[Jefe]

Okay.. I'm getting skeptical about Epson ever releasing a driver for my 5700i laser printer..so I guess I should begin a hunt to get an OSX-compatible printer. I bought the Epson for $250 and it would be very nice to stay in a not too disant price point.

Also, the ability to somehow print over Airport would be an added bonus, though not necessity.

Any ideas are appreciated!

[mgl]

Originally posted by Jefe:
<STRONG>Okay.. I'm getting skeptical about Epson ever releasing a driver for my 5700i laser printer..so I guess I should begin a hunt to get an OSX-compatible printer. I bought the Epson for $250 and it would be very nice to stay in a not too disant price point.

Also, the ability to somehow print over Airport would be an added bonus, though not necessity.

Any ideas are appreciated!</STRONG>

I've been looking for a new laser, too.

- The HP LaserJet 1200 SE is compatible but it's about $400. It has PostScript emulation which is a nice cross-platform safety factor. I like HP and you know they'll be in the market and writing drivers for years.

- I saw the Samsung ML-1250 for around $240 and Samsung have a beta driver for OS X on their site. And the Samsung printer looks nice whereas the LaserJet 1200 is the ugliest HP printer in years. I have an old LaserJet 6L for my PC and it is much better styled although not Mac compatible.

You can find out about the beta samsung driver from here:
http://samsungelectronics.com/printe...381_file5.html

[Eug]

Originally posted by mgl:
<STRONG>I saw the Samsung ML-1250 for around $240 and Samsung have a beta driver for OS X on their site. And the Samsung printer looks nice whereas the LaserJet 1200 is the ugliest HP printer in years. I have an old LaserJet 6L for my PC and it is much better styled although not Mac compatible.</STRONG>

Dunno about that specific model, but at least for the ML-4600 the Samsung beta X driver does not work with my iBook in 10.1.2. It hasn't been updated since Sept. either I believe.

[ 01-14-2002: Message edited by: Eug ]

[Jefe]

Does anyone know if the Apple Personal LaserWriter 300 is compatible with X? Apple says drivers included with the original X were for the PLW 320.

Originally posted by Eug:
<STRONG>
Dunno about that specific model, but at least for the ML-4600 the Samsung beta X driver does not work with my iBook in 10.1.2. It hasn't been updated since Sept. either I believe.

[ 01-14-2002: Message edited by: Eug ]</STRONG>

Actually that driver was from Dec.

However, as of today, there is updated driver that has been posted on their website. It apparently supports all of their current machines, ie. unified driver. One guy here has said it works with his machine with an ML-4600.

[oranjdisc]

You could save some serious cash and pick up an older laser printer on ebay. I bought a HP LaserJet 4M off ebay that's at least 4-5 years old. I payed around $100 for it. The printer never worked all that well with OS 9, but HOLY COW, I plugged it running OSX with a USB --&gt; Parallel Port adapter, and Print Center recognized it instantly. I'm printing all kinds of stuff to it, and the prints are perfect from every application (except any Classic apps).

Anyway, if all you're using is X, seriously consider buying an older LaserJet. That is, unless your boss is paying for it or something.

[slimshady023]

Hey Jefe,

I'm kinda looking into the same thing as yourself, and recently came across a Brother HL-1440 laser printer. It's a 15ppm printer, 1200 x 600 dpi, and has both System9 / MAC OSX drivers. Also, cnet.com has given it a glowing review (8/10), and user opinions on it are all pretty positive. Check it out.

At Staples.com, it retails for $250. I hope this helps.

- Slim

[mgl]

Originally posted by slimshady023:
<STRONG>Hey Jefe,

I'm kinda looking into the same thing as yourself, and recently came across a Brother HL-1440 laser printer. It's a 15ppm printer, 1200 x 600 dpi, and has both System9 / MAC OSX drivers. Also, cnet.com has given it a glowing review (8/10), and user opinions on it are all pretty positive. Check it out.

At Staples.com, it retails for $250. I hope this helps.

- Slim</STRONG>

I just read the review of it on zdnet.com, which is probably the same one you read. They loved it except for the consumable cost and setup process. I was really thinking about the Samsung ML-1250 which already has an OS X beta driver, but the review said the graphics were noticeably banded. I remember looking at printers when buying my last HP and the HP was just so much better than the others for quality. I think I might go do a test page on the Samsung down at Microcenter and compare it to the LaserJet 1200se. The HP might be $150 more and kind of ugly, but if the quality blows the Samsung away, I'd have to buy it.

Mike

[drjoe]

I have a Laserwriter IIg that is about 10-11 years old. It still works perfectly and works the same was in OSX. Yes it's kind of big and clunky but you can read that as sturdy. It may be buried with me at this rate. I wonder what the going price for these things is??

[daimoni]

.

[mgl]

I've done a bit of research on low-end lasers for OS X. I still haven't decided which one I'll buy to replace the HP LaserJet 6L attached to my PC which has been excellent.

LaserJet 1200:
- ugly
- takes up a lot of desk space compared to competitors (horz paper tray design)
- lots of people report severe paper curl problems
- excellent quality (1200dpi)

Brother 1440:
- not enough ram for 1200x600, need to add ram or just buy the better valued 1450

Brother 1450:
- same as 1440 but with more ram.
- very small but deceptively so; paper tray sticks out back of printer and will collect dust bunnies since it's not covered. very poor design
- separate toner and drum, like ancient lasers
- small toner cartridge, high per-page costs
- good quality (1200x600)

Samsung ML-1250
- good quality but not as good as the HP or Brother
- very small and it decent design; vertical paper orientiation
- relatively small paper slots; not great for large volume printing

I'm leaning towards the Samsung based on online reviews and user postings. But I'm going to go down to a store and do test prints on all of them. When I bought my HP LJ 6L, the magazines recommended the NEC Superscript over it, but printer tests showed that the NEC had banding while the HP didn't. HP makes great printers but it seems that the design of the 1200 ignores lessons learned in previous models (re-introduced the old paper curl issue, takes up a lot more desk space, etc)

Mike

I have the ML-4600, now discontinued. The OS X driver works, but it's slow.

BTW, I had the HP LJ 5L and it's sitting in my closet - toast. It was not very good for long before that, since shortly after the warranty ended it started loading 2-3 pages of paper each feed. Not impressed.