Any cost-efficient recent color laser printers?

[cesarcafe]

Thanks a lot for all your advice, and sorry for not replying sooner. In case this can help anybody, I finally decided to invest a bit more and get a "real" substitute for my previous inkjet (by "real" I mean feature-wise, although quality-wise is not a substitute but a real improvement). My previous inkjet could print A3 in color, but not only A3 but also banners with A3 width. So, I went for the OKI C844, a color-laser printer that can print A3, as well as banners. Yes, expensive, but I think I did the right choice, because I print far more black than color, and I got all the color toner I'll use in many years (the original cartridges plus a high-capacity color set), and then the black toner is not expensive. It's working perfectly and I'm very happy with it. No more worries about the injectors getting dried.

Yes, it takes space on the desk, and you need a desk capable of resisting its weight. But, as I said, I'm very happy with it. It's a fabulous printer.

[oiaohm]

For the environment (cost and space) it’s better not to buy but print in a copy shop (if you need it from time to time) o.O

I have mono lasers and use print/copy shops for photos and colors. It stupid when you work out the light usage running of inkjet(the part used cartridges you have to throw away) you can afford to buy a 200 page A4 bound full colour book from a print shop every year and still ahead.

I have not come across a single financial document that needs to be in color so I might as well have the largest black toner I can in a compact printing space. I have got fairly despicable at doing my printed Christmas cards in mono printers grey scale.

For anyone doing lot of print work need a color printer also need to really keep some budget for calibration as well. Its horrible annoying a new printer inkjet cartridge will most likely be from a different batch of ink so a slightly different color to what you had before so it recalibrate. Yes you have ink tank and ink cartridge options with printers as well. There are some consumer ink tank printers now like the Canon PIXMA Endurance.

Still even the inkjet tank printers if you print less than 1 once per week they are not recommend due to what is called ink dry out or splitting. If you are doing serous color work in volume the inkjet tank printers are absolutely worth it over the long term. Large volume of ink less number of times needing to calibrate. Inkjet tank printers normally get you around the 600 dollar mark these days.

Fun its inks are not inks either.

Lot of people are not aware they should be putting a sealer on inkjet prints to make them last.

There are lots and lots of costs to proper color work. Between needing volume to use inkjet so bad things don't happen to the head, The 500 dollars you really should at least spend on calibration tools for monitor and printer so they are both on the same page. Yes the calibration tools are good even if you are just prepping up stuff to take to a print/copy shop to reduce goof count.

Lot of ways people invest are investing in a good color printer before they have the calibration tools to be able to set monitor and printer right to get good results. A good set of calibration tools is normally something that will do you for a decade or two.

Serous first question is do you really need color printing? Doing color printing and getting repeatable decent results is not just buying a color printer. Getting decent results also requires understanding the limitations of the printer.

I know quite a few business that do small batch runs of color jobs for different events spread out over the year that have color laser for the proofing stages and for the final prints by inkjet done in a print shop. Reason they had way too many inkjet failures due to the inkjet sitting around not doing anything. But they were using your bigger color photocopy units.

Please note even with a color laser to get somewhere near decent results you still need calibration tools.

Batan so its not just cost and space. Color printing well requires a lot more knowledge and processes that must be followed to get decent results all the time. Yes knowledge pushes you away from inkjets to lasers in the low volume cases.

Inkjets are fairly much a high volume tool. Being a high volume tool inkjets with cartridges never really made sense.

Inkjet cartridges really come about by attempting to make equal quality to a print/copy shop using high end printers at home. Please note attempting its not really been working. There are somethings in color that liquid inks can generate that laser powder ink can never do. Yes your high end inkjets have been tank style since basically forever.

Environmental cost in high volume work your inkjets with tank systems are better due to the tank system bottles of ink to refill them is less plastic per page than your lasers . In low volume work due to failures of printers and wasted ink because its gone bad with inkjets results in lasers being better from environmental point of view. The worst in Environmental is your inkjet printer that use cartridges they have high volume of plastic to ink add to that your machine failure rates.

[Batan]

My points was, InkJet tech does have its places and uses. I don't print color (or black/white for that matter) or photos to waste my money and space (and environment) by having inkjet. But some higher end models, (i.e. Canon) if one uses them frequently (few times a week), could be useful. Otherwise, most consumers InkJets are trash.

For the environment (cost and space) it’s better not to buy but print in a copy shop (if you need it from time to time) o.O

[baryluk]

There is a catch here your places doing professional grade work with inkjets will not be using any of your normal market inkjet printers. HP does a inkjet printers for printing services companies these are different to your normal printers. One big give away is cleaning solvent tank for in fact cleaning head at start and end of printing. Yes a tank of clear liquid. You also have cleanable/changeable filters between the ink and the print head as well.

