[Duo2400] Re: Laser printers.

[Mike Holliday]

> 
> In a message dated 3/18/03 3:26:02 PM, small_moose_ltd at mac.com writes:
>
>>I've seen on eBay old laserjet's selling for next to nothing. I'm assuming
>>the real cost comes in delivery because they're such big heavy objects,
>>but I think one of these things would make a brilliant second hand printer
>>for an old Mac. Has anyone here ever bought a second hand Laser printer?
> What's
>>the mileage on a toner cartridge? I'm not bothered that they only print
>>black and white, I just really love the crispness of the text, and for
>>what is only a few bucks, could have a top quality printing machine.
>
> I have several....all networked.  An old Apple LWIIg, a newer HP 4MV at work,
> and the newest, an HP 4050N.  Gave up on inkjets as the speed just ain't
> there.  With 32 to 64 megs of RAM in each laser, I can dump large volumes of
> files to the printers at a time.  I'm spoiled!!  Ethernet and lasers are the
> way to go unless you need color.  As for consumables, I'm replacing the cart.
> in the work unit about once a year with heavy use.  The home unit (HP 4050N)
> is just now needing a cart....1.5 years since install.  I print alot, and the
> inkjet mess/cost was getting to me.  Heck, the ole LWIIg is still great, just
> a tad slow and lower rez (300 dpi vs 600 dpi).  The Macs are easy to
> connect...the PCs more of a pain, but they now happily share printers.
>
> Andrew
>
If you can find a seller who's local enough for you to make a pickup that
not only avoids the shipping costs, but it ideally means that you can ask
the seller to show the thing working - I have had some troubles with old
LWIIs which were sold as working but only pick the paper up if you feed it
manually (though the toner that they came with was probably worth the
ridiculously small amount they cost!). Otherwise my experience of secondhand
laser printers has been entirely positive - I now have a LWIIg, which was
bought secondhand as a LWIINT from a source I knew to be reliable and
upgraded with a board from eBay, and has never given me any problems, and a
LW select 360 which I obtained from our local recycling centre for £5 (as
you see I'm in UK) - it produced prints with black stripes across until I
fed it a replacement toner cartridge, since when it's given no trouble at
all; the only disadvantage is that I have to keep my old 7200 just to act as
a bridge between the ethernet and local talk networks.
(yes, I know I can get a hardware dongle that'll do the job, but these days
a 7200 is far cheaper if you have the room
Mike