Personal laser vs inkjet

[GrinReaper]

I'm wondering if there are any printer experts who could offer me advice. My crap HP printer has carked it after just one year. Not impressed. Anyway, I don't do much colour printing so I'm thinking of getting a personal laser printer -- from what I've heard, they work out cheaper on printing costs.

But I'd only be able to afford an entry level personal laser, and I'm wondering if they are very reliable/durable. One of the reasons I'm thinking of getting a laser is that I'd be able to print out copies of my manuscript rather than paying to have them done at a print shop. A personal lasers designed for that sort of volume of work? (I'm talking half a dozen copies of a 650-page manuscript).

Any thoughts?

[Neuromancer]

Yes a personal laser will be exactly what you need

I picked up a brother HL-1440 for 140 dolalrs at Staples (an office superstore) 

It comes with a "starter" cartridge  3000 pages at 5% page coverage  (which is a page of text )

For replacements I suggestt the High capicaty cartridge which does 6000 Pages.  at 67-75 dollars US.


Laser printers print higher quality pages then an inkjet, they use the same technology as a photocopier (if you want details I explain that too my mom workedfor Xerox )

Just pull out a magnifying glass a look at the capital letter A printed on a inkjet and on a laser at a local store if you have time.  (The difference is obvious with out a magnifying glass but it will emphasive the point).  The left angle of the A wil lbe crisp and straight on the laser.  On the inkjet it will look jagged and rough.  this is because the paper absorbs the ink.

I do suggest also spending a little extra money and getting laser printer paper.  Its a finer quality, less resistant to damage during the heating cycle, and will result in less jammed pages.

Also if you have access to any OLD pcs that are being thrown away.. nab a stick of RAM out of it.  You can put it in the printer.  With a larger printer memory your computer will not be bogged down while performing large print jobs. 

The last benefit.

Inkjet printers are SLOW

When you go to price printers next time you will see numbers of PPM (page per minute)  The inkjet printer will show anywhere from 10-25 ppm and the laser printers anywhere from 14-27ppm.  DO NOT BELIEVETHE INKJET PRINTERS!!!

I showed the difference to a few customers when  Isold printers last year.

I showed a small buisness owner a office level inkjet machine that advertised 25PPM color.  It printed 4ppm

I do not know how they can advertise.

At the same demo the 15 PPM laser printer printed 14PPM.

So the higher page speed, lower cost per page and higher quality prints lead me to suggest you DO get a laser printer.

But like ALL things.. you get what you pay for.

If you see a laser printer on sale for 60 bucks.. .there is a reason

2 more points.  Durability.  I sold a multifunction laser printer to a man that wanted to replace a drum in his old machine.  (It was 15 years old!)

And lastly.  The more you want to print the more you should spend.  My Brother is rated for 15,000 pages per month.

If i print 20,000 per month will it stop working?  No... but it will cause more stress on the system.

Also factor in.. if you want to do all 15000 pages at one sitting... you might want a machine rated much higher.  (15thous translates to roughly one of your manuscripts every mon-fri for amonth... if you want to print them all in on shot.. you might want to look at the 5000 series...  Ibeleive off the top of my head they are rated around 30-50thousand pages per month.  Same ink and toner cartridges though.  Justa slightly bulkier machine.

Also since you might want to walk away while doing massive print jobs.. look into getting dual paper feeders.  the 2 together will hold on ream of paper (500 sheets)

Anyway... yes laser is your better buy

[JoyceCarter]

Not that I'm looking to buy anything like that at the moment, but it's really interesting.  Thanks for the explanation.

[SharonBell]

I'm wondering if there are any printer experts who could offer me advice. My crap HP printer has carked it after just one year. Not impressed. Anyway, I don't do much colour printing so I'm thinking of getting a personal laser printer -- from what I've heard, they work out cheaper on printing costs. Any thoughts?

This year, I bit the bullet and got an Okidata C5150 for the same reasons. My HP deskjet was too damn slow and I was tired of staying up all night to print my manuscript when an agent asked for it. It cost $399 (on sale). The toner cartridges aren't cheap ($125) and I found out the hard way that you DO have to use laser printer paper, not the cheapo recycled stuff they give away here at Office Depot.

I'm a happy customer. It's fast (20 ppm) and the quality of the print is amazing. Only thing you can't do with it is envelopes, so keep the HP for those SASEs!

Good luck!

[GrinReaper]

Thank you for your advice -- especially Neuromancer -- that was amazing!

The one I'm looking at is a Samsung something or other. If I go for a more expensive one, I'll have to work out how many manuscripts I'd be printing and, from that, how much I save per copy compared to having a print shop print it for me.

My printing will be sporadic. ie five or six copies of my manuscript at first, to give to colleagues to read for feedback. The probably just the first three chapters (but about, maybe, 10-15 times to send to agents/publishers). And then the odd manuscript again (I'm being optimistic here) presuming an agent/publisher wants to read the whole thing!

[Neuromancer]

I'm a happy customer. It's fast (20 ppm) and the quality of the print is amazing. Only thing you can't do with it is envelopes, so keep the HP for those SASEs!

Good luck!

Sharon You have 2 options... open the front panel of the laser printer nad input your envelopes there .(Ichecked okidatas site.. .it does print envelopes.. but it admittedly is a little trick at first.  and I ususally screw up one or 2 before getting them right when I try and do them


Or

Getting labels and print to them then place them on the envelopes

Hope that helps ya out!

[SharonBell]

Thanks for the tech tip!  I didn't know that. I've been printing my SASEs at work on my old HP.

[GrinReaper]

Neuromancer -- I had a look at a Brother HL2040 today. It looks pretty good, but I've scanned some online reviews and apparently there's a problem with 'paper curl'.

Do you know anything about that?

I'm thinking that with a manuscript it may not be a concern because of the sheer volume of pages, but I don't want to take a risk.