Color Laser Printers = $299!

[Baker]

Anyone with a little knowledge about inkjet printers knows they are a scam. It's like razors; give the razor away and make a killing off of razor blades. (Notice that razor blades cost like $12 for 8 razor blades).

With inkjet printers, they tempt unsuspecting soccer mom's with the illusion of printing pictures of kids picking flowers on the boxes of those $59 color inkjet printers.

What they don't say is that with color inkjets:

1. They jam. They jam a lot.
2. Inkjet printers are slow as hell.
3. You only get 30 to 90 pages per cartridge.
4. The cartridges cost a lot!
5. The exposed ink dries on the cartridges a lot, requiring a lot of maintainance.
6. It is NOT photo quality, not even if you buy special paper.
7. Inkjet printers do NOT have their own memory. Laser printers do. As a result, Inkjet printers come with "printing utilities" that run in the background slowing your computer to a crawl as they print.

I needed to get a replacement mouse yesterday after my mine started having trouble firing about 4 days ago.

I went to Staples and noticed several color lasers printers for under $400 there, and 1 color laser printer that as a special was $299.



Konica Minolta 2430 DL

There were also some HP ones, including some with "N" at the end of the model. The "N" means it is an ethernet capable printer, plug it into your Linksys or other router and if you have a wireless notebook, you can print wirelessly.



About color laser printers:

1. They print just as fast as a laser printer: 20 pages per minute.
2. The WILL print photo quality.
3. Except for the starter cartridge that comes with it, a toner cartridge will last you forever. A toner cartridge will print maybe 4000 pages, a color one print 1500-2000 pages. Aka, it will last you for years.

One thing of note, toner for these inexpensive color laser printers is expensive. Not because they are taking advantage of you like they do with the color inkjet printers, but because the toner packages are HUGE. You also have to purchase cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges separately.

But if you want the REAL deal: fast, non-jamming, true photo quality and where the toner lasts forever, it's less than $300 now for color laser printers.

(Which I thought was kind of surprising because 2 years ago they were $800 +/-)

[Solecord]

Not sure what kinda inkjet printers you've used in the past, but I have a Cannon PIXMA MP780 multi-function inkjet printer and it's awsome. I think I paid $150 for it last July or some time around then when it was on sale. It features a printer, scanner, copier, and fax. The scanner works great. The copier isn't as good as a laser copier in the library or store but it works when you need it to. The printer also works great. It uses five ink cartridges, a big black tank, small black tank, and the 3 color ones: cyan, magenta, and yellow. I don't print a whole lot, but the color tanks have lasted me over a year. I just bought new color tanks last week and haven't installed them yet. The large black tank also lasted me just over 9 months (wasted a lot of black when testing the copier). The big ink tank costs about $16 I think and the small ones are $11.99 a piece ($28.99 from Sams Club ) For the quality I get from the printer and for the usage I need it for, it works great. Haven't had a single problem yet. No jams, no dried ink on the cartridge. Works perfect. I'd highly recommend this printer to anyone.

Oh and note: I've used several Lexmark inkjets in the past (came free with PCs) and those suck ass. Never buy Lexmark.

[Monster]

I get my cartridges like $5 bux each from some website my dad found. They usually cost $60 each.

[Baker]

Not sure what kinda inkjet printers you've used in the past

HP Deskjets, Lexmark some Epson one. They all were terrible.

I think I paid $150 for it last July or some time around then when it was on sale. It features a printer, scanner, copier, and fax.

I have an 8 year old Brother MFC 4350 for all of that. Black & white, it's a laser printer. Kicks ass. I've bought 2 toner cartridges for it lifetime. That's why I personally like laser printers.

The scanner works great.

I haven't used a scanner much except to scan photos and that's real rare. I have a flatbed one -- 8 years old also (3600 DPI still is more than anyone needs).

I haven't used the scanner built into the MFC printer ever. Do you save documents as PDFs or something? Just wondering.

It seems to me that a printer that also scans would scan non-documents crooked, like graphics/artwork/logos.

The copier isn't as good as a laser copier in the library or store but it works when you need it to.

The reason color laser printers intrigue me is I'd like to have no need for Kinko's. I can think of a great many things I'd like make with a color laser printer.

The printer also works great. It uses five ink cartridges, a big black tank, small black tank, and the 3 color ones: cyan, magenta, and yellow. I don't print a whole lot, but the color tanks have lasted me over a year. I just bought new color tanks last week and haven't installed them yet. The large black tank also lasted me just over 9 months (wasted a lot of black when testing the copier). The big ink tank costs about $16 I think and the small ones are $11.99 a piece ($28.99 from Sams Club ) For the quality I get from the printer and for the usage I need it for, it works great. Haven't had a single problem yet. No jams, no dried ink on the cartridge. Works perfect. I'd highly recommend this printer to anyone.

Maybe the manufacturer and model has a lot to do with the results. Based on my experience with inkjets, I hate them.

But that's based on the specific ones I've used. The big drawback to color laser printers, is that because they are heavy duty, the ink cartridges are gigantic and expensive. $75 each x 4 = $300 > $299 color laser printer.

[Sajt]

I've had way too many bad experiences with inkjet printers :p

I haven't owned a printer for years

[Solecord]

I was shopping around for a new printer because I never really owned a good printer, just those "buy this computer, get this piece of crap printer free" printers... I was originally looking at color laser printers but the model I was looking at said something about 1,000 sheets per toner cartridge and for the price of the toner it didn't seem like a good deal. And I also needed a scanner/copier as well I mainly use the scanner to scan graphics and stuff for web pages. For example, my Creed website (www.creedfeed.com) I scanned a bunch of album covers for the site (promo cds, singles, etc. that you can't find the covers online already).