I'm thinking of getting a colour laser printer for home. The inkjets (all 4 of them!) are a complete pain ink wise, and are costing a fortune.

It would be great if it could connect to the network, but it's not that important. Probably the most important thing is that it needs to last! By that I mean I'm not sticking toner in it once a month, as I would say we'd do this for 2 printers a month now during school. Speed is not that important, but it would be good if it printed faster than 4ppm colour. B&W should be at least 16ppm. I don't mind paying a bit more for toner, as long as I'm not replacing it too often.

To give an idea of usage, we're household of 8 people, 5 kids in school plus a Uni student. I also use the printer quite a bit when working from home. My wife would probably use the printer more if it "wasn't so complicated" ;) So a small business requirement really.

So, I'm assuming that there are some people on here that have had some experience with this sort of thing. Give me suggestions!

I have a Samsung 300n which is now superceded but what I can say is the Samsung warranty is excellent. I give my printer a bit of a punishing and the warranty people are always out the very next day and replace all the parts etc.

I get toner from inkdepot.com.au which is in brisbane and good pricing, and u can get generic ones which are way cheaper and work fine.

Hook the printer up to one computer. Share the printer. Then any computers on the same network will be able to use it.
You probably knew that, but a lot of people can't be arsed doing it. Also never buy a wireless printer adapter they are s***.
Don't know anything about laser printers though other than they are always broken and jammed.

Be aware that the new breed of "consumer" colour lasers are very expensive in consumables.

I'll guess everyone will recommend Samsung...

I'd probably suggest a brother HL-4050CDN. Very nice printers, and relatively cheap on consumables.

TN-155B (High Capacity Black - 5000 pages - $120 @ InstantIT.
TN-155C,M,Y - High Capacity Colours - 4000 pages - $179 @ InstantIT.
17000 page fuser - $260ish.

I think you'll find that for the price of the printer ($612 @ Instant IT) it is fairly cheap to run in comparison to other models.

oh yeah... clicky

I say green
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/08/13/laser_narrowweb__300x351,0.jpg

Hook the printer up to one computer. Share the printer.

er.. I'm doing that. In fact I have 4 printers shared on the network, although 2 older ones barely get used. They came free with various bits an pieces over the years. I just leave them connected, because when one of them runs out of ink as they invariably do, we have a backup.

Also, thanks Mongie and Le Cock, I'll look into them.

I have a Samsung CLP 350n (n for network)... Its awesome.

colour lasers are very expensive in consumables

clp300 is about 20c a page colour 4c a page black and white.

For photos on good paper inkjet rules for everythign else the colour laser is the win.

I use a dell 1320c colour laser works very well and good support across o/s as I belive its a rebadged fuji. I use an epson r800 for photo's and its brilliant for the size/price.

Nice selective quote Obes.

the new breed of "consumer" colour lasers are very expensive in consumables.

vs.

colour lasers are very expensive in consumables

I'm talking about the lasers you can buy for $400.

What the f*** does "new breed" mean ? it's a nothing phrase. ie. the only person it means something to is you.

I'm refering to the fact that 3 years ago, colour laser printers cost $1000+

Now you can get them for less than $500.

The problem is, its not that the models have gotten cheaper, its that they've made NEW MODELS THAT OWN YOU ON CONSUMABLES.

The printer I was refering to cost me $380 ? So I don't get it ?
Its a relatively new model ? And the cost per page is not overly insane.

Yeah he's saying the purchase of the printer is cheap, but actually running the printer will cost you more. The real money in that industry comes from recurring revenue from toner sales.

But I stated what the cost per page is and his comment was that I was misrepresenting his original statement by selectively quoting ?

well, you did selectively quote. Let me have a look at that printer :D

You guys are f***ing gay!

If I print multiple colour pages on this samsung 300n laser, they come out rooted with the toner all cracked and completely useless. Is that normal?

My 300n is out of warranty and rooted again so will need to buy a new one, probably wouldnt recommend the samsung actually - the service is good but it was constantly breaking down.

*shrug* my 350N has been flawless so far.

I wouldn't recommend it for heavy office use. But its fine for my pissy little home use.

A cheap colour laser will be fine for the new breed of home office use.

where did you buy your printer from obes?

umart I believe

I wish my hp laserjet 4 was colour, it's old and sounds like a lear jet when it warms up but boy do I love that sound. :)

I bought for work a Fuji Xerox Phaser....cost I think around $2500....maybe more than you want to spend...but it's a great printer.

It's a wax ink printer as opposed to toner.

My favourite part is that about once a week or so when I'm waiting in reception for something I just throw in some more wax blocks. Means printer is never out of toner which can be a pain when s*** is busy.

Overall been extremely happy with it. I don't have the consumeable cost figures but when I bought it it worked out very cheap....colour costs about the same as black and white....so if you're doing lots of colour printing could offer low TCO despite the large upfront cost. Also renowned for nice vibrant colours.

Hey coochie, is it the 8560?

PM'ing u

we're having a decent run with dell 1320c(n)
$350rrp but ours were $50 with desktop purchases for the office

toner and drum prices inc delivery from dell website:

Dell(TM) 1320c Drum STD delivery [$156.20]
Dell(TM) 1320c (1,000pg) Cyan Toner Cartridge STD delivery [$124.30]
Dell(TM) 1320c (1,000pg) Yellow Toner Cartridge STD delivery [$124.30]
Dell(TM) 1320c (1,000pg) Magenta Toner Cartridge STD delivery [$124.30]
Dell(TM) 1320c (2,000pg) Black Toner Cartridge STD delivery [$102.30]
Dell(TM) 1320c (2,000pg) Cyan Toner Cartridge STD delivery [$146.30]
Dell(TM) 1320c (2,000pg) Yellow Toner Cartridge STD delivery [$146.30]
Dell(TM) 1320c (2,000pg) Magenta Toner Cartridge STD delivery [$146.30]
Dell (TM) 2130cn 1,000pg Std Capcity Black Toner Cartridge STD Delivery [$105.60]

so far I've wrangled most of the toner replacements as freebies with desktop purchases