Compact colour laser?

Hi all,

I'm possibly looking out for a compact colour laser printer and have some requirements (sort of in order of importance).

1) Reasonably compact, height being the least important.

2) No 'sticky out' paper input or output trays or guides (to get kicked off, as the printer will be on the bottom shelf of one of those metal PC workstations).

3) Networkable (WiFi at least).

4) Reliable.

5) Reasonably cheap replacement carts.

'Cherries on the cake' would be auto duplex printing and Air / Android print.

And all of that at the least possible TCO of course and recommendations ideally from personal experience.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. They got a tiny HP B/W laser and a separate HP scanner because the all-in-one lasers are often pretty big or have sticky out paper trays (and you have all yer eggs in one basket etc).

p.p.s. I didn't need to mention that they will be primarily printing from Windows (as every, even GDI printers support that) but they also have the option of Linux (dual boot) and so support for that could be handy in an emergency etc.

Reply to
T i m
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I wanted a small laser last year and got one of the B&W Samsung M2026, which is small enough to lift onto the top shelf when not required and fetch down to the desk when required.

I noticed pcworld had the Samsung C430W colour laser for under £100 last week and was nearly tempted to buy one, it's not too much bigger than the mono one (mainly taller due to having an internal paper tray rather than sticky-out paper shelf) but I dithered and now the price is back to £130.

I do have a gigantic Epson duplex, postscript, dual bin, networked laser but it really doesn't deserve the space it (and the consumables I have for it) eats in the back bedroom.

Samsung printers are HP now.

Reply to
Andy Burns

I've been happy with my Lexmark CS410dn. Taller than modern mono ones, but full duplex and wifi.

Reply to
newshound

I have had a Dell dell c1760nw for a few years.

Reply to
Michael Chare

After asking similar questions, I ended up with a Brother HL-L8260CDW which does all of your requirements and is currently on £100 cashback, making it £83.94.

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Colour quality isn't amazing, but is good enough - I'm not printing photos.

The best bit is it doesn't have toner reset chips, so you just need a bit of plastic ('toner reset wheel') to refill the toner carts:

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I haven't run out of toner yet, but I'm going to try and 3D print one when I do. Also, being unchipped, there are cheap third party cartridges so you don't even need the reset wheel.

Theo

Reply to
Theo
<snip>

Same with their current HP M15W Mono WiFi Laser. 'Worlds smallest' it says on the box and it is tiny (before you put all it's flaps down). ;-)

That's still not unreasonable and doesn't look like it has any sticky out flaps. ;-) Any idea if you can refill or get aftermarket toner for it cheaply please (compared to any similar models I mean) and if so, do you OOI?

I'm in a similar position with a Ricoh SP C252SF but it's a good workhorse. ;-)

Oh, interesting, thanks.

A mate used to supply big printers and copiers and many of the machines came with several badges to choose from for the installer to apply to the customers preference. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m
<snip>

Thanks for that.

The last Lexmark I dealt with was one of those 'ink on a roll of cling film ones. Brilliant prints but about £1 / page then! ;-(

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m
<snip>

Yeah, mate had a big Dell in his PC shop and apart from even copy carts being a fortune, it did seem to go on and on. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

That would be the need / expectation here also.

And that covers my TCO question. You can get free printers as long as you buy plenty of toner carts (eg Morgan Computers).

Interesting (as I have a 3d printer). ;-)

Excellent. I think that sounds like it ticks all the boxes Theo, the only slight issue is the depth. The space we have from the front of the bottom shelf to the wall is 400mm and according to the spec, the printer is 486. If the printer uses a rear mounted but not recessed IEC plug then that can add a few more mm (less if you can get away with a right angled version) but we should be able to pull the workstation away from the wall slightly, if it looks like it's overhanging a bit too much. Or put the printer up on a bit of a plinth so your feet can go underneath if sitting in front of it. It think something like that would be worth looking into, should it be an issue, because of all the other plusses.

But better that than a flimsy paper tray sticking out waiting to get snapped off. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

The cashback paid up pretty rapidly after I submitted the claim. (and none of this 'must claim between 73 and 74 days after purchase' stuff that you sometimes get - you can submit the claim as soon as you receive the printer, within 28 days)

Since the last time I looked this has come on the market:

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- claims it's for the TN-431 cart (North America), not the TN-421 (Europe). Turns out region locking of printers is a thing, but I'm tempted to buy one if nothing else has turned up when I start getting low.

