Recommend me a color laser printer

[droplink]

Hello!

There really is not a better place for it, so I guess it goes here

I need a new printer.
Because I rarely print and do not want the printer cartridge to dry out, I do not want an ink jet printer (also the cartridges are expensive per page)
As I sometimes need color.. it needs to be a color printer.
To reduce clutter, it would be good if it is a multifunction printer (ie. has a flatbed scanner)
If it can be made to print white (such as: https://www.ghost-white-toner.com/ so much the better)
And it MUST, MUST have good Mac OS support, so a company that has a good track record of supplying OS updates would be good.
As I wont print much, it does not (should not) be too expensive

So, what do you good people think?

 

[usagora]

Well, earlier this year I bought an HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw which is a really nice printer, but not if you don't print much because it's quite expensive (as far as home office printers go at least).

HP Color LaserJet Pro Multifunction M479fdw Wireless Laser Printer with One-Year, Next-Business Day, Onsite Warranty (W1A80A), White

It's built to keep your business moving forward—the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw keeps up with how you actually work, collaborate, and get things done. With fast print, scan, copy, and fax capabilities, best-in-class security, and automated workflows, this multifunction color laser printer i...

www.amazon.com

HP has some cheaper color laserjets as well, so check their website out:

HP LaserJet Printers | HP® Store

Shop HP LaserJet printers for unmatched speed, performance, and reliability. Enjoy low prices and free shipping at HP Store. Upgrade your printing experience with HP® Store.

www.hp.com

However, I will say that previously I used an HP ENVY 7640 inkjet printer with Instant Ink and NEVER had an issue with the ink drying out even after months of non-use sometimes. I believe the cartridges self-maintain as long as you have the printer turned on. So you might want to re-consider an inkjet printer. And with Instant Ink, you're paying a monthly fee for a set amount of pages (unused pages roll over), so you can print all full-page photos and pay the same amount for your ink as someone printing only text documents.

HP Instant Ink – Printer Ink Subscription & Toner Subscription

Get a printer ink subscription or toner subscription, plus hassle-free delivery and recycling with an HP Instant Ink subscription. Learn more and sign up today!

www.hp.com

This plan might be good for you:

​

 

[cheesygrin]

I’ve just purchased a Xerox C235 colour multifunction laser, for the same exact reasons you mention. I like Xerox driver support better than many other brands (I work in IT, though mainly Windows based, I use Macs at home), and it’s compact size fitted in a cabinet I had already, so I can keep it out of sight. It’s early days yet, but so far so good.

(Edit: don’t know about white printing support though)

 

[BrianBaughn]

Laser toner cartridges can print a lot of pages but be sure to research the availability, price and ease of swapping cartridges for the models you're comparing.

 

[droplink]

Well, earlier this year I bought an HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw which is a really nice printer, but not if you don't print much because it's quite expensive (as far as home office printers go at least).

HP Color LaserJet Pro Multifunction M479fdw Wireless Laser Printer with One-Year, Next-Business Day, Onsite Warranty (W1A80A), White

It's built to keep your business moving forward—the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M479fdw keeps up with how you actually work, collaborate, and get things done. With fast print, scan, copy, and fax capabilities, best-in-class security, and automated workflows, this multifunction color laser printer i...

www.amazon.com

HP has some cheaper color laserjets as well, so check their website out:

HP LaserJet Printers | HP® Store

Shop HP LaserJet printers for unmatched speed, performance, and reliability. Enjoy low prices and free shipping at HP Store. Upgrade your printing experience with HP® Store.

www.hp.com

However, I will say that previously I used an HP ENVY 7640 inkjet printer with Instant Ink and NEVER had an issue with the ink drying out even after months of non-use sometimes. I believe the cartridges self-maintain as long as you have the printer turned on. So you might want to re-consider an inkjet printer. And with Instant Ink, you're paying a monthly fee for a set amount of pages (unused pages roll over), so you can print all full-page photos and pay the same amount for your ink as someone printing only text documents.

