Does anyone use those new HP color laser printers either at home or at work?

[Nocturnal]

Are they worth that hefty price? Do they print fine detail really nice? How are pictures? I'm definately not looking for one ATM but I've always liked color printers like ink jets. Thanks in advance.

 

[Viper GTS]

I assume you're talking about the 1500/2500/3500?

I would avoid them at all costs.

Absolute and total garbage. Their "hefty price" is nothing compared to the cost of a good color laser.

I used to support them, BTW, I'm not some random HP hater. I like a lot of HP's corporate level laser products, but I wouldn't recommend their personal color lasers to anyone but a masochist.

Also, you seem to be missing some basic info on laser vs inkjet.

Lasers are absolutely wonderful for office color - Spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations, etc. will look great. Photographs, however, are not a laser's strongpoint (and never will be).

Inkjets produce far, far better photos for a fraction the price.

I used to get calls like this all the time:

Customer: You mean to tell me my $150 inkjet will print better photos than my $3,000 color laser I just bought?
Me: Yes.
Customer: Why didn't anyone tell me that, the CompUSA guy said it would print great photos!
Me: You're welcome to return it, but it cannot and will not print photos like even a mediocre inkjet.

Viper GTS

 

[Quasmo]

inkjets are always gonna beat the crap out of lasers for quality, you use laser for quantity. I got the hp3500 for $200 so thats why I have one and I've had zero problems with it... it OWNZ.

 

[Nocturnal]

Damn where'd you get that printer for so cheap?

 

[PlatinumGold]

best price / performance for color printers is still with the Xerox Phaser series.

you can get a decent 8400 for about $1200.00.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
best price / performance for color printers is still with the Xerox Phaser series.

you can get a decent 8400 for about $1200.00.

The Phaser series are OK, but be aware what you're getting into. They are not lasers, their print is something entirely its own. If you can live with (or even like) the output they do fairly well, but they are expensive to operate compared to a decent color laser & unlike a laser or inkjet do nothing particularly well - They do OK at everything.

Viper GTS

 

[Chucko]

I think that all companies entry level color laser leave a little to be desired. The 3500 series is a very nice printer. First off, from a supplies stand point I would reccommend an in-line color laser. The four pass lasers wear the drum much quickly. You will a quarter of the drum life with a four pass.

I would say spend a little extra and get a 3500. For lasers HP is the way to go in opinion. I have supported/sold lasers for the past 5 years and I would definately spend my money only on a HP when it comes to printers.

 

[Chucko]

I think that all companies entry level color laser leave a little to be desired. The 3500 series is a very nice printer. First off, from a supplies stand point I would reccommend an in-line color laser. The four pass lasers wear the drum much quickly. You will a quarter of the drum life with a four pass.

I would say spend a little extra and get a 3500. For lasers HP is the way to go in opinion. I have supported/sold lasers for the past 5 years and I would definately spend my money only on a HP when it comes to printers.

 

[daveshel]

Check out xerox before you buy.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Chucko
I think that all companies entry level color laser leave a little to be desired. The 3500 series is a very nice printer. First off, from a supplies stand point I would reccommend an in-line color laser. The four pass lasers wear the drum much quickly. You will a quarter of the drum life with a four pass.

I would say spend a little extra and get a 3500. For lasers HP is the way to go in opinion. I have supported/sold lasers for the past 5 years and I would definately spend my money only on a HP when it comes to printers.

You're forgetting the biggest advantage of inline color, speed. Full color @ engine speed is a beautiful thing.

Viper GTS

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
best price / performance for color printers is still with the Xerox Phaser series.

you can get a decent 8400 for about $1200.00.

The Phaser series are OK, but be aware what you're getting into. They are not lasers, their print is something entirely its own. If you can live with (or even like) the output they do fairly well, but they are expensive to operate compared to a decent color laser & unlike a laser or inkjet do nothing particularly well - They do OK at everything.

Viper GTS

Wax Dye Sublimation. They heat up little wax cylinders and spray the hot wax onto the paper like an ink jet. It's like half-way between a laser and an inkjet. The advantage is that the wax isn't water soluable like the inkjets.

 

[PlatinumGold]

i've used the phaser 860 dp for the last 3 yrs, i figure my cost per page is about $0.05 / page. which is amazing for full color, with about 5% coverage of course.

wax dye sub is pretty good stuff. it gives you a nice raised ink feel, tho not as thick as raised ink on business cards.

couple of negatives, the wax on the paper can melt with significant heat (120 f or above).

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
couple of negatives, the wax on the paper can melt with significant heat (120 f or above).

That is a pretty big negative, are you sure it's only 120? Doesn't take long in a car to hit 120...

The raised print + waxy feel appeals to some, but it's not suitable for all applications.

Viper GTS

 

[loup garou]

As stated, they're not for photo printing, but I've set up most of our clients with 4600s. Very nice printers.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
couple of negatives, the wax on the paper can melt with significant heat (120 f or above).

That is a pretty big negative, are you sure it's only 120? Doesn't take long in a car to hit 120...

The raised print + waxy feel appeals to some, but it's not suitable for all applications.

Viper GTS

actually, i just took a guess at the temps.

i had some ink melt off my business cards that i printed in my car.

but they weren't in the sun but in a cubby hole, so i guessed the temp to be 120, it might have been higher.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
couple of negatives, the wax on the paper can melt with significant heat (120 f or above).

That is a pretty big negative, are you sure it's only 120? Doesn't take long in a car to hit 120...

The raised print + waxy feel appeals to some, but it's not suitable for all applications.

Viper GTS

actually, i just took a guess at the temps.

i had some ink melt off my business cards that i printed in my car.

but they weren't in the sun but in a cubby hole, so i guessed the temp to be 120, it might have been higher.

With closed windows, temps in a car exceed 160^ in the summer.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

You're saying is that the best of both worlds is B&W laser + photo inkjet? (assuming you're printing mostly B&W with some colour).
Printing large documents on inkjets is a pain in the ass, in no small part because the drivers aren't designed with duplexing (even manual) in mind. It gets worse if you want to print both sides and several pages/side. Printing B&W class notes on my aging Epson inkjet is borderline painful.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
You're saying is that the best of both worlds is B&W laser + photo inkjet? (assuming you're printing mostly B&W with some colour).
Printing large documents on inkjets is a pain in the ass, in no small part because the drivers aren't designed with duplexing (even manual) in mind. It gets worse if you want to print both sides and several pages/side. Printing B&W class notes on my aging Epson inkjet is borderline painful.

No, the best of both worlds is professional printing presses.

Home printers are always a compromise.

For the vast, vast majority of users a decent inkjet will more than suffice. For people who do lots & lots of printing (but few photos) a laser or color laser will prove more efficient (time and money) in the long run. Most home users will never print enough in the time they own the printer to make up the initial purchase price of a color laser. Monochrome lasers anymore break even pretty quickly.

Modern inkjets are surprisingly fast, the speed gap between consumer inkjets & lasers isn't that great anymore. The biggest advantage of lasers is that they always operate at engine speed, they don't care whether you're printing text or a full page graphic. Inkjet speed tends to tank on graphics (nature of the beast unfortunately).

Viper GTS

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Back to my point though, lasers tend to have much better drivers than inkjets as far as handling large documents is concerned. My inkjet would be more than adequate for my needs if it didn't have such poor document-handling in the driver, lasers tend to have much more flexible drivers; that's one BIG reason I would probably buy a monochrome laser as a next printer rather than another inkjet. For printing photos, unless you need them immediately, online printers do a good job for only marginally more expense and the ink won't shift colour after a month.

MHO, of course.