Laser printer for uni

ObUk2k

I am thinking of buying a laser printer when i goto uni this year
because it might work out cheaper than 5p/20p per A4 page (black/colour) for the uni's printers,
as well as being more convienient when I need to print something from my halls of residence pc.

do you guys and gals know of any good lazer printers or other feasible alternatives ?

I have been looking at the Samsung CLP 300 because it seems quite cheap on ebay and
you can also get the toner for around 16-20 pound for a set of both colour and black toner on ebay. (is this good, bad ?)

basically im looking for a laser printer that takes high yield toner carts (cause maybe i could refill them)
and doesnt cost too much to own
(i would pay slightly more for the printer if it saves me money on toner in the longrun)

thanks for any help

ObUk2k

ManAtHome

I'm a Samsung laser fan - have had a mono 1420 for 7 or 8 years and a colour 500 around 5 years. Wouldn't buy one for photo printing, but pretty impressive for business graphics and text.

You're right about the costs - even fairly dense pages should be around half the Uni prices, more likely to be nearer a quarter (or less) for 'normal' pages (your version of normality may vary...).

Big MSE tip - they work very well with poundshop USB cables

sharkie

Personally I'd look for a £100-ish one, then find if there also was a toner refill kit for it and resetter (it there is a counter in the cassette) for it. You should be able to get about 3-ish refills from a toner before the drum coating is too worn.

Never drill holes into the cartridge - use a soldering iron and burn the hole as it stops plastic bits falling in

jaydeeuk1

I have the samsung clp 300, superb printer, though the ozone it gives off might not be too nice in a small student room!

motorguy

I bought a colour laser printer a little while ago from pcworld. Because their extended warranties are based on item price rather than complexity of item, i got a three year warranty for £15.

After 18 months it died and i was expecting the usual "we'll have a look at it can you come in two weeks?" but they simply said go pick another printer as its not worth our while trying to fix it AND the remainder of the extended warranty carried over to it.

Their colour lasers start at £99

zee_2

try ebuyer.co.uk , have good prices ,new unit toner is only 1/2 full

nearlyrich

You are thinking in the right way with considering the refill costs! Some printers are really cheap but the cartridges break the bank, don't forget some printers need developers and other consumables in addition to the toners and when comparing printers pages per minute is really only relevant if you are printing multiple copies of the same document, a better indicator of speed is time to print first page.

I use a mix of Brother and Samsung laser printers here but I have sold most common makes over many years.

ObUk2k

Do any of you guys have any experience of Continuous Ink Systems or CIS on printers ?
I only found out about them today but they look like a real economical way of printing !
(if a little fiddly)

nearlyrich

I have a friend who tried this he ended up with a real mess...ink jet type printers are cheaper to buy but more expensive to run generally.

el_gringo_3

I'd encourage buying your own printer for Uni even if it works out more expensive than using the Uni's system, simply to avoid the pain of 'hand in days' around University computer blocks - as often everyone has similar hand in dates, you can have HUGE demand on Uni computer resources, and printers were known to fail and often run out of ink, meaning those doing last gasp prrinting and alterations often missed deadlines. I, on the other hand, just went home and used my own laser printer, well worth the investment.

cmatt360

I printed 3 copies of my thesis on a hp 1020 - no problems. and that was with the toner fading!

shook the toner a bit and that made it hang on for a bit longer to finish the print job.

I buy all my official toner off of ebay