Hi, I just wanted to follow-up on my original post.
Several people recommended Brother printers, and that is what I ended up getting. I decided to get a mono laser printer rather than a color laser printer. For one thing, I already have a color inkjet printer. Also, it seems that there may be more possibilities for something to go wrong on a color laser printer; the cost of replacing media is pretty high; and the price of a good one is probably a lot higher than for a good mono. Specifically, I bought a Brother HL-2280DW. I looked at the HL-2270DW (just printer), which is very popular and highly rated, but I ended up getting the HL-2280DW (print/copy/scan) for the same price. I did not really want another all-in-one (since I already have an inkjet all-in-one), but the HL-2280DW is really low profile, mainly because it does not have a paper feeder. To me, it appears to have the same specs (and maybe be the same printer) as the HL-2270DW, except for it being a few inches taller because of the scanner (it maybe adds 3" in height, but does not change the footprint). The Brother HL-2280DW has auto-duplex and allows both wired and wireless (and USB) connections -- I think the DW means "duplex" and "wired" (I don't know what HL means). I looked briefly at a few HPs, but I did not like their looks as much, they did not have auto-duplex for those in the same price range, and they appeared more flimsy. If anyone is interested, the list price for the Brother HL-2280DW is $200, but it's on sale for $100 this week at Staples. Other places have them from $130 to $150. It may be discounted because a newer model is probably coming out soon. They just released a new version of the HL-2270DW (I think it's the HL-2360DW), so perhaps the HL-2280DW will also be updated soon. I have used it for 2 days, and so far it seems pretty good. My main complaint is that the output is not as easy to grab as with a plain printer. If you care about the scanner/copier features, this seems like a great deal. If you do not care about those, it might be better to go with the HL-2270DW (or HL-2360DW), since the lack of a scanner allows one to access the output much easier. I will probably stick with the HL-2280DW, but I wanted to point out this one minor inconvenience. It was very easy to set up in Mavericks. It was recognized in the printer module of System Preferences and the drivers were downloaded when I selected it. I also set it up on my wife's iMac running Mountain Lion. This was not as simple, since I had to go to the Brother web site and download drivers (and figure out where to find them when installing the printer manually), but I eventually got it working just fine. Thanks to all who made suggestions. I appreciate your help. Gregg On Aug 12, 2014, at 11:18 PM, Dinse, Gregg (NIH/NIEHS) [C] <di...@niehs.nih.gov> wrote: > Hi, > > I need to buy a laser printer that works well with the latest MacOSX. Can > you please recommend one (or more)? > > I'm not sure whether I want a color laser printer or a black and white, so > please feel free to give me advice on the pros and cons of each. > > I have a color inkjet, so I don't have to get a color laser printer. My > guess is that the inkjet ink will smear more if wet, but perhaps the color > will look better (at least with photos). On the other hand, I expect that > the clarity of the laser printer text is better. Mostly, I use the color > inkjet for photos and the odd text page with color on it, and I use our old > black and white laser for most text. Unfortunately, I have to replace the > old (and I mean old, HP LaserJet 5M) laser printer. > > In general, are black and white laser printers more reliable than color laser > printers, or are they about equal? > > What about consumables? I assume the color toner cartridges cost more than > the color inkjet cartridges, but they probably also last longer. Is this a > wash, or is one much less expensive to operate than the other in the long run? > > My old laser printer connects via ethernet, but we have WiFi as well. Is > printing faster or more reliable via ethernet? > > Any advice on what to buy, or what to avoid, would be much appreciated. > Thanks, > > Gregg _______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
