Recommendations for inexpensive laser printer?

[wiseant]

Hi All,

With the low prices I see, I am thinking of getting an inexpensive laser printer (not colour)

In the past I have heard that toner can be expensive and some brands of printers seem to consume ink a lot faster than others

So I am wondering if its possible to get reasonable quality (600 dpi) for under $100 and what things should I look for in terms of toner replacement?

Finally, which brands/models should i defintely avoid and which brand/model has been most satisfying.

I know I am being quite general here but that's what I am llooking for - general info to make an intelligent decision

TIA

[Supreme2k]

Dell 1100 for about $70, toner cartridges about $35-$50. It prints 3k-4k sheets per.

I have been using these for five years, and they work excellently. We print out everything from legal documents to store coupons, and all are crisp and clear.

[Des]

Brother 2070N. My wife prints out about 500 pages a month on it for her classes! Occasionally I get to use it too Have had it for a little over a year. I buy aftermarket toner cartridges from Supermediastore for about $34.

We paid $100 for it new I have seen it in the $75 range on various sites. Doesn't jam very often and is easy to clean out when it does.

--dES

[JohnnyMalaria]

I went to my local university surplus store and got a great Lexmark for $35! Works like a charm.

[MJA]

Brother 2070N.reviews are good.check amazon.com site for more info.I don't think you can find it for $75 though

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007KNZ8M?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=yahoo-ce-20&linkCode=asn

also the Samsung ML-2010 got good reviews if you can find one.the toner is cheap like $25 to $30

[aedipuss]

this one has been tempting me... @ buy.com

[wiseant]

Thanks for the replies

I went to Staples today and they have the Brother 2170W for $129.96 [Canadian] and the Samsung ML-2510 for $90 [Canadian]

BTW JohnnyMalaria re the Lexmark - do you know the model # ?

[MJA]

Brother HL-2170w got the best reviews

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B0009KITEU/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&f...rBy=addOneStar
too many bad reviews for the Samsung ML-2510

The Samsung ML-2010 got better reviews and cheaper toners than the 2510

[wiseant]

Thanks MJA for the heads up on those reviews

[Soopafresh]

I had that Samsung, aedipuss. After some months, it started smelling bad and ceased working moments later.

[MJA]

lol.did u read the reviews too I like this one "This printer consumes a VAST amount of current. It causes other equipment on a 20-amp circuit to freak out, sending nearby AVR gear to go into cutout mode and making UPSes produce squawks of pain"

[dun4cheap]

I bought the konica minolta 2400w color laser from Fry's last year for $149. I get after market toner and refill the carts. For a full set of toner 1 black and 4 color costs about $120. The color and black and white prints are great. Now I have a full konica copier in my office, so color prints are .08 a peace and I can print up to 12x18.

[AlanHK]

An important factor for me is the printing language. Many of the cheaper ones are "host based". That means they have a proprietary printing language and will only work with the drivers supplied by the manufacturer. And if in the future when the machine is "obsolete", even if it's still mechanically perfect, you will be SOL trying to get drivers for a new OS.

This happens a lot with inkjets.

If the printer supports a standard printing language -- PCL 5 or 6 or ideally (for me) PostScript (emulations are usually fine), you will never have driver problems.

USB connection is standard now, and probably sufficient. If you want to share it on a network it's nice to have an ethernet port.

Look for larger capacity toner cartridges. Reasonably popular models will have third-party compatible cartridges available at usually much lower prices than the original manufacturer.

[Video Head]

Samsung ML-2010 for me...got it for $59.99. And it prints my documents...what more could one ask for.

[disturbed1]

I have a Samsung ML 1740, around 5 years old. Millions of sheets have came out of it. Yes it requires a huge amount of amps. But this is also detailed in the user manual

The only difference between the 2 (Samsung vs. Brother) is the way/cost of toner. Samsung requires a unit that includes the toner and drum (~$60-$80), the Brother sells a separate toner ($30-$50)* and seperate drum ($50-$120)* *-depending on the model you have. The drum doesn't need to be replaced every time you replace the toner. My friend says he replaces the drum after every 3 or so toners, sometimes 2 toners, sometimes 4 toners. So the price averages out to be the same. We have never actually sat down to count how many sheets each toner yields. Always seems to be somewhere between 5-6 reams (2500-3000 sheets).

The Samsung for sure supports the PCL requirements list above. I use it in Linux without issues. Unlike the cheap HP lasers that do not include this feature, and are not usable without HPs own interpreted language.

Check on the Brother printers, as many don't use real USB devices, and will cause problems with programs (OSs) that do not use the Windows driver.

Lexmark and HP make fantastic Laser printers. HPs entry level lasers are paper weights, shouldn't consider an HP laser under $250, both Samsung and Brother are better. I'm not sure about Lexmark's entry level lasers. Never used any Lexmark under $650. Lexmark's laser != their inkjets.

[Constant Gardener]

I like used & cheap. My HP-5L laser, given to me years ago, still chugs away on its umpteenth cartridge at 4 pages a minute. The $15 scanner is in daily use.

[jman98]

My take on 3 different brands.

HP - Easy to set up. Reliable. However, their tiny cartridges hold almost no toner and it takes surprisingly few pages printed before you have to replace them. They are fine printers, but man it gets old having to constantly replace the cartridges in them. You'll easily spend much more on new toner cartridges than the printer will ever cost you.

