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Looking for Advice on Printer Purchase (Vanity)
Self | 12/7/2018 | Alberta's Child

Posted on 12/07/2018 12:13:12 PM PST by Alberta's Child

I'm shopping for a new printer for my business; I'm hoping to buy it early next year. Any advice from tech-savvy Freepers who are business owners? Key features I need are:

1. I'm looking for a color laser printer

2. It has to last a long time (my HP 2100 black & white printer lasted more than ten years before I replaced it a few years ago).

3. Despite the long life, I don't use it a lot. I typically print less than 200 sheets in a month.

4. Printing sheets as large as 11"x17" would be a nice feature, but is not essential. Most of what I do is standard letter size and an occasional 8.5"x14" sheet.

5. The cartridges need to last a long time, especially if they're expensive. A single set of cartridges for my old inkjet printer cost almost as much as the printer did when I bought it!

6. I would prefer to buy a well-known name brand (HP, Canon, Xerox, etc.).

7. Size isn't the most important thing, but it would be nice if I could fit it on a standard 15-inch wide letter-sized file cabinet with only an inch or so of overhang on each side. That will dictate where I put it in my office.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: printers; technology; vanity
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To: PGR88
Focus on the cost of the ink, not the printer.

Excellent advice. That's what is driving me to replace my inkjet printer!

61 posted on 12/10/2018 2:17:52 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them ... like Russians will.")
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
There's one reason why I hadn't given much thought to using separate B&W and color printers:

At my level of use, these things tend to last so long that they are functionally obsolete before they physically break down. The way I look at it, owning two separate printers is a bit like owning two similar cars and putting 5,000 miles per year on each of them instead of just putting 10,000 miles on one car.

62 posted on 12/10/2018 2:21:21 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them ... like Russians will.")
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To: Alberta's Child

I was just reading through the thread again.

I have a black and white HP laser jet with a cartridge that lasts for several thousands of pages - very reliable and cost-effective for our small business.

5 years ago, I used to print a lot of color documents and photos - and those ink-jet cartridges wouldn’t last at all, and were very expensive. I hated those things.

HP now has laser jet color printers. I have No experience with those - I Am wondering myself if they are good options. Let me know if you go that route, and what you think.


63 posted on 12/10/2018 2:24:35 PM PST by PGR88
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To: logi_cal869
Very interesting post!

Here's the deal for me with color printing:

1. I don't print a lot, and the cost difference between B&W and color printers has shrunk so much over the years that I don't consider the higher cost of color printing all that much.

2. My primary need for color involves printing documents and graphics where color is important about 10%-20% of the time in any given month.

64 posted on 12/10/2018 2:24:42 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them ... like Russians will.")
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To: OnAMission

That Sharp will certainly be one that makes my “short list” of potential purchases!


65 posted on 12/10/2018 2:26:24 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them ... like Russians will.")
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To: MosesKnows
Why a laser printer for 200 sheets a month?

1. For some documents, I need a sharp, professional look.

2. For others, I need good resolution in graphics.

66 posted on 12/10/2018 2:29:53 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("The Russians escaped while we weren't watching them ... like Russians will.")
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To: Alberta's Child

I can appreciate that.

I would wonder however, how long since you last bought a color printer? If it was a while ago, they (like everything else computer) have drastically come down in price; and, in many cases these days, the lower end printers are the “all in one” things. To me, this means that the $279 all in one deal is $120 worth of printer and $100 worth of copier and $50 worth of scanner. So, these things are lightweight. NONE of them are life-rated for “what if I only use it every 5 weeks” and I don’t know how you could ever find that out. Some printers do not act well if you don’t use them “some” regularly and the rubber parts grow non-compliant; especially if maybe you have them in an office that gets hold and cold. Inks congeal, nozzles clog. That kind of thing.

I’m just issuing a thought for your consideration.


67 posted on 12/10/2018 3:22:32 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (Apoplectic is where we want them)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

“And they (HP) give the cartridge an arbitrary expiration date where it will shut your printer down totally until you replace it.”

When I ordered supplies for our company, I got a great deal on HP inkjet cartridges — stocked up. One day I replaced one and it wouldn’t work because of the cartridge’s expiration date. Pissed...? Oh, yeah.

I went to the calendar/clock on my PC and set the date to a date prior to the expiration. The cartridge installed fine. Then I turned it back to the current date.


