When to declare a printer dead

[philote]

The company I am working for has several printers that are probably 4 or more years old. They're all higher-end laser printers, some of them are color. They seem to have problems all the time, though we can usually get them fixed for a while before more (sometimes the same) problems arise. My question is, when should we decide to replace these printers? I've already replaced one because we could get a new one that did the job for almost as much as the cost to repair it. The replacement's not as good as the old printer, but like I said, it does what we need it to. The printers in question are a Lexmark black & white and two Tektronix color laser printers.

 

[kiddpete]

If the old printers can still meet the technical requirements, I suspect most businesses will only replace them when their maintenance cost, over some period of time, exceeds the replacement cost. BTW, part of the maintenance cost is downtime and technical staff time.

 

[zeitghost]

When the bean counters decide to let you?

Some places make it difficult to get a new stapler, much less a new laser printer.

rgds
Zeit.

 

[philote]

LOL, right you are, zeitghost. Fortunately I do have some pull in the decision as I'm the only 'computer guy' around here.

 

[Jomama46]

I cant tell you when youre printer is dead. I can tell you that printer management has grown along with other technology.
When its the suits problem, they will listen. If it is your problem, thats you're problem. Seeumsayin?
If they are concerned with downtime, look at (almost always manuf. specific) parallel printing and recovery printing. The first will split large jobs between two printers and the last will reprint a job to a failed printer.
Look for included software that will alert either users and/or admins of printer status. Toner, paper low, etc.
Many companys use cheap HPs at the workstations and full featured printer/scanner/copiers for other than to-be-trashed prints.

Jomama

 

[Bacardi412]

If you give me the specific model numbers or types of the printers in question I'll you a better idea of which ones to replace and which ones to repair.

 

[philote]

We have:
Tektronix (now Xerox) Phaser 740 and also a Phaser 780
Lexmark Optra S 1620
HP Laserjet 6P (not really worried about this one)

 

[Bacardi412]

Ok, as far as the 6p goes. Its cheap, and only a few things really go wrong with them. The parts are cheap as well and should get more life out of it for a cheaper price. I personally own a 6p and I love it. You can, though, get more than a few printers that can far outperform it for about the same price, depending on what you are fixing on it, to repair it. Final advice -- Toss up!

Phaser 740-780....Expensive machine, expensive parts, expensive labor. Stay away if you dont want costly repairs. Although, these printers, when working, have no competition as far as quality is concerned. One time repair only in my opinion on these.

Lexmark Optra S -- Replace before repairing at this time. Lexmark has updated and upgraded this model 5 or 6 times over. These Lexmarks are the best label printers. If you are not printing labels or envelopes or special papers then you are not using these to their potential. Get an HP instead. Lexmarks are more costly to upkeep than HP's.

Hopefully this has helped on your decision making. If you have any questions, just post here and I'll try to answer the best I can.

 

[majikhands]

if anyone wants to sell a 740 for parts, let me know. Have two of them and the power supply burned out on one of them. Xerox wants $434.00! They work great but they are a bit finicky. Please respond to 877-384-0295 or steve.kreger@islandsoftwareco.com

 

[philote]

Oh I'd love to get rid of ours. But I don't think management will let that happen since we've been able to keep it running. What would you pay for one that's in working condition?

 

[majikhands]

depends on how much! The shipping alone is about 100.00. I can pick one up on ebay for 100.00-300.00. what city & state are you located?