HP Instant Ink – Printer Ink Subscription & Toner Subscription

Get a printer ink subscription or toner subscription, plus hassle-free delivery and recycling with an HP Instant Ink subscription. Learn more and sign up today!

www.hp.com

This plan might be good for you:
View attachment 2097091

​

Thank you!

Yes, HP is one of the brands I am considering. the printer Color Laser MFP 178nw to be precise.
(Its an EU model, I do not know what the model number is in the USA)
I don't want to use subscription based anything, least of which a printer that I will use sparingly.

 

[usagora]

I don't want to use subscription based anything, least of which a printer that I will use sparingly.

Well, of course you don't have to subscribe to instant Ink to use an HP inkjet printer. You can just buy the cartridges yourself. Like I said, though, the cartridges should not dry out, as you were worried about. That may be true of older printers or some obscure brand of printer, but not the modern ones from major manufacturers AFAIK.

 

[droplink]

Yes, but still, I would not want to go down the inkjet route again

 

[icanhazmac]

I use a Canon MF642cdw, I'm sure there is an updated model as this was new in 2018 or 19. Solid performer.

 

[project_2501]

Xerox.

We had a Xerox 6280 DN for years, and now have a 6510 DN.

They are proper PostScript printers so don't really need drivers. Which makes them compatible with pretty much any OS that outputs PDF/Postscript - macOS, linux, BSD, .. even Windows.

The drivers allow you to take advantage of things like n-up printing, duplex, checking toner levels etc.

The quality of Xerox printers is good. I would recommend getting one marketed at a higher print volume than your own use because they are engineered to last longer.

Also Xerox can recognise non-genuine toner cartridges but they don't stop working, unlike some manufacturers which are notorious for this user-hostile behaviour.

I've had Brother printers before and they're ok too but again they are better engineered up the "volume" scale.

Caveat - Xerox's customer support / bug reporting is terrible. Just as well they generally are good, but if you do find a rare bug they are terrible at dealign with it. They even want to charge you for letting them know (support contract).

---

And yes, there is almost no reason to go for inkjet at home. They are very very very poor value for money. The only reason to have an inkjet at home is if you need art/photographer/designer level quality printing .. and for that you're spending about £1000+ for the printer itself. The cheap inkjets for consumers are designed only to extract money from you.

---

The Xerox printers I mentioned can have a much larger black toner capacity compared to the colour toner cartridges, which makes sense when you mostly print in b+w and only select colour on rare occasions.

 

[project_2501]

Thank you!

Yes, HP is one of the brands I am considering. the printer Color Laser MFP 178nw to be precise.
(Its an EU model, I do not know what the model number is in the USA)
I don't want to use subscription based anything, least of which a printer that I will use sparingly.

HP used to have excellent build quality about 20 years ago. Remember the legendary HP Laserjet 4? Built like a tank.

These days their build is outsourced to el-cheapo companies and you only get good build if you buy their high volume printers - you're looking at £1000+ per device. Anything cheaper is not worth it in my experience.

Xerox does this too but if you buy their "office" printers they are still built well. And you can get new ones for about £300.

 

[usagora]

And yes, there is almost no reason to go for ingest at home. They are very very very poor value for money . . . The cheap inkjets for consumers are designed only to extract money from you.

This is a bit exaggerated and it also depends on your needs. I just compared the cost and page yield of the HP7640 ink cartridges (#62 black and tri-color) that I used to use and the HP 479fdw toner cartridges (#414 black, cyan, magenta, yellow) that I use now. For standard yield black cartridges, the color laser is 6 cents cheaper per page ($0.04 vs $0.10). It's the same difference for high yield black ($0.02 vs $0.08). For standard yield color, the color laser is actually more expensive per page ($0.16 vs $0.15). For high yield color, they are the same cost per page ($0.12). These figures are based on current US Amazon prices for the genuine HP cartridges.

So if you don't use a lot of color AND you print in high volume, yes, a color laser printer would be a good bit cheaper to run (though it costs much more up front, so you won't get an instant ROI). However, if you don't print a whole lot and don't have a wad of cash to throw at a color laser printer, then a inkjet printer might be a better option.

