Help me find a printer for office

John_Gray

15,000 pages is 30 reams - a pretty hefty quantity of paper. At 30 pages per minute (and that would be fast even for a colour laser), excluding paper-handling, that's over 8 hours solid printing.

You'd be better off taking that to a print shop, I reckon!

Sambucus_Nigra

Or put the files on memory sticks and give them those. Do they really need all that in paper format?

Savvy_Sue

The more I read, the more this confirms my initial feeling that this was a job for a proper printer.

Get a few quotes, and get them to block the time out for you. Tell the person you're doing the job for that if you don't have the information ready to print 24 hours before that, the books won't be done in time, end of. Then pass it on to the printer and put your feet up. They will deal with the paper jams / ink running out, and possibly deliver the job back to you.

Duplexing instantly adds a layer of complexity and significant cost to a printer. Even if you can find a sub-£400 machine which will do it, it will NOT be designed for that kind of volume.

studysep

Thank you for your replies.

What if I did it a bit differently?

I want to print on individual A4 pieces of paper but double sided.

I need it for 50 people.

5 booklets per person at 50 pages each.

If I spread out the printing over time instead of trying to print all within a week, would I find a reasonable printer?

studysep

To confirm, it won't be 15,000 pages over a short time, it will be gradually over months. Does this sound okay

Savvy_Sue

I still think you will struggle to find a colour laser printer with duplex sub £400. When we last bought a printer, I talked to the chap who refills our ink cartridges and he confirmed that the minute you add a duplex bit, costs go up.

If you can spread the jobs out, that to me is even more reason for getting quotes from a print shop! remember that their costs include the paper, the ink (which ain't cheap!) and the labour.

Just because you CAN do a job in-house doesn't mean you should - and tbh I'm not sure you can do this one in house!

Savvy_Sue

studysep wrote: »

To confirm, it won't be 15,000 pages over a short time, it will be gradually over months. Does this sound okay

We cross-posted. If you look up the technical information for any printers you're interested in, there will be a guide to the volume of printing you should be aiming not to exceed.

studysep

Thank you for your replies.

I'm actually looking on behalf of someone and got an update.

The printer doesn't have to have colour features, black and white is fine, but the budget remains £400.

They do events throughout the years with some being booklets from A4 paper binded with a binder rather than stapled, and at other times a few papers given here and there. Over the course of a year they add it to their own folders.

They've worked out they'll be printing up to 15000 pages in that year and not all at once, so every time they go to get a quote and get it printed, it works out expensive since it won't be of high volumes at all time. Sometimesi t may be one page per person (so 50 copies), at other times more. It's easier to get it done in house than chasing up suppliers all the time.

So if a black and white printer (office printer or whatever else can be used) can be found for under £400 it would be better

santer_2

Check the cashback for the HP 3015 here

http://h40059.www4.hp.com/savemoney/hp_laserjets.html

Probably best to get it in writing and see if you get the 3 year warranty as well

http://www.suppliesgroup.co.uk/HP-HewlettPackard-Printers

http://www.suppliesgroup.co.uk/hp-laserjet-3015

Using genuine toner it would be approx £510 (less whatever the supplied toner did) for 15,000 pages

Using compatibles toners would cost approx £202

The cheapest paper I have seen so far is in post 10

Owain_Moneysaver

Kyocera with USB connection and duplex as standard. Network connection is a bit more. Spending the £24 + VAT on the rear output tray may be worthwhile. Input tray is 100 sheets.

Kyocera toner for £66 + VAT