[vcf-midatlantic] OT: Color Laser Printer Recommendation

[Dean Notarnicola]

Seconded on the hp or brother color lj. Less maintenance and much lower
cost per page.

On Fri, Jun 5, 2020 at 2:57 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

> On 6/5/20 2:18 PM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
> > So I've been using HP inkjet printers for years. I haven't had any big
> > problems with these until recently, but it seems the quality of inkjets
> has
> > steadily declined over the years. I haven't had problems like I have
> now. I
> > have two HP Photosmart 6520s and now the black ink is clogged. I followed
> > some procedures to unclog it with no success. I will continue working on
> > it. It is likely I will keep these printers for the document scanning
> > feature, but it is likely that I will go get a color laser printer.
> >
> > Ian Primus who fixes printers for a living recommended laser printers
> over
> > inkjet even though they tend to be more expensive. Inkjets tend to get
> > clogged and have issues.
> >
> > Here are a few that Consumer Reports rates highly:
> > HP Color LaserJet Pro M452nw printer
> > Brother HL-L3230CDW printer
> > Canon Color imageCLASS LBP622Cdw printer
> >
> > Does anyone recommend any particular models or brands?
>
>   I don't fix printers for a living, but I did many years ago.  Now, I
> just do a LOT of printing, on many printers.
>
>   Very nearly universally, ink jet printers are garbage.  They are built
> to generate supplies revenue and provide the smallest degree of value to
> the customer that the manufacturer can get away with.  This is true of
> most consumer-grade equipment, of course, but it is especially true of
> ink jet printers.
>
>   These days, my main color printer is an HP Color Laserjet 5550DTN, and
> my main mono printer is a Xerox WorkCentre 4260.  I recommend both
> wholeheartedly.  These are both $5K+ high-volume printers, but I got
> them both on the surplus market, one for free and the other for less
> than $200.  It's really nice to not have to worry about printers, and
> just print.
>
>   Either way, I would not recommend buying one new.  Let someone else
> have the moment of thrill from opening the box.  Get a real printer (not
> consumer garbage), and it will be supported for a very long time for
> supplies and such.  It's the difference between a fifteen year old
> Mercedes and a brand new Yugo.
>
>   I'm reminded of a funny story.  I will never forget a conversation I
> had with a guy back when I lived in Florida.  He was thinking about a
> new printer, because his ink jet was "over a year old now" and thus
> surely needed to be replaced.  I ignored the obvious stupidity there.
> He asked me what printer I use, which at the time was an HP LaserJet
> 8150DN, a laser printer.  He asked how much toner cartridges cost, and I
> told him about $125.  He screamed (actually screamed) "OH MY GOD!!"  He
> then informed me that I must be insane, and I obviously know nothing
> about computing.
>
>   Heh.
>
>   I explained that that single $125 toner cartridge was good for 30,000
> pages, which was more than the entire service life of his ink jet printer.
>
>   He didn't get it.  I don't talk to him anymore.
>
>              -Dave
>
> --
> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
> New Kensington, PA
>