Best networked color laser printer for home use?

September 30, 2014 1:39 PM

My wife's deskjet is dying and I'm using a 17-year old laserjet for printing so it's time to upgrade our home printers. I'd like to get a networked color laser printer that I can just plug into our ethernet and print from both our PCs or a laptop on the wireless (we're a primarily PC household but have the occasional mac laptop). I'd ideally like a printer that can do double sided printing as well.

I have an HP CP2025dn at work that I'm very happy with, but that seems a bit expensive for home use. On a quick search, the Brother HL4150CDN seems like it might fit our needs, but I'd love to hear what printers have worked well for you.

posted by pombe to Technology (5 answers total)

I've been pretty happy with the Brother MFC printers (I've had four now, for a variety of complex reasons). These are basically what you're looking at with the HL4150CDN plus scanning and fax capability. The toner is expensive, but you already knew that.
posted by mr_roboto at 1:44 PM on September 30, 2014

It's funny you mention the HP CP2025dn. I was fed up with both a cheap color inkjet and a cheap b&w laser, had similar needs as the ones you mentioned, and I bought a CP2025dn on sale for $350 as our home printer to replace both the inkjet and B&W laser. That was in October of 2009 - 5 years ago - and it's still going strong. We've only replaced each of the cartridges once - it was expensive at the outset, but it's run cheaply and smoothly for years now. It's like the Laserjet 4 of color printers, it never gives up.

Amazon has the newer version of the CP2025dn, the HP M451dn, for only $269 shipped if you have Prime right now. That's even cheaper than the HL4150CDN you mentioned.
posted by eschatfische at 2:02 PM on September 30, 2014

The HP 4xx series are exceptional printers. Highly suggested. You want the M451DW though, as it has both the duplexer and the wireless card (as well as an ethernet port).

If you need the wireless card, but can do without the duplexer, that's the M451NW
posted by tomierna at 8:32 PM on September 30, 2014

I have excellent experiences with Brother MFC series.
At least 20 of the MFC9130CW installed and they just keep working.
My only problem is that the only network option is WiFi, strangely enough this model doesn't have a ethernet port.
posted by Mac-Expert at 11:52 PM on September 30, 2014

I have a cannon MF8300 - color laser, duplex, copy/scan/fax/multi-function, wired+wireless. It's a great printer. Toner is still an arm+leg, but it's a great device.
posted by k5.user at 7:38 AM on October 1, 2014