My main printer used to be an HP 995c inkjet printer. I had it for more than 6 years. Trying to save on ink, I ordered remanufactured ink from inkcycle. 51645A (No 45) at 5£ each is cheap but print quality was terrible. I could not even read the text printed on the paper. Don't buy from inkcycle, the quality of their remanufactured ink is terrible.
So I decided to make the switch to a laser printer, in June 2009. I wanted a color laser printer, because it is necessary to print some documents with colors (maps, etc). I was surprised to see that many color laser printers come at affordable prices.
Size and weight was an issue for me so I went for the smallest ones. My shortlist, based on smallest weight was: - HP CP1515n (18kgs) - Canon iSensys LBP 5050n (19 kgs) - Canon iSensys LBP 5100 (18 kgs) - Samsung CLP 350N (15kgs).
I found out that the HP CP1515n and Canon iSensys LBP 5050n use the same print engine, licenced from Canon to HP. Basically, you are buying the same printer, with HP offering slightly better print quality but with slower print speeds. But both printers remain on the expensive side as far as price per page is concerned, especially in color.
The Canon LBP 5100 has nice features such as printing on both sides of the paper, and a manual tray. But its design is quite strange, it is very tall, which was a problem for me.
That is why I chose the Samsung CLP350N. It is only 27cms tall, and fits nicely inside the stand that I used for my old HP. Besides, it is smaller in width that my previous HP inkjet printer! Finally, its price is very aggressive (I paid 188EUR).
Although I read somewhere that it is one of the few laser printers that come with filled toners, this is wrong. Samsung France customer service sent me the information: initial toners are only half-filled. That means 2000 B&W pages and 1000 color pages (where as the replacement toners can print up to 4000 B&W pages and 2000 color pages). I guess that all manufactures use the same trick to force you to buy expensive replacement toners more quickly.
The setup was quite straightforward. You have to mount the 4 toners, then power up the printer, then install the drivers on the PC. The installation CD-ROM is quite straight forward. All you have to do is press next next next. Some people report having problems with the first 100 sheets before quality stabilizes. I had no such problem and the first black and white print out came out crisp and sharp, even in low-quality mode.
I connected the printer to my ADSL box with a LAN cable, and I can print from any PC on my home network, which is nice. Note that the printer comes with no cables besides the power cord, not even a USB cable.
Although I had this printer only for 1 day, I would recommand it. Coming from inkjet, the main differences are: - a bulkier printer - makes more noise, especially when pre-heating for approx 30 seconds
But the print quality really makes-up for these minor glitches.
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Jul 8th, 2009
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