Need a good reasonably-priced laser printer
 

Title says it all, or most of it anyway :). I am looking for a good basic compact laser printer for home use, one that plays well with a wireless print server (I will probably use Linksys' version). This does not need to be a multifunction printer--I already have one of those that I will keep for the fax/copy capability, and MFPs tend not to work well with wireless print servers.

I've had several HP printers, but lately I've been unhappy with the amount of, er, crap that gets installed on my PC when I install HP's drivers--so HP may be out, unless someone can convince me otherwise. Aside from that, I'm open to any number of suggestions.

Not sure what you mean by HP crap/drivers as I use Mac OS but I've had excellent experiences with:

HP LaserJet 1200 - decent footprint
Samsung MP 1250 - small footprint
Brother (forgot model #)

All cost less than $250 when purchased new years back....not sure what newer models are out there. Probably check on cnet.com will give you more insight.

I'm a huge HP fan and have never noticed a lot of extra stuff added to my computer. HP printers have lasted far longer than any other brand I've owned in the past. Currently have a 2200d, which duplexes.

I recently bought a Brother HL-5250DN from buy.com for about $180 (looks like the price is a bit higher right now, but try staples). So far I'm exceptionally pleased. Now, I print a lot of research papers, so having duplex (double-sided) printing was a must. If that's not important to you, then there may be other options. (I will say, the paper savings and--more important--space savings of 2x printing is great).

The online reviews seems pretty positive, even from people who had run a large number of jobs. I can't speak to longevity, since I've only had it for 2 weeks, but so far I've had absolutely no trouble. The print speed is good and it's reasonably quiet. The DN model can be networked, though I haven't tested it yet.

Finally, with whatever printer you get you might consider plugging it in without installing the package drivers/software. My printer had copious warnings about installing the software first, but it works perfectly fine using WinXPs native drivers.

I use a cost next to nothing ex-corporate HP LJ5. The other printer is a very cheap Minolta MagicColor 2430DL. Both of these have ethernet interface so I don't bother with printer servers.

I'm not sure about HP laserjet, but the HP inkjets / all-in-ones are awful regarding their software. The HP desktop manager is a huge, sorry piece of bloated useless software. It slows down PCs to do simple things like printing / scanning.

I like Brother, Canon, and Epson printers much better in this regard.

Make sure to look at the Cost Per Page... i.e. the cost of a toner cartridge divided by how many pages (of text) one cartridge will print. The price of ownership is as important, if not more important, than the price of the printer itself. Also, if you buy a printer that uses the same cartridges as the ones in your office, the cost of toner cartridges goes down ALOT ;)

i have the ricoh Aficio bp 20, nothin fancy but reasonably priced (185.00) and pretty good toner yield. I agree that office toner is a good buy.

I'll have to think of a creative way of getting the cartridges out of the building, as there's a security guard at the front desk 24/7:

"What's that oblong shape under your jacket, sir?"

"Um...a tumor. Yes, a tumor. In fact, I really need to get this examined, see you later, bye"

Buy a HP, and you should be able to do a minimal software install - in many cases Windoze will recognise the printer and if not, you should only need to load the drivers, not the full suite.

Here ya go. Samsung 2510 for $50 after $40 rebate (& $14 shipping). I've had the ML-2010 for about 2 years, works great, has both USB & parallel connection. Replacement cartridges cost more than the printer, but 3rd party refilled toners are considerably cheaper. My initial cartridge printed 3000 pages, easily, so it lasted me a long time.

...and for some printers you can download the driver without all of the HP garbage from their website.

Ditto. Haven't bought a cartridge in quite some time. New printers are cheaper. Have had the ML-2010. Just replaced the cartridge with a Brother something or other. Ditto ink jets. Gone through three this year.

An environmental disaster :mad:, but it'd be really nice if the manufacturers got real with cartridge prices.

I've had that one for a month and pretty happy with it so far. I bought it at Staples for $119, and it came with a $70 rebate which I completed on line. The check has already arrived. It was on sale again at Thanksgiving.

Best answer IMO. You can get a refurbished Laserjet 5 on Ebay for around $150 + shipping that's anywhere from $10-50 depending on distance from you to the seller. You'll need to buy a toner cartridge but in home use one should last you for the next 3 years or so!

DO NOT get one of the newer ones. 4050, 4100, 4200, etc, you do not want. They're crap. We spent something like $13k/printer for HP 9000 series printers. Always having problems.

I went on Ebay and bought two of the last 'old' design printers (LJ8150DN). Not quite as fast but dead reliable and approximately $600/printer with shipping. These stated 32,000 pages when we bought 'em three years ago; we had to replace the fusers and get toner cartridges but otherwise they've been faultless and now have approximately 665,000 pages lifetime and are still going very strong. Older HP stuff is *awesome*. The oldest printer in continuous use I know of is at an office in DC. It's a Laserjet III that was installed when I was in college in 1991. Still cranking.