Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

Register Log in
  • Congratulations IamaSherpa on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Printers 1

Status
Not open for further replies.
audiopro

audiopro

Programmer
Apr 1, 2004
3,165
GB
I work from home, mostly designing websites but do occasionally write software for local use.
My grumble is with printers.
I have used ink jet printers mostly but I seem to spend far too much time on printing pictures and documents.
The printer seems to know when I have a deadline and stripes appear on images for no apparent reason when I am up against the clock.

What I would like to know from you guys is what is your preferred printer, ink jet or laser, and what can you suggest to make my low level printing more efficient?




Keith
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Instead of printing to paper and killing trees (<grin>) could printing to a PDF file work as well in some situations? There are several free good PDF printing programs downloadable from the web.

Lion Crest Software Services
Anthony L. Testi
President
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have a LaserJet 2200DN that I use for B/W printing, billing, etc. I have a HP PhotoSmart C8180 that I use for color, photos, etc.

Both have been workhorses.... and the 8180 is a FANTASTIC printer.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I do paperless billing already although the trees are still suffering as my clients print out hard copies.

I have an Epson Stylus SX100 at the moment which produces varying results. When it is on form, photos are excellent and text is very crips but when it is having an off day, it outputs a lot of scrap paper.

I wonder if the problem lies with not using it enough and giving the ink time to dry up in the nozzles. I have been looking at colour laser printers but Ihave no experience of them. As every manufacturer boasts that their printer is the best thing ever created, it is hard to judge which ones are the best.

I have read many revues but wonder if they are from genuine users or from manufacturers.

Keith
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I would ditch inkjet for a color laser or something like the Xerox Phaser (which uses waxy ink-sticks). Color laser printers used to be ridiculously expensive, but thanks to ever-improving technology there are some decent options for the SOHO user.

I typically stick with HP or Xerox for printers, have a look around and see what's available. Just make sure that whatever you buy has separate toner cartridges for each color. I dont' know if anyone sells a multi-color cartridge, but like with inkjets you need to be able to replace each color individually.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have read all sorts of claims regarding running costs. What is a reasonable page expectation from a colour laser printer.
It doesn't cost me a great deal to run my inkjet but I am tired of having to perform major cleaning on a regular basis.

Keith
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My only customer with color requirements was very satisfied with his 3 cartridge machine. Probably has been replaced by now. IIRC it was a company that was absorbed by Kyocera.
For my color stuff I use jets, various manufacturers and models as I get them refurbed, but for long term hardcopy I use a brother mid-range all-in-one laser.
I also have dot matrix and impact (daisy wheel) capabilities but those are being used less and less as supplies are going away.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It doesn't cost me a great deal to run my inkjet but I am tired of having to perform major cleaning on a regular basis.
Click to expand...

Until you factor in the costs of all of those cleaning pages/exercises, eh? It's probably a little more expensive, but I think it's a fair tradeoff for higher print quality, speed, and the fact that some water doesn't ruin the printouts. :)

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Do colour laser printers suffer any ill effects by lying unused for a couple of weeks?
Is there anything to dry up, clog up or just fail when the unit is not used?

Keith
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Nope.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My original comment was for a customer that used his color laser for catalog design.
Thinking about it just now I realized that I have another customer with a a Kyocera that does the same. Unbelievably expensive printer with forms handling used parallel from unix stuff, USB from an XP box as controller, networked through the XP but also capable of direct networking. Absolutely beautiful print of color stuff with results that look like magazine ads.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Can ordinary gloss photo paper be used in a laser printer. I see ads for laser photo paper but wondered if it was one of the same.

Been looking at a Brother HL3040CN - has anyone got any experience of it.


Keith
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Do colour laser printers suffer any ill effects by lying unused for a couple of weeks?
Is there anything to dry up, clog up or just fail when the unit is not used?
Click to expand...

No... however the Phaser's with the waxy ink sticks cause LOTS of issues.... I'm amazed that folks are still using them.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
In all fairness, I've only had two of them at companies that I was responsible for, but both of them worked well for the 2 years that I was there. What issues have you seen?

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Clogged nozzles. Bad heaters. Printer "moved" while it was still hot, spilling wax all over the inside....

Maybe I'm thinking of a different product... the one that I'm thinking of has wax blocks, that get melted, run down a little funnel, into the head... the whole thing smells like melting crayon. Lots of issues with those... folks usually just tossed them in favor of a color laser.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You're thinking of the correct printers. I don't know how long ago you used them but in my experience they were pretty reliable, and the print quality was definitely better than lasers that we had. The downside was that they took a bit to warm up if you weren't using them a lot. For the average user the laser is probably a better option.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that when you look at laser printers you should be sure to price their toner cartridges too. I once worked for a smaller company where the manager went out to get a laser printer and bought an NEC instead of an HP. When I asked him why he pointed out that the HP was $50 more expensive and he was saving money. That was all well and good until we needed new toner cartridges. The NEC cartridges were about $120 while the HP's were like $65. Apparently the NEC toner cartridges included some other laser printer internals (can't recall which) that were getting replaced every time, whereas the HP you would have to order the part via a maintenance kit and replace it only when necessary/prompted. This was about 14 years ago though, so things may have changed since then.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCTS:Windows 7
MCSE:Security 2003
MCITP:Server Administrator
MCITP:Enterprise Administrator
MCITP:Virtualization Administrator 2008 R2
Certified Quest vWorkspace Administrator
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
>Clogged nozzles.
In my experience, the Phasers are particularily sensitive to the quality of the wax blocks. Use cheap generic parts and you'll have trouble, use the Xerox ones and problems are much much reduced
>Bad heaters.
Never suffered from this one

>Printer "moved" while it was still hot, spilling wax all over the inside....

Simple. Follow the instruction book & don't move the printer for 30 minutes after power off (and enforce this with staff mercilessly)

Take Care

Matt
I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone.
My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
When I've run into brochures printed on Phasers, the 'feel' was like it was done with crayons, and you could scratch the wax with your fingernails. Definitely not the Professional Quality feel that can be the result of either a good inkjet or a color laser.

Fred Wagner

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Simple. Follow the instruction book & don't move the printer for 30 minutes after power off (and enforce this with staff mercilessly)
Click to expand...

You don't understand. I'm not talking about this as an IT guy, who can tell staff what to do (not that an IT guy can tell staff what to do anyway), but instead as a technician who gets called to fix the issue AFTER some bonehead moved it.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

shoalcreek
  • Locked
  • Question
convincing users to buy laser printers 5
2
Replies
33
Views
285
tnphoneman
tnphoneman

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top