Colour laser printer advice?

[manalishi]

Am having real difficulty persuading local printing companies to bother with my print jobs. Just a simple print out of this type of pic...

(that's a thumbnail of a full-page A4 pic)

I presume my quantities are too low for them to be interested.

Soooo, I'm looking at buying one of the £150-200 colour laser printers (Samsung, etc). Been to the usual shops - Staples, PC World, etc - but not one of them has any test print outs, nor any facility for printing a test fromt my USB stick.

So does anyone here have any real-world advice or recommendations? Quite clearly, the page is ink/toner intensive, so running costs are moderately important.

All advice appreciated.

 

[davidjpowell]

I looked at these a while ago. The cheap ones came out as not so cheap to run. I paid about £300 for a Oki C5650 which delivers good images from Printerland.co.uk - Colour laser printers Multifunction laser printer toner cartridges. Colour toner is 2000 sheets and costs about £55 a colour.

 

[Stratman]

I have a HP2600n which I would NOT recommend to my worst enemy.

Vertical lines the full length of prints which the cleaning cycle often makes worse. Looking on the interweb it seems a common fault.

Consumables are expensive too.

 

[lxi]

I've got a xerox Phaser - excellent

 

[oldcro]

I looked at these a while ago. The cheap ones came out as not so cheap to run. I paid about £300 for a Oki C5650 which delivers good images from Printerland.co.uk - Colour laser printers Multifunction laser printer toner cartridges. Colour toner is 2000 sheets and costs about £55 a colour.

Printerland also offer a sample print off any printer chosen.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

I'd also recommend Xerox Phasers too, they're Wax based printers (use blocks like crayons). Nice glossy output.

Downsides, they are large heavy printers and if you need to laminate any of your output they're not great as the heat can destory the image.

 

[manalishi]

Thanks for the pointer - have ordered a test print for that same Oki.

Amazingly, there's a BOGOF for one of the £160 Lexmarks colour lasers. Rather scary looking consumables cost. (Reminds me of the old business practice of giving razors away for nothing and charging a fortune for razor blades...)

 

[fuzzer]

Colour laser printers are pretty much throw away jobs with the price of consumables.

i believe its called Powdered gold as far as i know in the trade

 

[crockers]

Are coloured lasers better than ink jet for printing out pictures? I noticed when I looked at the Samsung there was a big warning that the warranty would be invalidated if photographic paper is used....

Is this the same with all lasers ??

 

[davidjpowell]

I don't think I have seen that on mine

 

[Roger Jones]

If all lasers involve as much heat as my vintage HP LaserJet, then gloss-coated papers are out of the question. So, the inkjet remains the device for glossy photos and the lasers will give inferior (but quite possibly acceptable) results on good matt papers.

 

[Dryce]

Are coloured lasers better than ink jet for printing out pictures?

No.

Inkjets are generally superior.

I noticed when I looked at the Samsung there was a big warning that the warranty would be invalidated if photographic paper is used....

Is this the same with all lasers ??

It's down to the coatings on the paper. The laser printers generate a lot of heat to bind the toner to the page. If the coating on the paper melts then it may mess up the printer.

 

[Stratman]

Some printers, my useless HP included, offer photo paper as an option in the driver. Presumably they turn the heat down in the fuser.

I say presumably because as the chances of my HP printing a photo without streaking is virtually zero, I haven't bothered to waste any of the glossy stuff in it.

 

[markmifsud]

if you email me the full image, and your address, I will print out an A4 inkjet and A4 Colour laser for you to compare the differing qualities

 

[Honey Bear]

I Own a Brother MFC-465CN. itsa bit of an all rounder but the print and scan quality is pretty darn great. I stopped using it for fax though. After losing my job and changing lines of work it was just never really needed.

Even so, it still has print from USB, memory card (many types including CF cards), batch scanning via a top loading tray - for those long documents. Additionally, it's wierd into my network too. Meaning I have wireless access to it and I can access it via a vpn, as pointless as that may be.

Bad points; its chews up and spits out 4 ink cartridges at a time (BYCM), and the paper try doesn't hold alot. It was also, at the time of prchase, priced above what you have budgeted for one. however you might possibly pick up a newer model, sans fax, for a reasonable price.

 

[Soltan]

I have a colour HP LaserJet 1600 which I've had for a couple of years. Only print a few pages a month, so not had to change the toners or anything. Quite happy with the quality, although pictures are OK on normal paper, not as good as an inkjet with glossy though. Fine for most of the documents/web pages I print out.
It was about £120 if I recall correctly....seemed better than buying a new set of injet toners everytime I wanted to print something out.

 

[spinaltap]

I'd also recommend Xerox Phasers too, they're Wax based printers (use blocks like crayons). Nice glossy output.

Downsides, they are large heavy printers and if you need to laminate any of your output they're not great as the heat can destory the image.

Not all Xerox colour printers use solid ink. The downside of solid ink is that you need to leave them on all the time if you don't want to spend all your time unclogging the works, or waste large quantities of solid ink (collected in your waste tray).

My Xerox Phaser 6180 uses conventional colour toner cartridges. Be aware: unlike some other manufacturers you don't have to replace the 'fuser' unit or the 'transfer' unit on many Xerox (toner-based) printers - which would otherwise add considerably to your routine maintenance costs.

The cost for a complete set of cartridges at one time can mean that it may be cheaper just to buy a replacement printer - although you are more likely to replace one cartridge a time.

Also, don't buy Xerox extra memory - it's extortionate. Buy from places like Crucial at a fraction of the price.

A big advantage of Xerox printers is that they have full licensed Adobe Postscript drivers on board - and not 'emulated' Postscript, as found in HP printers, for example.

I buy my Xerox printers from Printware (the largest Xerox reseller in the UK). The last time I bought, I got two for the price of one. The latest version of my printer is the 6280 for £250 plus VAT - but there's a £65 cash-back offer on at the moment.

Xerox Products from Printware.co.uk

 

[verytalldave]

Slightly off topic...........is that a valve amplifier?

 

[PXW]

I ran a Xerox Phaser 6100 for quite a long time - it was quite an ancient example that got fairly heavy domestic use. I ditched it a couple of weeks ago as it wasn't compatible with my latest iMac or any of the Windows 7 PCs we've got, and it was also clamouring for a new transfer belt, imaging unit and bank of toners (it wasn't a solid wax model); all in all, cheaper to replace.

I went to Printerland who seemed competitive and got a Lexmark C544DN - slightly smaller footprint, but higher resolution (hence much better picture printing) and critically for us still with duplex paper handling. It's also a lot quicker than my old Phaser) for about £275 after a cashback offer.

Beware the toners as shipped, by the way - they contain pretty small amounts, and you will be back to the store for top ups fairly quickly.

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

Slightly off topic...........is that a valve amplifier?

It certainly is VTD. It's actually a clone of a famous guitar amp. Ampmaker make some fantastic kits for self building.
Is the OP actually Barry, the proprietor? If not then don't forget his images are copyrighted!