Recommendation of a laser printer

May 4, 2009 2:31 PM

What colour laser printer should I buy?

Looking for a colour laser printer for home/freelance work use. We use our current inkjet printer (which has died) a lot for scanning, so it would make sense to get a laser printer with a scanner, otherwise we'll have to keep the current printer as well.

Colour is for occasional text/graphics rather than a big feature of printing.

Cost isn't too much of an issue though would rather not be robbed more than necessary for new cartridges (so cost and length of time cartridges last are significant). Size is a bit of an issue as we'd rather not have something looming.

Thanks for your advice.

posted by paduasoy to computers & internet (9 answers total)

I like the Dell 2135cn. Toner is fairly inexpensive and color photos actually come out fairly well.
posted by wongcorgi at 2:51 PM on May 4, 2009

FWIW, Macworld magazine recommends the Oki C6150dn.
posted by bengarland at 3:57 PM on May 4, 2009

That Dell is a rebadged Xerox Phaser. Excellent printers. The newer Lexmarks are really nice as well.

The cheaper the printer, the more (per page) the toner will cost.
posted by gjc at 4:04 PM on May 4, 2009

The cheaper the printer, the more (per page) the toner will cost.

well DUH.

I love my Lexmarc (ink jet) Individual cartrages for each color. I know nothing about laser printers.
posted by patnok at 4:24 PM on May 4, 2009

I've had good luck with my HP Laserjet 3600.. except toner costs more than the printer. Cheap fix = reman toner.

I usually ebay mine without toner and buy a new one.
posted by SirStan at 6:15 PM on May 4, 2009

It really depends on your usage. How many pages per month. how much saturation per page? Do you need network access to the printer?

A local company has been selling colour Samsungs for a *great* price; these things come with 1/3 filled toners.

Check ebay for the cost of full toners for the printers that you're interested in. Cross-correlate thse with price of the initial unit.

If price was not a problem, I'd go for HP (Hewlett Packard) Laserjets for reliability and quality. The extra price gives extra quality and reliability - I'd be unworried buying an used HP off of eBay.
posted by porpoise at 8:45 PM on May 4, 2009

Just an FYI, I've been having trouble using some Macs (OS 10.4 and earlier) with some newer HP printers.
posted by jander03 at 3:59 AM on May 5, 2009

Warning about buying color laser printers on eBay: many are stripped - no imaging drum, no toner, which are 3/4 of the cost of the machine. I would stick to trusted retailers to buy a color laser.
posted by AzraelBrown at 3:16 PM on May 5, 2009

Got an HP Color LaserJet CM1312nfi last fall and it is "ok". I wish I had researched it further (no duplexing). Just recently had to replace the black cartridge ($100), but it has seen fairly heavy home office, kid printing duty.

My only real complaint is the lack of drivers for Windows Server 2008. Every other operating system is supported (heck - it was easier to install the drivers under Linux than Windows Vista...), just no the one I use as my primary desktop ;-)
posted by jkaczor at 7:10 PM on May 5, 2009