Making a printer selection

[Tweak155]

Well I picked up a Brother 2270 laser printer. It was basically a cut and dry laser printer with 1 tray and a manual feed slot that fit 1 sheet of paper.

It didn't work out for me because I couldn't print labels through the tray (although I tricked it once and it worked), it wanted me to feed label sheets in 1 at a time. It also came out crooked on 8/10 sheets, so I took it back as labels were to be about 15-20% of the printing I do.

Now I'm in a bind as I'm not sure what to do. I plan on getting at minimum 2 more printers (each printer will have 2 tray selections each), but I am not sure if maybe I should just go with ink?

I've done some research and it appears as though the power draw from a laser jet is so much higher that it might not save someone like me money in my scenario even though all I really need is B&W printing. I print probably anywhere from 4-20 sheets daily, but I expect it only to go up.

Suggestions? Ideally I'd like a laser printer (assuming you still think it is cost effective) with 2 trays so I can put 2 different label styles in each tray (and the dang thing can PRINT from said tray), and then an additional printer to print my shipping labels and packing slips. The shipping labels are peel stickers that peel from a standard sized sheet.

Any suggestions I'm all for it.

Thanks.

 

[Compman55]

HP Color Laserjet 4650dn. $150-300 on ebay WITH toners if you stay local. This one printer will do everything for you and be affordable. Do NOT buy any laser printer without good toners. If you get a good set of toners, you can refill them yourself if you take them apart properly. I will never go back to inkjet for everyday printing. I keep one just for full 8x10 photos on glossy paper. Thats it......

 

[Compman55]

Oh, and while true a laser printer uses more electricity, you do not need to leave it on constantly, and if you do the config will allow you to enter power save mode after a shorter time. Most lasers have this option.

Inductive coil fusers seem to be more efficient than a quartz bulb.

 

[Lemon law]

To Tweak 155, what can I say other than you are not very wise.

Granted you have two bitches.

1. You complain about the power consumption of leaving a laser printer on when you don't need it. But it never occurs to you that the same thing happens to inkjets, and its apparent that its never occurs to you that you can do the same thing I do, leave your laser printer in the off state until you need it. As for me, I network in a laser and an inkjet, and I leave them both in the same off State until I need them. When I need them I turn them on, do my print job, and turn them off, how hard is that?

2. Then you bitch that on an N of one, the printer you bought does not feed paper properly. Get em clue, its a complaint equally affecting all printer choices. And for the do it your selfer, there are rebuild kits to replace your your printer's paper feed rollers.

The last thing to say, is that one can achieve economical inkjet consumable costs printing with an inkjet, but its only achievable with only used inkjet printers and only if you refill. And our OP is not a poster child with understanding that concept. Otherwise almost every inkjet printer on the planet may do a better job of feeding paper but will eat you out of house and home on consumable costs. But at the same time, almost every laser on the planet will do the same better job of feeding paper, and few laser models will have consumable costs that eat you out of house and home.

 

[Tweak155]

To Tweak 155, what can I say other than you are not very wise.

Granted you have two bitches.

1. You complain about the power consumption of leaving a laser printer on when you don't need it. But it never occurs to you that the same thing happens to inkjets, and its apparent that its never occurs to you that you can do the same thing I do, leave your laser printer in the off state until you need it. As for me, I network in a laser and an inkjet, and I leave them both in the same off State until I need them. When I need them I turn them on, do my print job, and turn them off, how hard is that?

2. Then you bitch that on an N of one, the printer you bought does not feed paper properly. Get em clue, its a complaint equally affecting all printer choices. And for the do it your selfer, there are rebuild kits to replace your your printer's paper feed rollers.

The last thing to say, is that one can achieve economical inkjet consumable costs printing with an inkjet, but its only achievable with only used inkjet printers and only if you refill. And our OP is not a poster child with understanding that concept. Otherwise almost every inkjet printer on the planet may do a better job of feeding paper but will eat you out of house and home on consumable costs. But at the same time, almost every laser on the planet will do the same better job of feeding paper, and few laser models will have consumable costs that eat you out of house and home.

