Which to Laser to use instead of the HP2600N

[SimpleSi]

As is evident from the number of threads - the HP2600N, although cheap, has a lot of issues that take some overcoming and has wasted a fair amount of our time in doing so.

Would anyone care to suggest what the next cheapest colour laser that is as easy to maintain as the H2600N but works properly

e.g It can be setup as a shared printer on a server and just works (from any normal windows app but especially SIMS), has its own network port and USB/parallel as well.

Only answers from those with actual experience of the model recommended (particularly anyone who has dumped using HP2600Ns )

regards

Simon

[Michael]

I've used other models such as the 3600n. The 2600n is host based which is why it creates problems with some applications.

HP in general are pretty good overall, just don't use their HP TCP/IP port. It doesn't work and I'm yet to speak to anyone who uses it with no problems!

Don't touch Kyocera either, they are awful. Canon's are also good, but expensive. Canon drivers are good too.

[kmount]

I'd concur on the 3600N's. We've got probably 10 of these now in various places and find them second to none. - We also have a 2600N and 2605N both of which give more problems than the 3600's combined!

[contink]

Much as it pains me to admit it there's one school I support that has an HP 3600n and they've had very few problems with it.

[Geoff]

Also do not forget the 'rent a photocopier' option.

[SimpleSi]

According to the link in michael's post, the 3600 is also host based

HP JetReady 4.2 Page Description Language (host-based printing)

So how come it works properly when the 2600N doesn't

regards

Simon

[DMcCoy]

We have an oki 5450N which our macs use. Not real Adobe postscript but emulation is ok. PCL will be fine.

Not the cheapest to run, but no faults so far.

[kmount]

I just found the 2600 a cheap nasty mistake when compared to the 3500/3600's.

For £318 you can get a 3600N which although a fair chunk more than the 2600, it 'does' work.

[steve]

We have about 15 3800n and 6 of the newer CP3505n (both will run from the 3800 driver and use same toners)

Only had a couple of small niggles, but they run like a dream.

The 3505s were so cheap recently they were less than the value of toners in them, so I bought a few extra - now I have spare parts too!

[contink]

According to the link in michael's post, the 3600 is also host based


So how come it works properly when the 2600N doesn't

I may have confused the 3500 with the 3600 for my own contribution.. I'll check in a couple of weeks when school re-opens.

[Oops_my_bad]

Uh oh.. we have had a 2600n in for about a year now, seems to work OK What problems are associated with it??

[jcollings]

Got to say we have a few and they seem to work fine for us. We just have them set up on our 2k3 print server. Not sure what issues people have found but we didn't do anything special - TCP/IP port and HP driver.

[FN-GM]

We use HP LaserJet 2550's here, they do the job pretty well.

[steve]

The only problems I've had are:

2 of the Compact Flash ROMs failed with power cuts - replaced under warranty.
The internal usage counter doesn't retain information after a power off - unless you print via the USB port first - then it will retain the information.
The paper tray can be temperamental - pushing it closed at the top edge of the draw over comes this.

One drawback is you can't lock the printers LCD panel via the web interface.

[dgsmith]

Well, I have had input on the 2600n before, so it wont harm mentioning it again. Of our ~10 2600n printers (which is the most of the same model of printer we have), we generally find their operation is ok. We haven't had any grief from them and they work fine, but I certainly WOULDN'T recommend them, mainly due to the consumable cost - it's just too high to run them. The 2550n printers on the otherhand, although alot cheaper, are so, so slow and take ages to print even just 1 darn page of paper, no matter how many prior ones have been sent not long before. The kids have a tendency to push the green button (thinking it means "GET ON WITH IT", when in fact this just makes it chuck out a load of test pages, wasting time, toner and paper!

Our next try will probably still be on the HPs, likely the 3600n (network is desirable), which probably will work our cheaper in the long run, but time will tell. Failing that, a model in the 3xxx series without network, with an internal ethernet print server bought from ebay (which we did on some of old our inkjets).