Choosing A Heavy-duty Laser Printer

[Crushdepth]

Can anyone suggest a good and reasonably priced laser printer model for the following:

* Fairly heavy use, office of 15 people, some of whom are involved in publishing books etc.

* Support post script

* Reasonable print speed

* Robust - we are going to be stuck with this thing for at least 5 years...

Our computer guy suggested a HP LaserJet 4250n, which looks quite nice. But its also 62,000 baht. I haven't bought a printer for a long time so it came as a bit of a shock. Is that a reasonable price or are there cheaper / better alternatives?

Our current printer is Officially Dead and there is a crowd of peasants with torches outside my door...have to do something fast :-)

Edited November 10, 2005 by Crushdepth

[Firefoxx]

HP has traditionally been a good choice for reliable laser printers (with the exception of its vertical-el-cheapo-consumer-lasers). I've personally seen aging (5-10+ years) and heavily used HP lasers still churning out great output. But... HPs have also been traditionally overpriced, and the more you want, (features, networking, paper trays, duty cycle, capacity, duplexing, etc) the more you pay. Consumables and parts are also usually easier to find (but, again, expensive).

I think that you can get something a bit less expensive, and still from HP, at the tone of around 30k-40k, but nevertheless, you should go for the top model that you can afford (even so, 60k for a mono printer is a tad ludicrous, for an office of 15 people).

The 24xx series is nearly half the price, and yet has the capacity to fit your needs. There is also a duplexing networked version ($900), but I'm not sure about the availability in Thailand.

I've personally used the 2430n, and I can say that it's very capable.

Edited November 10, 2005 by Firefoxx

[xty]

every division (about 20 people each) in my office uses HP LaserJet 4200n (internet price $1000, don't know the price in Bangkok) for black & white A4 printing, it's quite good and fast. and for A3 size color printing we use HP Color LaserJet 5500dn.

[trt]

I've had a HP laserjet 2100 (B&W printing) for more than 5 years.. printed out heaps and heaps of docs on it and never had a problem.

HP are the way to go!

[h90]

Just an idea: We use cheap laser printer for arround 6-7000 Baht, they do also duplex and 20 pages per minute (I think also postscript). Wouldn't it maybe easier to get 5-10 of the cheaper printer, like on every table one. In my opinion thats more flexible for everyone and if one run out of toner because noone bought one or one even break down, you just print on a different one.

I found that decentral solution for us better. Or you can even by one middle class for 20 K and 5 smaller for 8000 Baht.

Before 3 people always writing invoices (always 6 pages) and shipping documents could not overload a 5000 Baht Laserprinter, but it broke after 2 years.....

just an idea......

Can anyone suggest a good and reasonably priced laser printer model for the following:

* Fairly heavy use, office of 15 people, some of whom are involved in publishing books etc.

* Support post script

* Reasonable print speed

* Robust - we are going to be stuck with this thing for at least 5 years...

Our computer guy suggested a HP LaserJet 4250n, which looks quite nice. But its also 62,000 baht. I haven't bought a printer for a long time so it came as a bit of a shock. Is that a reasonable price or are there cheaper / better alternatives?

Our current printer is Officially Dead and there is a crowd of peasants with torches outside my door...have to do something fast :-)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Tywais]

I agree with the above. All I buy for our facility is HP, been doing that for 14 years here and reliablility is generally outstanding (had one where the main board failed after about 4 years use). Have one that is 10 years old and still running strong.

You can look here for models and approximate prices.

http://www.shop4thai.com/en/category/?cat=81&brand=12

Edited November 10, 2005 by tywais

[astral]

Read the spec carefully before buying, especially about the duty cycle.

Cheap printers are just that.

They are only designed to handle a few thousand pages, then they die.

Heavy duty items cost money.

HP are the masters in this area.

[croftrobin]

Agree fully - go with HP for volume printing and reliability.

A small laser printer on each desk or couple of desks is a false economy. Low initial costs but medium to high costs on consumables and repairs in the medium to long term.

Get a good high volume HP network printer and perhaps a cheaper colour laser (they are only around 17k Baht now) shared for the designated few and thats your best option.

Additionally, its good for your workers to take a rest every so often, a short enforced walk to the printer, gets their eyes off the screen, allows them to stretch, etc. and should increase their productivity!