I got the Brother 2270 due to the awesome reviews here and other places. How else am I supposed to know prior to buying something I've never used? And it isn't like it only had a few, it has 100's of reviews out there. Turns out it prints crookedly on labels so I took it back and now I'm asking if people know of a better printer to print labels, seems pretty valid to me.

I didn't COMPLAIN about the power consumption, I'm asking if this concern was valid considering I print several times daily and the power draw of turning on a laser printer is extremely high, so my wonder would be whether the power consumption leaving it on would be less than the 700-800 watts it takes to turn it on multiple times in one day (the 700-800w comes from someone having used a power meter to test this). I can't predict when I'll get web-orders so I either have to leave the printer on or not fill orders throughout the day, or turn it off after every order I fill and turn it on when I get the next one, which can be 10 minutes or 3 hours. And what makes you think I didn't think about it for inkjets?? The start-up power my inkjet draws is way way way less power which is why I'm comparing it... hello?

I also looked into refilling both inkjets and laser jet cartridges, so feel free to eat your own words. A common issue I came across is that generally it is hit or miss on the quality of the refill cartridge, and whether or not the printer will accurately accept the level of the refill. Given the time it takes and no guarantee of the results, there are suggestions that it isn't worth the hassle. So I'm taking the safe route should refilling the toner / ink not work out for me, because I plan on at least trying it. And an intelligent person, such as yourself, should be able to recognize that buying replacement cartridges is still cheaper in one scenario over another, even though it is more expensive overall.

So before you make any more assumptions about my intelligence level, and the lack of research you THINK I did, how about you either try to be helpful or keep it to yourself? Excuse me for asking for help and trying to learn.

 

[Lemon law]

Ok point granted, maybe I a little bit dumped on you, Tweak155.

Lets see if I can do better this time. And do an actual better job of trying to help you.

But the gist of it all is far as I cam see, you bought a brother 2270 laser on the basis of good reviews and it didn't do the job for you. And the first big screw up was in trying to print labels, where it didn't print the labels straight. An no brainer deal killer for you.

So question one is and remains, did you just get a fraction defective or all brother 2270's like that? Then there is another question, in my experience, I have found that feeding problems always occurs with paper of 15# bond, those problems tend to dissipate with paper of 20 or 25# bond. So you might glue a back sheet to your label sheet and see if it then prints straight. Or gasp, actually contact brother customer support who I found, by experience, have been quite helpful to me, even thought I bought a brother laser on the used market.

Then the next thing to say, is that regardless of printer brand, there are a legion of wanna bee printer reviewers of limited honesty. The printer makers ships said reviewers a sample printer, some supplies, and if said wanna bee printer reviewer does not say that printer is the best thing since sex and sliced bread, that wanna bee printer reviewer will never get paid to review another printer. You are far better going to places like Newegg that have post purchase actual buyer reviews. And when I read some of the reviews, I got some hint that some of your feeding problems may be due to lacking the latest software update version.

And then you ask a question about laser boot up watts, and give me a chance to test out my latest toy. Because yesterday I received a kill a watt meter. It cost me a whole $21.50. Because I want to better understand my overall electrical usage.

So I took my somewhat similar brother 7820N, and unplugged from the electrical grid.
Then (1) turned its on my brother 7820 on off switch to on. (2) Took another surge switch with its on switch to off and plugged that into the electrical grid. (3) Then I plugged my kill a watt meter into one of the surge strip outlets. (4) Then I plugged the
brother 7820N into the other end of my kill a watt meter. (5) I turned the surge strip on and set the Kill a watt meter to AC watts to watts as my brother printer booted. (6) IN the first 30 seconds of laser boot up, the meter showed 7.5 AV amps or close to 900 watts. However, after 30 seconds, power use dropped to its advertised 8 watts, or .067 watts. I have not yet tested my inkjet yet,

Then I want to deal with my inkjet refilling assertions. Its is indeed possible with refilling to print in color for less than a penny a page, and print B/W for a 1/3 a cent a page with an inkjet, but that can only be done with certain no longer made non chipped Canon and Epson printers.

