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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Low-end Laser Printer Rec.

Low-end Laser Printer Rec.
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indigoimac
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Jul 7, 2010, 10:38 PM
 
I feel this question should be asked more often -- so here we go again. I'm looking for a light-medium duty network b&w laser printer. Seems the Brothers and Samsungs pretty much reign in the budget segment (~$100) so any particular recommendations -- any particular thought on refurb / 3rd party toner for them as well?

Thanks!
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AKcrab
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Jul 7, 2010, 10:45 PM
 
We use one of these at work: All Products | Printers | Lexmark E260dn |Lexmark

And while I HATED my lexmark inkjet I had a number of years ago, their laser printers seem pretty damn good.
     
mduell
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Jul 8, 2010, 12:28 AM
 
brother HL-2140 $111 shipped from Amazon

Snow Leopard supported
     
Dex13
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Jul 8, 2010, 01:31 AM
 
I have the HL 2040, i got it about 2.5 years ago and its still running strong. It was about $50 at the time on sale at Staples, but it sure is an awesome personal printer. It took me 2 years to run out of the "tester" toner they add in the box, and at the time I was printing tons of paper (I was still in college).

5/5 Stars IMO.

But I never bought 3rd party toner because I always read reviews of people having the toner explode inside and ruining the printer temporarily until they cleaned it out (if you could).
     
Big Mac
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Jul 8, 2010, 04:55 AM
 
I've been very happy with my low-end Lexmark e120, but I think it was discontinued in favor of the slightly fuller featured, pricier E260.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
ghporter
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Jul 8, 2010, 12:54 PM
 
Originally Posted by Dex13 View Post
I have the HL 2040, i got it about 2.5 years ago and its still running strong. It was about $50 at the time on sale at Staples, but it sure is an awesome personal printer. It took me 2 years to run out of the "tester" toner they add in the box, and at the time I was printing tons of paper (I was still in college).

5/5 Stars IMO.

But I never bought 3rd party toner because I always read reviews of people having the toner explode inside and ruining the printer temporarily until they cleaned it out (if you could).
I completely concur with Dex. My HL2040 has been solid and reliable, got me through grad school and then some, and is still chugging along. It is not silent when running, nor is it rated in dozens of pages per minute, but it works fine as a personal/family laser.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
indigoimac  (op)
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Jul 8, 2010, 03:51 PM
 
Any thoughts on the networkable version of that brother -- the 2170w? I might use the wireless but the wired would be handy.
15" MacBook Pro 2.0GHz i7 4GB RAM 6490M 120GB OWC 6G SSD 500GB HD
15" MacBook Pro 2.4GHz C2D 2GB RAM 8600M GT 200GB HD
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ghporter
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Jul 8, 2010, 05:39 PM
 
No, sorry. I have my 2040 plugged into a hub that's plugged into my AEBS, so it's "networked" already.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Veltliner
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Jul 9, 2010, 04:27 AM
 
I still have an old HP Laserjet 6MP, and it's still printing wonderfully.

I have to use a print server to print from Snow Leopard, but the print quality is so high I'm not letting go of it.

Downside: large file sizes take forever to load into the printers' memory. I got it "used" *less than 4000 pages printed through craigslist about six years ago.
     
   
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