Cheap dependable Mac laser printer?

[davidlevine]

All knowledge is contained in LJ. Can anyone recommend a cheap (by which I mean low cost per page) dependable black and white laser printer for the Mac? I have a lot of manuscripts to print and my trusty inkjet printer is slurping down the ink like beer on the day before Prohibition.

Uncle Mark recommends the HP Laserjet 1020, but from what I see online it's rather a hassle to get the Mac drivers, as it's not officially supported.

Comments

[mkhobson.livejournal.com]

I've been using the 1020 with my Mac for about a year and a half now. It works an absolute treat, and I don't remember any especial difficulty with drivers.

FWIW.

M

[gregvaneekhout.livejournal.com]

Laserjet 1020 + Mac user here. I do seem to recall having to get the driver for a different model because there was none for the 1020, but it works fine. I just wish it held more paper.

[neile.livejournal.com]

I have the 1022 (obviously related to the 1020), and no problems here at all. It has been a terrific workhorse, handling all my and my husband's mss, and three years running I've had to print reams and reams of Clarion West applications and it has done it with no complaints.

I seriously love my printer. No problem with drivers, but then it is a different model.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

We've had very good results from our Brother HL-5250DN; that model supports duplexing and direct network connection, and has a bigger paper tray (key for manuscripts!) than anything near the price range when we bought it. While it required paper refills, it was perfectly happy printing two copies of the 1000+-page manuscript in January.

It's specified as compatible with Windows, Mac-OS, and Linux, and Lydy can print to it from her Mac laptop with easy-to-find drivers (I forget the process; it was easy).

cheap mac-compatible laser printers

[ravhowie.livejournal.com]

a silly question ... have you tried eBay?

looking at "computers"/"apple computers&components"/"apple printers" filtering on "laser" shows me a LAserwriter 4/600 for $100, a LAserwriter 8500 for $50 ..

[farmgirl1146.livejournal.com]

In addition to eBay, look on Craig's List and freecycle Seattle.

[gregvaneekhout.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I lied. Mine is the Laserjet 1012.

[erdnase2000.livejournal.com]

I recently bought the 1020 and DID get it to work, but it took me 14 hours to do so.

However, if you buy one, I can probably help you through the process in less than an hour now that I know what I'm doing :)

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

I recently replaced an HP-4L with a Brother HL-5240, and I love the new printer. It had Mac drivers on the CD in the box. Best of all, it cost about $200. It has a novel toner delivery system, whereby one replaces the toner cartridge for about $30 and only buys a drum unit (about $40) every five refills, as opposed to buying the whole unit for $70. Also, toner cartridge came with the unit, and is still going after about two months, so it's not just a 'starter' cartridge (like OfficeDepot tried to tell me).

Good luck!

[davidlevine]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[davidlevine]

Thanks for the warning! That's exactly what I thought might happen, based on what I gleaned from Google. And I'm afraid that anything that's that hard to install might not keep working through system upgrades.

[chiefwirehead.livejournal.com]

I've got an all-in-one brother that duplexes, networks to both MAcs & PCs, was trivial to set up, and works great.

My brother bought a simpler model (printer only) via buy.com for about $40 (after rebate).
Model 4020 maybe?

[jeffsoesbe.livejournal.com]

Hi David --

I can second the recommendations on the HP 1012/1018/1020/1022. They're all part of the same family and are speedy as all get-out and parsimonious with the toner. I've had a HP 1012 for at least a couple years of mucho printing and have put exactly 1 new toner cartridge in.

There's a new P1006 out that looks pretty good and has Mac OS compatability. The big issue is what version of MacOS you are running. If you're running OS X 10.2 or above, you're in very good shape.

Now, here's the disclaimer: I am an HP employee. But here's the good part about the disclaimer: I get a 20% discount on printers, and I'm happy to use it to help you get one.

If you're going to be at Norwescon next week, let's make sure to sit and chat and if we get internet access I can show you prices. But I note that there's a rebate going on the P1006 and the P2015 which with my discount makes them about half retail price.

So, let me know if you're interested and we can go from there!

- yeff

Brother HL-5240

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

Although I'm not a Mac user, I'm going to add another vote for the Brother HL-5240, which I also bought a little while ago. I got a factory refurbished one from Staples, for $129.98, with a $50 rebate for a final price under $80; as far as I could tell it's indistinguishable from new.

I based my selection on a review in PC Pro magazine (here (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/156321/brother-hl5240.html)), in which their lab comparison found it to have not only the cheapest total cost of ownership and highest quality, but the fastest ppm ( although it does have a slightly slower warm up time from "cold" to "first page output" ).

[davidlevine]

Thanks for your kind offer. I'm interested in the 1022, but I won't be at Norwescon. Any other ideas?

[ssprince.livejournal.com]

I got a Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex, from Amazon.com. I had no trouble with basic printing, both from Mac & Windows; but I'm not sure I ever got PostScript (emulation) printing from the Mac. Fortunately the customer didn't care about jaggies in the little starburst surrounding "not microwave safe." Now the client store is closed til spring, and my belongins are scattered hither & yon... I guess I know where the printer is (an elderly woman's house, neither of my storage units nor the house where I'm temporarily living with my HP Deskjet).

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I've been using an HP Laserjet 1200 for almost 5 years now, with medium use, and I've only had to replace the toner cartridge once in that time. I've had no trouble with drivers--on Mac OS 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 it's been plug-it-in-to-the-USB-port-and-it-works.

[jeffsoesbe.livejournal.com]

Hi David --

Goodness gracious, I'm a slacker. The last week has been a madhouse of coming back from funeral-related travel and ramping back up at work, with the added aspect of visiting relatives.

As a result, I didn't reply to your comment quickly. The LaserJet 1022 is indeed a discontinued product, but there are others that would be similar quality and price. I see by the latest blog entries that you picked up a Brother, so if that's working well for you that's cool. If you're still interested in info about LaserJets (or other HP products) and my discount, just let me know. You can email me at com dot yahoo at yeff (reversed).

Hope all is going well for you!

- yeff

another Brother

[nancymcc.livejournal.com]

Late in commenting as usual...

We've had the Brother HL-5250DN for over two years; it easily networked and we print to it from Mac and Linux. I lovvvvve duplex!

Shortly after we got the printer (so I could print class handouts) I got my day job (so I don't teach anymore). So it's a definite applied-Murphology expenditure, like giving up looking for love and then meeting your future mate.

My workplace got the identical printer (by chance). Easily networked to Windows and Macs. Serving well for almost two years.

Re: another Brother

[davidlevine]

Thanks for the recommendation. As it happens, when I found out the HP 1022 is no longer made, I got a Brother HL-5250DNT (with the extra paper tray). Working well so far!