Re: [MAGNet] Re: Looking for rants and raves on Laser Printers

All: There was a product update that came out from HP in March of 2004
concerning the HP 4200. I'm not sure if this document helps, but pages 2-3
describe problems with the 4200 that HP resolves without charge if you met
the criteria. The document can be viewed at
http://www.nationalparts.com/HPLJService32004vol23.pdf

Harriet Johnson
Network Computing Services
University Relations

At 03:39 PM 12/5/2005, Erik Klavon wrote:
>Hi
>
>I received seven responses to my query on subscribers' experiences
>with laser printers they've purchased recently; thanks to everyone who
>responded. The people who responded and didn't request to remain
>anonymous (one respondent expressed such a desire) were
>
>Jon Broshious [jonbro at berkeley dot edu]
>Ted Crum [tedcrum at socrates dot berkeley dot edu]
>Richard DeShong [rdeshong at berkeley dot edu]
>Lucia Greco [lgreco at calmail dot berkeley dot edu]
>Robert Hiramoto [rhiramoto at berkeley dot edu]
>Marilyn Saarni [saarni at eps doe berkeley dot edu]
>
>Robert asked what problems we had experienced with our 4200Ns. We have
>six computer labs with an average of 30 workstations each and one
>4200n, we also have one 4200n in our office and 2 critical spares for
>a total of 9 printers. Beginning in 2003 we have sent printers to
>repair a total of 16 times with problems involving the paper feed
>belt, tray lifter-driver, feed roller, paper-delivery assembly, and
>replacement of the fuser.
>
>An anonymous respondent asked what volume of printing we see in our
>labs. This semester the most pages we've printed across all 6 of our
>labs in a single week is 30360 pages, minimum is 7860 pages and the
>average is 19229 pages per week. For each lab the numbers vary
>(numbers below are pages per week). Numbers for past semesters are
>quite similar though smaller overall as the population we serve has
>increased since Spring 2005.
>
>Lab Max Min Average
>1 9154 2388 6178
>2 6862 2640 5041
>3 6676 2772 4683
>4 4294 1596 2902
>5 2886 1137 1967
>6 3018 483 1050
>
>HP states[1] that the print volume for the 4200 series is 150,000 pages
>per month which we are well under. Even when you take into account a
>marketing number penalty of 50% these printers are not
>performing well. This is quite a departure from the performance of
>previous HP workhorses such as the LaserJet III series. (If anyone
>feels I'm misinterpreting or being unreasonable in my expectations for
>the 4200 series, please let me know.)
>
>Different folks had different views on workgroup HP printers. Robert
>reports that he has a few of the now older models of the 4050N and the
>4100N, and they have been great. An anonymous respondent reports that
>they have a 4100 that has never given them any problems. Their 4300dtn
>works great but it has this huge grinding noise w/ the second tray
>(this doesn't seem to be a problem with another printer of the same
>model in a different department).
>
>Ted reports that he found the 4000tn and 4500n needed far more
>attention than a departmental printer should. His department has
>replaced one of their problematic printers with a 2420n, which is
>supposed to be just a workgroup printer, but which he finds to be much
>better than the 4000 series. He will probably replace the other
>printer with a 2420 tn or dtn.
>
>Lucia says that her 1320 works well (including in duplex mode) in her
>lab. Her only complaint is the lack of a straight paper path option
>which precludes printing on heavy stock. She found the configuration
>tools to be lacking (the windows tool didn't work).
>
>Marilyn who was raving earlier about the reliability and ease of
>repair of Xerox printers wanted to throw her 4100dtn off the balcony
>and returned a 2100n after poor performance. She further reports that
>Xerox was the top-rated major company in terms of reliability and
>compared to the 4100dtn the Xerox 4500dt is practically
>therapeutic. Xerox is much better at cross-platform support: Unix,
>Linux, Mac and Windows are all supported. Toner cartridges bought
>directly from Xerox cost more, however she has experienced far few
>printing errors and the cartridges seem to last far longer.
>
>Richard would like to put in a plug for combining printing a copying.
>He replaced an old OCE copier and HP laserjet with a new Xerox
>WorkCenter 255 copier/printer. Cost per page is less than with the
>Laserjet, and it allows the user to access typical copy functions for
>a print job (such as stapling).
>
>Robert also reports that his HP 8100DN is used fairly heavily, and it
>has held up well so far.
>
>Folks also had things to say about color printers. Marilyn pointed out
>issues with some of the more expensive workgroup color printers; they
>break down unless they are kept in consistent use (for solid ink/wax
>ink color printers). Her advice when evaluating networked color
>printers is to not overlook inexpensive inkjets due to high cartridge
>costs. Two years down the line we may find that we are all working
>with different decision factors when it comes to color.
>
>Jon had this story to tell about his experience with HP 4600dn
>printers.
>
>We have three HP 4600dn printers. While they are generally very reliable,
>they can also be quite annoying. Reliable? Touchy? Yer call.
>
>Our nickname for them is "Catbert". They are constantly requesting new
>toner, for days or weeks on end before a new cartridge is actually
>required. No printing will occur until the error message is read (Press the
>check message key. An announcement scrolls across the message screen that a
>cartridge will be required at some point in the near future. Then you are
>rewarded with having your pages print... while you sit and wait for them).
>
>Other Catbert moments:
>Ha! You've waited too long to press the check message button. I will
>calibrate for five minutes to punish you.
>Don't touch me when I'm duplexing! Now you must open and close all of my
>doors. Thank you. I will now calibrate for five minutes to punish you for
>touching me while I was duplexing.
>
>
>Finally, here are a list of urls I've come across while searching the
>web for printer information.
>
>CNet laser printer ratings
>
>http://reviews.cnet.com/Printers/4521-6528_7-5021406-6.html?tag=subnav
>
>CNet color printer ratings
>
>http://reviews.cnet.com/Printers/4521-6528_7-5021406-7.html?tag=subnav
>
>Toms Hardware Guide to inexpensive Color Laser Printers
>
>http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050817/index.html
>
>Last MacWorld review of Laser printers
>
>http://www.macworld.com/2005/01/reviews/monochromelasserprinters/index.php
>
>PC World ranking of workgroup printers
>
>http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,121207,00.asp
>
>
>Erik
>
>[1]
>http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF06b/5043-5343-5347-5347-5439-1774383-7912847.html
>
>
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Received on Tue Dec 6 15:51:05 2005