color laser printer/copier

[clori]

Okay I've had the worst luck with ink jet printers. They seem to develop invisible ink even after changing ink cartridges and constant paper jams. We find it very useful to have color printer and the ability to make color photo copies for varies things including school papers. Scanning and faxing aren't as important. We have decided to look for a laser model.

Can anyone recommend a specific brand/model color laser multifuntion printer? Is it better to get just a color laser printer and a separate color scanner/copier? If possible we would like to stay under $500 and hoping to get several years from it. Thanks

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I have a HP Color Laser Jet CM1312nfi MFP which I bought direct from HP for about $400. It is a printer/copier/Fax. It will print and copy in color or B&W. It has both flatbed and document feed.

The black cartridge will do about 2,500 pages and the three color cartridges will do about 1400 pages. The cartridges list for about $70 each, but there is a discount for multiple cartridge orders.

When I hit the button for scan on the machine a box comes up on the computer which makes everything simple. There is also a utility which shows how much of each cartridge remains, so mine currently shows black at 59%, cyan at 30% magenta at 54% and yellow at 46%, so I need only change on color at a time as needed.

 

[RNMOM]

We also got fed up with inkjet. We opted to just go to black ink. Several years ago now we bought an HP Inkjet 1020. It came with a starter toner that lasted nearly a year and a half. I am on my second toner cartridge and I am sure it has been nearly 2 years. This thing doesn't quit. I have only had a couple misfeeds too but it is so easy to open up and unjam even if I do.

We figured that using color printing was minimal for us and the couple times we needed it we just ran up to Officemax. It's kinda amazing how little you need something if you don't have it.

 

[Tiggeroo]

Two weeks ago we bought an hp photosmart. It printed beautifully but we couldn't get it to set up. We only wanted a wireless printer so that all the kids laptops would work with it.
Returned it and bought a Lexmark wireless printer. Their tech support was wonderful and now everything is great. It's only been a week though. Staples had a very nice all in one wireless epson on sale for a great price too.

 

[DMRick]

We have a home desk top publishing business and have a couple laser printers. I hate hate hate our Konica Minolta Magic Color 2300W. I"ve had it about 5 years, and it replaced a black ink one, that actually is still going strong (and HP). I don't care for the way the colors come out (I do specific jobs and the shades have to match the people's logo's and my new one is spot on for that) and I gave it to my husband for everyday junk printing.

I love my HP2025. I've had it about 3 months and got it a great deal on it at Office Max. It was on sale, and Office Max gave back $50 rewards and HP gave me $$$ for turning in one of my dead inkjets. I love the color, and it's so fast, I get up to see why it stopped and I'm still shocked every time I see it's just printed up 100 pages in what seems like a very few minutes. It does a great job on cardstock as well.

I do still have inkjets, since I can't use coated paper in the laser and some of my items need coated paper, but I use the laser whenever I can. It is ok with photos, which surprised me.

The cartridges are expensive, and this laser ink per page is a bit more expensive than my other one, but still runs about half the price of my inkjets. And did I say it's fast, and I love it?

 

[dawson5]

OP you are mentioning a scanner copier, what are you planning to copy? If you are looking to archive your photos, you might want to go with a stand alone scanner.

We did this over three years ago, I thought I wanted a multi-function. I ran into a rep for Canon at BB and he asked me that same question. I wanted to archive all the photos we have "just in case something happens." I ended up with a mid-priced scanner for around $150. They had introductory models that had a lower dpi for under $100 and upscale ones for around $250-300 (at that particular store). He also told me there were other models at Office Depot, Office Max and Staples. I did end up with an Epson. My dpi was better than what the multi-function had.

 

[mom2travel]

We like our HP copier/scanner/fax/printer models. Have a 7300 series and a 6500 series that is wireless. Have been happy with both. Although neither prints photos as well as my Canon photo printer

Forgot to mention, as a PP said, a photo scanner would be better if you are planning to scan photos. At a recommendation I saw on these boards, I bought my dad one for Christmas last year that scans different sizes of photos and also can scan multiple slides at once - he loves it!

 

[sbell111]

In my office, I have a Lexmark C530dn color laser printer. It does just fine for work stuff but photo quality is no where near as good as the Canon PIXMA ip6600d photo ink jet that we have at home. It should also be noted that the color laser toner is super expensive and seems to run out quickly.

 

[DMRick]

It should also be noted that the color laser toner is super expensive and seems to run out quickly.

You really need to check out the per page cost, not the cost of the toner. I go through ink like water, but I am well aware of my cost per page for both my inkjets and lasers, and the lasers are cheaper per page by far. You also, when figuring out the cost of an inkjet have to take into consideration that Staples gives you $2 in credit for each empty cartridge (down from $3) and I use separate inks, so that lowers the cost for each color).

OP, I would also go with a separate scanner if you are getting a color laser.

 

[Carl]

What I had to consider when I went from ink jet to laser was that if you go very long without printing something, the ink dries out in an ink jet, but not with a laser. Since I sometimes go weeks between printing something, a laser made lots of sense to me. And the color quality has improved much recently on lasers.