Epson - Avoid like the plague. The company is paranoid beyond belief that someone might (gasp!) remanufacture ink cartridges for their printers, so their printers sometimes won't even recognize Epson made ink cartridges.

Canon - So far I'm very happy with a new Canon printer. Very fast, good quality color. Some models don't do anything above 8x11 or A5 (ie. no legal size) though.

I am not sure, but I suspect that anything that only does black and white will probably be slow and feature poor, but that may be OK for you.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Brother make excellent laser printers.

At home, I have a Brother soopa-doopa MFD thing that churns out 60ppm. It's for my wife's work. In the last three years it has printed 19,000 pages without a glitch.

[disturbed1]

My take on 3 different brands.

HP - Easy to set up. Reliable. However, their tiny cartridges hold almost no toner and it takes surprisingly few pages printed before you have to replace them. They are fine printers, but man it gets old having to constantly replace the cartridges in them. You'll easily spend much more on new toner cartridges than the printer will ever cost you.

Epson - Avoid like the plague. The company is paranoid beyond belief that someone might (gasp!) remanufacture ink cartridges for their printers, so their printers sometimes won't even recognize Epson made ink cartridges.

Canon - So far I'm very happy with a new Canon printer. Very fast, good quality color. Some models don't do anything above 8x11 or A5 (ie. no legal size) though.

I am not sure, but I suspect that anything that only does black and white will probably be slow and feature poor, but that may be OK for you.

You know, this is about laser printers right

Laser's serve a special purpose that makes an inkjet not even an option in these cases. Laser's are also at least 2x faster than inkjets in most cases.

[Josh Mickens]

Well, you helped me get some research of my own done wiseant. It seems like this is something everyone needs but hardly has time to do research on themselves. Try looking thorough this website. They have side by side comparison with cheap laser printers. They're more like around 150 though. Hope this was helpful.

http://www.pcmag.com/products/0%2C%2Ctqs%3D61F6AF629CB63522FD09D087B4662F42C77EC7FE%2C...50&stpdinglp=1

[wiseant]

Once again, thanks for all the feedback - lots to check out here

[AlanHK]

My take on 3 different brands.

HP - Easy to set up. Reliable. However, their tiny cartridges hold almost no toner and it takes surprisingly few pages printed before you have to replace them. They are fine printers, but man it gets old having to constantly replace the cartridges in them. You'll easily spend much more on new toner cartridges than the printer will ever cost you.

What models? Most HPs get at least 2500 pages per toner cartridge. Some models up to 5000. And while HP cartridges are relatively expensive, because of their popularity there are remanufactured refills and clone cartridegs that are 1/4 the price and as good quality.

Epson - Avoid like the plague. The company is paranoid beyond belief that someone might (gasp!) remanufacture ink cartridges for their printers, so their printers sometimes won't even recognize Epson made ink cartridges.

Ink? We're talking about lasers.

I am not sure, but I suspect that anything that only does black and white will probably be slow and feature poor, but that may be OK for you.

B/W lasers are much faster than colour. Usually about 4 times. I guess you're thinking about inkjets again.

[bendixG15]

The Brother HL-2140 (laser) has a $20.oo rebate until 6/28/08.
Typical selling price is 110USD before rebate.
Couldn't find any nasty reviews.

[Bodyslide]

The Brother HL-2140 (laser) has a $20.oo rebate until 6/28/08.
Typical selling price is 110USD before rebate.
Couldn't find any nasty reviews.

Bought one of those back in january for 60.00....Has Been great so far, got about 1300 pages out of the starter cartridge. Found a place online for the Refill for about 45.00 and if gives about 2500 pages, since we print in the economy mode, we should be able to get about 3000 pages out of it....No issues so far....

[stiltman]

I will have to ditto on the Brother laser printer (networked)
I bought one for work to replace a burned out HP
They pump about 1000 sheets a week through it with no problems

[MJA]

I'm not sure if buy.com deliver to Canada

$53.99 after rebate

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=206615074

UPDATE. Sold Out

[MJA]

The Brother HL-2140 (laser) has a $20.oo rebate until 6/28/08.
Typical selling price is 110USD before rebate.
Couldn't find any nasty reviews.

Bought one of those back in january for 60.00....Has Been great so far, got about 1300 pages out of the starter cartridge. Found a place online for the Refill for about 45.00 and if gives about 2500 pages, since we print in the economy mode, we should be able to get about 3000 pages out of it....No issues so far....

$45 for a one time refill ? isn't it too much when you can get a new one for $50

[AlanHK]

$45 for a one time refill ? isn't it too much when you can get a new one for $50

The new printers don't come with a full cartridge. Same as most inkjets.

[MJA]

I'm talking about the refill.he said it cost him $45 ,I'm thing why bother when you can buy the Brother TN360( 2,600 pages) High Yield for $46

[videobread]

I went with a used HP Laserjet 5. It was cheap and the carts are not chipped. I recharge my own carts and have for 15 years. I do a high volume of B/W printing. A HP LJ5 cart will do about 7500 sheets and can be recharged with simple hand tools. For high volume printing it's a great unit and easy to repair.

I used to be into HP IIIP's and have changed almost all the parts out including motherboard.