StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I'm looking for a cheap printer only to be used for printing out lots of documents and interesting articles from the Internet. I only want reliablity. What brand, or model, is good for this kind of work?

Feel like buying used? You can score some good deals off of eBay if you're careful. Lasers also cost a lot less in the long run because the price per page is far less than inkjets and the quality for text is typically much higher.

The LaserJet 5P/6P series is pretty bulletproof, IMHO. The LJ 5P is a 300dpi laser, the 6P is 600dpi. You can usually find different configurations in eBay with varying amounts of RAM. The 5MP/6MP add native Postscript Level 2 support to the 'base' models, which is useful for Mac and *nix printing.

Do yourself and look into toner prices FIRST before choosing a printer. HP and the like will be more than happy to sell you a good printer at a low prices because its the ink where they actually make money.

Vertigo1 wrote:Do yourself and look into toner prices FIRST before choosing a printer. HP and the like will be more than happy to sell you a good printer at a low prices because its the ink where they actually make money.

OTOH, the old HP laser printers are hella-tough and reliability is always a factor. For example, a new 4000-page toner cartridge for a 5P/6P costs $75, which works out to 1.9 cents a page. You can usually find qiality remanufactured ones for 50-60 dollars and cheap eBay refills are even less (but I would be wary of them).

An HP No. 45 black ink cart will cost $30 new and yield 833 pages at 3.6 centers/page. You can always get refills, of course, but quality varies and an inkjet will never look as good as a laser for text.