There were a lot of repsonses to this one and I encountered
another sum on Esri-L shortly after I asked my question.
If anybody wants the full text of both, (ie: a digest) email
me.
Original question:
>Our office is considering purchasing a colour laser
>printer. It would be used for small maps (11x17),
>brochures & newsletters as well as your standard
>everyday printing of memos and letters.
>
>Does the list have any recommendations? love stories?
>horror stories?
The responses categorized by vendor are summed immediately
following. There are some general notes on printing
technology at the bottom which is well worth noting.
BY VENDOR
Canon ImageClass C2100: expensive to startup but cost per
page is low. It gives great prints, but has tricky colour
matching relative to inkjet - need driver adjustments to
match (close enough) screen colours. A minor annoyance is
that it takes a long time to wake up from sleep mode, but
once awake prints are fast
(1 response)
Minolta copier/printer CF910: On the whole, it seems to be
a good machine. There are unresolved questions regarding
inconsistent line-widths. It has an add-on print server
called a Fiery 2Xe. The model of copier one down from this
has poorer print quality.
(1 response)
Xerox 5750: great! does double duty as colour copier
(1 response)
[NB: Xerox and Tektronics are now the same company]
Lexmarks: the Lexmark Optra 1275 C was loved, while the
(unknown model) was hated. Reasons for hate: colours not
true, banding, finicky cartridges. Reasons for love:
1200dpi, easy networking (no server needed), automatic
language selection, excellent output on various media.
(3 respondants)
QMS Magicolor 330: wide range of responses, ranging from
"underwhelmed" and "there is no magic" to "way to go".
Those who didn't like it cite colour problems and indistinct
line work. The fellow who do like it, didn't give much
detail.(3 responses)
Tektronics Phasers are generally popular and well liked
though a few were less than satisfied. Finickiness with
selecting paper sizes, colour matching, and high maintenance
were the usual reasons for dissatisfaction. They also
produce "gargantuan plot files that amble through a 100
base T network". Works well in a multi OS environment.
(8 respondants)
HP as usual is at the top of the list. (13 responses)
Does this reflect technical superiority or greater mindshare
and trust?
HP 8500DN: A good all purpose workgroup colour printer
which is relatively fast. I can't really give anymore details
than that, because as is usual those who like it, say "It's
great!" and no more. :) There was a warning about expensive
supplies. Perhaps the most significant fact is that nobody
complained.
HP 4500DN: Lesser model to the 8500, still liked. Only 2
repondants mentioned this printer.
GENERAL NOTES
It is probably more effective, both in terms of usage time
and cost (maintenance and purchase), to have 2 dedicated
printers, one for colour and one for general purpose B&W,
than to find an all in one solution. In this scenario the
HP2500 is recommended for colour because the cost is lower
(than 4/8500) and there is not a difference in print speed for
full colour images.
Quoted in full because of it informative value:
-=< Peter Halls:
We use Lexmark & HP colour lasers, and have looked at the QMS
and Tektronix machines as well. My advice would be "if colour
quality matters, stay with ink-jet".
This is a technology issue. Although the dye technology used
in ink jets is advanced, and offers pretty close to pure primary
shades, this soes not yet seem possible with colour lasers.
Despite the pigment primaries being cyan, magenta and yellow,
some of the colour lasers use the light primaries, red, green
and blue! The cym pigments we see are not very pure - cyan
probably being the best, as a result all colour mixes tend to
end up a bit 'muddy'. I've not seen any laser that manages to
mix its primaries and achieve as good a colour as the ink jets.
I suspect that the reason some use rgb pigments is that most
business graphics seem to use those colours and the manufacturers
recognise that the cannot, in particular, obtain a good red from
the cym laser toners. I do not know if there is an issue
concerning the need for heat in the fusing process that is
involved here, this would certainly be a possibility.
My colleagues chose the laser over inkjet in our move from
thermal wax because they though[t] the inkjets would need
constant maintenance and operator attention, and that they
were apparently fast. No one seems to be satisfied with the
colour quality, and our central colour printing load has sunk
whilst almost everyone seems to be buying a colour inkjet for
the desktop!
OUR DECISION
We've opted for a 3 printer solution: The HP 1055CM for very
fast inkjet prints up to 36" wide, the Epson Stylus Colour
3000 for slower 720x1440 dpi colour up to 13x19", and an old
HP laserjet 4M for black and white everyday needs. Note that
we already owned all of these, but the Epson was broken. It
was the idea that it's replacement would be a colour laser,
thus upgrading the old HP4M at the same time.
The 1055CM is usuable in this scenario because of it's ability
to load cutsheets of 8.5x11" to 36x48" _without unloading the
roll_.
The Stylus 3000, now 3 or 4 years old, is -still- Epson's
flagship product for tabloid colour printing. We fixed
ours.
The HP4M? Well, we're not allowed to replace it simply
because it's old and doesn't support duplexing. {sigh} :)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks for everyones' patience while they waited for this long
overdue summary. And special thanks to Brad Miller who provided
a sum to bulk out and refine my sum. In no special order,
thanks to the respondents:
Rodney Wing, Robert Tyler, Lynn Hay, Dennis Kaplan, Hal Watson
Laura Bell, Kirk Regular, Raymond Kinser, Karen Behm, Tim Nuteson
Tony D'Ambrosio, Jason Adam, Brad Miller, Mark Graves, Scott McGee
Eric Lowrance, Chris Jacob, Vivienne Rutlidge, Joseph Howell,
Charlie Richman, Trina Wong, Larry Halweg, Ralph Campbell
Jim Lemieux, Mark French, Jerson Rivera, Toni Tisdale,
Reiner Fuest, Peter Halls,Stephen Cook
live long and prosper,
-matt
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