Colour Laser vs Inkjet (Fits and Spurts)

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DeepBlueSky

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#277227 2-Oct-2020 12:31

Hi Guys,

Our old Epsom is dying print quility issues clogged jets; I have read this can occur from not using an inkjet enough, the thing is in hour home we will have times of printing a lot then months go by not print much if any.

So been thinking of running costs printers dying etc. and this has led to me looking at Laser Printers.

My main worry with a Laser printer is the outlay on toner, I'm thinking of a HP MFP M283FDW Color Laserjet Pro Printer its $500.00 at the moment and I can see you can get Generic Toner when it runs out I know you can get issues with Generic Ink do you get similar issues with Generic Toner or is it more reliable ?.

If I was going to look at an Inkjet I was thinking of an ECO Tank but I hear the ink ages and can clog too so I would be back to issues with printing.

I Guess if we used it everyday an ECOTank would be the way to go and if I harly used it a Laser printer would be the go.

For an intermediate usage printer as we have kids and need to print photos on occasion what would you suggest, plus has anyone used generic toner how well does this work.

farcus

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#2577951 2-Oct-2020 12:39

on HP inkjet printers the printer head is on the ink cartridge - so easy to remove and clean if becomes clogged.

nzkc

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#2577957 2-Oct-2020 12:41

A couple of years ago (....maybe more...actually don't remember exactly) I was in pretty much the same situation. Went to use a the old multi-function ink jet to find clogged jets and no amount of cleaning would seem to fix.

Decided to bite the bullet on a colour laser and now would never go back.

I went with a Brother HL-3170CDW. Pretty cheap and the toner costs aren't too bad. Feels expensive when you have to replace a few together though they last far longer. Ive used some generic ones from ComputerFood and they've been perfectly fine.

I don't do photography prints with them so cannot comment on that vs an ink jet at all.

nitro

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#2577963 2-Oct-2020 12:48

epson inkjets need to be used at least once a week. canon inkjets, pretty much daily (at least within 2 or 3 days).

with no kids (school work) and mainly printing photos, if you're using specialty photo paper, an inkjet is still the way to go. if you're just printing them on normal copy paper, probably not much difference.

i'm pretty sure i've seen the hp 283 around the $300 level at some point. almost got it then, but the (original) toner replacement cost stayed my hand.

aftermarket toners, like inks, depend on which one (brand/supplier) you get. i'm talking about colour reproduction/accuracy even before reliability.

i haven't printed photos since my photo printer died years ago now... getting them done mainly at harveynorman now.

as per previous post, brother toners are better priced than hp.

surfisup1000

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#2577979 2-Oct-2020 13:09

nitro:

epson inkjets need to be used at least once a week. canon inkjets, pretty much daily (at least within 2 or 3 days).

If that is the case, shouldn't they have printing maintenance schedule that prints a page every so often if it hasn't been used in a while?

nitro

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#2578036 2-Oct-2020 14:25

surfisup1000:

If that is the case, shouldn't they have printing maintenance schedule that prints a page every so often if it hasn't been used in a while?

great idea... and one i agree with. but they can't just schedule a print on a printer that may have no paper, or not even BE powered/plugged in.

most (all) of them inkjets have the nozzle check and printhead clean diagnostic functions, but most people only go to these options when the printer is already skipping (has some blockage). at this point, it can be too late to rescue the blocked nozzles. and even if you successfully recover, it is likely to have used more ink (it uses the only thing it can use to flush the nozzles - ink!) than you would have if you just used the printer regularly.

it is a shame that people buy those ecotank printers at a premium price only to find blockages before they even get to use half the ink.

FineWine

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#2578174 2-Oct-2020 15:56

Like you we had ink jet for years all Epsom but the jets clogged, cogs or platen worn. In the end, 2016, we bought a Brother MFC9340CDW. We buy our genuine Brother Cartridges from the Tech Warehouse and are CMY = $108.04 ea and Blk = $121.84 + $10 delivery. Since purchase in 2016 we have had to replace all the cartridges only twice. So we are averaging 2 years replacement. So far so good no problems. It connects to the home WiFi piece of cake.