(and suffer the $13 postage across the pond, still way cheaper than an official cart)

I'm a bit dubious of:

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only because it's *so* cheap.

The IEC is rear mounted (bottom right corner seen from the front), but there's a 9mm recess. I measure 27mm from the end of the IEC connector when inserted to the flat of the back panel, so add onto that whatever your right angle version does.

You'll need access to the rear for paper jams, but if it's on a trolley you can pull it forward temporarily, or just the printer. (I've only ever had jams when I've left something on top of it and the duplexer has tried to fire paper into a solid object)

Indeed. It's a fairly substantial lump :)

Theo

Reply to
Theo

They offer a 'Contact us' if it turns out you have time?

Quite (and if I get a printer, of the postage is the same on two kits and you want to split the postage ... )?

Agreed ... but unless it's just a typo they have a 100% positive feedback ...

Excellent, thanks. Can you see any reason a right angled plug wouldn't work with that recess Theo?

eg. eBay item 191013008879, 3rd picture. I'm not sure if it would matter about the 'hand' of the plug?

Check.

Doh. ;-)

Yes, it looks it ... and is the same weight as my 60Ah semi traction leisure battery or a 2.5hp 4/ Mariner outboard motor. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

The Lexmark CS317dn is chipped, but only costs £58+VAT so assuming you get the stated 750 colour pages plus maybe an additional 500 black-only pages out of the starter toners, it's cheaper to buy a new printer, than fork out £266+VAT for a set of full-size toners that would yield 2300 colour pages plus 3000 black-only pages

I know you can't simply add the black pages and colour pages, but even if you assume you only get 500 black pages on top of the colour ones, it still works out 30% cheaper to junk the printer than buy refills ... madness.

Reply to
Andy Burns

three times over

Reply to
Andy Burns

Agreed 100%. ;-(

The only win could be if you are looking for a very low entry point and don't intend printing much, in which case it could last you

*years*?

And unlike an ink-jet, it won't normally die between uses, no matter how infrequent?

But it seems it is often the case that buying a spare part or more consumables cost disproportionately more than buying the thing new or part.

Like, the bath plug-chain was broken on step daughters bath and I removed the chain (one of those ball types) from all the fittings with the intention of replacing just that. I am quite ready to find a new chain *and* plug as a service kit are cheaper than just 1m of the chain?

Or the replacement pump for my desktop parts washer costing about 90% of a complete new item.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

I'll do that when the time comes - don't want to waste their time if I'm not looking to buy. I was hoping they would show up on Aliexpress for $4 for 10 delivered :)

(Currently done 500 sheets and showing 80% of the starter cartridges remaining)

Sounds like a plan :)

The earth pin is nearest the side, so that one would have the cable pointing up. Which may or may not be a problem, depending. The recess is from the plug downwards.

Something like this would probably do it:

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(should say, I didn't pay attention to their supplied cable so I don't know if they already supplied something suitable).

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Fed up with the ball type rusting at the water air boundary when left in bowls full of water I purchased a chain claimed to be stainless steel. Yep, the actual chain bit is stainless but the two end figure of 8 bent metal bits that actually fit to the plug and to the hole in the middle of the overflow are not!

I've found that replacement metal plugs with a rubber O ring seal seem to be better than the plastic/rubber ones with my sink.

Reply to
alan_m

Obviously toner is the mainline drug they're pushing, but it's almost worth buying a second printer to store unopened, in order to have a stash of drums, fusers, etc that you can swap into the other one for less than the price of official spares.

I don't think I'm quite at that level of hoarding (and don't have the space) but could imagine it would be worth doing if you were a business with a small fleet of them.

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Love my HP laserjet M252n

wasnt too expensicve. On its second set of cartrdges now

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Almost?

In the case of the cs317dn ...

one printer with starter toners

1400K/750CMY pages = £58

one printer with starter toners plus a set of full toners

4400K/3050CMY pages = £324

five printers with starter toners

7000K/3750CMY = £291

And that's before you consider drums/fusers/waste bottles further down the line.

Reply to
Andy Burns

One of the big issues for me if I need a new laser or any other sort of printer is if it can be used by a blind person. Increasingly they are going down the touch screen way. This means that one has every time a problem occurs or it needs configuring to get a sighted person to help you. My current very old HP has none of that rubbish, it just plugs into a usb abd it works. If you get a jam, open it. puull out the drum and toner, unjam, give it a bit of a clean on its rollers, reassemble, power cycle once and off it goes once assembled. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

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