[CharlesS]

This thread is obviously inspired by the inkjet one - but in my case, I'm looking for a laser. For some time, my old Epson inkjet has been exhibiting the clogging problem described in the other thread, to the extent that since its ink cartridges ran out, I have been having trouble justifying buying any more ink for it, since a whole lot of that ink gets wasted in the constant cleaning process. So for a while I've been without a printer, and have been meaning to get around to getting a new one sometime or other. So, I'm looking for recommendations. Here's what I'm looking for:

1. A printer with a good pages/cost ratio for the toner cartridges

2. Something that will primarily be used for printing text

3. Being able to occasionally print something in color would be nice, although I don't need photo-quality printing

4. A network interface would be nice, but is probably not strictly necessary

5. It would be nice for it not to be too huge, as I live in a tiny apartment

These requirements suggest that a laser printer is probably what I want, but currently I'm undecided whether I should get a color laser or a regular B/W laser. Color printing would definitely be nice to have and would save me some major hassles at certain times of year, but a lot of the black toner cartridges for the color lasers seem to be a lot more expensive per page than the ones for the B/W lasers are (the price of the color toner cartridges is less of a concern, since I obviously wouldn't even have those on a B/W laser). So basically, I'm wondering - are there any color lasers that are at least in the same ballpark as a B/W laser for cost-effectiveness with B/W printing? If so, does anyone have any recommendations as to a particularly good one? Thanks!

[Spheric Harlot]

From what I gather: no.

If you want something that can print decent photos that's not inkjet, you're looking at dye-sublimation and clear into four-figure sums.

So I hear.

[CharlesS]

As I mentioned, I don't need photo-quality printing, and will not be printing photos. If I ever need to print photos for some reason, I am perfectly fine with taking a USB flash drive to a print shop (or just using the Kodak service in iPhoto).

I'd like color more for the ability to add a touch of color to a document and the like - very low-end color usage, for which a laser would do just fine. I'm just wondering if there are any color lasers whose toner economy for the B/W cartridge isn't horrible compared to those for B/W lasers, since B/W is the majority of what I'll be doing with color playing second fiddle.

[Spheric Harlot]

The Oki boxes are alright, but their drivers are a little iffy.

HP doesn't actually make laser printers (they rebox Oki and others' units), but their drivers are better than Oki's.

[OreoCookie]

Oki makes great color laser jets. As long as they have postscript, there is no need to worry about drivers. (In any case, a laser printer should have postscript.)

[CharlesS]

Thanks for the tip! Oki's cheaper printers don't seem that special, but when you get to the 5000 and 6000 series, the cost of the consumables seems to drop sharply. For this one, you can apparently get a 5000-page black toner cartridge for $60, which is 1.2¢ per page. That's almost as good as the old LaserJet 5!

The price for this toner is even better - 0.88¢ per page - but appears to be only for Okidata's previous, now discontinued lineup. The low price might just be because of Newegg, though, in which case there might be toner this cheap for the new models once Newegg gets it. Or I could just get an old model used/refurbished.

Hmm...

[Spheric Harlot]

The c5000/6000 are BIG.

And ****-ugly.

But they work quite well.

[CharlesS]

Hm, you are right - I checked the dimensions, and they do seem to be quite large (although I don't care about ugly). I guess I'd have to get some measuring tape out to see whether I could find a place for it.

Do you know of any smaller ones that still have non-horrible prices for consumables?

[CharlesS]

Aaaaand I've just been told that HP's printers somehow don't require the drum or fuser to be replaced, whereas the Oki (and others) do. Anyone know if that's true? Because if so, it would probably put HP way ahead in consumable cost, even if the actual toner prices are higher.

[OreoCookie]

With HPs, the drum is an integral part of the cartridge and replaced every time you replace the toner. The drum is replaced a lot, lot more often with HPs than with most competitors. For larger HP printers, there is a maintenance kit, but I couldn't tell you whether the fuser is part of that kit. BTW, the maintenance kit doesn't usually last as long as specified (lasted little longer than half of the specified 300,000 pages with our LaserJet 4250).

Companies that allow you to separately replace toner and drum kit are usually a lot cheaper in consumables (even if you add the costs of the drum). On my private laser printer, I'm still on my first drum! (Specified to last 100,000 pages, although, for me, that means it last as long as the printer does.) So unless you're printing really a lot, it could mean that you don't have to worry about replacing the drum at all.