Colour laser printers - what would you buy?

[FishCustard]

We're looking to standardise our printers and thus save money and hassle with toner. I've had many recommendations for mono printers, and that side of things is getting sorted nicely (HP 1022s and 4250/4350s), however I can't seem to find a decent medium-use colour laser that people generally like.

 

I did think of using Hp cLJ 2600s seeing as we've already got 3, but after realising they were host-based printers and cause all sorts of hell when shared from a server, decided to reconsider.

 

So, fellow geeks, what colour laser printer would you buy, given that they'll be used in ICT suites and Art, and will therefore need to be reasonably resilient (speed less of an issue, as colour printing by students is kept to a minimum). Low TCO is also obviously important.

 

Thanks!

[elsiegee40]

These days, we are going for leased networked photocopier/printers. Less for me to do

[Psymon]

We use Sharp photocopiers in offices / high volume areas as they are generally a lot cheaper to run, and give you A3 network scanning / scan to email as PDF etc...

 

For smaller teaching areas we have HP P2055dn monos (with the X toners) and for colour CP2025dn lasers in low volume areas , CP4525dn in high volume areas (the CP4525 with the X black toner is actually cheaper for mono than the P2055).

[slugshead]

Photocopiers or those new LaserJet pro 400's

[ICTD_vicki]

Brother have some great cash back and extended warranty offers on at the minute, if you would like me price up any brand of printers for you just drop me an PM I can also look at the toner costs for you so you can get an idea of running costs

[Danp]

I like the Kyocera's, we have some FS-C5250DN in the suites and they work well, only have toners as consumables and they work out about £70'ish each

[edutech4schools]

Nice to see someone from Croydon. Lived in Warlingham, Purley, and Croydon. We are just about to look in to purchasing printers so will either post back our printer findings or will use these posts to choose one.

[old_n07]

All our mono classroom printers are HP P3015DN and we have MFD's on contract from Richo for admin area's and in coridors outside a group of classrooms for shared colour etc.

[TecD]

I like the Kyocera's, we have some FS-C5250DN in the suites and they work well, only have toners as consumables and they work out about £70'ish each

 

 

Good point its important to look into how much the consumables will be on the smaller cheaper units because they can sometimes work to be more expensive on toners with a lower yield and a higher cost per copy thats where they make their monies!

[squeeky]

Richo Afico MP C3002 All network scan, print etc we got rid of regular printers last year. Toner is delivered automatically though the machine when it is at 20% so i never have to order more consumables.

 

Squeeky

[FishCustard]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I shall have a look at these tomorrow.

[edutech4schools]

Richo Afico MP C3002 All network scan, print etc we got rid of regular printers last year. Toner is delivered automatically though the machine when it is at 20% so i never have to order more consumables.

 

We have decided to do the same. Going to get two, and put one at each end of the school.

[psydii]

As long as you are doing 20-80K pages per year the kyocera mentioned above is the sweet spot for costs over a three year lifecycle. It should, of course last four to eight years based on that load, so buying one beats leasing it, assuming consumables remain available at current prices.

 

This advice is based on calculations I made six months ago. I have not spend a month re-researching the market to make sure it is still accurate.

[mikkydoos]

Hi,

 

I'm looking at new colour lasers too.

 

1) I will be amazed if I ever buy HP again - host drivers - a real pain

2) Copiers are generally 5p per colour copy, about 2p ish on lasers

 

3)...

 

What do you guys recommend a heavy duty printer around the £500 mark, colour. To replace 4 HP3800n's in a big Primary, located in classrooms.

Must be heavy duty. The kids keep breaking the paper trays, output trays etc on the ones I've got. Compatible ink is rubbish on this model.

 

Tough printers with good economy ???

 

Was looking at Epson Acculaser 3900N. Any comments ?

 

cheers.