Inexpensive but good laser printer?...

[catso]

My Son is at University and needs a decent quality but not expensive mono laser printer. He can print at the Uni but they charge him and it's not always convenient so wants something for his student grunge pit house.

Any recommendations for something reasonable quality that will last? Found this at £50; http://www.ebuyer.com/415287-lexmark-ms310dn-33ppm...

Leaves plenty of cash for student essentials (beer & food) but is it any good?...

[Whitefly Swatter]

What you should be asking is "What cheep toner".

I payed £109 for an Epson only to find out the toner was £120 and they only last for 1000 pages ( so they say)

[Tom_C76]

Consumables for Lexmark gear normally cost the earth.

[marshalla]

Samsung. I've been using a colour CLX3175 as my workhorse for about 5 years now. Toner cartridges are relatively cheap (£15 to £25 depending on where you get them from) and it seems rock solid.

[catso]

Tom_C76 said:

Consumables for Lexmark gear normally cost the earth.

Yes, that was the case with inkjets. I was once given a Lexmark inkjet (with no ink) only to find that replacement cartridges cost as much or more than a decent printer with ink included.

I have an Epson colour laser in my office and the genuine toner cartridges are eye-wateringly expensive but I am using some cheapo compatibles that seem fine - don't know if you can get similar for Lexmark?

So I suppose I'm looking for something reliable with low running costs but no more than £80 - £100 to buy, especially as I'll probably be buying it...

[Tonsko]

As above, instead of looking for the up front cost, you need to investigate price per page.

[catso]

Tonsko said:

As above, instead of looking for the up front cost, you need to investigate price per page.

The add claims 1.6p/page but a replacement (genuine) toner costs £37, claiming 2.6p/page. I've no idea what is good or bad in terms of per page. My printer cost me around £500 IIRC (but is also photocopy/fax) but the toner lasts for ages.

[Hoofy]

Someone (might have been on PH?) recently suggested getting the cheapest one, using it and then giving it away when the toner runs out.

[davepoth]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-4L-PRINTER-/371148451...

Something like this. The HP Laserjet 4 and 4000 series were so good they came close to killing HP. You still see them in offices all over the world, and crucially the toner is cheap.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hewlett-Packard-laserjet-c...

Connectivity is a bit of an issue these days since they want a parallel instead of USB connection, but you can get connectors for that.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NEWLink-USB-Parallel-Print...

[Man-At-Arms]

davepoth said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-4L-PRINTER-/371148451...

Something like this. The HP Laserjet 4 and 4000 series were so good they came close to killing HP. You still see them in offices all over the world, and crucially the toner is cheap.

they were bomb proof printers
however are the printer drivers available for todays Operating Systems

I've got an Olivetti d284 that work was going to chuck out, running very nicely in my office at home (using Win7)
BUT . . . can I find a Win8 driver, can I feck !!

[sgrimshaw]

This is the later version of the one I have:

http://www.printerbase.co.uk/acatalog/samsung-m283...

A non-wifi one is here:

http://www.printerbase.co.uk/acatalog/samsung-m282...

Both are network, auto-duplex and importantly the toners are not overly expensive (and they seem to last forever!)

[badgerade]

I bought a HP colour laser from a refurb company on eBay for £50. Toners were half full and I've just replaced the black with an aftermarket for £25. From memory it's a cp3505 - plugged into the router and everyone in the house can print to it (mix of w7 and w8) Downside is it's massive!

[bristolracer]

Ive got this one

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9...

its also an all in one so its got a scanner and a copier on it too which is useful.I can print off my phone tablet etc too.

Cartridges are £35 but are supposed to do 2500 copies. If you are feeling in a green mood they have a freepost to return empty cartridges

I got the printer and a cartridge on one of those argos spend £100 get a £10 voucher weekends that they do sometimes

[Turn7]

Been using a b&w HP P1005 for a few years.

Bought one genuine toner so far - about £40....

[catso]

Well, I sent him a link to the Lexmark as an example of what is available and he's gone and bought it.

So good or bad that's what he's got, that said at under £50, even if he just uses up the toner and then throws it away it'll still be cheaper than buying 'printer credit' for the University printing service and 1500 pages maybe enough to see him through the next 2 years...

[TotalControl]

Have a look at Oki printers too.

[Paul S4]

Bought a Samsung ML2165 a couple of years ago; B&W only, but the initial toner lasted a long time ( surprisingly!).
It will have been updated by now, but I am happy with it. Bought from Amazon for about £60 and it is quite compact.

[davepoth]

Man-At-Arms said:

they were bomb proof printers
however are the printer drivers available for todays Operating Systems

Yes, they are. It's a useful fallback driver - all the HP laser printers will work with it as far as I know, as well as a lot of other printers.

[Digger]

Kyocera still any good?

[jmorgan]

I looked at the expected yield for the cartridges before I bought the Samsung (with wifi).

Did a spread sheet to compare costs, all the info is out there, just have to do the leg work. The upshot is the cost per page for mine taking into consideration the amount I use it, expected yield etc. The seemingly expensive toner works out far cheaper in the long run. The irony is it is cheaper to bin the printer rather than but a full set of cartridges.

But it works and the quality is good for my needs. I am not doing photo's anymore, cheaper to take the card to telco etc. And it is far cheaper than the inkiest I was looking at especially that heap of junk Kodak I had.


Edit. Also looked at duty cycle on the various models and took that into consideration.

Edited by jmorgan on Wednesday 1st October 07:57