Kyocera does do a inkjet but only in the for printing services class. Home/Business users on the smaller end Kyocera will only sell lasers they don't want to deal with the failures.

Printing services class printer you better have between 2.5-3meters long by about 1meter wide by 2m high floor space for it with a absolutely scary price tag. Horrible as it sounds you can need the service manual to get them into building up a few flour by having to dissemble them then assemble them in place.

One of the big things is I have never had a printer services class inkjet without printer head cleaning solvent being part of the machine and if you have no solvent its not printing. It was the first thing I was what that when I looked at a consumer inkjet it was like here the black, heres the 3 colors that normal hang on where is the clear solvent. Yes when you take your inkjet to a printer cartridge refilling place with a blocked head they are using the solvent to attempt to fix it.

My points was, InkJet tech does have its places and uses. I don't print color (or black/white for that matter) or photos to waste my money and space (and environment) by having inkjet. But some higher end models, (i.e. Canon) if one uses them frequently (few times a week), could be useful. Otherwise, most consumers InkJets are trash.

[oiaohm]

Got it :-)
I have an old and simple version of Canon Pixma that never failed me. I print once a month and sometimes every day. I’ll edit the post when I check wich model do I have.

https://www.toptenreviews.com/what-you-should-know-about-ink-expiration-and-warranty-dates

Canon inkjet printers have one of the more stable inks. The other is the xerox solid ink. Fairly much all the other brands of consumer inkjet used as light work printer when you have not replaced the cartridge inside 12 months the printer is screwed because the ink will be expired badly at that point.

Still canon inkjet printers are not past ink going bad in the tank once opened and installed in printer this happens latter and you are coming up on it generally at the 2-3 year mark(basically 2 to 8 times better than other brands). If I have to have a inkjet canon are temptation. But yes Batan you are coming up on the time frame a canon inkjet can turn around and kick you were it hurts by fully cloging its print head up.

This is some of the problem when people say inkjets are ok there is a common thing they are using canons and have not quite used them long enough to see where they go wrong. Something horrible different models of printers from the same vendor can have different formula of ink that also results in wild different operational usage time before they will screw over the print head.

Light printing workloads lasers are the choice if possible. Please note refilled laser.cartridges as long as they are done right are also not trouble. Inkjet refilled cartridges simple answer don't the dried out fragments of old ink will get you at some point and ruin print head. If you have to go inkjet something and asked me to recommend it would be Canon or Xerox in consumer(Xerox generally too expensive) because you do have proper ink-shelf life. In your Printing services class inkjet printer it would be HP, Xerox, Ricoh and Kyocera.

HP makes great printer services class inkjet printers but consumer class expensive with very short self life ink and a bastard policy that if printed with expired in warranty is void. This is also where people get caught they work into a place printing photos and the like in volume they see the big HP printer services inkjet printers and think the HP consumer inkjets are the same quality so buy the consumer one so getting horrible caught. Horrible reality here printer services inkjet refilles form HP have self lives like canon consumer inkjet. Its not like it impossible for the major inkjet printer vendors to do inkjet cartridges with decent shelf life just only one does it in consumer class inkjet printers in liquid(canon) and the other does solid(Xerox).

Canon in liquid ink in consumer does have the longest time frame before turning bad once open and installed. Of course Xerox solid ink does not turn bad in the printer.

Xerox solid ink printers normally runs into trouble because people 1 did not do correct storage ink to keep the ink clean. 2 did not wear clean gloves putting the solid ink in(bits of human not good for printer). Xerox solid ink great shelf life great machines if you can trust you staff/self to treat it right as well as the high price tag.

Lasers tolerate quite a bit of user abuse. Even your cheap cannon pixma over the long hall in light printing usage don't end up being cheaper than a laser if you are using the non brand name cartridges in the laser. One of the big differences with lasers over inkjets is the other than mechanical failure you can fairly much always print a laser cartridge to empty.

Its a common problem for people new to lasers is the laser printer will be saying I am empty and people replace the cartridge that can be 500-1500 pages short of true end of cartridge. It does not hurt a laser printer having a empty cartridge. Having a absolutely empty cartridge can harm a inkjet as the ink can be critical cooling fluid for the print head.

Inkjet print heads commonly die two ways:
1) clogged by expired/dried/contaminated ink so overheat and burn out.
2) run dry without ink and overheated so burnt out.
Please note this applies to consumer and printing services class inkjet printer.

[Batan]

There is a factor of the temperature where you live as well. I live in places that get 38-40C days. That does increase inkjet ink splitting. It is something to be aware of is liquid ink in inkjet printers has a max useable life. Basically a best before based on your conditions. If you use ink past that blocked up inkjet print heads is 100 percent for sure worse sometimes past cleaning.

