Colour laser; new drum or new printer?

[Countryman]

Hi,

I have got a 3 year old HP 2500L colour laser printer which has done sterling service but now needs its second imaging drum replaced. I was somewhat shocked to find that the replacement drum at £100 is almost half the price of a new HP 2600n colour laser printer. The only difference between the two models seems to be memory (2500@64MB against 2600@16MB) and lack of postscript support on the 2600. I am in no hurry, so the less memory shouldn?t matter and I don?t knowingly use Postscript. Am I missing something fundamental here?

Cheers!

 

[TerryMathews]

There are three serviceable wear parts on a laser printer: toner, drum, fuser. They wear out, generally, in that order.

To me, it looks like the 2500 is a superior printer compared to the 2600. If I were in your position, I would ask myself this question:
"What's the service life on the fuser and am I getting close?" (Might have to do some googling on the service life, it'll be measured in pages)

Although doing some quick math in my head, it seems that you are printing a lot of pages on your printer to have gone through 2 drums in 3 years. You might be better served to buy a heavier-duty laser printer as a replacement.

Bottom line: To be able to help you better, we need to know what your print volume is and how many pages you've printed on your current printer.

 

[Countryman]

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the response. I used to be a Sales Manager working from home and printed out Proposals, Quotations and contracts. I don?t have a figure on the total number of pages but it was a lot. I have recently retired and will not be printing out a lot of pages in the future. However, I am building a new house which will be networked and was going to buy a printer hub as the computer and printer will be in different rooms. I will look up the fuser issue.

All the best.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: Countryman
Hi Terry,

Thanks for the response. I used to be a Sales Manager working from home and printed out Proposals, Quotations and contracts. I don?t have a figure on the total number of pages but it was a lot. I have recently retired and will not be printing out a lot of pages in the future. However, I am building a new house which will be networked and was going to buy a printer hub as the computer and printer will be in different rooms. I will look up the fuser issue.

All the best.

It sounds to me like you were originally printing too much on the printer, but now the volume is going to be right where it should be on a home-class laser.

Honestly, if it meets your needs, I'd stick with it.

 

[shortylickens]

http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/
has lots of stuff.

 

[Chucko]

I would vote to upgrade your printer. Most of the newer color laser printers are single pass (AKA in line) which print faster. You current printer is a 4 pass color laser, and the four pass color lasers are slower, noisier, and wear their drums much quicker.

 

[bruceb]

It all depends on the cost of the parts you need, versus if you can find a nice one On Sale
at a price that is pretty reasonable ... also do you intend to go to Vista ? ? ... If so, your
current model may not have or ever get Driver Support under Vista in which case it would
need to try and use built in drivers or get replaced anyway

 

[13Gigatons]

Laserjets are money pits.

Laserjets are energy hogs.

Laserjets are slow.

Laserjets are lousy at photos.

Laserjets can't be refilled with bulk toner very well.

Laserjets are HUGE.

Laserjets are HEAVY.


PS: They do make nice pie charts on coated paper though.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Laserjets are money pits.

Laserjets are energy hogs.

Laserjets are slow.

Laserjets are lousy at photos.

Laserjets can't be refilled with bulk toner very well.

Laserjets are HUGE.

Laserjets are HEAVY.


PS: They do make nice pie charts on coated paper though.

You forgot one:

Laserjets don't clog up due to lack of use.

Which is the #1 reason I dumped my Epson for a Dell 3100CN. I wasted dozens of carts that were dried out because I used it so sparingly. Toner doesn't dry out.

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Laserjets are money pits.

Laserjets are energy hogs.

Laserjets are slow.

Laserjets are lousy at photos.

Laserjets can't be refilled with bulk toner very well.

Laserjets are HUGE.

Laserjets are HEAVY.


PS: They do make nice pie charts on coated paper though.

You forgot one:

Laserjets don't clog up due to lack of use.

Which is the #1 reason I dumped my Epson for a Dell 3100CN. I wasted dozens of carts that were dried out because I used it so sparingly. Toner doesn't dry out.

I've never had a Canon clog up on me yet and I use bulk ink in them.

Epson inkjets do suck though, I will never own another one.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Laserjets are money pits.

Laserjets are energy hogs.

Laserjets are slow.

Laserjets are lousy at photos.

Laserjets can't be refilled with bulk toner very well.

Laserjets are HUGE.

Laserjets are HEAVY.


PS: They do make nice pie charts on coated paper though.

You forgot one:

Laserjets don't clog up due to lack of use.

Which is the #1 reason I dumped my Epson for a Dell 3100CN. I wasted dozens of carts that were dried out because I used it so sparingly. Toner doesn't dry out.

I've never had a Canon clog up on me yet and I use bulk ink in them.

Epson inkjets do suck though, I will never own another one.

Not exactly a clog, the ink dries out after a while.

Inkjets work great if you print at least a page a week. If you go a month or more without printing though, you might get in trouble.

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Laserjets are money pits.

Laserjets are energy hogs.

Laserjets are slow.

Laserjets are lousy at photos.

Laserjets can't be refilled with bulk toner very well.

Laserjets are HUGE.

Laserjets are HEAVY.


PS: They do make nice pie charts on coated paper though.

You forgot one:

Laserjets don't clog up due to lack of use.

Which is the #1 reason I dumped my Epson for a Dell 3100CN. I wasted dozens of carts that were dried out because I used it so sparingly. Toner doesn't dry out.

I've never had a Canon clog up on me yet and I use bulk ink in them.

Epson inkjets do suck though, I will never own another one.

Not exactly a clog, the ink dries out after a while.

Inkjets work great if you print at least a page a week. If you go a month or more without printing though, you might get in trouble.

What's the point of owning a printer and then not printing at least a few times a month with it ?

Inkjets should probably come programed to print something every 7 days or so just to keep the ink flowing.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Laserjets are money pits.

Laserjets are energy hogs.

Laserjets are slow.

Laserjets are lousy at photos.

Laserjets can't be refilled with bulk toner very well.

Laserjets are HUGE.

Laserjets are HEAVY.


PS: They do make nice pie charts on coated paper though.

You forgot one:

Laserjets don't clog up due to lack of use.

Which is the #1 reason I dumped my Epson for a Dell 3100CN. I wasted dozens of carts that were dried out because I used it so sparingly. Toner doesn't dry out.

I've never had a Canon clog up on me yet and I use bulk ink in them.

Epson inkjets do suck though, I will never own another one.

Not exactly a clog, the ink dries out after a while.

Inkjets work great if you print at least a page a week. If you go a month or more without printing though, you might get in trouble.

What's the point of owning a printer and then not printing at least a few times a month with it ?

To be able to print something when you need it?

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: TerryMathews

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Laserjets are money pits.

Laserjets are energy hogs.

Laserjets are slow.

Laserjets are lousy at photos.

Laserjets can't be refilled with bulk toner very well.

Laserjets are HUGE.

Laserjets are HEAVY.


PS: They do make nice pie charts on coated paper though.

You forgot one:

Laserjets don't clog up due to lack of use.

Which is the #1 reason I dumped my Epson for a Dell 3100CN. I wasted dozens of carts that were dried out because I used it so sparingly. Toner doesn't dry out.

I've never had a Canon clog up on me yet and I use bulk ink in them.

Epson inkjets do suck though, I will never own another one.

Not exactly a clog, the ink dries out after a while.

Inkjets work great if you print at least a page a week. If you go a month or more without printing though, you might get in trouble.

What's the point of owning a printer and then not printing at least a few times a month with it ?

To be able to print something when you need it?

Inkjets don't use much ink if you printed a single color sheet once a week and that would keep the ink flowing.