Cheap colour laser printers

[sovietspybob]

Hi Guys,

What's the general consensus on cheap colour laser printers? I'm talking about ~£200 Brother type ones, in work we only have bigger colour lasers so my knowledge of the small stuff is lacking.

It's for a friend who does a lot of printing at home, mostly craft related stuff like cards and sewing patterns and is always having trouble with the inkjet printers she uses clogging up, causing lines and smudges on the page and having to do print head alignment etc. Whenever i've printed stuff off for her in work she's been really impressed with the quality (especially the sheen a laser print gives) even though they're quite old and not very high end stuff (HP 5550s) so with the volume of stuff she prints i thought laser might be a good choice.

I just don't want to tell her to get one and then find the colour reproduction on the lower end stuff is really naff, it seems quite hard to find decent reviews and print samples of the cheaper laser printers too hence my post on here.

Tldr: are cheap colour laser printers any good?

 

[Donnie Fisher]

I have an hp laserjet pro 200 that I got from my wife's work a couple of years ago. (On eBay for well under your budget)

Quality very consistent, no banding, full cartridge set is about £45 ISH (non genuine but perfectly acceptable)

It's ethernet and WiFi attached and usb. So sits in a corner, can go unused for weeks yet starts up each time and gives a decent print. I've printed from directly attached usb, ethernet connect pc, wireless connect laptop and my iPhones and iPads to it.

I've had no concerns regarding the colour , maybe a little darker print than an inkjet overall but for a document with a couple of pics ... It's a thumbs up from me.

Doesn't really do full photo prints like an inkjet would as you just can't get that type.of.glossy photo paper.

Just re read the bit about cards ... I've found that some lasers don't get the toner to adhere with thicker card that well ... It's like the drum can't pass enough heat into the card.