Duplex printer advice

[David Kelly]

On Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 02:03:30PM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
>
> Inkjet color printing is NEVER cheaper.
>
> Color laser is what you want.  There are some really good inexpensive
> units out there.  I recall reading the inexpensieve Samsung color
> laser even speaks Postscript.
>
> The only time inkjet makes sense is if your printing needs for your
> lifetime consist of a single ream of paper.

Or if you want photo quality.

> My HP Laserjet 4+ at home is the oldest operating piece of computer
> equipment I have.  And I fully expect it to last another decade, and
> once it dies, I have another one in the basement that I picked up for
> $50 - WITH a duplexer.

We have one at work that if it was up to me I too would sell it for $50
if anyone offered. Its a networked color HP 4M something that prints 11"
wide. Letter prints sideways, and 11x17 prints lengthwise.

Its slower than Christmas when printing photos. Maybe 2 pages per hour.

We keep it because 1) its paid for, 2) we have space for it, and 3) it
prints very pretty color text for proposals.

We have a networked inkjet HP all-in-one sitting next to the laser for
when photos are more important. And a Kyocera all-in-one laser for B&W.

> The reason the printer mfgrs love inkjets is that not only is the cost
> per page far higher, necessitating frequent ink cartridge changes, but
> the ink cartridges themselves dry up and stop working, and the
> printers jam, strip gears, and stop working.  Thus you are able to
> sell the person printer after printer.

All of the above applies to lasers.

> If you look at laserjet sales, the only movement on the printers

Laserjet is an HP trademark.

> When I visit Fry's every once in a while and overhear people
> discussing what printer to buy, I love to drag them over to the
> salesguy's little kiosk and point out the HP Laserjet 8000n behind the
> counter, which occupies just about all free space in the kiosk.

An HP8000 (and 4000, 4050, 5000) are excellent industrial grade laser
printers. HP makes very few industrial grade inkjets, generally not
found at Frys. HP also makes cheap-as-dirt lasers such as the HP-1020.

> I ask them, why would Fry's stick this giant printer behind the
> counter, and suck up all free space if a small "personal" printer
> occuping so much less space was as good of a deal?

If anyone working the Frys showroom floor was capable of answering that
question then they are grossly over qualified.

-- 
David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly at HiWAAY.net
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Whom computers would destroy, they must first drive mad.