Gaz Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 We have a Brother HL4140CN thats a pile of junk and I'm going to push for a replacement, all of our other printers are HP and they have worked flawlessly for years. Does anyone have any experience of the HP 551dn? I don't think I will be looking at other brands. We are only using this Brother because I was off sick for 2 days and instead of calling me up or waiting they ordered they best they could from Viking.
steve Posted April 29, 2014 Posted April 29, 2014 I've purchased a couple of these over the past year - typically around £516 inc vat. Overall they are pretty good for us but in a school I'd be wary of the duplex switchback guide (flimsy plastic part on output tray) and the USB interface is a cheap nasty add on - looks horrid, but can be disabled. The last time I checked they also came with full (not starter) toners. I calculated the cost per page as 1.09 pence per mono page, 7.67 pence per colour page (inc vat). The CP4525dn is a better buy if doing medium / large volumes (0.84 and 5.27ppp). For comparison, a Konica MFD on lease will typically be 0.42 and 3.84 ppp. 1
Gaz Posted April 29, 2014 Author Posted April 29, 2014 The CP4525dn looks like it will be out of our price range. Its for an office environment rather than a classroom so it won't be subjected to as much abuse, in the classrooms we use the 2055dn's which are excellent. For high volume stuff we have a UTAX MFD I think the 551dn will be suitable but wanted to hear from fellow edugeeks with experience of that model.
Gaz Posted April 29, 2014 Author Posted April 29, 2014 Doh, I should have said it needs to be colour. However that looks like it would make a nice upgrade to our 2055dn's if they ever give up.
MattGibson Posted April 30, 2014 Posted April 30, 2014 I guess it depends on budget but in the classrooms we have the Lexmarks C790 series. What I like about them is that you can VNC to the screen on the front of the printer! Saves me walking around the school!
Gaz Posted May 2, 2014 Author Posted May 2, 2014 Budget is around £500 I guess. I'm now torn between this and the Officejet Pro X 551dw, but I'll probably end up going for the laser and buying the Officejet for our new site.
Oaktech Posted May 2, 2014 Posted May 2, 2014 we've got 3015 for b&w and they are proper solid. Fit and forget. We have a 4025 for colour, and whilst it does a nice job, its a touch on the thirsty side.
Gaz Posted May 2, 2014 Author Posted May 2, 2014 As the 2055dn's are now discontinued I'll get some of those 3015dn, just a shame you've gotta pay loads for the "dn" model over the "d" model.
newpersn Posted May 2, 2014 Posted May 2, 2014 whats wrong with the HL-4140CN? We have few dotted around the school and not had any problems (yet)
SYNACK Posted May 2, 2014 Posted May 2, 2014 Brother has terrible drivers, caused years of hell for us till we got rid of them
Oaktech Posted May 2, 2014 Posted May 2, 2014 Have you tried samsung... They have some wierdass drivers. for about 6 months they didn't support docx files properly and would only allow you to print a page at a time!
newpersn Posted May 2, 2014 Posted May 2, 2014 Brother has terrible drivers, caused years of hell for us till we got rid of them True, But only had one printer out of 6 that has problem with its own driver. Changed a setting on the said printer and not had any problems with it.
Gaz Posted May 2, 2014 Author Posted May 2, 2014 whats wrong with the HL-4140CN? We have few dotted around the school and not had any problems (yet) It randomly prints junk when connected via ethernet, like its getting signals from the network, this is not a driver or a firmware issue as I have experienced the same with brother printers. Its connected at the minute via USB into a USB print server on our router. That however also causes problems because its slow, unreliable and its now started to put little dots on the page, I would run a cleaning cycle but it doesn't appear to have the option to do so. It wasn't my choice, like I said I was off sick and instead of phoning me up which I would have preferred them to do because of the hassle its caused, they bought it from Viking Direct. I've always bought HP and never had a bad one yet
Ian_Cooper_Printware Posted May 7, 2014 Posted May 7, 2014 Budget is around £500 I guess. I'm now torn between this and the Officejet Pro X 551dw, but I'll probably end up going for the laser and buying the Officejet for our new site. The OfficeJet Pro X models are very good. I think it will take a while for people to accept inkjets in a more traditional laser role, but both HP and Epson have been spending a lot of time and money on their new serious business inkjets. I agree the P3015 are solid as hell. It's worth looking at the Samsung 3820 with the 5yr warranty at around that level too.
Gaz Posted May 7, 2014 Author Posted May 7, 2014 We went for the Officejet Pro X551dw and it should arrive later today. I'll post back when its setup and tested.
Phildw Posted May 7, 2014 Posted May 7, 2014 We went for the Officejet Pro X551dw and it should arrive later today. I'll post back when its setup and tested. I need a new printer for my Head's office, was literally just looking at that. I haven't bought a printer before, for the teachers we have leased ones that been here since before my time. Been looking around various resellers and there seems to be a lot of variation in price for printers that seem to do pretty much the same thing. Aside from speed, cost per page, what else should I be on the look out for? Does Printer Driver/Language matter (have seen some with only PCL 3!)? This printer is only going to be used by the Head, so shouldn't be doing massive runs or in continuous use. Have looked at Canon i-SENSYS MF8540Cdn, MF8280Cw and MF8230Cn , HP Officejet Pro 8600 and X551dw, and even <£100 options.
Gaz Posted May 7, 2014 Author Posted May 7, 2014 I have experienced some strange problems with printer driver language versions when printing from Office documents. PCL5c would work fine where PCL6 would error out and it appears to be due to some images on the page. You can normally install multiple versions of drivers but its probably not best practice. HP are doing some cashback offers at the minute and also a try before you buy with certain retailers.
Gaz Posted May 7, 2014 Author Posted May 7, 2014 Well its setup and after some initial problems which were my fault its working and its very fast and the quality on general office mode is very good. We got it for £298.80 inc VAT from Viking Direct its now gone up to its full price but you can still claim £100 cash back. 1
BlueSkies Posted July 23, 2014 Posted July 23, 2014 Well its setup and after some initial problems which were my fault its working and its very fast and the quality on general office mode is very good. We got it for £298.80 inc VAT from Viking Direct its now gone up to its full price but you can still claim £100 cash back. Hello Gaz, I was just wondering how you are getting on with the HP printer ... am looking at perhaps purchasing one so if you have any words of wisdom, they would be much appreciated!! How much are the replacement cartridges? Thanks!
Gaz Posted July 23, 2014 Author Posted July 23, 2014 Hello Gaz, I was just wondering how you are getting on with the HP printer ... am looking at perhaps purchasing one so if you have any words of wisdom, they would be much appreciated!! How much are the replacement cartridges? Thanks! Well we are very happy with it, but in hindsight we should have got the Multi Function version, Currently its got 4000 pages on it and the colour inks are still on their starter ink's only the black has been changed. We use Professional mode as standard which is around 40ppm but if you are in a rush the 70ppm general office mode is pretty fun to watch and still very good quality. We get our inks from Viking-Direct. Black Hi Cap is £84.59 inc VAT Colour Hi Caps are £83.39 inc VAT Lower Capacities are about £55
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