[conspire] esteemed printers?

[Don Marti]

begin Rick Moen quotation of Fri, Nov 17, 2006 at 12:16:27AM -0800:
> Hmm, I haven't personally bought a printer in a long time.  My main
> rules are:
> 
> 1.  Heed the "Suggested Printers" list at http://www.linuxprinting.org/ .
> 2.  Stay away from inkjets.  (See: razor blade & razor sales gimmick)
> 
> Since I personally don't need colour printing at all, that makes it
> easy:  I would buy whatever's a good laser (or equivalent
> light-and-toner type, e.g. LED).

A lot of SOHO sites have limited space, so "all
in one" devices are getting popular enough to be
competitive in price with printers.

I found a good deal on an HP 3055 at one of the office
supply stores.
  http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_3055

Not only did I buy a USB laser printer and get a
copier, fax machine, and USB scanner for free, the
thing also has an Ethernet interface, so I should be
able to use it as a networked printer (two or three
home IT projects from now -- DNS is higher priority).

> If you must have a colour printer, there are two strategies, depending
> on how much you print:  (1) If you do very little colour printing, buy a
> cheap inkjet, and use it for nothing else.  I.e., do your _real_,
> everyday printing on a laser/LED unit.  (2) If you do substantial
> amounts of colour printing, spring $400 for a good colour laser printer,
> like the Minolta/QMS Magicolor 2430DL.

If I were going to print lots of B&W, I would go to
a place like Fast Copier/Printer Service of Mountain
View and get a reconditioned HP office printer.  More
of a power hog, but you get a lot better price per
page when you buy your toner in the big cartridges.

-- 
Don Marti                    
http://zgp.org/~dmarti/
dmarti at zgp.org