Time for a new printer

Akrovah

Hey guys,

I am looking into a new printer and am seriously considering a color laser to cut down on overall operating costs. I am having a hard time, however, finding any sites that give a good comparison on color print quality between the two types of printing. I was wondering if any of you have worked with injet and color laser side by side and if you had any recommendations for all-in-one models (aside from don't buy one:), space wise, I don't have much of a choice.)

Thanks.

Random Chaos

Well, in terms of inkjets I can give some suggestions:

- Avoid Epson. Their printers are designed to be serviced for a nice, pricy price every couple years. Furthermore, their print heads tend not to last, and it is cheaper to replace the printer than replace the print head. My previous printer was Epson. Bad experience, and I'm not alone from what I read up when mine failed in about 1.5 years.

- Avoid HP. Printers are good, but they gouge you on the ink prices.

- Avoid Lexmark. Print quality is rather poor from what I've read, and the ink isn't cheap.

- Canon is good. I have one, and it is quite good, with high print quality. Canon adds emphasis on the little things, such as those that make the printer more servicable like user-replaceable print head, built in duplexing, etc. Plus the ink prices are just about one of the best.

Biggles

For inkjets, I recommend Canon.

I don't know much about colour lasers, but they appear to be still on the expensive side for decent quality. Probably only worth it if you're going to be doing a [i]lot[/i] of colour printing.

shadow boxer

Colour control systems have advanced so much these days its rarely an issue anymore. You can add your own colour profiles and so forth to tweak your output to your liking. You can quite literally go from 0-100% of any toner if you wish, so the colour adjustment is upto you and your eye.

If you have the cash, go with the laser. Canon is the best in this regard, followed closely by Konica believe it or not, but thats in the uber big stuff.

Buy a Canon laser.

Inkjets suck so hard its not funny. I hate having very expesnive ink tanks clog because of non-constant use. If you leave them too long, even brand new ones will block and screw up. Lasers on the other hand, arent quite so fussy. They are much harder to kill and go a very long time between toner refills.

I worked in a colour laser printing business for a long while. I do actually know what I'm talking about. :)

Sanfam

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Random Chaos [/i]
[B]Well, in terms of inkjets I can give some suggestions:

- Avoid Epson. Their printers are designed to be serviced for a nice, pricy price every couple years. Furthermore, their print heads tend not to last, and it is cheaper to replace the printer than replace the print head. My previous printer was Epson. Bad experience, and I'm not alone from what I read up when mine failed in about 1.5 years.

- Avoid HP. Printers are good, but they gouge you on the ink prices.

- Avoid Lexmark. Print quality is rather poor from what I've read, and the ink isn't cheap.

- Canon is good. I have one, and it is quite good, with high print quality. Canon adds emphasis on the little things, such as those that make the printer more servicable like user-replaceable print head, built in duplexing, etc. Plus the ink prices are just about one of the best. [/B][/QUOTE]

Seconding everything here, except for Lexmark. Lexmark's color lasers are actually pretty good and are relatively affordable. Construction is high-quality, and inks are of low cost. But everything else is crap.

Canon's inkjets have repeatedly impressed me recently. Long gone are the days of the troublesome, expensive-to-maintain bubblejets. I'm in love with the Pixma 4000 my sister has.

Akrovah

Well, cost under $1000.00 is no object, I'm doing this research for my boss at one of my jobs, which is a home office place, but the family does all thier printing on the same printer, so they need something with a good buisiness/Photo/report balance and wanted to know if the color lasers were worth the price. Thanks for your guy's help, and please, keep it comming if you have more.

PSI-KILLER

Had an HP PSC950 for 5 years never once had a problem with built in fax, scanner, printer, copier with photos or text.

Random Chaos

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PSI-KILLER [/i]
[B]Had an HP PSC950 for 5 years never once had a problem with built in fax, scanner, printer, copier with photos or text. [/B][/QUOTE]

Old HPs were excellent.

New HPs suck.

========

Sanfam - What I read about the Lexmark was the color quality was very low on their inks, and I'm talking just about Inkjets, not lasers.

I also have a Canon Pixma 4000. Excellent printer. I just wish there was a print mode "force pigment tank for black" becuase I still can't always get it to use the pigment tank when I want it to.

Sanfam

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Random Chaos [/i]
[B]Old HPs were excellent.

New HPs suck.

========

Sanfam - What I read about the Lexmark was the color quality was very low on their inks, and I'm talking just about Inkjets, not lasers.

I also have a Canon Pixma 4000. Excellent printer. I just wish there was a print mode "force pigment tank for black" becuase I still can't always get it to use the pigment tank when I want it to. [/B][/QUOTE]

The lexmarks are pretty god awful, yes.

New HP Color lasers: Trash. Hell, most new HP Lasers are pretty weak...but a bonus is that old LJ4000/LJ8000's can be found relatively cheap in decent condition on the second-hand market.