“How Much are Color Lasers?”
I hate inkjets printers. At best I’m able to get 200 prints or so out of a color cartridge, making my average per print WAY higher than $.25. And then there’s the banding. And the smudging. And the paper. And the…
I’ve needed to print documents recently, so I started looking into laser printers. John at SyncSpeed sent me a few links to OfficeMax where they had some great rebates on HP printers. It turned out I was going to be able to get a decent black and white laser for about $150. As I was about to check out, I decided it might be smart to ask Amy if the purchase was cool, so I IM’d her about it. You’ll never believe what she said…
“How much would a color laser be?” I was shocked. I’d never even thought of purchasing a color laser, what with the insane purchase price and the cost of toner. It’s just not ever been an option. But then I thought, “Can’t hurt to look.” It didn’t. Turns out HP has an older color laser that Office Max still sells, the LaserJet 2600n, and they had a special rebate for the week making the $400 printer only $250!!! At $400 it was a steal, but at $250 it was an obvious choice.
We bought the printer online and it arrived the next day in a huge box. We’ve done a few quick tests to see how it does with photos, and it works great. Amy made a calendar of our photos for me on a color laser and the picutres turned out much better than they would have on our inkjet. The only thing we’ve had trouble with is that photo-paper for lasers isn’t as plentiful as photo-paper for inkjets and required me to ask at Best Buy when trying to find it.
The thing that got me was the price per print. It depends on what you’ve got on the page, but it looks like on average our cost ends up being less that $.15 per page for color!!! And since the toner cartridges have a lifespan of 2500 prints or so, I won’t have to make a run to OfficeMax for a while.
So here’s my tip for the day – if you’re in the market for a printer, don’t just write off color laser when looking at printers. While it’s true that newer and fancier printers can cost an arm and a leg, there are still plenty of great, inexpensive printers that make printing color a joy.
Responses and Conversations
[...] Chris just wrote about his new color laser printer and I wanted to share my thoughts on the ‘ol printer subject. [...]
Comment by Digital Photography Blogs - SyncSpeed - Blog Archive » Do You Ink Jet Your Photos? on April 6th, 2006 at 11:06 am
[...] Since we’ve been on the topic of color printers lately, I thought I’d share with you how I used mine to create a fun calendar gift for Chris’ birthday recently. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge fan of FD’s Flickr toys. I’ve created a mosaic of the daughter’s first four months of life, an inspirational poster and a cartoon cell. But the coolest Flickr toy I’ve used so far has been the fun calendar I made using photos of me, my beautiful daughter and my scruffy dog. Chris loved it, and it couldn’t have been easier. [...]
Comment by Digital Photography Blogs - Shooting the Kids - Blog Archive » Making a calendar with your photos on April 19th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
[...] Remember when we actually held photographs in our hands, framed them, hung them on the fridge with a magnet? Sure you can print photos from Flickr with ease and have them sent to a nearby photolab, but if you have a good enough printer, you can do it from the comfort of your own home. Instant gratification! [...]
Comment by Shooting the Kids - » Printing Your Photos? Cheap Paper Here! on September 1st, 2006 at 12:27 pm