Sub-�1000 colour laser recommendations
in [Printers]
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From: Miss Perspicacia Tick on 3 May 2005 09:08 My faithful SC900 has just bitten the dust and, as it was the last decent inkjet ever made, I am now looking at sub-ý1000 colour lasers. My needs are modest: - 1200x1200dpi Fast warm-up At least 64MB as standard Easily refillable tanks Duplexing Separate envelope tray (though not essential) Reasonably priced additional components (the most obvious would be an extra paper tray). Longevity Technical support who a) speak English (preferably without a thick Asian sub-continental accent) and b) know what they're on about! So far I've looked at: Epson: C3000 and C4000 (both have a duplexing unit as standard) HP: - LJ3700 (no duplexer, but double the memory of the Epsons) OKI: - C7300 (temptingly offered with a free mono laser which my parents could use) Minolta: - Magicolour 2430 (with additional 256MB, paper tray and duplex unit, though its colour output is rather slow). Dell:- 5100n (are these Lexmarks? It's also unclear whether this is supplied with toner or not. If not, then it's out of the running). Lexmark: - 510cn (lack of features means it's expensive) Usage -------- Brochures (tri-panel double sided and bookfold) Business Cards Flyers Posters Leaflets Labels Envelopes Letters Newsletters (tri-panel and A4) Any ideas would be good. Epson and OKI are the front runners at the moment, but I'm unsure how easy the Epson tanks are to refill and where to purchase the toner. Thanks -- In memory of MS MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/
From: me@privacy.net on 3 May 2005 12:25 In message <qJKde.542$S_.198(a)fe07.highwinds-media.phx>, Miss Perspicacia Tick <test(a)test.com> writes >My faithful SC900 has just bitten the dust and, as it was the last decent >inkjet ever made, I am now looking at sub-ý1000 colour lasers. My needs are >modest: - > >1200x1200dpi >Fast warm-up >At least 64MB as standard >Easily refillable tanks >Duplexing >Separate envelope tray (though not essential) >Reasonably priced additional components (the most obvious would be an extra >paper tray). >Longevity >Technical support who a) speak English (preferably without a thick Asian >sub-continental accent) and b) know what they're on about! > >So far I've looked at: > >Epson: C3000 and C4000 (both have a duplexing unit as standard) >HP: - LJ3700 (no duplexer, but double the memory of the Epsons) >OKI: - C7300 (temptingly offered with a free mono laser which my parents >could use) >Minolta: - Magicolour 2430 (with additional 256MB, paper tray and duplex >unit, though its colour output is rather slow). >Dell:- 5100n (are these Lexmarks? It's also unclear whether this is supplied >with toner or not. If not, then it's out of the running). >Lexmark: - 510cn (lack of features means it's expensive) > You may also like to consider the Kyocera C5016 (I think this is changing to C5026) which is at the top of your price range but seems to have much lower running costs - I had a print sample for the A3 version of the same machine and it has a very good output. PC Pro has it as its A-listed colour laser at the moment. Another possibility is the Xerox solid ink things, which are quite simple to run. One final option - which may not have occurred to you is to look at a rather more heavy duty machine second hand. There are some quite decent machines on e-bay that are a3 colour lasers (that are primarily colour copiers) within your budget, which is what I did a couple of months ago. -- Timothy
From: Hecate on 3 May 2005 18:38 On Tue, 3 May 2005 14:08:28 +0100, "Miss Perspicacia Tick" <test(a)test.com> wrote: >So far I've looked at: > >Epson: C3000 and C4000 (both have a duplexing unit as standard) >HP: - LJ3700 (no duplexer, but double the memory of the Epsons) >OKI: - C7300 (temptingly offered with a free mono laser which my parents >could use) >Minolta: - Magicolour 2430 (with additional 256MB, paper tray and duplex >unit, though its colour output is rather slow). >Dell:- 5100n (are these Lexmarks? It's also unclear whether this is supplied >with toner or not. If not, then it's out of the running). >Lexmark: - 510cn (lack of features means it's expensive) > You've missed the overall best for TCO - Kyocera. We've used their printers and they're bullet proof and much cheaper to run than any of the above. I would suggest you look at this one: http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/printersandscanners/productView.htm?quicklinx=3N8X It's the Kyocera FS-C5020N. It's ý911.48 ex VAT. -- Hecate - The Real One Hecate(a)newsguy.com Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money you don't have, to impress people you don't like...