Guess once a week with more than a single page. The problem with a single test page that can be less vibration than what is required to keep the ink mixed. This vibration requirement is why a printer travel with a person all the time can get away with long times between printing than when it sitting on a desk.

I have had a person who lived near a rail line with regular trains that did get away with long than average times between printing without trouble with inkjet.

Batan is basically a horrible multi factor mess to predict how long you can skip printing with a inkjet before it will clog up its head. Yes the even the vendor formula of ink comes into play.

Laser printers are simple they don't clog up as long as they are stored somewhere properly you could leave one alone for a decades pull it out and as long as you can find drivers print perfectly. Of course getting refil on those when you run out of ink you are most likely screwed.


I have a preference to Lasers so I don't have to be wondering if I have left it too long between prints.

Got it :-)
I have an old and simple version of Canon Pixma that never failed me. I print once a month and sometimes every day. I’ll edit the post when I check wich model do I have.

There is one rule:
Don’t let printer know you’re in a hurry. They smell fear.

[JacobManson]

I use this printer, it is inexpensive and reliable. Canon i-SENSYS MF237W

[oiaohm]

Is you are on a budget, then yes, Brother HL-L3230CDW is way to go. But if it is for the office, with plenty of documents printed, I would suggest a bigger model from Brother, with scanner, extra tries, and bigger tonners. I personally would go with separate black&white printer, and separate MFC color printer for doing copying, scanning and rear color printing (i.e. I sometimes to print maps, or some crude photos, etc). Dedicated black and white printer would have bigger and cheaper tonner, and parts that will be available on the market for long time, including 3rd party toners, and the printer itself usually are built slightly better to last longer, because they are abused a lot in offices.

I might be biased tho, because I used like 4 different Brother laser printers in 20 decades (none ever broke, and some were actually bought used) and they were excellent (including superb Linux support), and always had issues with HP, and before that Inkjets from Epson and HP. Sure, Inkjet or other tech are way to go for photos, but you can just print them somewhere else. Unless you are professional printing 10+ photos daily using professional printer (and you would buy some high end Canon, Mitsubishy, or MAYBE HP), Inkjet is useless I think. The only exception maybe would be if you need super small mobile printer for some reasons. Last time I used inkjet was around 2000. Nope, it sucks money out of your wallet quickly.

For big offices, Xerox, Ricoh and Kyocera are the best honestly.

There is a catch here your places doing professional grade work with inkjets will not be using any of your normal market inkjet printers. HP does a inkjet printers for printing services companies these are different to your normal printers. One big give away is cleaning solvent tank for in fact cleaning head at start and end of printing. Yes a tank of clear liquid. You also have cleanable/changeable filters between the ink and the print head as well.

Kyocera does do a inkjet but only in the for printing services class. Home/Business users on the smaller end Kyocera will only sell lasers they don't want to deal with the failures.

Printing services class printer you better have between 2.5-3meters long by about 1meter wide by 2m high floor space for it with a absolutely scary price tag. Horrible as it sounds you can need the service manual to get them into building up a few flour by having to dissemble them then assemble them in place.

One of the big things is I have never had a printer services class inkjet without printer head cleaning solvent being part of the machine and if you have no solvent its not printing. It was the first thing I was what that when I looked at a consumer inkjet it was like here the black, heres the 3 colors that normal hang on where is the clear solvent. Yes when you take your inkjet to a printer cartridge refilling place with a blocked head they are using the solvent to attempt to fix it.

[oiaohm]

I use mine once a week and everything seems to work well for like 2y now.

There is a factor of the temperature where you live as well. I live in places that get 38-40C days. That does increase inkjet ink splitting. It is something to be aware of is liquid ink in inkjet printers has a max useable life. Basically a best before based on your conditions. If you use ink past that blocked up inkjet print heads is 100 percent for sure worse sometimes past cleaning.

Guess once a week with more than a single page. The problem with a single test page that can be less vibration than what is required to keep the ink mixed. This vibration requirement is why a printer travel with a person all the time can get away with long times between printing than when it sitting on a desk.

I have had a person who lived near a rail line with regular trains that did get away with long than average times between printing without trouble with inkjet.

Batan is basically a horrible multi factor mess to predict how long you can skip printing with a inkjet before it will clog up its head. Yes the even the vendor formula of ink comes into play.

Laser printers are simple they don't clog up as long as they are stored somewhere properly you could leave one alone for a decades pull it out and as long as you can find drivers print perfectly. Of course getting refil on those when you run out of ink you are most likely screwed.


I have a preference to Lasers so I don't have to be wondering if I have left it too long between prints.

[Batan]

Really ink jets really just don't like being not used. You can have the ink as it gets old in inkjets in fact split in the tank then screw the head over as well. A printer used daily inkjets are ok. Intermit usage printers not good for inkjet you will have trouble.

I use mine once a week and everything seems to work well for like 2y now.