bmr12

Not exactly Travel Technology, but I'll try to slide it in here with a community of folks whose input has proven invaluable over the years.

I'm looking to replace my failing laser printer. Ideal requirements are (in rough order):

1. Color laser printing
2. Network-capable. Cabled ethernet is fine and preferrable. Would like to print to it from many devices around the house.
3. Duplexing unit. The last printer has held on for the better part of the decade but is simplex only and is highly wasteful for all those reservation confirmations that can't contain themselves to a single page. [does this make it travel related? ]
4. Airprint supported. Many Apple devices around the house which would like to print without the hassle of moving to a PC/Laptop.
5. Can't enforce use of the manufacturer's toner cartridges. Based on some reviews I've read, some manufacturers enforce this more rigorously than others. Spending $400-500 on a set of toner cartridges is ridiculous.
6. Last and most-waivable requirement is that it hold a whole ream of paper at once.

And, oh yeah, price is always important. Not looking to spend a four digit number on this acquisition (e.g., needs to be significantly less than $1,000).

SeriouslyLost

Something like this perhaps? Only half a reem of paper in the tray though. I've got two of these and, like every Brother printer I've ever had, have been perfectly happy with them. Only caveat I have is that you need to buy better quality cartridges with them if you go the non-OEM cartridge route. Buying cheap will, especially with the way they duplex, ruin the drums quickly.

dalylink

I've always been happy with HP printers (possibly the last vestige of when they were great?) but have never tried to network them with Apple equipment.

gfunkdave

The AirPrint thing will be your limiting factor, I think. I believe (but am not 100% sure) that if you plug a USB printer into the USB port on an Apple Airport Express router, the router will provide Airprint support. There are also other, more techy solutions as well.

The Brother printer that SeriouslyLost posted looks like a great fit for your needs. I've used Brother printers for a while now and they've been reliable and easy to work with.

boberonicus

Amazon sells the Brother HLL8350CDW for $345 and it natively supports Airprint. I bought one for my father and he loves it. Brother makes an optional 500-sheet add-on tray (part number LT320CL) but it's $200, which is pricey.

I've used a 500 sheet tray on my (older) Brother laser for paper and put shipping labels into the factory 250 sheet tray. The two trays can be defined/addressed separately. If you fill them both up with the same paper stock, they act as a single 750 page bin, but you'll get warnings on the printer panel when one is empty.

I go back and forth about third party toner cartridges. But I've used them and they work fine. Brother doesn't play the Lexmark game where a chip built into the toner says "I'm empty and you can never refill me."

EmptyKim

I'm an HP fan. I have this at home. Works great. Wireless printing is awesome. I think it hits on most of your points except duplex printing.
http://store.hp.com/webapp/wcs/store...Printer-M251nw

or this. I think it hits on all your points.
http://store.hp.com/webapp/wcs/store...printer-m451dw

Loren Pechtel

Old HPs: Good.
Modern HPs: No way.

MaxBuck

I've owned color lasers, but at <$1,000 their graphics reproduction isn't very good.

I have an Epson inkjet for color and 11x17 printing, and Brother laser for duplex B&W. (Combined these cost me less than $500, with 35ppm speed on the laser.) But with Adobe Acrobat, my clients seldom see hard-copy, unless they pay extra.

bmr12

I thought I'd follow up here with my choice.

I looked at the Brother model. I've had Brother printers in the past and they've worked ok but always seemed to fail relatively quickly. The reviews of this model seemed to have similar issues--worked well, reasonable value for the money, all good unless it got too hot and then parts started falling apart.

I finally ended up getting the HP m551dn, the big brother (so to speak) of the m451. The 551 is a couple hundred dollars more expensive, but comes with enough memory to work properly and a full set of toner cartridges. And the 500 sheet input capacity. Several reviews of the 451 said it really needed a memory upgrade (somewhere between $30 and $100 depending). And a full set of toner cartridges is another couple hundred bucks.

The only downside is the thing is a beast--about 80 lbs and bigger than the color laser it replaces.

Only about 10 pages of output into use--and so far, so good.

boberonicus

Looks like a beast! Thanks for circling back.