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General discussion

Want a color laser printer

May 12, 2004 3:41AM PDT

We need a color laser printer, which should work with both windows and mac, with duplex printing feature. And it would be better if it can be a stand alone network printer. Can we get such a printer within $1000, or a little above $1000? Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Want a color laser printer
May 12, 2004 3:51AM PDT

The duplex item should be carefully reviewed, but what models are you considering?

Why is the duplex a concern? Some are nonplused when print speed drops to about 1/8 of what single sided printing is.

Bob

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Re:Re:Want a color laser printer
May 12, 2004 3:58AM PDT

We are considering xerox phaser 8400dp, but it goes to like $1600. The reason for duplex printing is that I hate to take too many pages of paper.

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Beware duplex speed.
May 12, 2004 4:15AM PDT

Too often I see people want it, but after awhile they stop using it for simple printouts since the delays are far too long.

HP has models under 1K bucks, but the price may not include the first set of color toner cartridges.

Also a consideration is that some have unrealistic expectations of print quality. Get samples.

Bob

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Re:Beware duplex speed.
May 12, 2004 5:20AM PDT

Thanks for your advice. However, I am not the boss here. It seems that my boss is very happy with the duplex feature of the printer in his own office, and insisted on buying one with duplex printing.

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Boss pays.
May 12, 2004 5:38AM PDT

I have to answer to a bean counter. He did the numbers and it cost more in salaries than the paper cost.

Guess these stories never end...

Bob

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Why a concern over duplex speed?
Jan 15, 2005 9:50AM PST

I'm not sure what the criticism of duplex speeds is all about. It takes longer. DUH. It takes at least 2x the time that a single sheet does - which is, of course at least the time it would take to print two single sided sheets. There is a small added penalty as the printers have to flip the page to feed it back in, but the benefit of double sided printing far outweight the fractional delay in printing a 1 sheet double-sided print vs 2 sheets with ink on one side.

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Try over 8 times on some machines.
Jan 28, 2005 10:05PM PST

Try to find the duplex speed.

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samsung CPL-500n
Jan 28, 2005 8:59PM PST

samsung CPL-500n

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Dell
Feb 3, 2005 11:15AM PST

Dell offers by far the best bang for the buck for color lasers. Best of all, they have the lowest cost of operation. You can check out how they compare on cost of operation at www.printerdb.com.