Need enterprise-class workgroup printer/copier -- ideas?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 4644
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D

Deleted member 4644

I need to buy an enterprise-class workgroup color laser duplex multifunction machine.

The budget can go as high as $30,000 but of course lower is better.

It needs to be reliable above all else, otherwise my boss might fire an entire division.

The overall volume is not unreal. If I had to guess we do about 400-500 pages on an average day.

A huge day might be 2,000-3,000.

Suggestions?
 

Jadow

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2003
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The old HP Laserjet 8000DN would do that no problem, good for a couple million pages that printer is. Not sure what their current equivalent is, I'll check.
 
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Deleted member 4644

The old HP Laserjet 8000DN would do that no problem, good for a couple million pages that printer is. Not sure what their current equivalent is, I'll check.

No offense, but that is a $1,500 B&W printer.

My post asked for a $XX,XXX-class color multifunction.
 
D

Deleted member 4644

I need a machine that can scan and copy too.. in color.
 

iGas

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2009
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Wouldn't it make more sense to have 2 multi function colour printers/copiers because the up time will be that much higher. It doesn't matter how liable the machine is because it will have down day/s.
 
D

Deleted member 4644

Wouldn't it make more sense to have 2 multi function colour printers/copiers because the up time will be that much higher. It doesn't matter how liable the machine is because it will have down day/s.

Not a terrible idea, but our printer room isn't huge. Also we do have personal printers at every desk, so those usually are good enough when the main is down.

Our unit/building has other major machines that we could use in a real emergency.

I don't think I am going to sell supreme command on twin machines, even if the cost is the same.
 
Nov 5, 2001
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remembered I could look at the driver over RDP. It's a Sharp MX-4501N.

Color print/scan/fax
duplex/collate
staple/punch

we like it quite a bit, and do about the same volume as you
 

arrfep

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2006
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This is a mostly useless post, but my office has a pretty reliable Ricoh Aficio B&W that's got 1,030,000 on the counter. Copies probably 1000 a day, prints 3-400. I'm pretty sure they've got a color version in that line.
 

rasczak

Lifer
Jan 29, 2005
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This is a mostly useless post, but my office has a pretty reliable Ricoh Aficio B&W that's got 1,030,000 on the counter. Copies probably 1000 a day, prints 3-400. I'm pretty sure they've got a color version in that line.

not the 3045 is it? if it is, it's a great machine.
 

arrfep

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2006
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not the 3045 is it? if it is, it's a great machine.


Nope, 1027. It has it's quirks. The front access panel doesn't always close enough with a normal push for the magnetic latch to catch. Newbs in the office will be all flustered, opening and closing the paper drawers trying to get the error code to go away. I walk up, caress the side, and tap the front gently with my knee, the thing comes to life, and the newbs stand in amazement.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
97,969
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PS normal people get more than 1 printer if you got big jobs.


any reason why you are printing 2-3k a day? Most people have switched to emailing pdfs and the receiving end can print them if they want.

damn, just saw the multi-function part.
 
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Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
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We use quite a few of the previous model Xerox's at work and they seem to do pretty well. Definitely able to handle heavy loads (Every once and a while when we have a rush job the print company can't handle in time a department has to print off 20-50 copies of a 400 page book in a day in addition to the normal printing loads) Never really have any problems with mechanical functions although we have had some issues when upgrading their software
 

GeekDrew

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2000
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For a color printer, we bought a couple of Ricoh Aficio SP C811dn. They're *very* reliable when running standard-weight paper, and when running standard-size heavy-weight paper. For non-standard-size paper, look elsewhere. We have some of these in printer configuration, and some of them in copier configuration - I can't remember which model # is the copier equivalent of this printer, but it works just as well.

We also have several Canon imageRUNNER C5185i copiers. We've had a few issues with the output stacker/sorters, but no unexpected problems with the copiers themselves, as far as hardware goes. Note that there was a firmware release out there that caused them to take for-freaking-ever to print a PDF document... apparently that was resolved, as I haven't seen that problem in quite a while now.

There's some Xerox WorkCentre crap around here too. One of them is a 5645, I don't know which others models we have... but they're all complete garbage. 100%. Don't get Xerox *anything*. Frequent paper jams, board failures, shitty drivers, if it can possibly go wrong, it does.

Finally, Sharp. We don't have any color Sharp printers/copiers, but we do have a few monochromes. I hate them. They're a pain in the ass to manage. The web management console is straight out of 1998 -- they haven't quite gotten the hang of how to design a functional management interface. Then again, that shouldn't surprise me - the user console on the front of the copier is still the same as it was on most copiers back in the early 90s. They're *extremely* user unfriendly. Our users complain about frequent paper feeding issues, also.

Hardware manufacturer aside, you need to find a good company to use for service. I've had excellent experiences with Ikon and Gordon Flesch -- they always seem to take care of us. While no company is perfect, they've also corrected any mistakes that they've made. With ComDoc and Modern Office Methods, on the other hand, I've yet to have one good experience. Perhaps it's just the employees in my immediate area, but their employees (both sales and field techs) seem... subpar.
 

DaveJ

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
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There's some Xerox WorkCentre crap around here too. One of them is a 5645, I don't know which others models we have... but they're all complete garbage. 100%. Don't get Xerox *anything*. Frequent paper jams, board failures, shitty drivers, if it can possibly go wrong, it does.

This man speaks the truth. Last summer we replaced our reliable Ricohs with Xerox MFPs, and they are complete shit. Driver support is a joke, I can't even get most of the devices working reliably on Server 2008.

Hardware manufacturer aside, you need to find a good company to use for service. I've had excellent experiences with Ikon and Gordon Flesch -- they always seem to take care of us. While no company is perfect, they've also corrected any mistakes that they've made. With ComDoc and Modern Office Methods, on the other hand, I've yet to have one good experience. Perhaps it's just the employees in my immediate area, but their employees (both sales and field techs) seem... subpar.

A good service company will make or break your install. Unfortunately our vendor is shit, and so is the company we hired to manage our HP devices. With any luck this will change in the future, but for now they all drive me batshit insane.