Color Laser Printers - Educate Me.

[Skippman]

My budgets about $200-$250. I've been looking at the Samsung CLP-315W. It's color, has wired and wireless printing, and has a low cost per toner cartridge.

But the reviews on CNET are less than enthusastic. There seems to be a real hit or miss quality control issue with it as some users reports excellent experiences while others report it DOA out of the box. They also report that the color printing isn't exactly knock your socks off quality either.

I suppose I could always buy one and try it out.

[DaddyRabbit]

I have the CLP-300 and have had no problems with it. But, as I posted above, I wouldn't use it for high quality color printing. I think any color laser in this price range is probably the same in that regard. I've had it about a year and a half maybe and am still on the original toners (almost empty those are however).

[KnightRid]

Honestly, your canon might not print right even with new carts in it. Maybe the printhead is shot because of dried up ink?

I would just get a new one - I have been looking for a color laser myself, but it seems the cheaper ones dont have auto duplex printing nor good photo printing

I have heard good things about the Dell laser printers, but there again - for your price range you are not going to get some of the features.

If you dont print photos, why not just snag a black and white laser for now and deal with color down the road?

Mike

keep me updated on what you decide to get! Like I said, I am looking for one right now also and would love to steal your ideas

[Skippman]

I went shopping last night at Office Depot and came up with this:

HP Officejet Pro 8500 Color Flatbed All-In-One



Professional-quality color at up to a 50% lower cost per page than laser printers

Great for the environment — uses up to 50% less energy consumption than lasers.
Prints and copies up to 35 pages per minute black, 34 in full color.
Prints 4" x 6" photos in as fast as 82 seconds.
Automatic 2-sided printing saves paper and money!
Ethernet port lets the whole small workgroup share.
250-sheet paper tray, plus a 35-sheet auto document feeder for better multitasking.
Built-in memory card slots make printing your photos a snap.


CNET gave it 4 stars and an editors choice award. Apparently thier black ink tank is $35 for the hi-cap and will give about 2,000 sheets per tank which is better than some laser printers I've seen. Print qualty appeared to be pretty good as well. I don't particularly care for wireless products other than laptops and this has an eithernet port which means I can tie it into my wired network which would make it wireless by default as I also have a wireless router.

My only concern is the price. It's pretty hefty at $299. They do have a $50 trade-in program for all HP printers but the printer has to already be on sale for that to apply. It's my hope this will go on sale in the next couple of weeks so I can pick one up. For now I've bought a remanufactured ink tank for my Canon and hopefully that will hold out.

[KnightRid]

Staples - black friday will have the 8550 and the 8500 for $149.98 !!!!!

I would be very surprised if i used less ink than what a laser does though - that seems to be a stretch - I will have to do some research!! Thanx for bringing this to my attention.

Mike

oh if you want the black friday ad - I can email it (pm me an email) or you can snag it at one of the BF sites.

[Darkstar]

a quality color laser printer isnt cheap and the toner cartridges are pretty expensive to boot. I think replacing the canon cartridges is good if you need a multi function device around, or buy the new one from the NewEgg shell shocker for $90 http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx
i use a inexpensive B&W laser for printing text, documents, kids reports, etc. they go a long way between replacements and i dont have to worry about replacing a bunch of different toners.
That said, if you can afford the color network printer and dont mind dropping the cash, go for it!