Need advice on colour printers

[paulwiddy]

At the end of the day we have been using konika minolta 2300 & 2400 series colour printers. The problem now is the toner is going everywhere, the printer is refusing to detect the toners are even installed. Picture quality is looking a bit rough, colours look dirty that should be blue are more purple. Cleaning them out completely works fine for a few days, but the problems arise again.

 

Is it just the fact it is a cheap printer and they are like this, ie shake to death when printing. Would it be better to buy better printers? Any Advice?

 

These are just common networked printers, in a class of 32 PC, printing around 10,000 - 15,000 pages a year (not hugh quantities) but they are yanked, bashed and generally abused like all items students become in contact with.

 

Any advice would be great before I seriously do my back in lugging them to the nearest window

[Michael]

How old are the printers? Are you using official toner? And have you tried writing to the manufacturers or searching for a FAQ on their website?

 

To be honest, it does just sound as though the printers are old and on their way out requiring maintenance more frequently than expected.

 

With the new financial year around the corner (literally), you could ask for new printers to be costed in (if possible).

[FN-GM]

We use HP 4600’s for Computer Rooms, and for smaller ones we use 2550’s for smaller computer rooms, offices and class rooms. They run well and we have only had a problem with one (due to neglect).

 

Z

[MrLudwig]

We use several Dell 5110cn's.

 

The speed and quality is very good, and so far we've not had any reliability problems.

 

Built in networking (with the optional extra of wireless), plus an integrated duplex unit. They only come with 128MB of RAM, but this can be upgraded.

 

They are a bit pricey though, with a 512MB RAM upgrade it will set you back around £880. But that's softened a bit by the 3-year next business day on-site warranty.

 

Dell High capacity toner (C, M & Y) are around £130 each, Black is around £43, for a claimed 12,000 pages. Standard capacity are around £100 and £28 respectively for Colour and Blank for a claimed 8000 pages.

[torledo]

We use several Dell 5110cn's.

 

The speed and quality is very good, and so far we've not had any reliability problems.

 

Built in networking (with the optional extra of wireless), plus an integrated duplex unit. They only come with 128MB of RAM, but this can be upgraded.

 

They are a bit pricey though, with a 512MB RAM upgrade it will set you back around £880. But that's softened a bit by the 3-year next business day on-site warranty.

 

Dell High capacity toner (C, M & Y) are around £130 each, Black is around £43, for a claimed 12,000 pages. Standard capacity are around £100 and £28 respectively for Colour and Blank for a claimed 8000 pages.

 

Only 128 , that's double what our OKI C5300's have got (although they're getting on a bit) and i think is on a par with what our newish Kyocera Fs-C5030N is equipped with out the box. Sounds plenty to me.

 

£880....that's a lot of money for a lot of RAM, but all's i can say is the printer had better be worth the upgrade.

[john]

Tend to use HP Business Inkjets in most areas that need small colour usage, after that it Samsung CLP-500 or 300 units or Colour Copiers and made to walk to it. Sounds harsh but I've had 5 HP CLJ4600/4650s and they have now nearly all died, just got 2 that are working 110% the rest are either in bits or keep having them swapped around to keep them alive.

[MrLudwig]

£880....that's a lot of money for a lot of RAM, but all's i can say is the printer had better be worth the upgrade.

 

The 512MB RAM upgrade added about £57 to the price, without it the printer is around £823.

 

We've just ordered this one to replace an ageing Epsom AL8600 that boasted 1GB RAM. It was capable of very nice glossy A3 prints, but it takes an age to warm up and it jams every five minutes. It cost around £2500 4 years ago, but bits are starting to fall off it now and it's becoming uneconomical to keep repairing.

[tabby1039]

How old are the printers?

 

We use HP 4650’s for Ict Rooms They’re most likely the best printer in the market I think.

 

There are a bit expensive on,toner

 

The speed and quality is very good, and so far we've not had any reliability problems.

[contink]

There's quite a few threads on here already about printers so I'll not repeat much of my previous advice...

 

As a rule I tend to suggest Officejet (K5400, K850) or Business inkjets for low consumables cost (if you use high capacity cartridges) but then I have a vested interest because these models are more compatible with the CIS side of things (my area ). Oh and the L7680 are wonderful as printers with multi-function abilities to act as things like backup photocopiers, etc...

 

For other inkjets; Epsons clog, Canons are an absolute no-way unless you really need to use photo output and can afford the cartridges.. As for lasers, better to go higher end models and get lower cost consumables rather than cheap printer and massive toner costs.

[paulwiddy]

Some of the printers are before my time about 2 - 3 years. There are a couple that are just over a year. We do use originals as I have had bad experience in the past using copies/refills. We have had engineers out and all they say is the sensor at the back has had to be replaced, they clean them out and say nothing about the ton of multicoloured toner in the bottom of the printer.

 

At this moment I am not greatly impressed and over last night I looked through all the threads and noticed people tend to not like konika and most people use HP 3600's. A general feeling is you either get a good printer or you get a rubbish one. The problem is evey school is different, the kids are different and the staff.

 

Something I noticed earlier in this thread is it worth buying colour lasers or good inkjets?

[contink]

A general feeling is you either get a good printer or you get a rubbish one. The problem is evey school is different, the kids are different and the staff.

That's about right... The range of quality within single printer types can be wildly different as my experience of the last 4 years has proven. I've had something like 15 Canon iP4200's that had excellent print characteristics in the main but some would suffer printhead nozzle failures in less than a month. The HP K550 was another one with 3 brand spanking new dtn models suffering all sorts of problems ranging from connectivity issues to paper feed from the second tray. One printed worked perfectly throughout while the other two gave me no end of bother.

 

Something I noticed earlier in this thread is it worth buying colour lasers or good inkjets?

It really does depend a lot on what you want to use it for and just how much you can afford.

 

In your shoes I'd probably consider a mix... Possibly a K5400n (just released) or a dn model for about £100 and a decent CIS or large capacity carts. Then a mono laser for the bulk of work.. The K5400's are relatively easy to work with, fast, economical and if you hit too many problems, just buy a new one and replace it.