[Discuss] color laser printer

[warlord at MIT.EDU (Derek Atkins)]

We acquired a Xerox Phaser 6600DN.  It's rather large in physical size,
but it was relatively low cost and the toner cartridges can be replaced
separately and last a while.  We've loved it so far.  Had it a year or
more already and still working with the toner it shipped with, although
we plan to buy more toner soon.  Alas, the toner for this device is
costly, but not too bad when you consider you don't have to replace them
all at the same time.

Just my $0.02.

-derek

Tom Metro <tmetro+blu at gmail.com> writes:

> I'm looking to replace an old laser printer whose drive motor wore out
> with a new duplexing laser. I've browsed the Brother (often recommended
> here) multi-function lasers online, and I see that I can get a color
> laser for a fairly small incremental increase in the purchase price.
>
> My printer use is quite light. So much so that it seems hard to justify
> even replacing the printer.
>
> But on occasion I do need to print lengthly documents, and that's where
> the laser comes in handy (and thus the desire for duplexing, to cut down
> on paper use). I'm aware that color lasers do a poor job at photo
> reproduction. I have an inkjet that would meet that requirement. So
> having the laser be color would be nice, but far from necessary.
>
> Aside from reduced print costs, another reason why I favor laser
> printers over inkjets is that you can leave them unused for several
> months and not have the ink cartridges dry out.
>
> What I'm wondering is what are the down sides to getting a color laser,
> aside from the upfront costs and the additional cartridge costs? Will
> the color cartridges last for years if they are rarely used? (The rubber
> parts in toner cartridges will dry out eventually.) Is the printer
> likely to refuse to print in monochrome if one of the color cartridges
> is empty?
>
> Are color lasers more prone to break down? More prone to jamming?
>
> The Brother monochrome toner cartridges seem to run about $20 street
> price. I assume the color cartridges will be more. Is the black
> cartridges that go into a color printer unique, and thus produced in
> lower volume and more expensive?
>
>  -Tom

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available