[shmoolie]

Hi,

I've decided to replace my Epson R200 inkjet because I don't print in color. I'd like to go with a black and white laser printer and would like some recommendations. I have a new aluminum iMac running OS X 10.5.

My printing needs are fairly basic. Regular 8 x 11 pages of Word and Excel docs and checks from Quicken.

• Inexpensive (under $300 if possible)
• Quiet
• Decent - good quality prints
• Can print checks from Quicken
• USB (this will not be a shared printer so it won't need ethernet)
• Good support
• Non-quirky software

Thanks for the help.

[mduell]

HP still makes great laser printers.

HP LaserJet P1505 for $190 is the minimum, designed for 8k pages/mo

HP LaserJet P2015 for $250 is a little better (probably spend less overall on consumables), designed for 15k pages/mo

HP LaserJet P2015D for $280 if you want automatic duplex printing support

[slpdLoad]

I've had great luck with HP printers. The other brand that comes to mind with laser printers is Brother:

Brother International - Printers

[ghporter]

I like my Brother HL-2040. It cost about $70 after rebate from Office Depot (or was it Office Max?). Very nice prints. And basically ANY printer should be able to print ANY output from ANY app. Unless Quicken needs a specific resolution level for its checks, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're talking about printing on check stock, you need to pay attention to the secondary paper feed path.

[mduell]

I think what he meant by printing Quicken checks is that he needs a priority tray he can use to feed them in as necessary.

[CharlesS]

I remember when I looked at the Brother printers a few years ago that the Amazon reviews were all claiming that it curled pages really badly. Is this true, or just user reviews blowing things way out of proportion as usual?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

I remember when I looked at the Brother printers a few years ago that the Amazon reviews were all claiming that it curled pages really badly. Is this true, or just user reviews blowing things way out of proportion as usual?

They have at various points in time. I bought a Brother printer about 10 years ago that made a big deal on the package about having a straight paper path to avoid paper curling, so it was something they were aware of. Not sure if the latest crop add a lot of curl or not.

[ghporter]

The 2040 sitting behind me doesn't curl paper any worse than the high-dollar industrial printers at school. It doesn't come out like I'd ironed it, but it's not really curly.

This is a real issue in some cases though. If I had to flatten stuff before I put it in an envelope or presentation folder it would be a major PITA. Fortunately that's not the case.

A stand-by "priority" tray is something that most low cost printers lack. My printer has a manual feed slot for envelopes and labels and such, but it's just a slot-no tray. It works with what I use it for, but if I had to print repeatedly from something other than the main tray it would be a hassle.

[OreoCookie]

Stay away from cheap HP lasers, they're not a good deal IMO. Their more expensive brothers are decent, though. (I've owned several HP lasers myself, as did my parents. Now I have a Kyocera laser printer. I still use them regularly at work.)

If you need duplexing (printing on both sides), have a look at Kyocera's FS-1030D. Forget about the printing speed, the raw number doesn't really matter these days (usually you print only a few pages, so warm up time is much more significant than raw pages per minute.

Oki and Brother both make good, small printers. I would suggest you take a printer with Postscript, although they tend to be more expensive (this way, you don't need to ever worry about drivers or compatibility with a particular OS).

[naphtali]

I was in the same position a few weeks ago, looking for a new laser printer to replace my inkjet. I required colour prints, but I learnt some stuff while doing my homework:

- Going for a cheap model may not be cheap in the long run. Like with inkjets and shavers, the company will probably make its money off more expensive (lower yield toners, fusers etc) replaceable items.

- Cheque printing apparently is quite a problem with many printers. This alone narrowed down my choices because cheques here come in individual 90mm x 179mm pieces. I think it'd be best to go down to the brand showroom and test-print the exact paper size. But if you get it in sheets of three this will not be much of an issue

Looking at the product datasheets online may not be enough, as there could be some gotchas - The minimum paper sizes are frequently specified in a certain orientation, manual feed tray and normal paper tray have different minimums etc.


While it's tempting to go for the model that's cheaper right at the start, it'll save you more money to work out things like the cost per print (including fusers and other stuff)

The Samsung, Brother and HP models that I looked at, for example, worked out to be more expensive to maintain in the long run, and had rather poor prints. That said, any of these laser printers are most likely to be way cheaper than the cost of running the current inkjet.


If you can afford the time, I think it's worthwhile contacting the brands, arranging for meets where you can test-print and ask any questions, and have some calculations on costs per print.

Try looking at the Fuji Xerox/Lexmark or HP/Canon models. Those combinations share the same components, and were the most recommended of the lot. I'd lean more towards FX (I settled for one of their models), but that's based on my needs and HP/Canon not meeting them.

[ginoledesma]

I recently got a Brother HL-2040 (these are going on sale for very cheap), and I'm quite satisfied with it for home/basic office use. Text quality exceeds that of inkjet printers. But like inkjet printers, I notice that now the toner/drum cartridge cost far more than the initial investment of the unit itself. Still, at ~$60 for 2,500 pages, that's going to be cheaper in the long run than a similar inkjet printer.

I've also checked out with the Samsung ML-2010 and CLP-300 (colored printer) -- both are good for home/basic office use. They're also similarly priced for unit / toner /drum. Your local Staples/OfficeDepot should carry them on sale. If you're in the market for these printers, just make sure to double check they work on the Mac. Some of the cheap, HP LaserJets (e.g. 1018, 1020) that go on sale aren't Mac-compatible.

These printers should satisfy most of your requirements. On the note of check printing, check with the banks you deal with, as they may require that your checks be printed with MICR. This isn't an issue if they're pre-printed, however. Using Quicken 2006 and 2007, I haven't had problems printing checks on the standard check papers that I have.

Brother's support for the Mac is pretty good -- responsive customer support (phone and email), software is straightforward and easy to use (out of the box support for HL-2040 as well). I haven't had to deal with Samsung support yet. And they released updated software for the older ones a week or so after Leopard was released -- which is a plus in my book.

[ghporter]

Non-Brother cartridges for the 2040 are significantly less expensive than Brother-branded ones. I'm quite happy with my replacement, which cost around $50 at OfficeDepot.

[gunnar]

Any of these have a quick wake up time? Say 5 seconds?

[ghporter]

The Brother HL-2040 wakes up and begins printing from deep sleep in about 15 seconds.