Colour Laser - Small Office

GoneShootin

I'm trying to decide on a new colour laser for the office. The Dell v715w is costing far too much to run and it may be time to go with a laser.

I've boiled my choices down to the following. I need to keep running costs down, as best I can tell these match the requirements. Any comments on these or other recommendations would be appreciated!

OKI C5650N

Brother DCP 9010CN

Epson Aculaser C2800N

Xerox 6280N

Kyocera Mita C5100DN

jpl888

Yes go for HP or Dell/Lexmark.

OKi and Kyocera are real budget makes READ: don't work very well and lack features.

Brother aren't too bad, Epson and Xerox would be in the same boat, but not my first recommendation.

Hope this helps.

Sorry posted that before I remembered you are trying to get away from Dell. Some people have commented that the consumables don't last very long. In that case HP all the way.

dilallio

Had a quick look at the specs.

My recommendation below is based purely on running costs, and not on the technical capabilities of the printers.

I would go for one which has seperate colour toner cartridges. The issue with a single colour cartridge is they contain 3 sub-compartments with cyan, magenta, and yellow toners, and if you are printing flyers or mailshots with a lot of a yellow / cream background, you will exhaust your yellow toner, but still have to replace the lot. The other 2 colours could be fine, but when one is gone, you will need to replace all three.

From the specs in your links, both the the OKI & Epson have seperate colour cartridges. It doesn't say for the other models.

jpl888

Haven't checked the latest HP's but the last one I saw had separate cartridges.

I think the Dell the OP is trying to get away from probably had that too?

I'm sure it does help with running costs, but how much is difficult to answer.

Some of the Dell's suffer from low pages per cartridge, drum life needs to be taken into account also.

dilallio

The Dell that the OP is currently using is an Inkjet, not a laser. Inkjets are cheap, but the running costs are awful.

Edit:

Laser printers are more expensive, but much cheaper to run. I've printed A4 flyers - got 70 printed on a standard 3-in-1 colour inkjet cartridge before the colour ran out. I've printed about 1500 on a laser with seperate colour toner cartridges, and when it ran out, I only needed to replace one of the colour toners, not all 3.

jpl888

dilallio wrote: »

The Dell that the OP is currently using is an Inkjet, not a laser. Inkjets are cheap, but the running costs are awful.

Edit:

Laser printers are more expensive, but much cheaper to run. I've printed A4 flyers - got 70 printed on a standard 3-in-1 colour inkjet cartridge before the colour ran out. I've printed about 1500 on a laser with seperate colour toner cartridges, and when it ran out, I only needed to replace one of the colour toners, not all 3.

Sorry mind not on the job today, should've caught that.

True they are more expensive but not by that much. For the extra €100 a laser is a great option.

See http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&kc=305&l=en&oc=1320c&s=dhs&sbc=print_1320c

My own experience I have a HP Laserjet 6P (BW only) that I acquired in a previous incarnation, 9 years ago. It had an internal paper jam, took it apart for a few hours got it back together (with a few spare screws I might add) and I have never replaced the toner in it. Admittedly I might not print for a month at a time but I have printed things like Rutes book and what not so I must be at the upper end of the toner's life.

the_syco

GoneShootin wrote: »

I'm trying to decide on a new colour laser for the office

What do you print out, and do you print out much in colour?

GoneShootin

The requirement for colour is there for sure. It's really a 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other scenario. Could be anything from basic excel sheets and payslips to full colour posters for internal advertising (gym).

the_syco

Make sure you price refills. Expensive printer usually has cheap refills. Cheap printer usually has expensive refillls. Got good cheap refills from www.inkredible.co.uk a while back: still have some left.

qwertz

Just a tip: we have a combi-colour photocopier/printer on each floor and part of the support contract with the supplier is unlimited toner. This might work for you as well.

GoneShootin

Went with 2 HL-3040's in the end

http://www.testfreaks.com/printers/brother-hl-3040cn/

Happy so far, and price of original toner ink is quite good in comparison to the crappy Dell v715 (inkjet)

jpl888

I would see the Brother's as being near the top of the pile. I don't think you'll have much bother with them and they have most of the features.

travelguru

I think you should go for a Lexmark!

jpl888

Too late he's already "gone".

travelguru

should of gone anyway best of luck with it!

GoneShootin

travelguru wrote: »

I think you should go for a Lexmark!

After the hassle's I've had with the Lexmarks in wolfs clothing (Dells) I'm happy to stay away from them!