[Discuss] Low end color laser printers

[mark at buttery.org (Shirley Márquez Dúlcey)]

On 6/25/2012 1:14 PM, John Abreau wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 12:53 PM, Shirley M?rquez D?lcey
> <mark at buttery.org>  wrote:
>
>
>> Photos. Affordable color laser printers don't print them as well as a good
>> inkjet with special photo paper does.
>>
>
> I find that dye sublimation printers are much better for photos than inkjets.

I'm not sure I'd say "much better", inkjets are quite good at photos 
now. And you can't get a good dye-sub printer for $100. But they are 
nice if you have the budget.

I'd summarize the advantages and disadvantages as follows:

Inkjet:
Pros: low capital cost, good all-around printing, excellent photo 
printing on special paper, energy efficiency
Cons: high supplies cost (especially for low-end printers), text quality 
doesn't match laser, some models quite slow, printouts can run (Epson 
ink is more water-resistant but their printers have had other problems)

Laser:
Pros: moderate capital cost, high printing speed, excellent text and 
business graphics, output is waterproof
Cons: so-so photo printing, energy use, air quality issues (ozone and 
particulates)

Dye sub:
Pros: best photo printing
Cons: supply cost is fixed per page, thus poor for jobs that don't cover 
the entire page with dye. So-so text. Full-page models are expensive. 
Most are one-trick ponies for photo printing; most users will also need 
another printer for other purposes.

My personal printer stable is an HP Laserjet 5 for big black and white 
jobs and things that need to be waterproof, and an HP Photosmart C6280 
for one-off quick printouts and color work. (The Laserjet 5 is too 
power-hungry to keep on all the time.) I'll consider a color laser to 
replace the Photosmart when it dies but I'm not certain it will be the 
right choice because I DO print some photos and use the special photo 
paper to do it.