will save this extra cost and more on consumables.
SMHarman
28-02-2004, 09:21
I heard that some new "cheap" printers come with sample toner cartridges that don't print the full capacity. Does anyone know if this one comes with a full cartridge (£45, 2500 pgs +), I'm thinking about buying one tomorrow, although at this price I'll buy another one when the cartridge runs out.
About right, the new one for my HPLj1150 cost 49+vat = 59
bob_builder
01-03-2004, 10:32
I heard that some new "cheap" printers come with sample toner cartridges that don't print the full capacity. Does anyone know if this one comes with a full cartridge (£45, 2500 pgs +), I'm thinking about buying one tomorrow, although at this price I'll buy another one when the cartridge runs out.
AFAIK, most Samsung printers come with a half-filled toner cartridge. So the value of the included cartridge would be about £22.50 and not £45.
Check out:
http://www.shopuk.ws/
..bit of a weird site but they've some good prices. I suggest you take a look at those from Samsung. In my experience they are very reliable, well priced and the consumables are reasonable.
bob_builder
06-03-2004, 16:16
If anybody is interested, I have just noticed that the Samsung ML-1210 is only £49.99 this weekend at dabs: http://www.dabs.com/uk/productview?quicklinx=1yhc
This weekend it is available at PC World for £49.99 or Staples for £59.99, if anybody is interested.
Darren Wilson
20-03-2004, 19:13
Got to give HP the thumbs up here on Lasers.
Bought a HP Colour LaserJet 2500 in January 2003 for £599. Changed the black toner in January this year. Both myself & the wife use it all the time, for both mono & colour printing (but not photo's) and still have 3/4 of each clour toner left! Replacement toners aren't that cheap (£75 for the black & £85 for each colour), but when you only change the black once a year, it works out very cheap per page print. We also use them at work, and have only changed the black toner once in 9 months, yet it is constantly in usage. The misleading thing with a lot of lasers is that you do need to replace the fuser/imaging drum once in a while (usually 10-20,000 copies). This can be expensive but still cheaper (and faster) than using an inkjet for text or non-photographic images.
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