Printer Recommendations

[MrFrostmaul]

Hello,

 

One of the current printers we have in Art is very old and has started to cause a fair amount of problems.

 

Can anyone recommend a printer which is:

 

• Cheap(ish) to run
  
• Cost to purchase isn't huge
  
• Reliable
  
• Networked
  
• Supports both A4 & A3 Printing
  
• Good print quality (as they will be printing a fair amount of pictures).
  
• Toners/Cartridges are good quality and dont run out every few days.
  

 

Thanks

[speckytecky]

The cheapest option fulfilling most of your requirements is clearly printing to a network connected leased photocopier. Something like one of the newer Ricoh machines. If you really have to have a machine printing locally in the classroom though then my preference is currently a Brother laser. I don't know what A3 options they have but suspect it's going to be mighty expensive. My Photography Section fussed and fussed for an A3 which I duly got and set up for them. I think it's a HP Officejet Pro 8100 ePrinter - HP Store UK they don't ever seem to use it now though. Indeed last time I looked they had managed to loose the power unit so it's now a dead duck. I'm waiting for the relevant teacher to broach the subject then explain what he has done with the power unit!

[truebluesteve]

Hello,

 

One of the current printers we have in Art is very old and has started to cause a fair amount of problems.

 

Can anyone recommend a printer which is:

 

• Cheap(ish) to run
  
• Cost to purchase isn't huge
  
• Reliable
  
• Networked
  
• Supports both A4 & A3 Printing
  
• Good print quality (as they will be printing a fair amount of pictures).
  
• Toners/Cartridges are good quality and dont run out every few days.
  

 

Thanks

 

I have exactly the same need except that it's not going to be an inkjet (or variant) as they are just way too expensive to run and are unreliable. With that in mind it just leaves us with laser printers.

 

The fact that it needs to do A3 is making the search a little more tricky so I would also be really interested if anyone has any recommendations.

Edited October 5, 2014 by truebluesteve

[newpersn]

Oki 822. inks are a little expensive but great quality. Our St department use it for there graphics work and I'm impressed with it.

 

They just switched from the starters toners.

[SYNACK]

Tried to post this before but vBulitin got in the way again - thanks illiterate javascript 'devs' -

 

1. printers are all terrible
   
2. brother make great disposable laser printers
   
3. brother printers should be standalone and never let near a network as their drivers are summoned demons from hell
   
4. make sure you trial any lease copiers for drivers as 'every' manufacturer has released TERRIBLE drivers at one time or another
   

[speckytecky]

Interesting reply @SYNACK

 

Not sure I nor others follow it fully; any chance of expanding please?

 

Tried to post this before but vBulitin got in the way again - thanks illiterate javascript 'devs' -

 

1. printers are all terrible
   
2. brother make great disposable laser printers
   
3. brother printers should be standalone and never let near a network as their drivers are summoned demons from hell
   
4. make sure you trial any lease copiers for drivers as 'every' manufacturer has released TERRIBLE drivers at one time or another
   

[SYNACK]

Interesting reply @SYNACK

 

Not sure I nor others follow it fully; any chance of expanding please?

 

Sure, all printers regardless of brand are terrible problematic devices in comparison to almost all other computer gear. Brother make decent cheap laser printers that work well for their intended life span which is not that long. Brother printers have all in my experience had terrible drivers, some with memory leaks so bad they could take down a server that was running their drivers.

 

All printer vendors are also guilty of shipping at least one horrible driver for their printers, you want to make sure you get a trial unit to test and make sure the drivers deploy, aren't 150MB (Xerox) and don't crash the printserver every two days as above.

[Ian_Cooper_Printware]

There's no simple answer. It depends on the volume of printing, how much is A3 and what the average coverage is likely to be.

 

If most of the prints are A3 and high coverage then look at a Xerox Phaser 7500 on PagePack. This is a cost per click contract which is coverage irrelevant (so no fair use policy, which is perfect for lots of large pictures). The click isn't super-cheap, but it is the same price for A3 and A4 which is rare nowadays.

 

Oki do a higher quality device in their ES (Executive Series) range, but it's a little more expensive to run.

 

If quality is a concern, then a reputable vendor should be able to get print samples for you from the manufacturer.

 

Hope this helps a little.