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Laser Printer advice

H

H0MEY

Senior member
K, so I'm making the switch over to laser after many dead inkjets and cartridges. So far I've narrowed it down to an old school HP (IIIp, 4L, 5L etc) because supposedly they are built well. Or a new budget one (Most Likely the Samsung ML-1740.....tho I'm also considering the Brother HL-1440 or the HP 1012). So the biggest factor is cost over the long hall and I'm wondering if 300 dpi is good enough for regular use and if the faster speed is worth the price premium and if there are any other benefits of new vs. old.

Also are there any affordable laser printers with scanners for stand alone copying? (so my mom can make an easy copy if she wants to)
 
Buy a used HP LaserJet 4000N, 4050N, 4100N, or 4150N from someone who will give you at least a month's warranty. The things are built like a tank, have an awesome built in printserver for windows and mac/unix, and are designed to print something like 300,000 pages a month.
 
Those are nice printers, I think we use them in our computer labs. However I think they might be a little too much for my needs.
 
HP LaserJet 1012 Printer, small , fast and prints thouosands of pages with a single toner cartridge which BTW are also cheap compared to others. I love mine. Screw colors pics, I just need my info printed clearly , cheap and fast.
 
I have developed a disdain for HP laser printers these days because they require you to install bloated resident software that eats up huge amounts of CPU time.

The standalone HP lasers aren't real bad, but still bloats. The multifunction HP lasers (like the 3100 series) are the absolute WORST, especially since HP had a dispute with the company that wrote the drivers, resulting in NO AVAILABLE WinXP DRIVERS for that series. Support is the pits.

I'd just get the $99 Samsung laser printer that is on sale at most retailers these days.
 
If cost is important....

Find out how much the replacement drum and toner cartriges cost.
Also when buying new, find if these items are included.

In low cost printers,
the replacement drum often costs more than the original printer cost...

 
Stay away from the 4L -- mine lasted a decade but it has almost no RAM, a very slow processor and print engine (4 ppm), and lacks the instant-on fuser most lasers have now. The 5L isn't much better. The IIIs are about as bad, just with better paper handling.

A full HP 4 (not L / ML) would at least have a faster engine and more RAM, though you'd still have the long warmup before printing the first page.

The Brother HL-5040 I replaced my 4L with about a year ago cost me around $250 (a quarter of what I paid for the 4L) but is a solid unit with good paper handling and high capacity toner cartridges. If you don't want to spend that much (or don't want something so big) people say good things about the Samsung lasers.
 
The LaserJet 4000N series may be overkill for you, but it might be perfect for someone who does have 14" x 14" x 16" to spare. My favorite "feature" of my LaserJet 4050N is the proper Postscript support. I don't have any HP software installed on my PCs or on my Mac. I just have them set up to print to a generic 1200dpi Postscript LPR/LPD printer. On the Mac I just had to enter the printer's IP address and queue name. On the PCs I had to install the Unix/LPR/LPD printing module from the WinXP install CD (it's not part of the default install) and then give it the printer's IP address.

No HP software required! (Although there is a nice web interface to its built-in print server as well as a handy LCD and buttons on the printer itself (plus it can print out 3 pages of current configuration info and page after page after page of stats/logs/fonts/etc). None of this requires any HP software, although there are downloadable printer managers and firmware updates and such for those requiring even more features (like having the printer email you when it's low on supplies) or security updates.

Plus I got mine for $230 on eBay! ($190 + $40 shipping, LOL)
 
Ok.....I sort of forgot about this thread from a while ago but a friend of mine has a HP 4M (12ppm 600dpi) with Jet Direct Network card for $35. Should I pick this up? or is a Samsung ML-1740 for $70 or a Brother HL-1440 for $80 still better?
 
I can't say I have much experience with this, but my laser printer experience has been good thus far:
Minolta 1250W.
It works, it gets the job done, and it's fast enough. Good text quality on cheap paper, and even good picture quality. My one real gripe is that it comes with a "starter cartridge" - not entirely full. Good thing: new cartridges come with a prepaid UPS shipping label so that you can send the cartridge back for recycling.
And the manual is pretty thin. But there's not much to it - I plugged it in, Windows found it, and it was ready to go.
 
If you can afford the space a 4M /5M will do niceley
u can upgrade the ram with old crappy edo ram u have lying around -- maxed out mine to 50megs or so
a jetdirect card will also allow u to connect to a router

overall TCO will be very cheap -- parts replacement will also be readily available

the 4000 series is even better if u can afford it

 
I picked up a used HP from Ebay about a year ago for $85 shipped and I would have to say it was the best $85 investment I've made for my computer. I took a chance, though. Mine is the 6L which is one of the models that had feed problems. It had been serviced before I bought it and I haven't had more than a couple pages jam up since. Not perfect but WAY better than the inkjets.
 
I have an HP 5L sitting next to me as I type this. It's roughly 4 years old. I hate this thing. First, it would suck the pages in slightly sideways. Then it started sucking multiple pages down at the same time causing paper jams. And this isin't just once in a while. It's EVERY SINGLE PAGE. Now I have to feed paper in one page at a time.......>:-|
 
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