I bought a Magicolor 2200 about a year ago when it was $1300. The reviews were great and the value couldn't be beat. The quality of the print was excellent. I had no complaints with the print whatsoever. However, there are two things of which you must be made aware before you buy this printer.
First, it is incredibly loud. I kept it on a cabinet next to my desk, and the volume was unbearable when it prints. Its specs call for 55dBa while printing, and 41dBa when idle. I like to keep a TV on tuned to MSNBC, which I had to keep too loud when the printer was on, and had to turn it even louder to still hear it when the printer was printing. I talked to a Minolta CSR who seemed pretty knowledgeable who suggested replacing the fan with a quieter one for a little less noise during idle, the same as you would do for a PC, but I didn't keep it to try this out.
Secondly, the consumables on this machine will kill you. The following is the analysis I did before purchasing mine based on information provided on Minolta's website.
Component/ Pages/ Cost/ Per Page
Transfer belt/ 107,000/ $349.00/ $0.0033
Fuser oil roller/ 21,000/ $49.00/ $0.0023
Fuser,transfer kit/ 100,000/ $499.00/ $0.0050
Waste toner pack/ 30,000/ $29.00/ $0.0010
OPC drum/ 30,000/ $99.00/ $0.0033
Toner Cartridge black/ 6,000/ $77.00/ $0.0128
Total Cost per Page/ / / $0.0277
(If anyone knows what I should have done to format this into a table, please let me know.)
As you can see, I was expecting to pay about 2 3/4 cents per page black and white. A similar analysis for color implied I would be paying about 9 3/4 cents per page for color prints. However, after about 2,000 copies, the waste toner pack was full. It was supposed to be good for 30,000 copies. Rather than spend $29.00 for a new one, I emptied it and put it back into service, though I'm not sure if my lungs paid any price for my penny pinching efforts. The black toner cartridge was spent after about 2,500 copies for $77.00. The fuser oil roller went next at about 3,800 copies, for another $49.00. And of course, they don't give you any warning that they are about to expire. And once they do, the printer is locked out. I had to run to CompUSA for a replacement to print the next page. I threw up my hands and called Minolta very angrily. The rep said that the capacities of the consumables are rated for continuous duty, and intermittent use only gets a smaller percentage of the continuous use ratings. By printing a few pages at a time and turning the machine on and off every day, my usage was only about 20% of the above ratings. So, instead of spending less than 3 cents per page black and white, I was spending what I estimated to be 12 to 15 cents per page. I was scared to death to think that I must be paying 50 cents per page or more for color.
I will say that Minolta was kind enough to consider my pleas for resolution, and accepted the printer back for a full refund. CompUSA where I bought it would do nothing for me, since it was well after the 14 day return period when I discovered how truly expensive this machine was to operate.
If you are willing to pay the rate per page and put up with the sound levels, then I say go ahead. It has excellent print quality and laser jet speed in both black and white and color. And based on Minolta's courteous response to my appeals, I say the company is great.
If anyone owns one and wants a partially used full set of toner cartridges, black, magenta, cyan, and yellow, and a used but extremely clean waste toner pack, send me a private message and I would be more than happy to sell them to you cheap. Minolta told me to send the printer back without them, so I still have them and haven't gotten to Ebay yet.