Laser Printer Confusion

Culture | October 19th, 2016

By Chuck Solly

rcsolly@gmail.com

I mentioned a little about Laser Printers in my column in July but I thought I might continue the conversation in greater detail now.

I bought a laser printer two years ago for my home office without knowing exactly what the machine was capable of. As it turns out, I got lucky and got one that almost met my needs. Sometimes I get a little click happy on Amazon...

One requirement I had was printing envelopes. Since I am a one man office, I didn't need too many per week and it seemed to work just fine printing one envelope at a time. Everything was going along swimmingly for a year until the envelope feeder went out to lunch. So should I buy a new printer just for envelopes? Since I am a bonafide geek the answer is yes!

Let's take a look at the features that a laser printer may or may not have:

Price --- Monochrome printers range from $99 to $750 and color printers range from $250 to $3000. It wasn't all that long ago that high-volume color laser printers ran well upward of $5,000, with some as much as $8,000 or more.

Text Quality --- This was one of the original reasons why businesses first bought laser printers. The text was measurably better quality than an ink jet printer, something that some businesses felt they had to have.

Color --- The latest laser printers have excellent color. Color will cost you more depending on the type and size of the office you work in. Determine whether or not you need color. The color printers start at about $250, as opposed to the monochrome printers which start at about $99.

Paper handling --- I was obviously upset when my printer starting jamming envelopes, but speed of printing, and the number of paper trays are also considerations when buying a laser printer. If you print on different colors or weights of paper as well as envelopes, additional paper trays will come in very handy.

Operating Costs --- What I like most about laser printers, is their low cost per page of toner compared with inkjet. As with most lasers, you have to buy the vendor's most-expensive, highest-yield toner cartridges to get the best CPP, but the savings can be huge. A full set of after-market cartridges for my two-year-old laser costs $80 to $100.

Wi-Fi --- Setting up my printer for Wi-Fi use was a nightmare. I used it for about 6 months before the Wi-Fi kept crapping out and I ran an Ethernet cable to my router. However, several of my sources have told me that the new printers do not have such problems.

Another consideration is that some printers do not support Wi-Fi directly. In many cases, if you don't run an Ethernet cable to your printer, you must buy the manufacturers Wi-Fi adapter for $100.

Setup --- Most printers these days are fairly easy to set up. If you buy locally, you can have the store come to your home or business and set the machine up for a fee, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. Also, keep in mind that these printers are heavy! One brand name printer I looked at weighed 56 pounds.

I wrote this column to give you an idea of the information you need to make an intelligent decision about laser printers. Do your due diligence before you buy and enjoy your new printer!

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