Followup from laser printer thread - which make?

[ChristopherW]

So, after reading that old laser printer thread which someone bumped up from 2005, I started to think - which make would be best now?

You've got your long-running makersl like HP, Brother, Xerox, Lexmark and Canon, but now you have these newer competitors like Kyocera and (dare I say it) Dell, Oki, Minolta, Samsung...


Who with real world experience of any of the more budget laserjet printers can give advice to someone who's interested in getting one? Just for home use, Uni work printing and things like that. I'm fed up with my **** inkjet, but it's a minefield out there for budget lasers, especially when it comes to things like the cost of new carts and drums (yes, I know you can get refill kits and suchlike). I guess a question which is just as important as 'what's the initial outlay' is 'what's the total failure-free operating life of xyz brand laserjet like?, factoring in the cost of replacement supplies?'

Anyone have any suggestions? I checked out the other cheapo laser printer thread, but it went a bit offtopic, talking about toner replacements and all that.

[Ripper]

Well I have had a samsung ML1250 for about 5 years now. Got it cause it was 45 quid at Dabs! Its great cant really fault it. It was unusual as it had a single simm memory slot (normally associate this memory with pairs!) upgraded to 32 mb which was required to print out large documents such as University thesis / projects! 4 mb was standard - I added a 32 mb chip for about 10 quid at a computer fair! Im sure the more modern printers have sufficient standard memory anyway. Takes a second or too to heat up before use but most lasers I use do (except the HP 4000 laser jet we have at work - that is almost hit print and it prints!)

Toner still available at about £45 from ebuyer which is also a good buy compared to some.

Conclusion : Samsung seem reliable and relatively cheap for consumables, more importantly you can still get the consumables after 5 years!

I remember my brother getting hold of a brother printer free - never used it cause you had to buy a separate toner and drum unit which cost loads!

Well thats my contribution!

[nichomach]

Agreed; we've used ML-6060 and ML-6040 Samsungs here, and they produce good quality, and the consumables aren't out of line with other manufacturers.