Learn it at the same place I learned it, http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

Now a days it much harder, with chipped inkjet printers one needs chip resetters.

 

[Compman55]

Tweak155,

One BIG advantage about owning an older generation "workhorse" laser like the HP 4650dn is because being it is older, it has a very low aquisition cost, built of very high quality, is fully repairable and has lots of info on the net, and most importantly has very cheap toners available. Black toners that are refilled are like $30 shipped. You can even refill your own for about $20.

I know its big and bulky and takes up a ton of space, but after being hesitant of buying mine used at first, I will NEVER go back!!!!!

Try to source a very high end used laser that is at least 4 yrs old, and you will be much better off than buying a newer cheap model printer.

I stress the importance of a color laser. You can buy JUST ONE printer to do it all. I have done lables, gloss photos, envelops, card stock, plain paper, business cards, all came out perfect. I will admit though the glossy laser photos are not quite as nice as a good inkjet on special photo paper.

You can set the driver to print only black which turns off the drums on the color toners thus not wearing or depleting them. Therfore you will be spending money on 3 blacks before you get down to a set of colors.

Im sorry that I don;t like inkjets. Mine all dry up before I ever use the entire cartridge. With a laser I never have this problem.

 

[Tweak155]

Tweak155,

One BIG advantage about owning an older generation "workhorse" laser like the HP 4650dn is because being it is older, it has a very low aquisition cost, built of very high quality, is fully repairable and has lots of info on the net, and most importantly has very cheap toners available. Black toners that are refilled are like $30 shipped. You can even refill your own for about $20.

I know its big and bulky and takes up a ton of space, but after being hesitant of buying mine used at first, I will NEVER go back!!!!!

Try to source a very high end used laser that is at least 4 yrs old, and you will be much better off than buying a newer cheap model printer.

I stress the importance of a color laser. You can buy JUST ONE printer to do it all. I have done lables, gloss photos, envelops, card stock, plain paper, business cards, all came out perfect. I will admit though the glossy laser photos are not quite as nice as a good inkjet on special photo paper.

You can set the driver to print only black which turns off the drums on the color toners thus not wearing or depleting them. Therfore you will be spending money on 3 blacks before you get down to a set of colors.

Im sorry that I don;t like inkjets. Mine all dry up before I ever use the entire cartridge. With a laser I never have this problem.

Can you recommend a good one with 2 trays? I honestly don't care for color but if it is the right price, I don't mind either. If you think 4650 is where its at, I can get one on ebay for $250-$350 shipped which isn't too bad, but if I can save money with a B&W laser I'm good with that.

Thanks.

 

[Compman55]

You would need the 4650dtn and it will have another lower tray. Tray 1 for manual / envelope feed, tray 2 for plain, and tray 3 for plain. Honestly I have fed some heavy paper from my tray 2, but I highly doubt tray 3 would handle anything other than plain.

I only suggested color so you can have one printer to do it all, the aquisition cost is just a tad more or equal to a high quality B&W.

The HP 4650 series has all the bugs worked out over the 4600 and the price is the same used. The formatter board uses inexpensive laptop PC2700 DDR.

I tend to go overkill so it will last. This is a medium duty printer desgined for workgroups, so it will last a very long time with low usage as well.

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Or you can look at the HP 4350dtn which is sickly fast @ 55ppm and it is only B&W. These are also a workhorse with exception to one plastic gear you can get cheap. The xerox phaser 3600 is also a good printer that is fast and handles paper types well.

I tend to favor HP for there laser printers. They do not make good copiers, but the lasers they make seem to really hold up well. The new 2010+ offerings are getting cheap and crappy like all other manufactures thats why I say stick with one generation ago printers.