Hi gang,

I've been looking for a great color laser printer for a while now and before I take the plunge I wanted to ask if anyone here has any good or bad laser printer experiences to share?

I'm considering one so I can test print small batches of postcards before having larger quantities professionally printed and came across a nice Okidata c3200n on sale at Staples for only $300 which really looks like a steal. Initial costs per color page are a little high (about $.20 per page) as the starter toner cartridges don't last that long, but I've heard these cartridges can easily be refilled at home and that should drop the costs to about $.05 a page for color.

Much thanks for any advice you can give me!

Steve

Hello Steve:

I personally use an HP Laserjet 3050 All-in-One. I'm very pleased with it.

You might also want to check these out as well:

Cnet laser printer reviews

PCworld laser printer reviews

PCmagazine laser Printer reviews


Dale King

Steve,

I use a Epson CX6600; copier, scanner, printer.

It prints great and at 123inkjets.com the refills run about $8 each. For around $30 I can get all my cartridges.

Normally, the less expensive the color printer the more expensive it is to print a page. Before buying my lasers I searched cost per print on many color lasers. Most sites never shared that info, but HP did:

Print cost calculator - HP Small & Medium Business

If you run the calulator with 30% coverage, which should be just about right for a full color 4 x 6 postcard, you'll see prices per print ranging from a low of 11 cents to a high of 24 cents. Normally these estimates are slightly on the low side.

You'll also see that the laser printer which produced the 24 cents a print (HP 2600) is also the cheapest laser printer ($359) and the laser printer that produced the cheapest print at 11 cents is the most expensive.

Trying to get 5 cents a color print on a color laser is impossible. In fact, B&W prints on a color laser cost about 5 cents each where monochrome lasers print them out at a penny.

I buy only HP toner because I (and my customers) demand great looking prints. When the Zones began carrying generic toner they sent me a magenta cartridge to test out. The quality of the color sucked. I can only image how terrible the prints would have looked using all generic cartridges. So, if you're going to be using your laser as a proofing device, you'd better stick with the manufacturers toner. I proof all my postcards on my HPs before sending them to a printer. The laser print matches the final printed product pretty darn close

If you want real eye popping proofs I'd go with Xerox (Tektronix) Phaser printers. They use solid ink and the prints come out with a shiny gloss to them. Lots of magazines use them to proof their pages before going press because of how close they'll match.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your comments and the great links you've provided!

My main reason for wanting a laser is to test mail different offers on postcards to different markets and see which gets me the best response before I commit to having a printer print them up by the thousands. I'm sure none of these will be real works of art, but I'm really interested in testing the copy more than anything else.

Hey Jay, er I mean Mr. Subtle , can I ask what HP printers you're using?

All the best,

Steve

I own 3 HP Color Laserjet 4550Ns.

If you want color (solid ink) printer then I'd look at the Xerox Phaser8500:

Xerox Phaser 8500/8550 color printers are professional grade for your office or desktop

It's only $499 after the $400 instant rebate. The "ink," unlike laser toner, prints with a shine to it and it's slightly raised. You'd be able to print your postcards on Kromkote coated 2 sided stock and the "ink" would stick and shine on the Kromkote for a real nice professional looking postcard. With laser toner you're limited to vellum bristol or index and the look is flat and dull and doesn't look professional at all.

Download the pdf on the page above which shows the cost per print. (It's pretty cheap for everyday use for B&W at 1.5 cents a print, but I'd add a penny to that number.) The output is just STUNNING compared to a color laser printer. This printer costs $200 more than the Phaser 6120 (below), but if you look at the cost per print you'll more than make up the difference in no time.

Again, the solid ink technology produces STUNNING looking prints. There's also less mess than with toner printers. I test drove a Phaser a few years ago and loved it. But, the cost per heavy color print was way more than what I was paying with my HPs and I print out a lot of heavy color/solid based prints every month.


If you want color laser (toner) printer then I'd look at the Xerox Phaser 6120:

Phaser 6120 Color Laser Printer has compact size and excellent color

It's only $299 after the instant rebate. Compare the cost per print with the low end HP and other printers.

Hey guys,

Thought I'd post a quick update and let you know I bought the okidata I mentioned this week and so far I'm quite impressed with it.

Total cost out the door at Staples was about $280 and I'm seeing about 14 pages per minute with some mixed color printing. The prints are very glossy and really look great, although I'm not used to reading black text that's that shiny and it's taking a little getting used to.

If anyone here is considering a color laser and would like a test print from my machine with a file of your own, just let me know and I'll print one up for you.

Steve

Below is from PC World's website review of the printer:

PC World - Oki Printing Solutions C3200n

"All of these factors make the estimated cost per page for this unit unusually high: 3.6 cents for black-and-white and 19.7 cents for color. If you plan to print a lot, this model's low up-front cost may not pay off in the end."

As I mentioned before. . .low upfront cost means high cost per print. The 19.7 cents for color is always a low end estimate. Add a few extra cents to that. Also, these estimates for color prints are usually at 20% coverage. In the real world you'll be printing 30% coverage (at least) on most prints.

The Xerox Phaser 8500 prints at 10.4 cents per color page at 20% coverage. On printing just 1000 copies per month at 20% coverage the difference is $93.00. Over a period of a year that comes out to $1116.00. Think of it as getting 372 gallons of gas FREE by using the Phaser. The Phaser costs only $200 more than the Oki (after the $400 rebate).

On B&W prints you're paying 44% than you would with the Phaser.