Hi Everyone:

I've been doing some research on color printers. What I'm looking for is a color laser printer with duplex printing, networkable, large format (up to ledger paper), and if it were Pantone color that would just be a treat!! All of this for a reason able price. I'm looking at somehting that is somewhat of at desktop printer, rather than an all in one printer that is the size of an oven and weight 300 lbs. I've been looking at either HP or Brother. I just saw a Xerox that prints in Pantone colors, hence the note above.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Jay

See if you have a Kyocera Mita dealer in your area, they have some pricing incentives for non profits.  We've been quite happy with our color MFP.  I don't know if they have a desktop 11x17 printer.

You may be into Toshiba or Canon for pantone

Dave

I'd love to know what you end up with -- our old color laser is on its last legs and we'll be in the same boat very soon, looking for a replacement very similar to what you've described.

Hello - I am wondering if you found your color laser printer and which one you chose.  We are looking for that "just right" color laser printer for our small non-profit business - Patty at OperaWorks.

Hi everyone:

Sorry for not responding sooner. So about a year after I initially started my research on this, I don't have a color laser printer yet, nor do I think I will any time soon. We are still using our old desktop inkjet printer, which is on some serious life support. And I think that when the time comes to replace it, we'll be doing so with another inkjet.

But here is some additional news on the color laser printer thread I've started. A couple months ago, I received one of those mass emails from our sales rep at Dell regarding our topic of discussion. Below is the body of the email I've copied and pasted. Hope this helps. I don't know much about Dell printers. We have a desktop inkjet/all in one hooked up locally to a desktop pc and all I know is that it seems to go through ink quickly. Enjoy!

Dell Launches World’s Fastest Office Color Laser Printer

New Commercial Printers Help Customers Boost Productivity & Lower TCO

Dell today announced two new commercial workgroup printers to help businesses of all sizes increase productivity and lower their total cost of printing. The new printers include the Dell 5130cdn, the world’s fastest single function letter (LTR) size office color laser printer and the Dell 7130cdn, Dell’s first 11”x17” color printer.

The Dell 5130cdn can print up to 47 single-sided and up to 37 double-sided letter pages per minute (ppm) in both mono and color,making it the world’s fastest letter size single-function office color laser printer.  The 5130cdn also premiers ColorbyDell, a total print quality solution that delivers excellent color saturation and image sharpness and outstanding print quality. This is enabled through a combination of a powerful new image enhancement algorithm, advanced toner technology and improvements in print engine design. The Dell 5130cdn is also designed to bring significant energy and cost savings by using a new toner formulation that fuses at a lower temperature, enabling a remarkable Cost Per Page (CPP) of 1.04c for black and white and 7.71c for color print outs.  With a maximum duty cycle up to 110,000 pages a month, the Dell 5130cdn provides outstanding reliability and is available today from $1,549 including 3 Year Next Business Day (NBD) Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis.

The Dell 7130cdn is Dell’s first color printer with the ability to print up to 11”x17” size pages and high quality Pantone® approved color prints, for accurate color reproduction. With its ability to bring professional quality color printing in-house with low cost and outstanding printing options, the Dell 7130cdn includes a rich feature set, including numerous paper handling options, a powerful processor and robust memory. This allows the printer to print the first page (First Print Out Time) as quickly as 6.5 seconds in both mono and color.The Dell 7130cdn is available today in the US from $2,799 including 1 Year Next Business Day (NBD) Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis ⁱⁱ.

Introducing the World’s Fastest Letter Size Color Laser Printer                                                         Introducing Dell’s First 11”x17” Color Printer

Dell 5130cdn Color Laser Printer                                                                                        Dell 7130cdn Color Printer

List Price: $1,549 (includes 3 Year NBD Onsite warranty)                                                                List Price: $2,799 (with 1 Year NBD Onsite warranty)

Cost per page (black): 1.04 cents                                                                                       Cost per page (black): 1.69 cents

Cost per page (color): 7.71 cents                                                                                       Cost per page (color): 9.34 cents

Starts shipping on November 24                                                                                  Starts shipping on December 8

Outside of a home setting, there are very few scenarios where a color inkjet is cost effective. Just about everyone gets hung up on the cost of the printer itself, but the true cost of ownership lies in the consumables.

Depending on the amount that you print, in six months you can spend more on an inkjet and supplies for it than you would in two years of color laser usage. Reliability comes into play as well, since color inkjets have yet to reach the reliability of lasers.

Remember, just because something is cheaper does not mean that it is less expensive!

@jasonblais - next time please just post a link to another site instead of copy/pasting the site here.  :)

2 weeks ago, we finally retired our last inkjet printer.  We replaced it with an HP color CP2025n for under $500.  It is going to receive very light use as it is installed for our COO.  Consumables are pricey, but should last a long time.  I would highly recommend this printer for light duty.