New printer required

[alexknight]

I have had a look through the hardware forum but cannot find any up to date information about new printers.

 

We have a Dell 3100CN laer printer which is not acknowledging the balck toner replacement, even though I have swapped fpor new, cleaned the cartridge and toner compartment etc. So rather than pay for a repair I am thinking of replacing it.

 

What I would like is a colour laser printer that is not expensive on toners, so cheap running costs.

 

I am thinking about the HP 2600N?

 

What recommendations do people have?

 

Thanks

 

Alex

[dhicks]

I have had a look through the hardware forum but cannot find any up to date information about new printers.

 

Might want to check the forums for information about the HP 2600N - seems that several people have been having driver issues (me included).

 

I've got the PC Pro "A List" booklet here that lists the the Brother HL-4040CN as its top choice for a colour laser printer. Reckons the printer is "quick and cheap to run". Seems to have ethernet connection, too. £285.

 

--

David Hicks

[Gatt]

I thought i read somewhere a while bac the Dell printers were essentially Brother printers with Dell branding

[Michael]

The HP2600n is fine, just so long as you know how to properly configure it. I have 5 of them at one site.

[mcloum]

I have about 4 2600n and dont have any problems with them apart from the slow print speeds.

[Newton]

Use the 2600 at a number of sites no problems

[dansymons]

We use around 15 2600n/2605n and have no problems with them.

 

They do take around a minute to warm up and print the 1st page but after that they get going pretty fast.

[imiddleton25]

Dell printers are Lexmark rebranded

For cheap and long life (we have some 8year old printers in a school)

use kyocera fs-3800 mono and fs-3050 colour

[SimpleSi]

The Hp2600N does work but needs setting up properly - its not just plug and play

 

See Wiki for details.

 

I'm not sure its the cheapest HP to run - I've seen posts from others that suggest moving up to HP3xxx types if you use them a lot.

 

I still can't get my head around why people think these are cheaper/page to run than HP Business Inkjets but many say that they are.

 

regards

 

Simon

[Geoff]

The 5500 here is probably the cheapest to run. It's not exactly cheap to buy though.

[dhicks]

The Hp2600N does work but needs setting up properly - its not just plug and play

 

Indeed - we've had trouble getting our 2600n to work with the sixth former's Windows Vista laptops. Yes, I'm sure it's possible, but I'm rather of the opinion that the damn thing should work right out of the box. We also have one of the all-in-one multifunction devices (basically a 2600n with a scanner stuck on top). Cost around £150, but the colour that comes out of the printer doesn't seem to match that going in the scanner very well.

 

It does also seem to eat toner at a remarkable rate - I've just ordered two full toner sets today, and I didn't think the sixth form were printing that much. My new k8600dn inkjet has a big sticker on the front of the box with something along the lines of "Print costs up to 50% cheaper than laser!", although I reckon a laser would still be best as there's less chance of it getting gunged up with dried ink if left over a holiday.

 

Personally, I'd love to switch all our printers to decent-sized rented devices. I figure the 2600n is costing us around £1000 a year in toner (£50 per cartridge, 4 cartridges per set = £200, 5 sets per year = £1000). I think we worked out our other HP in the office was costing us around £3000 a year in toner, plus it needs repairs/servicing. At that kind of cost, renting a photocopier style machine has got to be worth it.

 

--

David Hicks

[alexknight]

Ok, from the recommendations so far I have the following list.

 

HP 2600n

HP3600n

Brother HL-4040 cn

Oki 5750

Oki 5750

 

Any other recommendations beofre I commit?

 

Thanks

 

Alex

[dgsmith]

We have 9 of the 2600N printers around the site, and we wont be buying any more. Although cheap to buy, the economy of the toners is ridiculous, and as mentioned in a previous post just eat the toner like it's a snack!

 

Page count for 5% coverage is given at 2000-2500, whilst the toner costs aren't exactly cheap, though that is always the case with cheaper printers. I'd recommend, if going hp, a printer at least in the 3000 range if you want some acceptable toner economy, which you stated in your opening post. Obviously, the more expensive the printer, the more economical on toner it'll be, thus you'll save in the long run.

 

We have some Konica Minolta printers on contract hire, and the latest ones from them have excellent economy (12000 pages for ~£145 per colour toner).

 

When buying printers, always check toner costs and page counts - that is where you can fall foul.

[maniac]

We have around 8 HP 3600 printers in this school, and they are very reliable and fairly quick for what they are. Running costs are OK too, you can get cheap compatible cartridges if you want to use them, but we don't.

 

The only problems we've had are with the paper trays, which seem to break easily, we've got through 2 so far! They are only about £30 for a replacement thou, which is quite reasonable.

 

Mike.

[ChrisH]

I have a 3600 and it is doing my head in. Will print some documents but PDF or publisher it just doesnt translate properly and spews forth hundreds of pages of crap. I am going to try some of the 2600 work arounds but at the moment I am thoroughly unimpressed