color laser printer recommendations - are they all so heavy & costly? (Westbury: home)

[sweatingforabuck]

Looking for a personal size color laser printer to replace the jet ink printer I have but the couple I saw are really, really heavy. Are they all heavy like that or were these just anamolys? They weren't all that much bigger than the all in one printer I'm replacing. Also it seems they aren't cheaper to operate as I thought they would be - I knew their cartridges & toner would be more than jet ink cartridges but I thought they lasted a lot longer before needing to be replaced. People are telling me that isn't the case & some HP lasers barely eek out a couple 30 page reports before needing replacement. Just needing something small for a home office that doesn't do a tremendous amount of printing but a fair amount. Anybody know about these things? I'd even buy a used or refurbished one if a decent one is out there - that I could actually lift and move about as needed. Thanks.

[UsAll]

Originally Posted by sweatingforabuck

Looking for a personal size color laser printer to replace the jet ink printer I have but the couple I saw are really, really heavy. Are they all heavy like that or were these just anamolys? They weren't all that much bigger than the all in one printer I'm replacing. Also it seems they aren't cheaper to operate as I thought they would be - I knew their cartridges & toner would be more than jet ink cartridges but I thought they lasted a lot longer before needing to be replaced. People are telling me that isn't the case & some HP lasers barely eek out a couple 30 page reports before needing replacement. Just needing something small for a home office that doesn't do a tremendous amount of printing but a fair amount. Anybody know about these things? I'd even buy a used or refurbished one if a decent one is out there - that I could actually lift and move about as needed. Thanks.

This is better for this posting to be posted to the Computers Forum rather than a geography-specific forum. But you are now speaking with a very experienced person in this regard:


I have two color laser printers at home. The first one is a larger color laser printer (Brother HL-3170CDW Digital Color Laser Printer) that also does duplexing (automatic double-sided printing, if you turn that feature on) and it can probably be found locally for $199.99 + tax at Micro Center (Westbury, Nassau County . . . with 4 other stores in the NYC metro area) or Internet prices may go down to $179.99 or whatever (though Micro Center, among other retailers, will price-match Amazon prices if you bring in a printed proof from Amazon or show them proof on your smartphone). Its outside dimensions are 16.1" W x 18.3" D x 9.4" H. It looks like this:




Then I have a truly small-sized color laser printer that doesn't do automatic duplexing but it appears it isn't manufactured anymore by Samsung anyway . . . it is the Samsung CLP-315W Color Laser Printer (it was $199.99 or so maybe 4-5 years ago, while the Brother model mentioned above was $399.99 or so when I bought it and now sells for $199.99 or less). The Samsung model was replaced by another small-ish model (Samsung Xpress C1810W Color Laser Printer) but not nearly as small as the Samsung CLP-315W Color Laser Printer. The former model is 15.3" W x 12.3" D x 9.6" H, while this replacement model is 16.5" W x 16.8 Dx 17.6" H). The newer model can probably be found locally for $199.99 + tax as well at Micro Center (as mentioned above) with Amazon selling it for $195.00 or so + shipping. Or you can buy the earlier model by looking online through a Google search for remaining stock of dealers (if the smallest size possible is a priority) orr you can buy it used or refurbished. The earlier Samsung CLP-315W looks like this:




while the later Samsung Xpress C1810W looks like this:





IMPORTANT NOTE: You don't always have to buy brand new manufacturer-supplied toner cartridges. You could buy notably-less-expensive remanufactured ttoner cartridges from Internet resellers . . . and occasionally, Micro Center or some other local dealers "might" have such cartridges at a price lower than the brand new OEM (Original Equipment Manfacturer) prices.

[JonnyTrees]

I have a clp-315 and like its small size..ink isn't cheap, but it doesn't dry out and require alignments and all the inkjet BS. I don't print that much so its great for my needs.

[UsAll]

Originally Posted by JonnyTrees

I have a clp-315 and like its small size..ink isn't cheap, but it doesn't dry out and require alignments and all the inkjet BS. I don't print that much so its great for my needs.

What I have learned over the course of over three decades of using computers and electronics technology, in regards to inkjet printers, is that, if you don't use them constantly (daily or sometimes even multiple times a day, the ink cartridges dry out and become useless. So, even if the ink (compared to toner) is cheaper per ink vs toner unit, the ink cartridges themselves to often become useless . . . especially if they not used on a regular daily basis. So I decided YEARS ago to only work with laser printers. And then various color laser models came out that were $299.99 or $199.99 (and some now even lesser) and they aren't all huge in size. As I stated in my earlier posting, one of my models is duplexing-capable; the other model (the Samsung CLP-315W) was gotten as a second fallback printer and is very small and has outstanding color quality (but it doesn't do automatic duplexing). It appears that, to have a printer capable of automatic duplexing requires a larger printer casing. Maybe there will be future technological advances that allow them to implement automatic duplexing in smaller printer models.

[sweatingforabuck]

Thank you - great advice.