Printer upgrade - Colour Laser advice please

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#302293 13-Nov-2022 13:24

I hate printers at the best of times, & they hate me in return. But, I need to to replace a colour laser printer so I'm asking for guidance from Geekzone. Have you had recent experience owning a new colour laser printer? Is there a standout make / model?

Up for replacement is an HP MFP M281FDW, an entry-level colour laser that's done an okay job printing hundreds of full colour pages - it's been well used. A set of replacement print cartridges costs in excess of $600 & the entire printer can be replaced by the M283 version for $500.

Is that the right thing to do?

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Dynamic

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#2995500 13-Nov-2022 15:52

When costing out colour laser printers for clients, I generally check the page count of the printer and work out its approximate age to work out the approx number of pages per year, and then run up a little Excel spreadsheet to show the TCO of the printer over three or five years.

Purchase price
toner to cover x thousand pages
drum units and fuser units for that same page count, etc

On more than one occasion a client has then taken up our recommendation for a more expensive model with cheaper per-page consumables.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

michaelmurfy

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#2995501 13-Nov-2022 15:54

I'd also recommend the Epson Ecotank printers (Inkjet). I've got a ET-4700 that has printed in excess of 2000 pages on its original ink. Replacement ink is cheap too.

Has great print quality and never had any issues with it apart from the odd clean cycle having to be done.

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#2995503 13-Nov-2022 15:59

michaelmurfy:
I'd also recommend the Epson Ecotank printers (Inkjet). I've got a ET-4700 that has printed in excess of 2000 pages on its original ink. Replacement ink is cheap too.

Has great print quality and never had any issues with it apart from the odd clean cycle having to be done.

This did cross my mind, Ecotank is a game-changer for inkjet print costs

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allan

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#2995520 13-Nov-2022 16:21

Friend of mine just bought a Brother MFCL9570CDW. He was going to go for the cheaper (by half) Brother MFCL8690CDW, but the toner cartridge costs are approximately the same, with double the yield for the dearer printer. In either case the per page costs were at least 50% cheaper than his old HP laser, which had died.

Both out of my price range for the amount of colour printing I do**, but if you have a need for colour on a regular basis, it made sense for him.

**Most of my printing goes to an ancient b&w only Brother HL-2140 laser that is wirelessly shared via a Raspberry Pi - I'm a cheapskate 😀

timmmay

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#2995536 13-Nov-2022 17:12

I'm on my second Brother color laser printer. The first one still worked but replacing consumables (toner, waste toner cartridge) would've cost more than a new printer, and I wanted double sided scanning. Brother MFC-L3770CDW, from Warehouse Stationary, price matched to some other website I found on pricespy.

martyyn

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#2996255 14-Nov-2022 21:37

We had our 281 die last month after four years of service.

After looking at the options for about 30 minutes I just went and bought the 283.

We know it can do the job for a two person office and my wife won't need to learn how to use something else.

It was up and running in ten minutes and we moved on.

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#2996257 14-Nov-2022 21:47

martyyn: We had our 281 die last month after four years of service.

After looking at the options for about 30 minutes I just went and bought the 283.

We know it can do the job for a two person office and my wife won't need to learn how to use something else.

It was up and running in ten minutes and we moved on.

This is 100% the reply I wanted to get. Thank you.

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quickymart

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#2996264 14-Nov-2022 22:21

This one?

https://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=5242561