Sub £200 network colour laser

[Techcare]

Hi

 

I wonder if you can help... One of our schools are looking to replace some old Laserjet 1600 printers with new models. They have a small budget of £200 for a printer that has network connectivity and reasonably priced toners. The print volume wont really be that high and a 150 sheet tray would be fine.

 

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

[elsiegee40]

I've got an HP CP1025NW at home that you should be able to get for under £200. I've double installed it with mono as default. The colour printing is a bit slow, but the mono is fine.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

We've got a couple of HP 4600 Colour Laser printers going for £130 Ex VAT each inc delivery. Not sure what toners they have currently but they're easy to pick up. One of these is also a duplex machine (you can have that for £20 extra) and both are networked.

[contink]

Just as quick rule of thumb... When you buy the printer cheap the consumables are almost invariably seriously expensive so it's worth rethinking the budget to buy something a bit more hefty on the initial cost but gives you greater savings on the consumables.

 

Don't get suckered into the idea of toner being the only consumable either.. There's often a drum, any other component parts that have a set shelf life that can quickly turn a "bargain" into a money pit.

 

For what it's worth, it's well worth considering some of the newer Epson Workforce Pro (WP) models. They may be inkjets but they have much larger ink cartridges and maintenance cartridges so you can swap out the waste pads as well. There's a few schools I know using the B-510DN's as well with refillable cartridges and bulk inks saving an absolute ton of money. The trade off on the latter is a learning curve for whoever has to maintain it but unlike many earlier inkjets these things are designed to be much less hassle.

 

As for A3's the slightly older Brother inkjet printers aren't photo quality output but are easily adapted to take CIS systems and feedback indicates they can do a fair bit of work.

 

May be useful for some...

[LukeC]

Iv bought kyocera Fs-C1550DN, if i recall i paid 180ish. No issues so far.