From: Tony on 3 May 2005 20:43 If you do look at the Kyocera please be sure to check the cost of replacement drum units. In some geographies the drum units for their monochrome lasers are staggeringly expensive. This may not be the case with the model you are considering and may be different in the UK. All of the makes you mention are quality manufacturers so I suggest the final decision should be made on price, cost of running (true cost per page) and performance/options (do you need a duplexer? that sort of question). Tony "me(a)privacy.net" <news(a)Privacy.Net> wrote: >In message <qJKde.542$S_.198(a)fe07.highwinds-media.phx>, Miss Perspicacia >Tick <test(a)test.com> writes >>My faithful SC900 has just bitten the dust and, as it was the last decent >>inkjet ever made, I am now looking at sub-ý1000 colour lasers. My needs are >>modest: - >> >>1200x1200dpi >>Fast warm-up >>At least 64MB as standard >>Easily refillable tanks >>Duplexing >>Separate envelope tray (though not essential) >>Reasonably priced additional components (the most obvious would be an extra >>paper tray). >>Longevity >>Technical support who a) speak English (preferably without a thick Asian >>sub-continental accent) and b) know what they're on about! >> >>So far I've looked at: >> >>Epson: C3000 and C4000 (both have a duplexing unit as standard) >>HP: - LJ3700 (no duplexer, but double the memory of the Epsons) >>OKI: - C7300 (temptingly offered with a free mono laser which my parents >>could use) >>Minolta: - Magicolour 2430 (with additional 256MB, paper tray and duplex >>unit, though its colour output is rather slow). >>Dell:- 5100n (are these Lexmarks? It's also unclear whether this is supplied >>with toner or not. If not, then it's out of the running). >>Lexmark: - 510cn (lack of features means it's expensive) >> >You may also like to consider the Kyocera C5016 (I think this is >changing to C5026) which is at the top of your price range but seems to >have much lower running costs - I had a print sample for the A3 version >of the same machine and it has a very good output. PC Pro has it as its >A-listed colour laser at the moment. Another possibility is the Xerox >solid ink things, which are quite simple to run. > >One final option - which may not have occurred to you is to look at a >rather more heavy duty machine second hand. There are some quite decent >machines on e-bay that are a3 colour lasers (that are primarily colour >copiers) within your budget, which is what I did a couple of months ago. > > >-- >Timothy
From: John on 4 May 2005 04:40
"Miss Perspicacia Tick" <test(a)test.com> wrote: >My faithful SC900 has just bitten the dust and, as it was the last decent >inkjet ever made, I am now looking at sub-ý1000 colour lasers. My needs are >modest: - > >Any ideas would be good. Epson and OKI are the front runners at the moment, >but I'm unsure how easy the Epson tanks are to refill and where to purchase >the toner. I have some experience of refilling Epson toner cartridges - I have a C1900. I have tried two suppliers of toner and one supplier of a re-worked cartridge. The cartridges are very easy to refill but the results are not great. The re-worked cartridge arrived with significant amounts of toner spilled around the package. I put sealant round the filler plug but the cartridge jammed - this is a definite hazard with refilling this particular Epson cartridge - and it may also be true of other Epson cartridges. I returned that the duff cartridge and was given a replacement - it too was leaking on arrival and I decided that I would give up with that company and get my money back - there was no problem with this. The experiences with my own refilling (about 6 times) are disappointingly varied. It seems to be a bit of a lottery, frankly, although, in conversation with the tech man at one supplier, it was claimed that only one in 800 gave problems - I find this hard to believe because I am fairly used to this kind of operation from my many years as a practical science researcher. I've been successful three times in six. The most annoying thing is to have a couple of days of success after refilling and then have the cartridge jam - at which point you might as well give up - the chances of reworking success are very very slim. On balance, I have saved myself some cash by refilling and I now notice that the supplier whose toner seemed to work better (http://www.refill-toner.co.uk/) has dropped their price very considerably - a definite reason for a re-think by me and I have just ordered some for yet another try. At 30 uk pounds for the refill I can have one failure and still win in relation to the Epson replacement price of around 90 uk pounds. It would be interesting to hear of people's experiences in refilling other makers' cartridges. |