New Printer

burg

So I've had my existing colour laser MFP for a few years and the drum is near the end of its life. Time to replace the printer then as it's more cost effective than a replacement drum.

I'm looking for the following:-

Colour laser printer
Good print quality
Automatic Duplex
Networkable

If any of you have any recommendations I would be glad to hear from you.

I have a couple in mind based in my research but wanted to see what you guys think.

Monsoon

I don't know, as I don't do colour.

But, my printers have just packed up so I am in the same boat. Spent all morning trying to buy one and after finding the one I want £50 cheaper at Viking but it's out of stock, I now don't want to pay £50 more to get it elsewhere. Grr. I'm not even convinced it's the right one, I hate buying electronics!!

I got confused because I was looking at an Epson, but a review said the equivalent Kyocera was cheaper to run - but the toner cost was double on the Kyo for same number of pages, so I don't even know if that was reliable!

My current Laser printers are Brother and HP and I can't argue with either and would by both brands again. I know Kyocera is a good make too but it seems toner is really expensive for it.

I now ought to get some work done as I've wasted too much time on this this morning!! Hope you find something, and I'd be interested to hear if you have any recommendations for a mono duplex 2-tray laser.

burg

Well I've gone for an option.

I've bought a Dell 1320cn based on reviews from PC Pro. It cost me £130 and print cost are around 1p mono and 7p colour. Doesn't have duplex but considerably cheaper than my other options which were:-

Dell 3130CDN £315 print costs slightly more
Kyocera FS-C5250DN £425 but slightly cheaper print costs.

Decided I would risk the cheaper one and see how it goes.

Pc Pro have a good review on these mono's

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/printers/252217/kyocera-fs-1350dn
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/printers/252226/dell-2330dn

First one appears to have been discontinued.

Second one is here http://www.printerland.co.uk/Dell-2330d-P6101.aspx
Price is £142 or £158 with duplex.
A second paper tray can be added for £95
All inc VAT.

Pint costs are about 1p per sheet so pretty good.

Drum will last 30,000 pages and is only £54. Although with a Kyocera you don't need replacement drums so an additional cost that can be avoided.

Monsoon

Thanks Ian

The Kyo you linked is the one I mentioned above; I just didn't get what they were saying about low running costs - the toner is twice the price of the HP, Brother and Epson models I looked at. Shame, because other than that it looks like a good printer.

I hadn't considered a Dell. Might be worth a look!

Think I'm going to leave it til tomorrow now, done no work today

Glad you chose something, hope it works out for you!

burg

Print costs are always based on high yield toners and the expected pages vary between printers. The Kyocera one at £82 expects 7,200 pages. Obviously I don't know about the others you mention.

The others will all need replacement drums usually every 30,000 pages or so where as the kyocera's don't.

Monsoon

Hmm. 30,000 pages is what, 60 reams of paper? I know I use a lot of paper but I reckon no more than 20 reams a year, if that (less with duplex!!). So 3 years til a drum needs replacing.

I've had my Brother HL2030 for about 4-5 years and not needed a drum yet.

I think the thing that bugs me about the Kyo is you can't get compatible toners, yet you can with HP etc, so I'm not sure how the cost translates, as I would buy compatibles for anything else.

I've now decided to look at an integrated all in one so I can actually scan without having to crawl under my desk to use the ancient flatbed I've got stashed under there.

What with emails and phone calls as well, I've got nothing else done today.

And I've still not got a printer!!!!! Ah well..........................

blobbyh

I had a Dell 1320 at my old place. Bloody heavy but produced fast and decent quality prints, however I do have to say that it was a pretty unreliable machine, having to be repaired about two or three times and replaced once in just over two years. Dell also kindly left the broken machine behind for me to dispose of myself - nice!

From what I remember also make sure you have spare toners. If you ignore the low toner warnings thinking you'll be okay for a while, the machine will eventually shut itself off!

Monsoon

I went with what to me is a 'known brand' and bought an Epson Aculaser last night after all of that. Fingers crossed it's ok!

Agree on the toner comment Robert, though saying that I thought I had spares for the ones here and I can't find any

burg

Thanks for the heads up Robert. I had seen some reviews mentioning the Printer Head problems but still so many positive reviews. I thought at £130 give it a go and see and if it breaks so what! Still got my back up plans. I always stock spare toners for that just in case so no worries there.

Jenni glad you made a decision. Personally I would avoid all in ones. Can perform all functions but rarely good at all. Mine was an ok scanner and copier but lacked print quality.

Now my new printer has arrived I can see the lack of print quality even more!

Monsoon

burg wrote: »

Jenni glad you made a decision. Personally I would avoid all in ones. Can perform all functions but rarely good at all. Mine was an ok scanner and copier but lacked print quality.

Yeah I decided it was far too complicated. I have an allinone that I use as a photocopier, and the scanner function hasn't worked for ages (software issue). I think I should fix the software on that one as it's an ok scanner!

burg

Good quality second hand form feed scanners are readily available on Ebay for not a lot of money.

I picked up a £350 scanner for just over £70 which works fine and in good condition.

Monsoon

burg wrote: »

Good quality second hand form feed scanners are readily available on Ebay for not a lot of money.

I picked up a £350 scanner for just over £70 which works fine and in good condition.

Wow that's cool!

we've got this at the moment



I'm sure it's great, it just has annoying drivers!

I have an archaic old style flatbed under my desk which i actually use for scanning, the above is a glorified photocopier

burg

The one I got hold of was a HP Scanjet 5590 with duplexing unit.

My Sh!@ MFP was a Sumsung CLX2160n which did the same as for you. Took little space and could function, poorly, but usefully as a scanner, photocopier, and printer.

Separate devices may take up more space but is much better quality wise. My scanning now takes now time and as it has a form feeder I don't need to wait by it to put the next sheet in. I just simply load it up press start and let it get on with it.

Monsoon

Yep, I think I'm going to persevere with my all-in-one (read: bribe my boyfriend to get it working!!) as it has a form feeder and in theory should be good.

I actually have 4 units:
Basic Brother mono later (not working)
Basic HP mono laser (not working)
HP all in one 6300 colour inkjet
Dymo label printer

I'm now hoping I don't have lots of printing to do the rest of this week as we are stuck printing to the inkjet.

I've got a block of 3 desks in the office, and I had one desk spare that was a little tatty; I chopped it in half lengthways (i.e. made it slimmer) and it tucks between the window and the desk block, works quite well space wise and the printers live on that.