Whats a good small buisness color laser printer around 5k or less?

kerokeroppi82

Golden Member
Dec 8, 2001
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Anyone have a good color laser printer they use for their small buisness that they could recomend? My boss wanted something that could print our company newsletters and such so the resolution has to be pretty good and the budget is 5k, although I wanted to find something less if possible. Also cost per color page is very important too since we're gonna be using this a lot. Thanks!
 

rmrf

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
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this is what our marketing department uses. There are about 10 people that share it, and we haven't had any troubles with it yet.
 
Mar 15, 2003
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Not flaming but asking a question- I noticed that in the past color laser photos look kinda like color copies.. not as vibrant as inkjets.. Is that still the case? I know color lasers are great for presentations tough
 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
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Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212
Not flaming but asking a question- I noticed that in the past color laser photos look kinda like color copies.. not as vibrant as inkjets.. Is that still the case? I know color lasers are great for presentations tough

Color lasers are designed for office color, they are not designed to print photos. Don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise.

rmrf

I do support for the 4600. Word of advice for you:

Make sure you're running the latest firmware revision, it should be 03.012.4.

Latest Revisoin

Viper GTS
 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
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433
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kerokeroppi82

Do you need wide format capability?

On the cost issue, color lasers are expensive to run. There's no way around it. A set of toner for a 4600 runs around $750, a set for the 5500 (11x17) runs about $1000.

Viper GTS
 

rmrf

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
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Viper GTS

Thanks for the advice. I will check and see what the firmware is.

Just wondering, what are the problems you have seen if the firmware isn't up to date?
 

Kelemvor

Lifer
May 23, 2002
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Chekc out Okidata... link

They have great printers starting as low as $800 or so and going up to $3k. And they have free trials on some of their printers...
 

MrScott81

Golden Member
Aug 31, 2001
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Originally posted by: Viper GTS
kerokeroppi82

Do you need wide format capability?

On the cost issue, color lasers are expensive to run. There's no way around it. A set of toner for a 4600 runs around $750, a set for the 5500 (11x17) runs about $1000.

Viper GTS
Holy crap, how many pages do you usually get from the toner? The one I have at work is a Texktronix, and I used to print about 20-30 pages/week on it just because it was free for me to use.

 

Utterman

Platinum Member
Apr 17, 2001
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I suggest getting a xerox phaser printer. It uses solid ink so there is no mess compared the toner from the color laserjet printers. I have used the phaser 8200 and it's color printer quality was great, but it won't be photo quality. I believe the 8200 we have cost around $1500 and all that is needed to fill the ink up is to drop these blocks of color into the tray.
 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
Originally posted by: scottdog81
Originally posted by: Viper GTS
kerokeroppi82

Do you need wide format capability?

On the cost issue, color lasers are expensive to run. There's no way around it. A set of toner for a 4600 runs around $750, a set for the 5500 (11x17) runs about $1000.

Viper GTS
Holy crap, how many pages do you usually get from the toner? The one I have at work is a Texktronix, and I used to print about 20-30 pages/week on it just because it was free for me to use.

Color cartridges for the 4600 are rated for 8000 pages @ 5% coverage.

Viper GTS
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,982
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Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Originally posted by: scottdog81
Originally posted by: Viper GTS
kerokeroppi82

Do you need wide format capability?

On the cost issue, color lasers are expensive to run. There's no way around it. A set of toner for a 4600 runs around $750, a set for the 5500 (11x17) runs about $1000.

Viper GTS
Holy crap, how many pages do you usually get from the toner? The one I have at work is a Texktronix, and I used to print about 20-30 pages/week on it just because it was free for me to use.

Color cartridges for the 4600 are rated for 8000 pages @ 5% coverage.

Viper GTS
5% coverage only!?
 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
23,168
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Originally posted by: Utterman
I suggest getting a xerox phaser printer. It uses solid ink so there is no mess compared the toner from the color laserjet printers. I have used the phaser 8200 and it's color printer quality was great, but it won't be photo quality. I believe the 8200 we have cost around $1500 and all that is needed to fill the ink up is to drop these blocks of color into the tray.

depends on which level of 8200 you purchased, the high end 8200 is capable of 1200 dpi, that is not bad for photos.

also, the phaser gives you pretty strong colors BUT if the paper they are printed on is creased the wax can come off.

it is wax transfer printer after all.

 

Paulson

Elite Member
Feb 27, 2001
10,689
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www.ifixidevices.com
We have a phaser @ school.. really nice, except you can scrape the wax off. If they came up with a way to use something other then wax it would be the ultimate awesome printer.
 

Viper GTS

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
38,107
433
136
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Originally posted by: scottdog81
Originally posted by: Viper GTS
kerokeroppi82

Do you need wide format capability?

On the cost issue, color lasers are expensive to run. There's no way around it. A set of toner for a 4600 runs around $750, a set for the 5500 (11x17) runs about $1000.

Viper GTS
Holy crap, how many pages do you usually get from the toner? The one I have at work is a Texktronix, and I used to print about 20-30 pages/week on it just because it was free for me to use.

Color cartridges for the 4600 are rated for 8000 pages @ 5% coverage.

Viper GTS
5% coverage only!?

That's 5% per color, so you could print 8K pages with 20% coverage presuming you averaged 5% per color.

Viper GTS