Colour Laser - any ideas?

[kxv2020]

Hello

 

We need a new colour laser for the office - and am not sure which one to get.

 

I always buy HP for printers, because they are reliable and the consumables are ok too – I’ve been looking at the HP ColourJet 2600n. But looking around there seems to be some good Dell ones and the Samsung ones have built in duplex too, which is an added bonus !!!

 

Has anybody tried the HP 2600n, or any Samsung ones? I have seen the Dell printers in action at a partner school but their print quality for black seems to be bit strange [like blotchy and heavily embossed type – really difficult to explain !!] compared to that of HP.

 

Thanks

 

Kiran

[Sylv3r]

We have a HP 2600N here and I am pretty impressed with it. Toner life is pretty good and very little jams etc. I'll be purchasing more once our new 6th form build is complete.

[SpuffMonkey]

Yeah - we've got some 2600's - very good for the price - but you can't manage them fully from JetAdmin

[MkII]

Agreed - out 2600n has ben trouble free - gets a hammering from Admin too.

[chrbb]

What are the 2600's like for photos, we're looking for a replacement for a magicolor 2300dl which we use for photos for displays, print quality pretty good. I've looked at the magicolor 2550 with duplexer but am also taken by the HP printers, but the dpi is less than the one we've got.

[john]

Samsung for the win with me! The Duplex just shows all the others up! Toners are just boxes of toner so can be refilled for ~£20, great stuff they are.

[chrbb]

Do you mean the samsung cpl 600 I thought it seemed abit flimsy. It is hard wearing?

[contink]

Just a thought but if you want to link to some models and pages where I can get the costings for toner, drum/fuser/parts replacement, etc.. I can put together a little cost of ownership comparison for you on a spreadsheet.

 

I did this for my own reference and it makes for interesting reading..

[Quackers]

Just to put a spanner in, does it have to be laser? We got rid of all our colour laser printers and moved to Inkjets (HP K550DTN's) due to Colour Laser's we have had costing too much to run. The Minolta 2300DL is so expencive to run its stupid, the Tally thing we had cost a bomb too.

 

In the library for example we put one in, its done 8750 pages since the summer and its had £280 in consumables go in it. Thats 3p a page. Before the 2300DL Laser would cost more than £280 to do 4000-5000 pages if the drum wanted a change too.

 

and on draft it can do 20+ pages a minute colour, very fast, full duplex, twin tray, built in print server. great printer.

[webman]

We have several of the HP 4600 series and a single 4700 - all very good solid printers and highly recommended.

[russdev]

strange we have gone other way we found that cheaper to run lasers than deskjets in terms of amount of printing that goes on over the year..

 

Russ

[Ravening_Wolf]

We have just bought a 2600n which is really nice and quick. The problem is that the toner cartridges are only 2000 sheet capacity. That and it only ships with a 250-sheet paper tray, so like us, you will probably want to buy the extra paper tray so you can least hold a full ream of paper at once!

[Nij.UK]

Have to agree with the general feeling about the HP 2600n, I bought 3 of these printers over the summer, and they are very good, and they all get a good hammering.... i only get told when the ink has ran out....

 

1 is located in the library and is used as a central printer, 1 in staff room and 1 in office... not had a problem with any of them!

[contink]

Just to put a spanner in, does it have to be laser? We got rid of all our colour laser printers and moved to Inkjets (HP K550DTN's) due to Colour Laser's we have had costing too much to run. The Minolta 2300DL is so expencive to run its stupid, the Tally thing we had cost a bomb too.

I grabbed a K550 for some testing recently and in truth I'm not their greatest fan as they have a few issues with regard to paper feed but as far as inkjets go they can be setup with relatively minimal fuss (just don't touch the wireless version! - google for that nugget).

 

@Quackers.. That model printer is also pretty much a Continuous ink system built into the kit and the cartridges are just reservoirs that remain static so you could easily cut your costs further by getting a CIS kit (ebay is the best bet) and then get some bulk ink (I can PM you a suppliers details). Your costs would drop to less than a penny a page after you've had that a month, plus you only need to visit the printer every few weeks and not every few days to change cartridges.

 

But.. I'm getting off topic again.. :oops:

[kxv2020]

Thanks very much!!!

 

My assumptions about the 2600 were right - it seems that most people are happy - plus the fact that HP's are quite good printers anyway!!

 

Thats that one on my list then!!

[john]

I have the CLP-500s they are good solid machines, and weigh a tonne as well! They are a great machine, much better over the HPs.

 

HP4600s are not on my good list, the formatter boards seem to be going on them

[SuppliesSaviour]

What about a 3600DN, would that be suitable?

[contink]

Can I just make a suggestion on the whole laser thing..

 

I know there's a lot of people who are keen on the whole 2600 model but you may be looking at a false economy if you go with the cheapest laser in the bunch.. I know one of my primary schools has the next model up and they're paying through the nose for consumables..

 

In all seriousness I would recommend you take a long hard look at ALL the costs involved to make sure that a cheap printer doesn't equal an expensive consumable budget sucking monster.

 

So just to give an example

- HP 2550LN/EN (unit cost: £269)

- HP 2660N (unit cost: £185)

- Samsung CLP-510N (unit cost: £274)

 

20,000 prints @ 10% coverage

 

£984 - HP 2550LN/EN

£1197 - HP 2660N

£721 - Samsung CLP-510N

 

(includes printer cost and any consumables inc' toner, drum replacements, etc..)

 

Granted my figures may be a little out and they're based on the marketing figures but if you assume that all marketing people give their best figures to the same degree it's still a reasonable comparison.

[john]

Your right Contink, I did those figures before getting the Samsungs, and the Samsungs are by far cheaper products to run than the HPs are.

[contink]

Your right Contink, I did those figures before getting the Samsungs, and the Samsungs are by far cheaper products to run than the HPs are.

Aye... and do you want to know what's really scarey..

 

To do a quick comparison against Inkjets using those same figures:

 

Using official branded media

£841: Epson D88

£1581: Epson R320

£1983: Canon iP4200

 

That's how I got into this whole CIS kit routine and by deity it saves some money..

[john]

Yup, Hence why I no longer own an inkjet personally, I have a CLP-500 and a CLP-300 and an ML-4500