68 posted on 12/10/2018 6:44:07 PM PST by MayflowerMadam (Great things never come from comfort zones.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Thanks. Here’s the deal: Manufacturers all want us to believe that we can print in color at home and do so affordably. In most cases, that’s hogwash. I have NEVER printed a photo at home.

Business is another matter altogether, but your needs for volume meet home use. The question is if it’s vanity, highlighting (accounting) or cost-added (sales). Could you do Ok on an inkjet? Perhaps. If they’re marketing materials, dispose of the inkjet idea. As well, if you’re printing text, that’s one thing. If you’re printing brochures and photos, that’s another. The stock you print on is another factor as well (thick, labels, envelopes, etc.).

When I showed a cost/page breakdown to numerous people on how much their inkjets were REALLY costing them per color page, they threw the printers away: It was a multiple of what they charge at the copy center.

Which brings us back to the other point: 11x17. More to the point: There are SO many questions I used to ask a client to weigh the expenses vs. features, it’s difficult to outline it here. But if you have both a local dealer who sells/services printers AND are in proximity to copy center, you have options without having to become an expert in this field.

Gotta tell ya: You can’t go wrong with HP. What you have to do is weigh the extra expense for color (on a desktop laser that will average another $150).

For most of my small business clients I recommended the all-in-ones. Buy Amazon. Buy remanufactured toners. Coverage is what kills yield on toners. Printing graphics is expensive. Period. People who print graphics & photos either have to suck it up or manage the printing.

The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M281fdw is a feature-packed color laser printer with very low cost of operation with remanufactured toners.

Note: There is NO margin in these printers. Thus getting tangible purchasing assistance is near impossible unless you deal with a local dealer who hopes that you will become a toner cartridge customer. At your volume, you shouldn’t be going through many toners anyway.

“Local dealer”

Final note: All of these lower-end printers are disposable. You don’t want to know what it will cost to have a technician come out and replace the fuser or any electronics. Thus amortize your purchase over 5 years on average and figure that your monthly printing expense will average over time to be about $20/month at your noted estimated volume (including printer purchase). That’s off the top of my head for the HP I noted prior.

I had clients with inkjets spending $80/month on inks without realizing it and most businesses would love to see a mere $20/month added expense.


69 posted on 12/10/2018 6:50:58 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: Alberta's Child

No better/cheaper way to go than a laser printer for black and white...these days they are cheap enough that I have considered “upgrading” mine even with it still working like a champ after 7 years of use...it’s an old Brother that cost me under $90....total waste of money to use a color printer for everyday printing.


70 posted on 12/11/2018 2:11:52 AM PST by trebb (Those who don't donate anything tend to be empty gasbags...no-value-added types)
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To: Alberta's Child
Thanks to all of you for lots of GREAT input here on this thread!

Glad to be of help.

71 posted on 12/11/2018 6:20:08 PM PST by daniel1212 (Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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To: Alberta's Child
The cheapest Auto-Duplex Brother color laser printer on Amazon now is this 180.00, plus the 4 replacement toner carts for 75.00 here , with1,300 page yield ea. or 3 high yield black (up to 3k pages, vs. 1400 page yield count (pyc) at 5% coverag for 40.00, or 2 of the HYB for 31.00. and w/ the starter carts listed at 1k pages. And with a approx. 18,000-page yield 4 unit drum set, w/ replacement cost from 70.00 to 125.00 . Evidently you must replace all 4 together. Plus figure in the cost of paper at about 1.5 cents a page.

But all of which pyc figures are in reality more like 25% or less of these figures for standard whole-page documents So I figure the cost for approx. 4k pages of overall whole-page documents until the drum needs replacing, would be about 180.00 for the printer w/ it's starter carts and drum, then approx. 75.00 for replacement carts, and about 25.00 for 4k sheets of paper, plus maybe 20.00 for electric, for a total of about 300.00 for the first 4,000 pages.

A reviewer says "You can also print out a report from the printer, and it tells you how many pages you have printed, how many were monochrome, and how many color, paper type, etc, as well as toner levels, life of the drum units. It's not too complicated to figure out, and setting up wireless printing was fairly simple."

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)

And pray for wisdom.

72 posted on 12/12/2018 8:00:12 AM PST by daniel1212 (Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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