Colour Laser Printers

[Martin963]

I know that this comes up once in a while,   but I'd be interested in the latest thoughts from you experts.

I'd like to take the plunge and buy a colour laser printer for here in Britain,   so that we can take our faithful Brother 1230 over to France.   It's not going to be used on an industral scale by any means,   but I'd like to be able to print in colour once in a while to a good (but not necessarily perfect-photo) standard.     Ink jets I'm fed up with,   colour use is infrequent enough to ensure that they never want to work when I want them to!

I've looked at the little Samsung CLP 310 but it's reported that the refills work out at some of the most expensive in the business.    I'd rather go up a bit in initial outlay in order to benefit from a printer whose refills are a more sensible size and price.   In this respect our old Brother is fine,  it's only needed one toner refill in nearly ten years and it must have done thousands (maybe 10 K) copies without any problems.  Refill about £45.

Purchase would be in Britain,   I suppose up to about £170....

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks.

[Pierre ZFP]

I got one of those little Samsungs for each of my boys when they went to University. I got a deal (DAB Direct) which included a second set of toner refills. Well, respectively 2 and 3 years later with thousands of sheets printed, neither of them has installed the refills yet so they last a bloomin' long time and of course don't dry out like inkjets.  I'm very impressed with them and super quality prints too.

[Clarkkent]

I have just bought a HPC1215 from Staples - discontinued model - for £135 (£179 from Argos).

The black cartridge is chipped and stops after 1000 copies but you can override the chip and use the cartridge until the black runs out. If you are prepared to make a hole in the cartridge you can get DIY refill kits. You have to remember that there are also cyan, magenta and yellow toner cartridges as well. The colour print quality is OK but not as good as ink jet. Black and white printing is fine.

Rechipped refill from Cartridge World £33.

[Martin963]

Thanks to the two of you who replied.   I'll carry on researching as I have a few more weeks before I have to make a decision.

[Just Chris]

We have been using a Hewlett Packard  HP2600N for the last two years over our domestic network.  It has been trouble free, produces excellent quality pages, and we've only replaced the cartridges once (there are four - and not cheap...) in that time.

Chris

[AnOther]

I'm sick and tired of ink jets and cartridge ripoffs so my next printer will definitely be a laser. The Lexmark C540n is the 'A' list pick of the bunch according to PC Pro magazine.