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In one job, I used to support just about every size of networkable color and b&w printer from 2 manufacturers. In the cost analysis to operate these things, it

In one job, I used to support just about every size of networkable color and b&w printer from 2 manufacturers. In the cost analysis to operate these things, it became clear: the larger and more expensive printers were not just faster, more reliable, and easier to repair, their supplies were cheaper per page. Their acquisition costs were higher. For anyone needing to churn out flat dead trees more than once a week: I recommend getting a used flagship color laser printer with a low page count and in good condition instead of an inkjet printer. No more running ink, no more calibration pages, no more dried-out ink cartridges, and no more overpriced supplies.

ltbarcly3 5y ago
You don't even have to get them used, if you watch for large color laser printers to come up on clearance when they are a generation or two old you can get a steal. I got my huge dell color laser for about $150 with free shipping. I have two kids who print stuff all day and in 3 years I have replaced the toner maybe one or two times (each color + black is a different cartridge). I haven't had to replace whatever you call the discard toner collector yet. Replacement toner is available in many brands of generic, costs $12 on amazon (less if you buy multipacks, which I don't because I would have to store them for years), and you can print many hundreds of pages before having to replace it. It's a huge monster that has never had a single issue other than a paper jam once or twice. Print quality is as good as you can expect from a laser printer. (It goes without saying I guess that it has a built in duplexer)
- airhead969 5y ago
  We're clearly not talking about the same class of printer. I was talking about flagship, departmental printers that typically do not sit on a table but have their own wheels and 3+ paper trays. I also avoid rebadged brands because they are less likely to have the breadth of repair parts that top-tier enterprise printers do (advice from the printer repair guy). Sure, you can get smaller enterprise laser printers of many brands for cheap, but the smaller you go, the less repairable they are and the more expensive they are to operate. Some of the cartridges I use go to multiple tens of thousands of pages. I never have had a paper jam on anything other than a printer with bad grabber rollers or cheap desktop models. Some of my printers have auto-stapling and collating. Basically, I never need a FedEx Office store unless I'm out-of-the-area.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

ltbarcly3 5y ago

You don't even have to get them used, if you watch for large color laser printers to come up on clearance when they are a generation or two old you can get a steal. I got my huge dell color laser for about $150 with free shipping. I have two kids who print stuff all day and in 3 years I have replaced the toner maybe one or two times (each color + black is a different cartridge). I haven't had to replace whatever you call the discard toner collector yet. Replacement toner is available in many brands of generic, costs $12 on amazon (less if you buy multipacks, which I don't because I would have to store them for years), and you can print many hundreds of pages before having to replace it. It's a huge monster that has never had a single issue other than a paper jam once or twice. Print quality is as good as you can expect from a laser printer. (It goes without saying I guess that it has a built in duplexer)

airhead969 5y ago
We're clearly not talking about the same class of printer. I was talking about flagship, departmental printers that typically do not sit on a table but have their own wheels and 3+ paper trays. I also avoid rebadged brands because they are less likely to have the breadth of repair parts that top-tier enterprise printers do (advice from the printer repair guy). Sure, you can get smaller enterprise laser printers of many brands for cheap, but the smaller you go, the less repairable they are and the more expensive they are to operate. Some of the cartridges I use go to multiple tens of thousands of pages. I never have had a paper jam on anything other than a printer with bad grabber rollers or cheap desktop models. Some of my printers have auto-stapling and collating. Basically, I never need a FedEx Office store unless I'm out-of-the-area.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]