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timmmay

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#2578179 2-Oct-2020 16:07

Brother color laser has been good for us, after going through an inkjet every few years. The color lasers can last ages if you maintain them and buy all the parts, but at 5 years we're about ready to toss it and buy a new one for around $500 rather than spend $250 on parts and toner, as with a new one you get a warranty.

DeepBlueSky

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#2578526 3-Oct-2020 11:55

Thanks Guys,

I think I'll look at Laser Printers, I have a Canon Selphy that has been great for 6x4 Photos and I guess I could look at the price to print from the stores if I need anything bigger. Thanks again for the help now its a balance between getting a good laser that can do text and photos of a resonable quality and price.

What are the pros and cons between say a Brother and a HP are there any acknowleged just better brands when it comes to Laser printers ?.

Hammerer

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#2578538 3-Oct-2020 12:17

DeepBlueSky:

What are the pros and cons between say a Brother and a HP are there any acknowleged just better brands when it comes to Laser printers ?.

For laser printers, I prefer HP to Brother.

Although, I know that Brother printers are popular on price (initial and consumable) and they have good consumer support, you have to work a bit harder to get all the benefits e.g. it has generally been easier to damage Brother consumables when handling them.

What I've most disliked about the Brothers is their lighter toner coverage so the lower toner cost has simply been due to using less toner. When I matched the density of coverage Brother was not cheaper. However, I haven't checked that recently to confirm that is still a difference.

I've got better deals from using HP. I've bought many second-hand HPs that last forever and the high-duty cycles have meant they have been particularly reliable.

The HP electronics design and reliability have been better: lower power consumption, faster waking from sleep, longer-life, better output. And their products were usually better integrated with software/apps.

richms

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#2578553 3-Oct-2020 12:45

I agree with the light toner from brother printers.

I had some OHP transparancy that I was printing on ages ago to make some custom letters for a cinema marquee lightbox and the brother was pathetic. I took them to work and put thru the kyocera worn out piece of crap there and got way better coverage. Not obvious on paper so much but you can see the print is lighter if you compare the brother output to the others.

Richard rich.ms

seoras

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#2609942 24-Nov-2020 18:58

Sorry to jump in late here but back in June I spotted the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M283FDW for sale in PB Tech Hamilton for $329 and went in and bought one to replace my trusty old HP Pro P1102w which has done me well for 6 years, replaced ink once.

I've been really pleased with it, which is the first reason I'm posting here. It's a top quality machine and does all the things I upgraded to get really well (colour, photocoping, scanning).

The 2nd reason is that I find it incredible that this HP laserjet is cheaper to purchase here in NZ than in either the US or the UK.

On Amazon US it is US$450-$500 (~NZ$650-720)

On Amazon UK it is ~£360 (~NZ$720)

So even at the non-sale price of just under NZ$500 at PB Tech just now it is still a bargain compared to what you'd pay in those larger markets.

I've kept an eye on PB's price all year and it regularly drops to the price I bought it at which is an incredible saving considering what you'd pay abroad for it.

I always assumed that things would be more expensive here in NZ than in the UK or US due to it being a smaller market?

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DeepBlueSky

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#2641719 25-Jan-2021 15:51

Hi Guys,

As an update, I came across an HP m477fdw on TradeMe for $160 just after the new year so I snapped it up the gentalman had updated to the HP m479fdw as he was having issues running out of RAM for print jobs the 477 has 256mb the 479 has 512mb (confirmed looking at the printers logs). Anyway printer in perfect condition has printed around 8000 pages with a duty cycle of 50,000 pages a month it doesn't see to have done that much work. Print quality is amazing, really impressed the kids are happy too.

Also came with XL Black installed with 2000 pages remaining and Cyan around the same pages remaining, the rest of the colours are much higher.

Worked on the thought process it can't be any worse than the inkjet and it was cheap enough for me to dip my toes into Colour Laser printers to see if they worked for me and the family. As it currently stands really impressed I don't think I'll return to a home inkjet again.

Anyway I thought I should update you, thanks for all the help on making the decision.