Best color laser printer in the $400 price bracket?

[Schadenfroh]

Speed is not that big of an issue. Print quality and the price of toner are the most important factors.

I was looking at the HP2600n that is for sale on their site for $320 shipped.

Text

 

[Macro2]

An inkjet will give you better color.
The laser will give you crisper text.

 

[Lemon law]

To add to what macro2 said, an economical inkjet like the Canon ip4000 can compete on color costs
with any of the sub-$500 Lasers with a purchase cost of only $100.-and thats using Canon Oem cartridges------pair that Canon with third party cartridges or refilling and it just blows a color Laser away cost wise.-----but you might get slightly crisper text at the cost of worse and more expensive color. But that for general purpose stuff---some rare applications might be better with a color laser.

That HP 2600N does look attractive if you happen to have $320. to blow on trying it. I'll stick to my Canon inkjets thank you.

 

[xgsound]

Hello Schadenfroh ... It's a pleasure to try to be of some help.

For text and simple graphics lasers are excellent, but the colors may be a little off. As I understand it, laser color can't make as many colors as needed for exact color matching. For simple graphics and logos this can be acceptable, but if pictures and photos are involved, it is not.

For inkjets, the old Canon IP 4000 and 5000 can't be beat for minimum ink cost when combined with after market (?swiftink?) inks that are as cheap as $20 for a set of 5 cartridges. This series has been recently "updated" to the 4200 and 5200 that uses chipped cartridges that are not yet available from swiftink.

Lemon law or Zepper know of an All in One Canon model that still uses the old print engine and inks, and I'm sure they'll tell us what the model number is.

EDIT Here's the all in one model numbers from 13Gigatons;

MP750
MP760
MP780

All execllent photo quality, using the same printhead as the IP4000.

The MP780 is $199 at OfficeMax

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16828102161

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/store...ngId=-1&productId=124880&cmArea=SEARCH




Jim

 

[Lemon law]

The all in one Canon question is easy.

The Mp750,760, and 780 are all based on the ip4000 printer engine and hence are non-chipped.

The Mp750 adds a medium quality flatbed scanner to the mix so you get print, copy, scan.

The MP760 adds a higher quality scanner to the the mix good enough to do a decent job with 35mm slides. Again you get print, copy, scan.

The MP780 uses the same basic scanner as the MP750 but adds a fax to the mix. So you get print, copy, scan, and fax. Plus an ADF.

For what its worth, I don't see many MP750&760's anymore for street sale or ebay.----but the MP780 is still readily available retail. Yesterdays paper had the brand new MP780 on sale for $200. cash and carry at Staples. Its a very good printer well worth the money. I happen to have its previous generation counterpart, the MP730. It also is a very good all in one printer.

But my advise is and remains----get those non chipped Canons while they last. The supply is drying up fast.-----and boycott the chipped Canons until some way is found to defeat the rip off chip.-------and it sure does not mean go to HP or Lexmark----they are far worse than a chipped Canon.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
To add to what macro2 said, an economical inkjet like the Canon ip4000 can compete on color costs
with any of the sub-$500 Lasers with a purchase cost of only $100.-and thats using Canon Oem cartridges------pair that Canon with third party cartridges or refilling and it just blows a color Laser away cost wise.-----but you might get slightly crisper text at the cost of worse and more expensive color. But that for general purpose stuff---some rare applications might be better with a color laser.

That HP 2600N does look attractive if you happen to have $320. to blow on trying it. I'll stick to my Canon inkjets thank you.

So true. I've been lusting for a color laser printer for quite some time. Just a few weeks ago I bought a iP4200 and am so satified that I no longer want a laser. Also at 29 ppm, it is certainly fast enough for my needs.