Colour laser

As I sell these for a living I could ask you a thousand questions first, but I'll start with a couple of basic questions.
  • What do you intend printing?
  • What type of volume do you intend putting through it?
  • Are you looking for a desktop colour or full on MFD?
 
for a cheap get a samsung b/w,, or personally i use HP 1320n its also networked and duplex can be had s/h £60 - £80.... toners that are chipped can be had for £25

for colour i use a minolta 5430DL is quick fast cheap on toner if you refill your self. but i usually trawl local auction site and buy refurbed from any where for £90 - £120 that come with toners, then resell the printer, i have got extra paper tray and duplex unit for them, (them as i have 3) i take the minolta to photo shoots use it for proofs ,, its VERY quick to turn a few pages out can have a display of 20 pics on 30- 40 pages in about 10 minutes onsite..
 
Rikki said:
Just an FYI but colour lasers are fairly crap for printing photos out on.
Click to expand...

Not entirely true, colour lasers have come along way. If you want to print photos then go for an inkjet as you will get that gloss look, however, for everyday printing of text documents/graphics then it would be cheaper in the long run to go for a colour laser.
As mentioned, I sell commercial colour lasers/MFD's that are compatable to inkjets and the quality is exremelly good when printing photos but these machines are fairly expensive for the home user http://www.ricoh.com.au/products/viewproduct.asp?productid=689&range=Colour+Laser+Printers&RangeID=5
As mentioned previously, have a look at HP, they manufacture good machines for the home office but be aware that their running costs can be expensive.
I would recommend some machines for you to look at but I don't know what the UK pricing is like compared to here in Australia.
 
Lasers havent come along way since I bought the HP 3600 last year and its god awful for printing images. Fine for text, docs, charts, line art etc but actual photographical quality is crap.
 
Just because you have had a bad experience from one model laser printer does not mean that the whole colour laser industry is tarred by the same brush.
HP do infact make some really good colour printers for home use,and I can tell you without a question of doubt, colour lasers have indeed come along way and are just as comparible with inkjets as long as the correct type of paper is used.
 
Yes they have come along way in 10 years, dont take up a whole cubile etc but they dont compare to the colour gamut of inkjets even on different paper stocks (I've tried a load). Roll in alignment and calibration issues that arent really life or death when printing off pie charts in excel and you've got something that doesnt lend itself to high resolution colour photography.

"Reviewers unanimously agree that inkjet printers are much better at printing photos than laser printers. While a laser printer can print photos that are good enough for business use in newsletters or brochures, their purpose is printing better text and color graphics than an inkjet, and doing so at much faster speeds. In addition, laser printers are much better for batch jobs and have much higher duty cycles than inkjet printers. "

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/computers/color-laser-printers/index.html

Back on topic, Im not wanting to thread crap or anything, just made my post as this is a photography forum and wouldnt want the OP thinking that a laser would match high quality output from an inkjet. For general use they are fine as noted.
 
This is going to be my last post on this topic as we seem to be going in circles here. The OP wanted info on lasers not inkjets.
If you read my earlier post it clearly states that inkjets give that slightly better edge over lasers, however, and I still stand by this statement, colour laser printers especially with a Fiery built in will are not that far behind inkjets.
I have sold my fair share of CLC's with built in Fierys to print houses/advertising agencies who need to proof their work before sending it off to the printers. With a Fiery you can get the Pantone colours matched perfectly that advertising agency are looking for, hence the cost factor over inkjets.
To the origional OP: for general home use, you can't go wrong with HP colour lasers but be aware that the running costs on a home office machine would be higher than that of the more expensive machine used commercially.
 
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We have a big Canon colour copier at work (can't remember model but it's less than a year old) and it prints Pretty nice photos. Not like a photograph (or inkjet) but more like a magazine quality.

Does A3 as well.

Perfectly good prints I'd say for 99% of anybody's needs, and most people can use photobox for actual photos. Ill definately be getting a colour laser next, as much as I love the quality of my IP4000, I much preferred my B&W HP laser.
 
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