If your budget will not stretch to HP then consider the networked Ricoh or Oki range - also very reliable, cheaper consumables than HP and give very good duty cycles.

Never, ever buy an Epson Laser Printer - they are sh*te - they do make the best inkjets and should stick to that market!

Read the spec carefully before buying, especially about the duty cycle.

Cheap printers are just that.

They are only designed to handle a few thousand pages, then they die.

Heavy duty items cost money.

HP are the masters in this area.

Edited November 10, 2005 by croftrobin

[Phil Conners]

Never, ever buy an Epson Laser Printer - they are sh*te - they do make the best inkjets  and  should stick to that market!

Getting OT, but since you mentionned it ...

Never, ever buy an Epson inkjet printer - they are sh*te. They require you to use only original ink or their printheads clog up (and their refills are the most expensive original ink refills on the market).

[TAWP]

Never, ever buy an Epson Laser Printer - they are sh*te - they do make the best inkjets  and  should stick to that market!

Getting OT, but since you mentionned it ...

Never, ever buy an Epson inkjet printer - they are sh*te. They require you to use only original ink or their printheads clog up (and their refills are the most expensive original ink refills on the market).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Confirmed - and when we got sold fake cartridges it not only detected it (well, that was good) but the printer starting printing very erradicat in distribution of the color...we took back the cartridge the next day and complained ofcourse. Maybe it can only use it's own hi-so-color.

But they are really expensive, and we tend to use several per month...

[h90]

I don't agree full.

the cheap ones, if HP will also do a few years, the consumables are very cheap because you can use refill or copied toner, this worked very perfect for me.

Repair costs: You don't repair a 5-8000 Baht printer, you buy a new one.

Advantage: If you bought a bad expensive printer and it has problems all few month, you are stick with it, for the cheap table printer you just put it in the junk.

After 5 years heavy use also an expensive printers rubber parts are hard and it might tend to paper jam or you make an expensive service.

I don't know whats cheaper in the long range and on the running costs.

Also a question of style. Also to mention that many table printer use more space than one big one.

For my very old HP I could refill myself with copy machine toner at 1000 Baht for 5 kg, so basically no costs on the paper.....

Agree fully - go with HP for volume printing and reliability.

A small laser printer on each desk or couple of desks is a false economy.  Low initial costs but medium to high costs on consumables and repairs in the medium to long term.

Get a good high volume HP network printer and perhaps a cheaper colour laser (they are only around 17k Baht now) shared for the designated few and thats your best option.

Additionally, its good for your workers to take a rest every so often, a short enforced walk to the printer, gets their eyes off the screen, allows them to stretch, etc. and should increase their productivity!

If your budget will not stretch to HP then consider the networked Ricoh or Oki range - also very reliable, cheaper consumables than HP and give very good duty cycles.

Never, ever buy an Epson Laser Printer - they are sh*te - they do make the best inkjets  and  should stick to that market!

Read the spec carefully before buying, especially about the duty cycle.

Cheap printers are just that.

They are only designed to handle a few thousand pages, then they die.

Heavy duty items cost money.

HP are the masters in this area.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Crushdepth]

Thanks for your comments. In the end we got a HP 2420 for around 30,000 baht. Not exactly the model we wanted (our admin took it upon themselves to do the shopping and dumbed it down a bit). Unfortunately this model isn't network aware, it has to be shared via a connection to a PC.

Are there any benefits in buying a print server so that it can be plugged directly into the LAN?

[Tywais]

Thanks for your comments. In the end we got a HP 2420 for around 30,000 baht. Not exactly the model we wanted (our admin took it upon themselves to do the shopping and dumbed it down a bit). Unfortunately this model isn't network aware, it has to be shared via a connection to a PC.

Are there any benefits in buying a print server so that it can be plugged directly into the LAN?

The only real advantage is that it removes the load of whoevers computer it is connected to (can really slow the computer down). The 2420 has an EIO slot which allows you to add a JetDirect (network print server) card to it. However it is expensive, probably around 14k Baht. If you have an old computer not in use you can dedicate it as a print server. I have some old 386 computers that work fine for this here.

http://www.shop4thai.com/en/category/?cat=71&brand=12

Edited November 17, 2005 by tywais