Laser printers

VinylxScratches

Golden Member
Feb 2, 2009
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Are there any good printers under the price of $150? I would like to have one that is wireless. My environments is Windows XP, Vista 64bit, and OS X. My only other requirement is that it has to be NOT white. I'm mostly interested in printing text, not so much about color.

Thanks!
 

Griffinhart

Golden Member
Dec 7, 2004
1,130
1
76
I have the Brother HL-2170W. It's a black and white laser printer that is networkable and has WiFi built in. It can be had at newegg for $99 and the toner is relatively cheap compared to HP toner.

It's not white, and there are drivers for Windows XP, Vista and 7 (32 and 64 bit) and there are OSX drivers.

I like it a lot. For a cheap printer it has decent paper try capacity and works very well.
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
I just picked up a samsung ML-2510 from staples for $49 Canadian last week on sale, printed 400 pages so far and works fine, it a B&W laser. and its not white. I didnt expect it to work as well as it does for the price.
 

Griffinhart

Golden Member
Dec 7, 2004
1,130
1
76
Originally posted by: unfalliblekrutch
HP P1006

http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-...00UZH526/ref=de_a_smtd

Great little printer. I have the hp 1012 and 1020 (older versions of the p1006) and they're both still chugging along. Toner is pretty cheap if you get generics from ***** or whatever and the printer is very solid. It doesn't jam as much as my friend's samsung ML something (maybe the 2510?)


I had the HP 1012 as well. I recently got rid of it. Not because it was broken, it was running just fine, but HP abandoned the printer. There is a complete lack of Vista and Win7 drivers of any form for the printer. For a time I muddled through with using a PCL driver, but because the printer really isn't a PCL printer I would have to reset the printer very often if I wanted to print to it.

HP definitely makes good solid printers, but their support for many of them is terrible.
 

dbk

Lifer
Apr 23, 2004
17,685
10
81
Originally posted by: Rifterut
I just picked up a samsung ML-2510 from staples for $49 Canadian last week on sale, printed 400 pages so far and works fine, it a B&W laser. and its not white. I didnt expect it to work as well as it does for the price.

I have the same..some times it'll have trouble loading the paper but it's awesome for the price.
 

unfalliblekrutch

Golden Member
May 2, 2005
1,418
0
0
Originally posted by: Griffinhart
Originally posted by: unfalliblekrutch
HP P1006

http://www.amazon.com/Hewlett-...00UZH526/ref=de_a_smtd

Great little printer. I have the hp 1012 and 1020 (older versions of the p1006) and they're both still chugging along. Toner is pretty cheap if you get generics from ***** or whatever and the printer is very solid. It doesn't jam as much as my friend's samsung ML something (maybe the 2510?)


I had the HP 1012 as well. I recently got rid of it. Not because it was broken, it was running just fine, but HP abandoned the printer. There is a complete lack of Vista and Win7 drivers of any form for the printer. For a time I muddled through with using a PCL driver, but because the printer really isn't a PCL printer I would have to reset the printer very often if I wanted to print to it.

HP definitely makes good solid printers, but their support for many of them is terrible.

I have used my 1012 on my vista machine just fine. You'll have to force installation of the driver manually, but the xp driver works on vista.
http://www.computerhaven.info/forum/tm.aspx?m=56253
 

Griffinhart

Golden Member
Dec 7, 2004
1,130
1
76
Originally when I was running Vista 32 I couldn't get it to work at all. Under Vista 64, I have to use the generic PCL5 driver, which doesn't always work.

The whole driver issue really annoyed me. I've always been a big HP printer fan but HP really dropped the ball on drivers for the 1012. Especially considering the age of the printer. It was only a couple years old when Vista was released.

I'm still buying HP products, but I'm going elsewhere for printers these days.
 

jackschmittusa

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2003
5,972
1
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Have had the Samsung ML-2510 long enough to need toner. Never had a paper jam (always fan the paper when loading). Bought a toner re-fill kit for $13us shipped and it worked fine. Have run it under Win2k, XP 32bit, Linux, and Win7 beta 32bit.
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,867
105
106
Have a Samsung ML-2510 and it's a great unit. I also have a LaserJet 1018 and it is a reliable little workhorse as well. There are Vista drivers for it, so I guess I'm lucky.
 

Madwand1

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2006
3,309
0
76
The Brother HL-5250DN is on sale for $135. This has double-sided printing and wired networking and is a good deal at that price. You could add something like the ENCORE ENRXWI-G ($30) in AP client mode to connect it to your wireless network.

Alternatively, an Asus WL-520gU or other compatible device running DD-WRT in client bridge mode. This has a built-in switch so you could connect more than one wired device there if you wanted, but it costs a bit more ($45) and is more challenging to set up.
 

starfireone

Member
Jun 24, 2008
141
0
0
The Brother 2170W is the best laser printer that I have ever bought and used for under $150.00. Been using mine for about 3 months now and the quality is outstanding. About 2500 pages per ink cart compare to 5000 on others but you paid far higher price for those printers. Wireless is easy to setup and use. No bugs in the print driver to be found yet. What can I say. I am very happy with it.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,082
136
I've gone through an HP 1000, 1012 and 1020. Nothing wrong with them, but HP likes to change lines frequently and their low-end laser printers typically last longer than their support.

Brother also makes some nice low-end lasers but I am not familiar with the model numbers.