Light-duty color problem
in [Printers]
|
Prev: How to find out an actual page count?
Next: Jedan vic
From: Bob Willard on 29 Mar 2010 13:02 Fred McKenzie wrote: > In article <hoifh8$pcf$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, > Bob Willard <BobwBSGS(a)TrashThis.comcast.net> wrote: > >> If I get a color laser printer, will it be trouble-free with occasional >> use? > > Bob- > > The answer is a definite maybe! > > There is no printhead to clog. The one serious problem I can imagine, > would be if the printer were subjected to continuous high humidity. It > would probably survive that if it were always on, so internally > generated heat would keep it dry. > > I have two HP2605DN color laser printers connected to ethernet ports of > WiFi base stations for wireless printing. One at my Mom's house is > normally turned off and unplugged. It is only used when I am there. > For over a year, it has given no trouble. > > One here has been left on continuously for about two years, although it > is not heavily used. There has been no serious problem. On rare > occasion there appears to be some kind of network glitch. Turning the > printer off and back on again, has always cleared the problem. > > An HP4600N connected to the WiFi base station, ran for about four years > before it died. It is probably repairable but the HP2605DN makes the > old clunker obsolete. > > Fred Thanks, Fred (and others). Now I need to convince my GF/wife/partner that the HP Color LJ CP 2025dn is worth the $500 price. Maybe I'll tell her that the printer she normally uses is broken, so I *had* to replace it. -- Cheers, Bob
From: Arthur Entlich on 31 Mar 2010 22:47 I wasn't going to reply, hoping others would provide reasonable answers, and for the most part you have been given that. Of course, there is always one... For your needs, if you will be doing quite light color use, and you do not require photographic quality (and if near that will do) then your answer is probably a color laser printer. Just like inkjet printers, laser printers are now using the same wasteful business model, selling you the printer at very low or no profit while gouging you on the toner and cartridges. However, the advantage of lasers over inkjet system are numerous for your applications. 1) generally they have a larger installed yield on purchase (more on that in a minute) than inkjet models. In other words, the yield from the installed toner cartridges is more than the yield from an inkjet cartridge provided on purchase of your printer. 2) Toner and the cartridges for laser printers usually last a very long time without the image degrading due to age. Some inkjet printers will literally stop working once a cartridge gets to a certain age regardless of how much ink is left, because the manufacturer tries to protect the heads from "old ink". Whether this is legitimate or not, it makes the ink left unusable. 3) Most inkjet printers use up ink every time they are turned on to clean the head. They also clean all colors using up color ink even if you are only printing monochrome black and white images. Laser printers typically use no toner during their set up process (or very little). 4) Inkjet printers will often not work if any color runs out of ink. You can usually override that with a laser printer, and print with the toners that are working. Some inkjets have as many as 12 cartridge, color laser printers only use 4. 5) Inkjet printers today use a estimation system for determining when the cartridge should be "empty" (ink monitoring). They are inaccurate and moreso if you have a clogged head and need to clean it. You can actually "use up" a whole cartridge trying to unclog the head, and though no ink may have left the printer, the cartridge will still read as empty. Often once that estimate is assumed, the printer won't print until you replace the cartridge, or if the printer allows you to override it, you risk damaging the head with thermal type inkjet head should it run out of ink. Some laser printers do monitor toner levels and warn you if they run low, but you can almost always override that warning, and it will not dame the printer to run the toner cartridge out. 6) Laser printers work fine with standard bond paper, offering somewhat better results with "color laser" papers, which still are much cheaper than using inkjet specific coated papers. Most color inkjet output is lower quality on regular bond paper. Depending upon the ink used, it may also not be waterproof or may fade easily with sun or ozone exposure. Laser toners are waterproof and tend to be very light resistant. 7) Inkjet printers are environmentally sensitive. They tend to clog in dry climates. They do require some exercise to keep from clogging. Laser printers tend to sit for a long period without issue developing. 8) Most laser toner cartridges can be refilled, although some models will run more slowly on refill due to a chip being "blown". Many inkjet printer cartridges are difficult to refill, and you may require a special resetter to reset the ink monitor chip for the printer to recognize the ink. 9) Color laser printers have become as tiny as inkjet and there are all in one units color laser versions now, also. However, be careful, usually these very small models have very small toner cartridges which are costly to replace. 10) All desktop inkjet printers dump ink into a set of pads at their base during cleaning cycles. If these pads are deemed as "full" which often is not the case, the printer will usually lock up and no longer work. Some allow a reset procedure, but many do not anymore. If the ink does get too great, it will begin to leak out of the printer bottom. With laser printers usually the excess toner on the drum is either recycled and reused or is stored in a box or the cartridge in a waste toner area. You may have to empty the waste toner box, or replace it if it has a microchip interface, but you won't have to dump the printer. With some inkjet the pads can be replaced by a service bureau, but the cost is usually almost that of a new printer. 11) If you will have light use, and not heavy coverage per sheet, if you play it right, you can buy a color laser printer which has larger full cartridges which may last you the life of your need of the printer, so you never have to buy more cartridges or refill them. To get your best value, you need to do your research and perhaps even contact the manufacturer. As one example, three HP color laser printers with pricing differences of $25-$75 per step up offered half full cartridges on the first step (and no ethernet and a lower duty cycle for the printer). For $25-35 more the next step up offered an extra tray, ethernet communications, double the service duty and twice the toner per cartridge, supplying about 3000 prints at 5% coverage per color as opposed to 1500 prints. The next step up provided a much more robust machine, which ran faster and has still extra features, and for $100 more than the lowest model, offered another 3000-4000 copies at 5% per color with the provided toner cartridges. The exact toner cartridges provided with the printer (with the same amount of toner) run about $200 each to replace (or $800). The printer with the full cartridges was under $350. So, what you want is a light to medium duty printer, with the largest most filled cartridges you can find installed with the printer, or a printer with very reasonably priced toner refills (a few models allow you to refill the printer numerous times before you have to replace the printer cartridges or drums). If you navigate yourself to my blog (shown below) I have a while article on this issue. Art If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste, I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog: http://e-trashtalk.spaces.live.com/ Bob Willard wrote: > Most of my SOHO printing is B&W, for which I use my trusty-but-slow > HP LJ 4L (purchased in the summer of 1994, and still working well). > For the rare color printout, I've had a number of inkjet printers > from a number of vendors, but they all clog due to being unused for > days or weeks at a time. > > If I get a color laser printer, will it be trouble-free with occasional > use? > > (I won't print photos, since I can get super quality by emailing > the .JPGs to a commercial photo store.)
From: Bob Willard on 1 Apr 2010 05:56
Arthur Entlich wrote: > I wasn't going to reply, hoping others would provide reasonable answers, > and for the most part you have been given that. > Excellent reply -- lots of details. Thanks much. -- Cheers, Bob |