Comparing New vs Refubished Printers? 40
GraWil asks: "Does anyone have advice on purchasing a color laser printer? I'm trying to decide between getting a new small 'personal' color laser or a used/refurbished workhorse. For the roughly the same money, I can either buy a Xerox 6100 or a refurbished Tektronix 740/750 or even a tabloid sized 790. I've had mixed luck with color HP and Lexmark printers but I'm open to any suggestions at this point. There are a fair number of reviews but none of them ever compare new with the old."
Don't do it (Score:2, Interesting)
The Phasers look like a good idea, but they're really not.
The 750/740's are the worst of them.
They weigh something like 100lbs. They only print 8.5x11" or smaller. They don't take many different types of paper well, like cardstock. The ink rubs off the paper if folded, scratched, or smeared. The ink comes off in fax machines and on copier glass. Certain colors look really bad.
They have a really long warm up time. Every time it cools down/warms up they eat a TON of ink. The black ink is free (all you pay is shipping), but the color ink is about $100 a box, and it doesn't last that long. They're also not that fast. 2-3 pages per minute. First page can take a couple minutes to print.
When we first got the printer, only one person could print to it at a time. If anyone 'barged in', it would puke. It took over a year for a new driver to fix this issue.
Outsource your printing. If you're not a big enough operation where you can lease a machine like a Canon ImageRunner 3200, don't bother.
Re:Internal memory has limited write cycles? (Score:3, Interesting)
All memory has limited lifetime. RAM has a very long one. Permanent memory, however, has much more limited. All printers have some small amount of permanent memory, to store configuration settings, code updates, internal states, data on pen problems (so you can correct for them) etc. These have much more limited number of times they can be written before they fail. Its a failure of all memory, those nice little USB storage devices and memory cards have them too. If you use a printer long enough, you could hit the boundayr where this part fails. You can buy parts rated for more writes, but the cost ramps up quickly. Remember, pennies count on embedded hardware. More than a 2 cent increase requires managers approval, and they fight to avoid 1 cent increases.
Now a good company will measure the number of writes it does and try and make sure the part is rated for at least as many writes as the mechanics. Mine does. So it shouldn't be the first thing to fail. But if you get lucky and get a mech that works beyond design specs, that part's the next in line to break things.
Refurbished is fine (Score:3, Interesting)
I refurbish laserjets all the time.
I acquired three HP 4500n's and am very pleased with them. One was dropped and is parts only, one has minor problems and I'll get around to it one of these days, and one works great, I use it several times a week. I had to disassemble it completely and clean it up and do some minor repairs but it's great.
Only thing that scares me is what they refer to as "The consumables" and I don't mean toner..
There are a lot of user replaceable components in the 4500 that have a limited lifespan. And the price of those "consumables" is HIGH... One replacement part could cost as much as an entire used printer on ebay would cost.
Other brands may have similar practices, I don't know, I only do HP.. But be aware of it.
I also refill the toner carts myself. I have a large supply of color toner stockpiled and I'm covered for the next 20 years there..
One other thing to be aware of.
The NEW laserjets are all made in China and they are CHEAPLY MADE.. The frames are made of plastic or of very low grade Chinese steel that bends and warps very easily. They are NOT designed and built to last for years of heavy use, they are designed and built to fall apart after a year or two so you have to buy expensive parts or just buy a whole new printer.
The OLDER refurbished printers are usually made in the US with Japanese made engines are are much more sturdy, designed and built to take serious, heavy use and abuse. I have a lot of Laserjet III's and IIISI's that are in perfectly good working order and will give many more years of use because they were designed and built to last.
I'll take OLD refurbished stuff over new stuff just about everytime...