Say you print about 30 pages per month and about 5 of those are color. With my former inkjet printer and standard yield cartridges, that would cost me about $45 per year whereas with my current color laserjet it would cost me about $24.00, BUT I also paid about 5 times the amount for the color laser printer, so it will take about 30 years to even out financially and start seeing a savings, lol! Obviously if I printed more pages per month at the same ratio of black:color, the ROI would come more quickly. However, if I print a higher percentage of color, then that starts to really cut into any savings.

Of course, a significant factor I've left out here is the superior quality/sharpness of a good color laser print. For me, that was a significant selling point. Others may not care as much.

 

[Fishrrman]

If your question had been "black-and-white", the answer would be easy:
Brother multifunction laser.

However, I don't know how good Brother COLOR lasers are.

 

[xraydoc]

However, I don't know how good Brother COLOR lasers are.

I use a Brother color laser (HL-3170CDW, now a discontinued model). I don't recall any more what I paid for it, but it was less than $350.

I have no serious complaints. It's plenty fast for my use which currently maxes out at around 25 pages/month (kids are now out of the house, so no more homework to print), print quality is more than good enough for text and basic graphics like charts, receipts, webpages, etc.. Obviously not a photo printer but I don't need it to be that. I've had it about 3 - 3.5 years and I'm on the second set of toner cartridges (the included ones which likely were low capacity, and now a well-reviewed third-party replacement set). I don't require transparencies, envelopes or other such special media. It does have built-in dual side printing which is nice.

No significant issues so far. Some on here will disagree with the cost-effectiveness of color lasers as brand-name toner can be pricey and third-party can (reportedly) potentially damage the printer. But so far it's paid for itself, so the printer doesn't owe me any money.

The only minor quibble I have with the printer is with its built-in wifi. Drops connections frequently requiring a power cycle to get reconnected. But it has been problem-free when hardwired to ethernet. I've never tried a direct USB connection since we're mostly on laptops and iPhones/iPads.

And, funny thing happened recently... the printer originally came with a feature that could self-reorder toner from Amazon when the toner level hit a certain low level. Never actually turned that on. But, just last month, Amazon notified me that they were discontinuing that service, and as compensation (as if I needed any), they sent me a free Echo Show 5. Again, also something I'm not really going to use, but hey, free gadget is a free gadget. Will probably take it work and find a use for it or give it to someone as a gift.

 

[eyoungren]

We have the Samsung Xpress C430W network laser printer. Individual toner cartridges (about $20 to $30 when you need to replace), network capable (WiFi), CloudPrint and Airprint.

Has drivers or the ability to manually install drivers from OS X 10.5 Leopard on up.



Our printer is about 4 or 5 years old. We got it based on our experience with the Samsung Xpress M2020 network printer. Basically, it's the same thing only the M2020 is black and white.

Never had any problems with these printers and they are cheap. Both cost around $100 to $150 off eBay. The color printer though was through Best Buy's eBay storefront.

 

[mfram]

I am also using the HP Color Laserjet M479fdw. I can print and scan from Mac OS Monterey no problem. Scan from the flatbed or document feeder. It'll scan two-sided on the document feeder so you can do 2 sided to 2 sided copies if you want. It'll scan two-sided in one pass. It's even easier than using it in Windows because HP wants to install all their crapware on Windows. Individual toner cartridges, although they are kinda expensive if you get the Original HP ones.

The printer has built-in Wifi and ethernet so it's easy to add to your network. You can also print directly from iOS devices.

 

[profcutter]

If your question had been "black-and-white", the answer would be easy:
Brother multifunction laser.

However, I don't know how good Brother COLOR lasers are.

We used a brother monochrome for years and years, and two dissertations were finished on it. We got a Brother Color Laser in 2017. My wife printed 14000 pages on it. It worked great for a long time. I killed it today. We have been ordering knock-off toner cartridges since day one, but they all of a sudden dropped in quality. Our current set dumped toner all over the inside of the machine, and printed swashes of color across the page in random colors. It finally caused the mother of all paper jams which ruined the fuser. Aside from that drama, the printer was truly trouble-free. It was a 8350CDW model, with duplex printing and all. I’d recommend it, but the color quality, even with Brother cartridges never held a candle to a real photo printer.