I'm having trouble finding a low cost ($300 - $500) laser printer that is good quality, postscript ready and networkable.

I've found a couple USB printers (such as the new Epson EPL-5700i) but I need the printer to be available on my network.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Gregory]

Apple posted USB Share. I have Lexmark E310 and it is a good $400 printer but doesn't have network (ethernet) and most that do are more than $500 for sure. Brother, HP and Lexmark.

I never liked the Epson drivers and Lexmark has been great. The new E312 is 10/ppm, 66 mhz, and comes with 4MB but easily upgraded to 68 or more RAM.

If the USB printer share works in your situation - more power to ya!

Greg

Brother HL-1270N is around $450 at buy.com, with 10/100bT
ethernet and PostScript (probably emulated).
It comes USB drivers for OS 8.1 and up too.
Its ethernet supports EtherTalk (ethernet over AppleTalk) printing.
I don't kn why this printer isn't mentioned very often
if at all. I guess cuz most of the mac crowd are
publishing/pre-press ppl who aren't impressed
with this apparently targeted for SOHO laser printer.

[Jeff Hull]

You may not be too interested, but my personal favorite is the LaserWriter 12/640 PS. I have bought several off eBay; if you shop around patiently you can get a "low mileage" printer for $300-$400 (my last one was $295) that will stand you in good stead for years, prints PS level 2, is networkable with a $10-15 10Base-T adapter (also eBay), spits out 12 crisp copies a minute, and always is supported by Apple drivers. Toner goes for $60 or less for new 6,000 page cartridges - enough to print a very long time for home use. Add to that the availability of 500-sheet feeders and even duplex printing adapters. It's the IINT (great old warhorse printer) of the 90's.

[This message has been edited by Jeff Hull (edited 07-13-2000).]

[Xyphoid Process]

Originally posted by Jeff Hull:
You may not be too interested, but my personal favorite is the LaserWriter 12/640 PS.
[This message has been edited by Jeff Hull (edited 07-13-2000).]

My experience with the 12/640 is that it was a piece of junk - flimsy design with easily-broken parts and always jamming. Had one at my last job - the paper tray didn't fit well, manual feed broke in the first month, envelopes didn't feed well and on a few occasions had to unscrew it to clear paper jams. Plus, the toner is hard to come by and expensive. Jeff's seems to have worked out better than ours.

The best Apple printers I have ever used were the LaserWriter Pro 630 and the LW 16/600. Both have the same engine, and are rock-solid pieces of engineering. Very few problems, always performed well and rarely jam. Also handle envelopes much better and use the very common 98A cartridge (same as a lot of HP Laserjets). That's another good choice - an HP Laserjet III or IV -series printer with ethernet and PS support is a good option.

Hope this helps.