[ale] Question : Printer with lowest TCO for infrequent usage

[Sean Kilpatrick]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Monday 27 December 2004 04:37 pm, Aditya Srinivasan wrote:
| 0. Which printer will cost the least ?
| 1. Do you recommend a used printer ?
| 2. Is there a specific place in Atlanta to look for them(used) ?
| 3. Is third party toner availability important ?
| 4. How expensive would it be to have a printer with a duplexer unit (print 
| on both sides)
| 
| Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated.


I'd suggest looking for an inexpensive laser printer from a
well known manufacturer, such as HP.  I have been using a
HP 5MP for nearly a decade now and have never done anything
to it other than replace the toner cartridge. The OEM cartridges
are expensive, (about $70) but at your usage rate a fresh one
would last for a couple of years.

Used/reconditioned should be just fine.

Third party toner can be very good; it also can be really crappy.
And bad toner can screw up a laser printer.  I have never taken
the risk.

Duplexer units are available for high-end laser printers. These
printers are designed for heavy home office/moderate corporate
use.  Usually they are built to withstand 15,000 pages a month --
month in and month out. Not cheap. Not basic.

If TOC is important to you, stay away from ink jet printers.
The OEM ink can cost more than $10,000 a gallon. Some third-
party ink is excellent; some isn't.  But the big problem with
ink jet printers is that given light use, the ink can dry out 
in the nozzle (it helps a lot to keep them turned off until
needed) and then ink is wasted running the cleaning cycle to
try to reopen the clogged nozzle. Often the only way to solve 
the problem of a clogged ink nozzle is to replace the cartridge.
Even the third-party ink cartridges aren't what I'd call cheap.

HTH

Sean

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFB0JLL73hVp4UeGJERAqc9AJ9CLASSffuvnKo/vhU+DLiPBwv9NwCeOxKC
Evaf2fEPMN02qnFIaNA5aDc=
=6ixV
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----